#alternativepairings

Chicago, IL
Tasted Thursday, February 2, 2017 by acyso with 584 views

Introduction

There is a (possibly apocryphal) story of Robert Parker advocating 2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape (en magnum) as a pairing to sushi. As this is the tenth anniversary of the vintage, and since Robert Parker is a critic of such great renown, we decided to follow his sage advice and try this pairing.

Flight 1 - Real Wines (4 Notes)

A few Champagnes and a dessert wine were served at this dinner -- they were all reasonable beverages.

  • NV Bérêche et Fils Champagne Reflet d'Antan 93 Points

    France, Champagne

    2009 base, 6 g/L dosage, May 2014 disgorgement. It's odd. I had had this exact same disgorgement before, and thought it disappointing, but this bottle was showing very well tonight. This had a great balance of freshness and oxidative character, and there was plenty of white fruit here. Lots of taut acidity and chalkiness rounds out a really full-bodied champagne.

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  • 2007 Roederer Estate L'Ermitage Brut 85 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

    This is a surprisingly sweet bottle of sparkling wine. There's some pronounced red delicious apple flavours here (but also with a fair bit of acidity), as well as a biscuity character. It's not bad, but the sweetness really throws me off a little bit.

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  • NV Agrapart Champagne Grand Cru Terroirs Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 88 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

    Hah, twice in three days. This is pretty much the same as the last bottle I had -- good taut acidity and white fruit. Super dense chalkiness on the palate, but I feel that a little bit more density as far as flavour is concerned would do this wine well.

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  • 1991 M. Chapoutier Banyuls Vin Doux Naturel 85 Points

    France, Languedoc Roussillon, Roussillon, Banyuls

    From half bottle. This is like a Madeira without all the nice things that make Madeira Madeira. It's got a little bit of that shiitake mushroom quality on the nose from the oxygen, but it feels more like oxidation that was done accidentally than on purpose. The palate shows moderate sweetness, with some golden raisin and date flavours, and the alcohol pokes out quite a bit. The necessary acidity to balance out the wine isn't quite here either, unfortunately.

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Flight 2 - 2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape (11 Notes)

At age 10, the 2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "wines" tasted here are a complete and utter disaster. They are laughably bad. I remember having tasted the vintage early on and being impressed by the luscious fruit on that wine. A decade later, none of the "wines" tasted today could reasonably count "luscious fruit" as a descriptor. Those that haven't otherwise been ruined but the modernist dogma of heavy oak treatments now suffer from flavours that evoke rotting fruit on an orchard in late October -- that sickly, rotting flavour is really quite vile. After that, there are two separate issues. Many of the wines actually suffer from extreme emaciation. With ten years for the baby fat to dissipate, the midpalate has just dropped out completely, leaving a wretched husk with weedy and astringent tannins on the finish. The riper "wines" suffer from alcoholic bitterness on the back end. The hyperbolic and hysterical pronouncements of Parker, Suckling, and their ilk reminded me a little bit of the current ambient climate, and I have endeavoured to render my notes to these "wines" with contemporary suitability.

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