Champagne Dinner

AN
Tasted Saturday, January 31, 2009 by AN with 517 views

Introduction

This all-champagne tasting/ dinner was quite a challenging task, since it is not so easy matching champagne with different food.

Flight 1 - Introduction (2 Notes)

Appetizers were based around Astrakhan Caviar (a 0.5kg jar), notably - quails eggs and blinis with caviar, plus selection of sour cream, onions to complement according to taste. Would have never guessed that this match would be soooo good. Try different combinations, champagn definitely adds another dimension to it.

The 2nd appetizer was potato & Leak soup topped with caviar - not only it tasted good, it also looked great. Again the richness of the soup was a great match for the champagnes.

  • NV Diebolt-Vallois Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 86 Points

    France, Champagne

    The first wine of the Champagne dinner. An outstanding match for caviar, quails eggs, sour cream and blinis, since its high acidity could handle the richness of caviar very well. Again, some consider its acidity too sharp and this wine can definitely be aged to show more complexity

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  • 2000 Pierre Gimonnet & Fils Champagne Premier Cru Extra Brut Oenophile 86 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

    The 2nd wine of Champagne dinner. Pale lemon, with golden core. Medium (+) body and medium acidity. Showing the first signs of age and complexity - notably golden core colour and nose filled with pronounced brioche. Again, managed to handle well the potato & leak soup with caviar.

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Flight 2 - Grand Tasting (3 Notes)

Whole chicken a-la Jamie Oliver (recipee from the Naked Chef), a very simple but delicious chicken (served after the 3 champagnes were tasted, to avoid influencing nose & palate)

  • 1999 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 88 Points

    France, Champagne

    Medium lemon with small beed. Pronounced aromas of sweet tropical fruit - melon, pine-apple combined with floral aromas and medium autolytic notes. Was quite surprised to see such a high level of sweet aromas - at one point it even reminded of Mosel Riesling Auslese aromas. The taste again was dominated by sweet fruit and floral with notes of bread. This champagne is clearly in a developing stage, wait and see 3-5 years before opening it again. Cheers!

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  • 1996 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 87 Points

    France, Champagne

    4th wine of the Champagne Dinner. Deep lemon. Nose dominated by medium (+) oak (smoke, vanilla) and kernel (almonds, hazelnut) showing very little autolytic character. Very delicate mousse and flavours of tropical fruit, oak and kernel. This seemed to be supressed a little, with a short finish and quite simple for the wine of this reputation. Maybe it had closed down to reveal itself in a couple of years? In the "beauty contest" of 3 prestige cuvees, this Pol Roger did get the least ovation from the public. Shame. Since much better examples of this have been tasted.

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  • 1990 Jacquesson & Fils Champagne Grand Cru D.T. Non Dosé Avize 95 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

    5th wine of the Champagne Dinner. Star of the tasting. Deep gold colour. With very intensive mature Burgundy-like aromas which managed to evolve substantially while the bottle was opened. Started out with pronounced dried fruit aromas and bread, went on to oak (smoky vanilla) and kernel (almonds and cofee) and finished with a beautiful pronounced honey! Absolutely stunning! Palate was full-bodied, with medium (+) acidity, delicate mousse and very vinous feeling - midpalate dominated by dried fruits and oak, while a very long aftertaste showed cofee, bread and honey. Although I wish, I could have enjoyed this champagne solo (and will do so with the other bottle left), it did went really well with chicken. If you can get this, take a couple of bottles at once - it's just superb! (Non Dose D.T. (March 2006))

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Flight 3 - Conclusion (1 Note)

Home-made vanilla sauce with strawberries (picked in summer, covered with sugar and frozen, then taken out from freezer a couple of hours before tasting).

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