Wednesday Lunch: 9 April 2008

Lunch today (Wednesday, 9 April 2008) was back at the Tivoli. Just the Stockbroker and I this time, as the Doc was busy and Edouard is in Bordeaux attending to the April en primeur tasting of Siran.

With appetizers of, among others, salmon sashimi, smoked salmon, fresh oysters on the half-shell, bite-sized crab cakes and paper-thin slices of assorted Italian ham, a bottle of my 1999 Henri Bourgeois Sancerre "La Borgeoise". I also brought along a 2001 Corton Charlemagne by Jadot and a 1997 Tokay Pinot Gris Comtes d'Eguisheim by Léon Beyer, but I decided to go with the Sancerre since I knew the Stockbroker favors the oysters and, in my opinion, the Sancerre would be the best match of what I brought.



Consistent with my previous, recent notes:

Quote:

A fuller, richer kind of Sancerre (sauvignon blanc) from one of the area's top producers. The "La Bourgeoise" is, I understand, one of their better bottlings which, atypically for Sancerre blanc, is better aged for several years before consumption.

Those looking for an ultra-fresh, grassy, gooseberry/grapefruit forward sauvignon blanc had better stick to Marlborough, New Zealand SBs as this is a different animal. Sancerres, though also crisp, refreshing and palate-cleansing, are more understated, refined and have a subtle, though unmistakable, white minerality to them. I look to them to pair with more delicate seafood dishes...

I can add that this bottle poured a deeper, more luxurious looking golden wine with nuances of ripe guava, admirable balance, refreshing crispness and bracing minerality. These deftly and definitively cut the salmon's natural fattiness, brightened the mini crab cakes and ran with the oysters' sea-freshness.

To go with my main course of rare tenderloin and the Stockbroker's Chilean sea bass, his bottle of 1996 Grand Cru Romanée St. Vivant by Hudelot-Noellat.



We didn't decant it, choosing to leave it open and let breathe in our glasses as we had our appetizers. Right off the bat, it displayed a wonderful bouquet of Burgundy-decay-laced violets/earthy dark red cherry/beetroot with slight craisin (mid-palate) and strawberry (more to the back and finish) nuances; all of which were mirrored in the mouth in a silky, medium-full body.

Intricately layered and complex, a wonderful middle where so much interplay was going on, I held each sip in my mouth longer than politely possible before slowly swallowing. Sucking in some air at mid-mouth released more nostalgic violets and decay. Long earthy beetroot/red berry/strawberry finish.

From first sniff to the last, whistful note of strawberry, one word kept coming to mind: terroir. Nowhere else on earth produces a wine like this.