Great Years, Great Wines at Victoria & Albert’s

December 16, 2005

Ron and Bev Siegel invited us to dinner and tasting at Victoria & Albert’s in Disney’s Grand Floridian. Unfortunately my Dad was in town so we couldn’t both go. Linda drew the short straw. Joining us were John and Amy from Brio and Gary and Trish.

The original plan was to do another Tasting of the Century, but neither Ron nor I could find any wines from the 1910s. So we ended up with a collection of great wines from great years. We also planned to serve the wines in pairs, but Israel kindly provided enough Riedel crystal that we always had four to six wines on the table at a time.

Chef Scott had the night off, but Chef Aimee provided us with great food, and was very generous with both the Osetra and the white truffles.

Our six hours at table sped by and V&A outdid themselves on both food and service.

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The Line Up

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Chef’s table (is the room listing?)

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Menu

Tasting Notes

1995 Taittanger
Comtes Champagne
Youthful color, clean citrus and pear nose, nice effervescence, good match with the caviar. 93 points
1929 Chambertin
Francois Moret & cie.
Dark garnet, sour cherries all the way through, developing some sweetness after 20 minutes, also lots of mineral in the nose, with wood showing up later, iron in the mouth, leather finish 98 points
1947 Chambertin
Jaboulet
Medium brown, sweet, earthy, leather and bacon fat in the nose, medium body, a floral, woody finish 96 points
1934 Corton
Bouchard Pere et Fils.
Good color, a strong, somewhat peculiar nose redolent of iron and mushrooms, soft on the palate, with roses, vanilla, wood and pine in the finish 91 points
1959 Corton
Charles Vienot
Good color, very balanced and fruity, mint, youthful, cinnamon and vanilla in the finish 94 points
1994 Chassagne Montrachet
“Les Ruchottes”
Ramonet
Butter, vanilla, long, a perfect match for lobster and the risotto 97 points
1921 Ch. Rauzan Gassies
Margaux
Dark brown/garnet, wax, mint and intense wood nose, long, vanilla, very young and feminine, fresh sawn wood developed in the nose after 30 minutes 95 points
1929 Ch. Talbot
St. Julian
Great color, looks like a wine from the 70s. Tight nose. Youthful tasting but thin. Wood and chalk in the finish 92 points
1997 Ch. Suidiraut
Sauternes
Great color, figs and sugar in the nose, white raisins, not Yquem but nice 93 points
1959 Ch. Margaux This was a very mysterious wine. It’s very famous, yet I’ve had it three times and never been impressed. This one was unlike any Margaux, with green wood and chalk coming though an otherwise tight nose. Flavors of green olives, with a bitter, hard-edged finish. The label was almost faded to nothing, yet the fill was superb. Was this really 59 Margaux? 89 points
1961 Calon Segur
St. Estephe
Intense Andes chocolate mint nose, dust, soft on the palate, bleu cheese and mushroom in the finish. A very interesting Bordeaux. 93 points
1968 BV Georges de Latour
Private Reserve
Cabernet Sauvignon
This was the other bizarre wine of the evening. I’ve had this wine at least 50 times, but never a bottle like this. It was from a new lot of seven purchased from K&L Wines in Ca, and looked pristine. The wine was drinking at least 20 years younger than any previous sample. Dark, ruby, wood, fruit, Rutherford dust, balanced, tannic closed. It will be interesting to try a second one from this lot and compare. 95 points
1978 La Mission Haut Brion Very dusty nose, peppers, tight, big, chalk, gravel, typical graves, tobacco finish. A really nice Bordeaux 94 points
1905 Oloroso
Sherry
This type of sherry is made by oxidizing during fermentation (no “flor” of mold on top) and then aging like wine. It is completely dry fermented. Although it might have gone with the cheese, it was a terrible match with dessert. Clean phenolic nose, very aromatic, floral, extremely long, shocking dryness, leaving wood and a bitter aftertaste. 88 points
1998 Chateaneuf du Pape
Cuvee Marie Beurrier
Henri Bonneau
Medium to light bodied, slightly sour, cherry/kirsh flavors, gamey nose. 89 points