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.

The Line Up
Chef’s table (is the room listing?)
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