My wife Traci was away in the mountains over the weekend,  making for a perfect time to rally the Denver crew for a fun night of eating, drinking and general all around merriment… While this started low key and small, the invite list continued to grow and we ended up with a great group and some stunning wines.

We started out slowly with two champagnes paired with assorted cheeses and the N.V. Laurent-Perrier Champagne Brut L.P. always pleases with its clean, floral bouquet and elegant palate. In contrast, the 1996 Pol Roger Champagne Extra Cuvée de Réserve Brut was a much bigger wine with more richness and depth.

The food portion of the evening started at this point and a 2001 Château de Puligny-Montrachet Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières paired up nicely with a rosemary risotto pasta course and was down right fruit driven with tropical notes mixed with nut, butterscotch and oak aromas and a fantastically rich, fat palate.

Along with an otherworldly Provencal Cassoulet, the reds started off with a bang with the 1978 Camille Giroud Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens. Beautifully perfumed, spiced and complex, the palate was pure silk with perfect balance and a long finish. While mature, there’s a sweet core of fruit that keeps this interesting.

We also paired a small vertical of Domaine de la Janasse’s Chaupin bottling with the Cassoulet and while this wine and producer gets flack for being over ripe and alcoholic, I don’t see it in any way and remain a fan. This wine is 100% old vine Grenache from a sandy, single vineyard plot in the northern part of Chateauneuf du Pape and sees large foudres and older barrels for its elevage.
First up was the 1998 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin and it was consistent with a previous bottle last year.  It’s  rich, meaty and ripe with nice complexity on the nose and plenty of sweet fruit on the palate. Mature and right in the middle of its drinking window. The 2001 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin showed similar but had a slightly cleaner profile, gorgeous fruit and solid structure. This bottle had been opened 6 hours prior but wasn’t decanted. The 2003 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin ratcheted things up on the sweetness scale and showed bright, clean aromatics of raspberry liqueur, spice, licorice and meaty aromas, full body and a fantastic, sweet, fruity core. Despite the controversy on these wines, every bottle I’ve opened has shown superbly and a quick poll of the table didn’t yield any detractors.

From here we served up seared leg of lamb with roasted fingerling potatoes and a bottle of 2002 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select was off the charts. Utterly profound with sweet dark fruit, chocolate and herbs, this is a perfect blend of power and finesse with the palate showing considerable structure paired with an elegant seamlessness that just glides over the tongue. A bottle of 1989 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle was fantastic with earthy aromatics of cassis, smoked meat, bacon and graphite. The palate was structured, tannic and unevolved but showed stunning precision, depth and structure. The 1998 Château Léoville Barton was young and structured with a traditional, concentrated and powerful character but opened up on the second day and has notable purity, balance and precision. An off bottle of 1997 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate showed potential but was unfortunately marred by a chlorine element and possibly subtle TCA. A 1996 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva was perfumed and interesting the first night but blew me away on the next day. Just jam packed with spiced cherry, Turkish coffee, cedar and exotic spice, this is ready to go on the palate with sweet fruit, admirable balance and a smooth, integrated texture. A corked bottle of 1998 Beni di Batasiolo Barolo and a 1998 Arnaldo-Caprai Sagrantino di Montefalco Collepiano were also opened but I failed to write notes on these.

Prior to the dessert, we paired a 1998 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume with seared foie gras and rosemary apple compote with wild flower honey. Sweet and honeyed on the nose with hints of creamed corn, minerals and citrus; this is bright, clean and pure. The palate is full bodied with a rich, lush texture, gobs of sweetness and a long finish. This bottle seemed much fuller and sweeter on day two.

A 1983 Fonseca Porto Vintage capped the fun evening.

Courses:

1. Assorted Cheeses
2. Rosemary Rissotto Pasta
3. Provencal Cassoulet
4. Grilled leg of Lamb with herbed fingerling potatoes
5. Seared Foie Gras with rosemary apple compote and wild flower honey
6. Chocolate Cake

Wine	Rating
N.V. Laurent-Perrier Champagne Brut L.P	90
1996 Pol Roger Champagne Extra Cuvée de Réserve Brut	92
2001 Château de Puligny-Montrachet Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières	92
1978 Camille Giroud Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens	93
1998 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin	94
2001 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin	95
2003 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin	96
2002 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select	99
1989 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle	95+
1998 Château Léoville Barton	91+
1997 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate	Flawed
1996 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva	94
1998 Beni di Batasiolo Barolo	Corked
1998 Arnaldo-Caprai Sagrantino di Montefalco Collepiano	NR
1998 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume	93
1983 Fonseca Porto Vintage	92

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