Friday, June 26, 2009

Wine dinner at Palate

Tonight was a celebration of my friend's 10-year business anniversary. We opened some really nice wines to celebrate at Palate Food + Wine. Here's tonight's list.

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1990 Dom Perignon...Golden amber color. Aroma of baguette, hay, earthy mineral. Soft elegant mousse, yet it still has the fresh dryness. Holding so well and balanced.

1998 Paul Pernot, Puligny-Montrachet, 1er Cru "Les Pucelles"... Pucelles is a vineyard next to Batard-Montrachet and Bienvenues Batard-Montrachet. Golden color. After 20+ minutes in the glass, the wine started to open up with the aroma of orange peel, honey, almond, very round and juicy with the noticablle acidity. Butter and spice on the palate. Very complex and there was so much goin on!

2003 Etienne Sauzet, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Perrieres"...Pale golden color. It finally started to open up after almost 30 minutes in the glass. Tons of minerals! Mint and butter on the nose, ripe fruit on the palate. Clean acidity. Long finish. Very elegant.

1998 Pierre Gimonet et Fils, Champagne Brut...(no picture was taken). Same wine as we had last Friday. This was equally beautiful. Soft and elegant mousse.

2001 Domaine de Comtes Lafon, Volnay Santenots-du-Milieu...This comes from the vineyard in Meursault. Vines are 30-60+ years old. Lush aroma of cherries and dark berries. Minerals like iron. Subtle spicy character. Long finish.

1998 Bruno Giacosa, Barbaresco, Santo Stefano, Riserva...Giacosa's "red" label! His riserva is made only in the great years. The wine showed the beautiful dry fruit and rosy characters after a couple of hours in the decanter. Very dry but soft tannin. Intense acid. Really pure texture with the very complex flavor.

2000 Alfredo Roagna, Barbaresco, Paje (Chinato)....This was enjoyed with the dessert. Chinato is an Italian fortified wine which is made with 10+ kinds of herbs and spices with a spirit which are added to Barbaresco (Barolo Chinato is also famous). The aroma of herbs, medicinal character. Mellow. Very sweet.

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It was a fantastic evening. The food at palate was great as always, too.