I recently had a lovely dinner at Crowne Plaza’s restaurant La Veranda. The restaurant is already refurbished for some time and it has a new positive, luxury and youthful look. There is also a section called The vineyard, somehow separated from the rest of the restaurant, that is absolutely gorgeous to host wine-dinners or wine related events because it is private, cozy and has a special cellar-like construction in the middle of it filled with fine wines.
I had a 7 courses dinner and had the chance to try two interesting older wines from Bordeaux. Both are coming from the same 1995 vintage and both have a welcoming 12.5% alcohol level: something very rare these days unfortunately.
The dishes as they appeared on the table were:
Tuna Tartare
With Baby greens and avocado
This was an amazing dish that I absolutely loved. The sesame seeds inside do miracles. Definitely a mandatory dish when you visit La Veranda if you are into fish tartar. It actually went very well with the red wine also, and it emphasized a new dimension: earthier that I could not feel separately into the wine.
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Even though I am not new to opening and drinking wines, I continue to be amazed by the miracles of Audouzing a bottle of old wine. The operation with the biggest impact on an old wine is to have a proper aeration that will not damage the wine and will give it exactly the right amount of air: not too much to spoil it, but just enough to bring out the best. The best example is my latest bottle of wine opened on SUN for lunch: a 1990 Clos de Vougeot by Guy Castagnier.
While this is not an extremely old wine, we are still talking about a 21 years old bottle of wine. I easily uncorked the bottle and the cork was less than 1 cm soaked in wine. I poured a sip of wine in a glass and gave it a try to see how the wine feels like. At that point the nose was completely muted, very thin on the palate and with virtually no aftertaste whatsoever. My first thought was that this wine is completely dead.
So I just left the wine in the bottle and put it in a colder place and left it there for about 2 h. Coming back to it after two hours, I found a completely different wine.
1990 Clos de Vougeot Guy Castagnier
Dark red ruby color and very youthful, with no signs of aging. The nose was totally different: well developed, filled with strong primary aromas, youthful, with aromas of red fruits mixed with subtle gamey and spicy flavors. The mix of primary-secondary aromas is really enticing. Lively and medium bodied on the palate, it certainly gain body meanwhile, well structured and balanced, with a surprising bright acidity; pure red fruits mixed with nutmeg and cinnamon flavors dance on the palate, while the tannins are totally integrated. It ends with a medium plus finish, spicy and with a light touch of grippy tannins in the aftertaste, just enough to remind that there is plenty of life left in it. The wine is surprisingly youthful, subtle and lively. (91/100)
A very nice wine that comes from an excellent 1990 vintage and a Grand Cru vineyard in Burgundy. It accompanied very well a slowly cooked casserole made with autumn vegetables and goose legs.
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Had this wine on FRI evening. Opened it and left it to breath in the bottle for about 2 hours.
2005 Chateau Leoville Poyferre Saint Julien
Blend of 62% Cab sauv, 28% Merlot, 8% Petit verdot, 2% Cab franc. 13.5% alc
Dark red garnet color. The wine continued to open up over 1 h. Initially very closed and not giving up much, it started to open up after a while into a well developed and intense nose, really smoky and mineral: huge pencil shavings and ink aromas, red currant, cassis, green vegetables, cedar and even bacon fat. Beautiful and complex nose with singing Cabernet Sauvignon typicality.
Extremely tight on the palate but very well structured. As much as this wine is closed now on the palate, it has everything in place to become a grand vin in time. Fully ripen and polished tannins, a velvety mouth-feel and really well balanced. Distinctive flavors of coffee, cocoa, green vegetables and cassis on the palate. Surprisingly mineral and long finish with good grip, and a pleasant cocoa-coffee like bitterness in the aftertaste. (93/100)
This wine needs aging and I firmly believe that even a prolonged decanting would not help much at this stage. The tightness on the palate will not loosen up with aeration. What this wine needs is to be left alone for at least 5 years. The wine definitely has all the ingredients of a really grand vin. The wine’s structure and the overall impression reminded me of the 2000 Chateau Cheval Blanc I had in June this year while having lunch at the property. It can be that good in time.
Comparing the Chateau Leoville Poyferre 2003 I had in October 2010 with the 2005, I can say that by far the 2003 offers more drinking pleasure now.
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