Dan's Papers - November 23, 2007

A Great Way To Taste Some Great Wines That may Otherwise Be Unaffordable Or Just Not Available

For several years now fall has turned into the season of wine dinners for me. As the wine educator for the Sherry-Lehmann staff, I am expected to attend at least a few of the these dinners that are a showcase for important suppliers to the store. Though I missed my favorite dinner this year - the one held at Daniel with my friend Mark Lauber, who usually pours some amazing wines, such as Phelps Insignia from older vintages - I did manage to attend several notable events.

These dinners always include a staff member from one of the featured wineries, so plenty of interesting history and wine education is available to those interested. This year I attended dinners featuring Italian wines, Bordeaux, and a new dinner featuring the wines of importer Frederick Wildman.

All these dinners were quite special and featured some marvelous wines. The Wildman dinner offered Pol Roger Brut Reserve, Ridge Montebello from 1999 and 2004 (the 1999 reminded me of a great massive Pauillac, maybe even Latourish), and the 1996 and 2003 Jaboulet la Chapelle Hermitage, all matched to the hearty food of Landmarc in the Time Warner Building. Impressive wines, especially the Latour(ish) Ridge and the 2003 La Chapelle Hermitage. The food was also pretty good considering the size of the party (pushing 45).

The next dinner featured the wines of Fausto Maculan and was attended by his importing team from Winebow Imports. The Maculan Winery is located in central Veneto, a bit north of Verona. Fausto is world-renowned for his Fratta 'Super Venetian' Cabernet Blend and his wonderful dessert wines, Torcolato, Acininobili and Dindarello. At this dinner, which was held at Alfredo of Rome at Rockefeller Plaza, the Acininobli and Torcolato dessert wines were the wines of note. Both wines are white blends based on the local Vespaiolo grape. The grapes are picked late and sweet and then let to dry naturally for several months, creating a delightful Sauternes-like dessert wine. The Acininobili uses only grapes that have been affected by 'noble rot,' or botrytis cinerea, so the wine is very expressive and very reminiscent of great Sauternes or Tokay from Hungary.

Another of my favorite dinners every year features the wines imported by Diageo - which includes the well-known producer Trimbach - and this year again was spectacular. First of note was the location, a private dinning room at Le Cirque featuring a view of the restaurant's unique circular glass wine cellar. Next was the fine food. Especially noteworthy was the Langoustine appetizer. As a former chef, I know only too well the difficulty in serving some dishes to large parties, and seafood is one of those. The Langoustines had a crisp bite, yet a sweet and tender flesh and was served with an elegant sauce of coconut lemongrass with mixed Asian vegetables. This was served with one of my favorite white wines, Trimbach's 2001 Cuvee Freddy (actually labeled Cuvee Frederick Emile Riesling) and their refined and floral Reserve Personnelle Pinot Gris. The only reason I consider Cuvee Freddy one of my favorites is because I can't afford my ultimate white wine: Trimbach's Clos Ste. Hune (I'm just drooling and dreaming now). The Freddy is a classic Alsace Riesling, with aromas of dried lemon zest, elegant petrol and amazing elegant minerality. This is a delicious wine now (with a touch of decanting and at the right temperature) but will age for several more years. It is also affordable ($34 at Sherry-Lehmann). But I'd be drinking the 1996 or 1995 right now if I could find any! Jean Trimbach also brought along a 2000 Vendage Tardive Gewurztraminer dessert wine that was also a revelation.

The other wines at this dinner included a bit of Bordeaux (1999's from Gruaud Larose, St-Julien and Hosanna, Pomerol), and a bit of Napa (2004's from Hewitt and Provenance). The Gruaud and Hosanna were classy, but could use a few more years to hit their best. The Hewitt Cabernet Sauvignon is a quite special, very small production, very prestigious site that used to supply grapes to legendary Beaulieu winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff for one of Napa's greatest Cabernets, Beaulieu's Georges de Latour. The Hewitt is headed toward cult status, so you Napa Cab hounds out there, keep an eye on it. Both the Provenance and Hewitt wines are made by famed winemaker Tom Rinaldi, who was instrumental in putting Duckhorn wines on the map.

The last dinner I'll discuss was one I worked on with Christian Mir and Elaine DiGiacomo of the Stone Creek Inn and Paul DeVerna of Hamptons Wine Shoppe. Christian insisted on pulling out all the stops for the dinner and with fresh truffles in the first two dishes sending the budget through the roof, I had to respond in kind with the wines. With a lobster dish that featured a vegetable broth and black truffles I paired a 2003 Domaine Caillot 'Les Herbeaux' Bourgogne Blanc that could easily pass for a Meursault, probably due to the site (just outside of Meursault) and the ripe, dry vintage that favored lesser vineyard sites in Burgundy. The 'money' dish was a risotto featuring shaved, fresh white truffles imported from Italy. Here I decided to be both traditional and a bit edgy and paired a Pinot Noir (the traditional part) from Alto-Adige (the edgy bit) in northern Italy. The 2003 Tiefenbrunner Lintaclarus Riserva Pinot Nero/Blauburgunder was powerful and elegant at the same time so it could stand up to the intense truffle character and not overwhelm those expensive little gems. Maybe due to the surprise element, but also the quality versus cost (hard to find, but it's available now for $28 at Hamptons Wine Shoppe, Westhampton), the Tiefenbrunner was the hit of the evening.

For Christian's venison entrée, I gave the guests an opportunity to see the potential of the excellent, often underrated 2004 vintage of Bordeaux. I decanted the 2004 Chateau du Tertre a good four hours before serving and the wine just blossomed in the glass with dinner, showing that this will age beautifully regardless of what the critics think (Parker originally thought great, then later changed his mind. I didn't). For dessert, featuring chocolates by Christian's Sous-Chef Daniel, I matched a 2005 Banyuls from La Tour Vieille, which is a Grenache-based wine from the Roussillon, a region in southern France not far from Christrian Mir's hometown. The chocolates, from Daniel's company Chocola'j, also featured Banyuls in them.

Some of these dinners, such as the one held at Le Cirque for Sherry-Lehman staff only, are private affairs. Others, like the one at Stone Creek Inn ($125 per person including gratuity), are open to the public with a reservation. Sherry-Lehmann offers many Master Classes throughout the year, and many restaurants also offer their own wine dinners, often posted on their websites. So my suggestion is this: check your local paper and your favorite restaurants' websites for opportunities and go to a couple of these dinners when you see them advertised. I'll probably see you there.