This is still a work in progress as I upload tasting notes and wine labels from as far as 1999... Check back once in a while to get the updates.

January 25, 2010

MNSC Annual Dinner - Cuisine Cuisine

MNSC annual dinner at Cuisine Cuisine. Theme was 1990 Châteauneuf-du-Pape horizontal.

1990 Château de Fonsalette - while not exactly a CdP (this is actually Côtes-du-Rhône), this comes from the stable of Jacques Reynaud of Château Rayas. Nose was pretty alcoholic and sharp, smoky, a little bit of wet chalk, good amount of sweet fruit, game meat, leather and a hint of caramel. The color was a little amber at the rim, and the wine was soft and smooth on the palate.

1990 Château de Fonsalette Cuvée Syrah - an interesting cuvée made from 100% Syrah whose cuttings originally came from Gérard Chave. What an awesome wine! Rich and powerful, with notes of leather, bacon and game meats. The alcohol emerged sometime later. Sweet and soft on the palate. Delicious.

1990 Château Pignan - another wine from the cellars of Château Rayas, this second wine was a little disappointing tonight. Nose was very green, even a little moldy, with sweet grass and plenty of alcohol.

1990 Henri Bonneau Cuvée Marie Beurrier - the first of the trio from Bonneau, the nose had a hint of green, with sweeter fruit and somehow that familiar plastic, polyurethane nose I generally find in Rieslings...along with a little marmalade. Very long finish.

1990 Henri Bonneau Cuvée Spéciale - one whiff of this wine and there was never any doubt about the identity of this wine. The hugely alcoholic nose (16.5%)... so much so that it practically singed the hair inside my nose! Nose of coffee and loads of sweet fruit, with some caramel, oxidation and almost port-like. A full-bodied wine with a very long finish. Honestly it's a little too heavy for all of us, but interesting for academic reasons. My comment on this wine is similar to what I called the 2003 Clos Mimi Etiquette Rose (with its 19% alcohol) - it's a monster (怪獸).

1990 Henri Bonneau Cuvée Célestins - probably my favorite wine of the evening, and rightly so! Very sweet and smoky, with game meat, bacon, mint, eucalyptus and a little alcohol in the nose. A very open and opulent wine. Bravo! One of my friends made the analogy to a beautiful, sophisticated woman he would spend time and effort to seduce.

1990 Château Rayas - in contrast to the Célestins, this was a woman whose raw sexuality makes you just want to grab her and go at it immediately...or so says my friend. Sweet nose that was a little funky - but that's Rayas, isn't it? A little smoky with that familiar tropical fruit and lychee nose. Beautiful in its own right but somehow overshadowed by the Célestins tonight. Were she a real woman, she'd be hissing with jealousy.


Full post on dinner is here.

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