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After getting just a little buzzed from a bunch of 2010 Bordeaux at the
UGC tasting, it only made sense to keep on drinking at dinner!
etc wine shops had organized a dinner at the Pawn, pairing the sweet wines from Sauternes and Barsac with specific dishes. That sounded pretty interesting to me, so I signed up to see how things would turn out. Of course, it helped that wines from 3 of my favorite producers were being served…
NV Thiénot Rosé - nice nose of red fruits like raspberries.
Black treacle salmon, English crumpet and beetroot mousse - pretty good actually. I thought the flavors of the beetroot worked well with the salmon.
2006 Doisy-Daëne - wonderful nose of orange, honeydew melon, honey, acetone. Pretty sweet.
Butter poached salmon, lemon purée, cucumber and pistachio crumble - pretty decent, and the salmon was still very tender (didn't ask if it was
sous vide?) The palate-cleaning flavors of the cucumber, leeks and lemon were very refreshing.
1989 Guiraud - sweet, slightly nutty, a little raisiny with acetone.
48 hour Berkshire pork belly, roasted apple jelly, walnut purée and Hokkaido scallop - is there anything not to like about a hunk of pork belly, with crunchy crackling? Not sure why the scallops are here but they were OK. Not surprisingly the apple jelly and walnut
purée worked well with the sweet wines.
2005 Climens - honey, a bit nutty with acetone. Pretty sweet on the palate.
Venison loin, roast parsnip, dark chocolate sauce - the venison was tender, but didn't have the strong flavors I would have expected.
1964 Climens - lovely nose of honeydew melon, dates, walnut and acetone. Sweet with some acidity to balance things out on the palate.
1942 Doisy-Daëne - nutty, raisin, toffee with good depth of flavors. This is a year older than
the bottle from mom's vintage which I tasted a couple of years ago, and according to Fabrice Dubourdieu both vintages were bottled only in 1946 when the château was able to get their hands on enough glass bottles. What a privilege to have tasted this wine!
Rhubarb soufflé, tonka bean ice cream - as I had walked away from my seat to take some pictures, the staff didn't serve my dessert until I returned and asked for it. For some reason, the
soufflé had already collapsed by then... Rhubarb is not your usual flavor for
soufflé, but the ginger in completely overpowered and stole the limelight. The tonka bean ice cream wasn't bad. Some of my fellow diners left early because they didn't want to wait 20 minutes for the
soufflé, and they didn't miss much.
2009 Guiraud - a little plastic with some white flowers. Very sweet on the palate.
I really enjoyed the wines with dinner, and surprised that I didn't mind a bit that I was drinking very sweet wines with my food. I guess I've been training my palate with lots of German Rieslings over the last few years...
Many thanks for
Fabrice Dubourdieu of Doisy-Daëne,
Bérénice Lurton of Climens and
Augustin Lacaille of Guiraud for showcasing their fantastic wines.
2 comments:
Most people are surprised at how well Sauternes goes with all sorts of foods but there is good reasons. Firstly, the fruit flavours (or esters) are super-concentrated from the shrivelled botrytised grapes used to make Sauternes - this gives it the power to match strong food flavours such as spices (Indian or Chinese food), saltiness (cheese, oysters, lobster etc.) or richness (classically foie gras but also roast meats in rich creamy sauces). Sauternes also has good acidity to match the sweetness which helps it to cut through flavours and not appear over sweet alongside more bitter tastes. It really is the most versatile food wine that I know.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Steve!
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