Double birthday

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Tonight a group of us gathered at Sup 1 to celebrate the birthday of a friend. Coincidentally it also happens to be my birthday on the lunar calendar. The food at the restaurant was pretty good, and we ended up sharing all the dishes as the evening progressed.

We started with some Japanese finger food like grilled ox tongue and deep-fried chicken cartilage. I chose to steer clear of the beef tartare given my experience after Monday night's dinner. We then had some crab meat and roe salad, steamed clams before moving on to the heavier dishes like roast chicken, lobster linguine, roast suckling pig. I was too full by this point so didn't touch the beef nor the desserts.

But with this crowd, it's the alcohol that takes center stage and there was plenty of it!

1999 Leroy Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot - wonderful nose of minerals, toast oak...it was like toasted popcorn kernals. A beautiful wine.

1989 Charles Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Champeaux - farmy manure, grass, sweet fruit. Later sharp nose of nail polish remover and a bit smoky. A bit cloudy and very smooth on the palate. One of the last vintages before the domaine was split up between the brothers.

1995 Dom Pérignon Œnothèque - a very beautiful wine. Toasy and a bit yeasty, with notes of straw and sweetness. Very good acidity balance and very fine bubbles. I've never disliked a bottle of this wine. I got a big pour of this, and kinda got me buzzed early on.

1969 Perrier-Jouët Rose Extra Brut Reserve Cuvée - there's only one word to describe the nose - 話梅 - or Chinese salty plums. OK so maybe it also smells a bit like Fino Sherry, but it's salty plum all the way. There are no bubbles left by now.

2005 Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru - Wow! The nose was sooo sweet and sugary, like cane sugar or even Japanese black sugar (黒飴). It was a bit flat on the palate, though...

1993 Thomas Moillard Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Clos de Thorey - alcoholic nose with sweet fruit notes and a bit minty.

1996 Sassicaia - I knew there'd be a lot of Burgs tonight so I brought something a bit different. Nose was sweet and a bit smoky. Smooth on the palate with a slightly acidic finish.

2000 Anne Gros Richebourg - nose was sweet with a bit of forest and kinda alcoholic. Still pretty full-bodied.

2003 La Feuilleraie - an unknown Pomerol, this was classic modern day Right Bank with smoke, toasty oak and sweet vanilla notes.

1979 Charles Heidsieck Brut - yeasty with sweet corn, a little salty with notes of salty plum (話梅).

1990 Henriot Cuvée des Enchanteleurs - toasty and yeasty.

An evening with this crowd always ends with too much to drink...but I didn't mind. After all it was a birthday celebration!