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Tonight I returned to Caprice as we gathered for another MNSC dinner.  It's been a pretty rough month as far as financial markets go, so I was pretty happy to have an occasion to toast the end of this fairly miserable month...

The amuse bouche consisted of duck rillettes on toast, dauphinoise potato, and tomato and eggplant purée.  Neither the rillettes nor the dauphinoise came in a form I expected, but both tasted pretty yummy.  The cold purée was exceptional and refreshing.

Petits gris snails fricassée, Jabugo ham, tomato and eggplant in black garlic sauce - this was pretty yummy.  It's been a while since I last had some escargot, and the combination with tomato and eggplant worked pretty well.

Roasted cod fillet, Vaucluse white asparagus and wild mushroom in light emulsion - cod is one of my favorite fish as I love the texture.  The accompanying mushrooms and white asparagus were very, very tasty - especially the mushrooms.

Racan pigeon en croûte, nori seaweed, foie gras, broad bean and artichoke fricassée - oh yes, my current favorite dish at Caprice...  I was honestly kinda full when this arrived in front of me, having had a little too much bread with that awesome butter...  we were joking about how the foie kinda oozed and fell out of the pastry shell as we tried to cut into it.  Lots of calories and cholesterol here, but I love it.  I can't believe I actually finished it...

Caramel apple tart, cinnamon mousse and granny smith sorbet - I was so full I decided not to have any cheese, and just wanted the dessert.  I thought it was pretty good... especially at the end of a very rich meal.  The acidity of the apples certainly helped.

MNSC dinners are about wine, and what a line-up we had tonight! 

2000 De Sousa Cuvée des Caudalies - I had a bottle of the NV blanc de blancs here last year and loved it.  The 2000 vintage is even better.  Nose was very sweet with a little caramel, some oxidized pear, minerals, honey and marshmallow...  I could get used to drinking this...

1991 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne - A very beautiful wine.  Lots of toast, minerals, popcorn, lemon, honey, smoke, sulfur...  Nose was huge, fragrant and opulent, and the wine was incredibly smooth on the palate.  95 points.

1985 Jean Grivot Richebourg - this was struck off from scoring because it was a tiny bit corked.  I thought it drank OK but with obvious vegetal notes, along with straw, smoke on top of the sweet fruit nose.  Finish was pretty long.

1985 Gros Frère & Soeur Grands Echezeaux - easily my wine of the evening.  I was blown away by the nose from the start.  Sooooo perfumed, sweet, jammy but not overpowering... Totally, totally osmanthus (桂花) that kept on giving until the end of the evening when I finally finished the last sip.  Also notes of orange, straw, and prunes.  So smooth on the palate.  An absolutely fantastic wine, and I'm going to get my hands on some of this!  99 points.

1985 Dujac Clos de la Roche - another beautiful and open wine, with cassis, floral, violet, black fruits and a little gamey.  95 points.

1985 Joseph Drouhin Musigny - much more closed than the Dujac, with more concentration.  Fruit and sweet nose which opened up after a while, minty, smoky with some soy sauce.  93 points.

1985 DRC Romanée-Saint-Vivant - sweet nose with eucalyptus, spices, floral, gamey notes along with some mushrooms.  Very lovely although at one point the sharpness of the alcohol became noticeable.  95 points.

1985 DRC Richebourg - another awesome wine, with smoked game meats, a little sous bois and floral notes.  96 points.

I was very, very stuffed and - in typical fashion - pretty drunk despite not having finished all the amazing wines in my glasses.  It was a real treat to be able to taste all these wonderful '85s, and it was revealed at the end of the evening that the single source of tonight's reds was Altaya Wines.  Well done!