With the new year comes more Ultimate Pizza (see here for the whole series). In case you missed it, this is the totally hand crafted gourmet pizzas we cook at home.

Yum, Burgundy from the cellar. Parker gives 93 points. “One of the three batches that will be blended to make up d ‘Angerville’s 2005 Volnay Champans was still in malo, so I base my assessment on the other two. Scented with cherry and cassis, flowers and fungus, smoke and chalk dust, this displays richness and depth, fine tannins and emerging silkiness, and a youthfully firm but long finish loaded with savory subtleties. Just give it 6-8 years before revisiting. (The outstanding d’Angerville 2004s were also very late to finish malo, and the Champans is especially memorable for its vivid sauteed champignons, alluring ginger spice, marrowy richness, and flattering mouth feel, indeed comparable in quality though lacking the developmental potential of this 2005. As a striking example of mercantile bipolar disorder, I purchased this outstanding 2004 for $49.99 from a merchant whose price on the 2005 thus represented a 350% premium!)

The late Jacques d’Angerville’s son Guillaume and long-time wine making collaborator and brother-in-law Renaud de Villette can boast a superb collection of 2005s, but an equally apt tribute to the legacy of the late Marquis are the odds-beating results they bottled from 2004, when to the universal difficulties of that vintage were added the ravages of hail it visited on Volnay. The 2005s fermented with pump-overs but no punch-downs and exhibit formidable underlying structure yet pure fruit and early, flattering textural development.”

This is my son’s pizza. Straight up tomato, mozz, raw tomato pizza sauce, corn, figs.

This one has an ultimate pesto base.

Then my patented (albeit stolen from Wolfgang Puck) bagels and cream cheese pizza. First I brush the dough with white truffle oil and fresh rosemary from the garden, then bake.

Then I add creme fraiche mixed with dill and chives, red onion, and capers. Then lox. Yum yum.

Pizza mistress Mirella cooks up this one. Blue cheese and various other cheeses.

Then morel mushrooms, figs, almonds, and as a sauce: camelized onion compote.

here it is baked.

And dressed with balsamic glaze.

This one starts off old school with tomato sauce and mozz.

Then add mozzarella balls, basil, sun dried tomatoes and crushed red pepper.

Coming off the oven.

Now up is my personal favorite, the chickenless tikka masala pizza. With fresh masala sauce as the sauce. Then bucheron goat cheese, parmesan, almonds, corn, fresh ricotta, mozz balls, and red onion. Then as a new touch this time, I added spicy mango chutney.

Baked. The chutney really took this pizza to the next level. It basically tastes like naan with masala and yogurt + chutney.

But we’re not done yet. Add burrata, a little extra virgin olive oil, and some cilantro — this last amused me as it’s traditional to top a curry with fresh cilantro.

This cheesy monster tasted better than it looked!

Parker 94. The ultra rare riserva. “The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, from vines in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, is gorgeous, layered and elegant in its violets, tar, licorice and cherries. The finish is long and impeccable, but this is a somewhat ethereal style, with aromas and flavors that are already a touch forward relative to most 2004 Riservas. Ideally the wine is best enjoyed within the next decade. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2020.”

As a final pizza I made a new variant. This puppy has truffle oil, pesto, dabs of curry, corn, about five types of cheese (mozz, parm, blue, mozz balls, pecorino), figs, chanterelle mushrooms, onions, and even mango chutney.

Then baked.

And dressed with burrata and balsamic glaze. Really good stuff.

Just a bit of the mid pizza carnage.

For dessert out comes the 1988 Rayne-Vigneau. Parker 91. “The 1988 is the best example I have tasted from this property. An intense, honeyed, pear, flower, and apricot fragrance is reminiscent of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. In the mouth, there is exceptional richness, super focus because of fine acidity, a wonderful touch of toasty new oak, and an elegant, very positive, crisp finish. This is a beautifully made, authoritative tasting, and impeccably well-balanced Sauternes. Anticipated maturity: Now-2006. Last tasted, 3/90.”

Then some mini cupcakes from dots in Pasadena.

And a selection of mini desserts from closer at hand.

The eclair din’t even fit in the box, so he’s lurking on his own.

If there had been a wafer thin mint I would have been coating the walls!

Well, we’ve pretty much got our whole pizza thing down to a science, but still, each time you learn something. I’m still working on the mechanics of transfer into the hot over. If a pizza makes it into the oven without spilling anything then it always cooks perfectly. Get it out — provided you lube up the pizza stones with corn meal — is easy. But I made progress. By making sure to put the pizza’s on the end of the peel, to lube well, and using a new pizza sized teflon spatula I was able to keep things pretty much under control.

Make sure to check out how I make all the components and other pizzas here.