Archive for Wine – Page 19

The High Life – 71Above

Sep16

Restaurant: 71Above [1, 2, 3]

Location: 633 W 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071

Date: September 12, 2016

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Awesome in all ways

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This is my second visit to one of LA’s latest and hottest event restaurants, 71Above. The first can be found here.

Besides being located on the 71st floor (950 feet up!) of the US Bank building, being the highest restaurant west of the Mississippi, and showcasing the food of Chef Vartan Abgaryan, it’s owned and operated by my friend Emil Eyvazoff!

This is no casual opening, but a massive (and gorgeous) multipart buildout that encompasses the entire floor. Above is part of the lounge/bar.

And behind that is the stunning dining room with its computer controlled auto tinting windows. Beyond that the view continues all the way around with the chef’s table and several more intimate private dining areas.

The view alone is worth the price of admission, and offers varied sights depending on your 360 degree angle. Notice how even the second tallest building downtown (seen under construction here) is below eye level! On a clear day you can easily see the vast sweep of the Pacific and several mountain ranges.

1996 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses. BH 97. One of the greatest examples of the ’96 vintage, this wine has it all with elegance, intensity, subtlety and grace, not to mention buckets of unrealized potential that will enable this beauty to improve for at least another decade and perhaps longer. I can only imagine just how good this would be from magnum format! The nose is discreet, reserved and pure with lemon, green apple and layers upon layers of fruit framed by just the right amount of yeast influence that continues onto the exceptionally dry and tight flavors that are crisp and refined as well as superbly intense yet through it all there is this underlying sense of harmony, as though all of the elements are working in concert. The greatest wines, at least those cut from classical cloth, persuade through the subtlest means and so it is with the ’96 Goisses, which is indeed a great wine by any measure. While it is drinkable now, for my taste preferences a lot of potential would be left in the glass and I wouldn’t start in earnest on this for another 5+ years.

Tease, we didn’t open this bottle.

1992 Louis Latour Montrachet. BH 93.  exotic aromas merge into powerful, intense and long medium-bodied flavors that offer excellent length and vibrancy, especially in the context of the vintage. This is really quite good with ample density and plenty of refinement. Moreover, it exhibits no signs of fatigue, at least when the bottles have been impeccably stored.

agavin: In pretty great shape. Not a ton of fruit, but a lot of body and complexity.

Savory Canelé. Looks just like the not so savory kind, and has the same wonderful texture, but instead offered an evocative warm taste of rosemary and maybe cheese.

2008 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. VM 93+. Bright, pale golden-yellow. Sexy aromas of orange, honeysuckle, hazelnut and toast. Big, silky, rich and deep but not especially showy today as its stony minerality currently dominates the palate. A downright profound premier cru with outstanding persistence. It will be interesting to taste this next to the superb ’07 in about eight years.

2003 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bourgogne Blanc. 90 points. Very pale gold in appearance. The nose was very pure, clean, elegant and full of white flowers. On the palate, minerally with good acidity. Peach, yellow fruits like kiwi and a hint of rocks and stone. This was definitely a Puligny wasnt it? Table was torn between Meursault and Puligny, some were on a 1er or Grand. When Wayne revealed it was a Bourgogne, it could only be Vogue, and what an experience. The only discouraging note was that the wine lacked the structure and also had a tad of bitterness and roughness at the end. Nevertheless, it was extremely enojoyable and in a good drinking window.

From my cellar: 2011 Prager Riesling Smaragd Wachstum Bodenstein. VM 92. Initially reminiscent of slate and fresh rain, the nose evolves toward apricot and peach fruit along with caraway seed and lemongrass. Bracing lively acidity gives a weightless quality to the intense flavors of yellow plum, wild spice and abundant minerals. Seductive and stylish, with noteworthy grip and persistence, this is an excellent 2011. Some may prefer it, but the lower alcohol and marvelous freshness speak for 2012 as the slightly better of these two excellent rieslings.

Oyster. Poached, Uni, Caviar, Tarragon, Champagne. A super yummy bite of umami goodness. Very bright with strong flavors from the tartar-like sauce.

2014 Albert Grivault Meursault Clos du Murger.

1999 Henri Boillot Chevalier-Montrachet. 90 points. Had a steeliness on the palate that seems typical of 99. As the night went on, I felt like the power that H. Boillot is known for was trying to peek out as you can start to taste that density of fruit but the wine just needed time. There was a zest in the background, but still needing more time. I was actually very surprised how little it was giving up as the 00/02/04 chevs have been drinking wonderful in the past year or so.

1990 Pierre Bitouzet Corton-Charlemagne. JG 93.

Shrimp. Mango, Avocado, Fresno Chile, Sorrel, Chicharrón. Also extremely bright. A little heat, and very tangy. Loved this slightly Vietnamese-inspired sauce.

1976 Mayacamas Vineyards Chardonnay. 88 points. Dark yellow. Some peaches underlying moderate oxidative aromas. Actually on the palate, the wine was not bad. Amazing that a California chard could show this well at 35 years.

1998 Sine Qua Non Backward & Forward. VM 93. Pale peach skin color. Deep, complex nose of apple, nut skin, apricot and minerals; this somewhat resembled a bottle of 1990 Pol Roger Winston Churchill I had tasted 15 minutes earlier. Thick, penetrating and solidly structured; rich, nuanced flavors of vanilla, minerals, apricot and superripe peach. Wonderful sweetness and chewy texture more akin to the Southern Rhone than to Southern California. Great building length on the finish. Close in quality to the extraordinary ’95 Sine Qua Non white blend labelled The Bride.

2014 Donelan Vénus. VM 91. The 2014 Venus is lovely, soft and understated. Apricot pit, mint, chamomile and dried flowers flesh out nicely in this very pretty, expressive Roussanne/Viognier blend. Veins of supporting acidity give the wine its freshness and sense of overall proportion. There is plenty to like here.

Octopus. Grilled, Peach, Lemon, Mustards, Pickled Pearl Onion, Herbs. A great piece of octopus. Tender inside and a little crispy on the outside. Nice bits of mustards.

From my cellar: 1991 Domaine Georges Mugneret/Mugneret-Gibourg Echezeaux. BH 94. This possesses perhaps the most complex nose of any of these “youngsters” as there is a potent mix of spice, game, herb, leather, earth and smoke nuances that seems to signal the remarkably dense, sweet and intense flavors of near perfect balance and stunning length. While this is sublime now there is sufficient structure to carry it another 10 to 15 years with no problem, perhaps longer. In a word, astonishing and highly recommended.

agavin: I may have brought it, but for me, it was also (red) WOTN. Really expressive.

1990 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Volnay 1er Cru Santenots-Du-Milieu. BH 87. Rich, fragrant and complex black fruit aromas explode from the glass and lead to very rich, robust, indeed almost massive flavors underpinned by chunky tannins and good length if not much finesse or elegance. This is not a typical Volnay and will appeal more to those who enjoy Rhone-style Burgundies as it’s a powerful Volnay.

1990 Domaine Rossignol Trapet Chapelle-Chambertin. 96 points. Considerable bricking and somewhat opaque; knew from the outset it was at least fifteen years old. The luxurious bouquet sings with the finest elements of great Burgundy! Sous-bois, earth, rose petals, charred cork, and hints of smoke, etc. The wine features brilliantly focused acidity, all the elements on the bouquet, and a mind-bending textural mouthfeel! Lasting finish marked by tremendous acidity and unbridled deliciousness!

2009 Domaine Joseph Voillot Volnay 1er Cru Les Fremiets. BH 91. A deft touch of wood sets off an attractive mix of violets, wet stone and ripe red cherry aromas. The rich, full and seductively textured flavors possess excellent delineation and fine length. This is on the awkward side today as it hasn’t fully harmonized but the underlying material is of sufficiently high quality that it should do so in time.

1990 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Le Corton. BH 92. A complex nose of earth, leather, game and very ripe, in fact hints of over ripe pinot fruit leading to still firmly structured flavors are underpinned by curiously dusty, chalky tannins with outstanding length. In many ’90s, the fruit will never outlast the fruit but here the structure is completely integrated with the sappy and mouth coating flavors and finish. The only nit is that the wood is not subtle and while not dominant, if it hasn’t melted into the essence of the wine by now, it probably will always display a trace of it. Still, this is a most impressive effort in every respect and certainly built for the long haul as this is no where near its apogee in this format.

1994 Prince Florent de Merode Corton-Clos du Roi.

Suckling pig. Loin, Belly, Confit Pressé, Young Lettuces, Cherry, Mustard. An awesome trio of pig. The rich pork belly, the succulent loin, moist and with delicious herbal notes, and the confit fritter. Wow! A bit of chorizo juice on top too.

1990 Lynch Bages. Parker 99. This magnificent Lynch Bages has been drinking well since the day it was released and it continues to go from strength to strength. The biggest, richest, fullest-bodied Lynch Bages until the 2000, the fully mature 1990 exhibits an unbelievably explosive nose of black currants, cedarwood, herbs and spice. The majestic, classically Bordeaux aromatics are followed by a full-bodied, voluptuously textured, rich, intense wine with superb purity as well as thrilling levels of fruit, glycerin and sweetness. This beauty should continue to provide immense pleasure over the next 15+ years.

1978 Leoville-Las Cases. Parker 90-93. The 1978 Las Cases has taken on a garnet hue with some dark ruby tints. The nose is more complex and penetrating than the flavors. The wine offers classic, mineral, lead pencil, smoky, earthy scents, with plenty of ripe fruit, and none of the vegetal herbaceousness that many 1978s have begun to exhibit. The attack offers good ripeness, medium to full body, higher acidity than many more recent vintages, and considerable tannin in the hard finish. Although this wine possesses outstanding complexity, the high tannin level may never fully melt away. While it will last another 15-20 years, the 1978 is at its apogee and will slowly dry out over the next two decades.

1973 Rothschild Brothers of California Cabernet Sauvignon. 84 points. The nose speaks of old, maderized, gone wine. The palate initially also seems tired, but bottle after bottle, they wake up after an hour. Dried cherries and some woody notes on the palate; silky; some worcestershire. Unsure how this was 20 years ago (probably just okay) but surprising that this has any character left at this point.

1995 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 99-100. The 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon is cut from the same mold as the profound 1996, displaying astonishing levels of black fruits (the usual suspects – blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and cassis), phenomenal concentration, and virtually perfect balance and equilibrium.

1982 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 73. Me 93. Tasted like a nice 82 Bordeaux!

2009 Donelan Syrah Obsidian Vineyard. VM 95. Another stellar wine, 2009 Syrah Obsidian Vineyard is fabulous today. In 2009, the Obsidian has a little more fruit, richness and sheer volume, all of which serve to balance some of the wilder notes of this cool-climate, marginal site. Dark, sensual and alluring, the 2009 Obsidian is firing on all cylinders today. This full-throttle Syrah should drink well for another decade, perhaps beyond.

Prime Ribeye. Dry-Aged, Eggplant, Black Garlic Miso, Onion, Cipollini Jus. A fabulous hunk of rich meat. Super tender and marbled with a very intense (good for me) sauce.

The dessert menu.

1997 Domaine Robert Groffier Bonnes Mares. VM 94+. Knockout aromas of black and red fruits, flowers, mocha and game. Great freshness and grip on the palate; at once thick and penetrating. Superripe flavors of framboise and blackberry. This powerfully structured wine quickly closed up in the glass. Very subtle and very long on the aftertaste. Another remarkable ’97: the crop level here was just 22 hectoliters per hectare, according to Serge Groffier.

Caramel Custard. Truffle-Praline Almonds, young coconut sorbet, vanilla white soy gelee, pork & maple powder. Awesome dessert. Very soft, almost sweet-soup-like, broken up by the almond crunch.

Lemon Curd. Sparkling goat’s milk ice, vanilla rhubarb, sweet basil oil, wild bay leaf ice cream, cherry blossom gelee. Really interesting flavors and textures. Barely a dessert actually as it was more like an herb/lemon ice — extremely savory and refreshing.

Chocolate. Cremeux, gel, ganache, smoked, yogurt sorbet.

The wine lineup.

Emil Eyvazoff on the left and Chef Vartan Abgaryan on the right.

Heading down!

Overall, 71Above is just a seriously well conceived and executed one-of-a-kind restaurant. Really, it’s more like a NY, Singapore, or Tokyo kind of concept. First of all, the view is just awesome. I can’t wait to come back on a really clear day. Particularly once they begin brunch service, a nice winter day will offer an observation deck like panorama.

But then Emil and crew built out such a lovely space to capture the drama. It’s modern, but welcoming. Not too loud, you can here the conversation and the music both. And from when you enter off the double elevator ascent it folds from one experience to another: lounge, dining room, more intimate corridors, chef table, quiet and romantic view areas in the back, and a series of two adjustable private dining rooms. The attention to architectural detail is amazing.

Then the menu has a creative format with a fixed price (currently $70) and three savory courses. You can pick from six options per category. If you are a glutton like me, you can add extra courses – and of course dessert.

But an interesting menu wouldn’t be anything without great execution. As you can see above the plating is modern but approachable and highly attractive. But the flavor on the dishes is paramount, and really quite excellent, particularly considering their complexity and textural variation. There is a balanced quality between opposite forces in Chef Abgaryan’s cooking that pulls from Chinese culinary theory, while that specific flavors and combinations are largely American/European. It’s both approachable and sophisticated. Bravo!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More Foodie Club outings here.

Related posts:

  1. Wine in the Sky – 71Above
  2. Sauvage Spago
  3. Sauvages at Upstairs 2
  4. Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style
  5. Babykiller Birthday
By: agavin
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Sauvages at Upstairs 2

Sep12

Restaurant: Upstairs 2 [1, 2]

Location:  2311 Cotner Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064 Tel. 310-231-0316

Date: September 9, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Tapas

Rating: Bright flavors and a lot of options.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Upstairs 2 is located just above the Wine House on Cotner. The main room serves an eclectic tapas menu, but as this was a special Sauvages du Vin lunch (always a lunch, always Friday) we gathered upstairs in the private room for a special menu and flights of themed wine. This time around Grand and 1re cru Red Burgundy from the village of Gevrey-Chambertin, vintages older than 2004.

Today’s special menu.

Flight 0

The whites are bonuses that various people brought – like me.

From my cellar: 2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros. BH 92-95. A classic Chablis nose of mineral reduction, oyster shell and green fruit aromas merges into sappy, rich and powerful flavors that possess more refinement than usual on the long, sappy and beautifully detailed finish. I’m impressed that this seems to have to rusticity and in this sense, it’s a bit atypical.

1999 Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets. 83 points. Our bottle was “very” advanced. Golden and oxidative.

2005 Brewer-Clifton Chardonnay Mount Carmel. VM 91. Light yellow. Rich pineapple and lichee on the nose, with fresh melon and fig adding complexity. A real fruit basket on the palate, displaying peach, honeydew, tropical fruits and an exotic licorice quality. Picks up sexy baking spices on the long, juicy finish. I prefer the finesse of this to the power of the Seasmoke today.

The gang gathers in the private room. Amusingly, this was the very same room in which I took my Italian Sommelier mastery class
4.5 years ago!

Flight 1

1999 Domaine Rene Leclerc Griotte-Chambertin. 92 points. Bright ruby. Very seductive and perfumed nose of first roses, then cherry, raspberry and a touch of roast. Somewhat tight on the palate, yielding some cherry and flowers. Gritty tannins with medium acidity and body. Sappy finish with medium to long persistence. Needs at least another 3-5 years to come together.

1990 Serafin Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin. 90 points. Black fruit with earthy hints, overall a bit firm and rustic. Nice fruit, length and balance, but I was surprised this was from 1990 given the wine’s firm structure and seemingly modest ripeness.

1996 Geantet-Pansiot Charmes-Chambertin. VM 94. Saturated deep ruby; one of the darkest ’96s I saw in November. Multifaceted nose combines black fruits, violet, licorice, espresso, smoke, gibier and sweet butter. The class of the cellar in terms of concentration, sweetness, finesse and length; in fact, today this wine makes Geantet’s ’95 seem almost heavy in comparison. Lovely roundness and clarity of flavor. Really explodes on the palate-staining finish.

1996 Dominique Laurent Chambertin. VM 92-95. Much deeper red-ruby color. Brilliant sauvage perfume of dark fruits, mocha and Chambertin earth. Very intensely flavored but folded in on itself; currently showing less texture and volume than the Clos de Beze. But explodes and expands on the finish, which features powerful, chewy tannins. A musclebound wine that will need at least seven or eight years of bottle aging.

Foie Gras Terrine. Burgundy-Pomegranate Reduction. Pretty straight up duck liver goodness!

Flight 2

From my cellar: 1998 Domaine Bruno Clair Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Petite Chapelle. 93 points. Lots of cherry fruit and good structure. Quite delicious.

1998 Claude Dugat Chapelle-Chambertin. VM 89-92. Dugat vinifies two barrels of Chapelle-Chambertin juice owned by Philippe Livera and Butterfield & Robinson, keeping one barrel for himself.<BR> Higher-toned aromas of iron, earth and game. Penetrating and rather powerful, but a less fruit-driven style than the wines from Dugat’s own vines. Not quite as much material or nuance here. Soaking up the oak more quickly, and thus a bit drier on the finish. But still impressive.

1997 Domaine Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin Très Vieilles Vignes. VM 93. Deep red. Perfumed, nuanced aromas of cherry, faded rose, woodsmoke and bacon fat. Tighter and less showy than the last two bottles, but displayed sappy, intense red fruit flavors with aeration. A rarity: a ’97 with real finesse. Finishes very long and juicy, with unusually supple tannins for this wine, from some of the oldest vines on the Cote de Nuits.

agavin: voted WOTD (wine of the day)

1998 Hospices de Beaune Mazis-Chambertin Cuvée Madeleine Collignon Louis Jadot.

Flight 3

Pan Seared Quail. Roasted grapes, poltry reduction, celeriac choucroute. A nice small game bird dish.

1999 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques. BH 91-93. Roasted ripe fruit that has a mix of red and black fruits, especially black cherry with wonderfully spicy, complex flavors that are both rich and dense. This is very ripe but the acidity is more pronounced which does a better job of balancing off the richness. Clos St. Jacques is almost always the finest Gevrey 1er chez Jadot and 99 is no exception. Grand cru quality and because of the richness, this will be approachable young but drink well for a long time.

1999 Domaine Joseph Roty Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Fontenys. VM 91. Full red. Expressive aromas of raspberry, woodsmoke, tobacco and game. Sweet and pliant, with very ripe flavors of meat and tobacco. Showing more personality today than the Brunelle or Clos Prieur. Lovely ripe, harmonious acidity. Finishes very long, with fine tannins. This was delicious since the beginning.

2000 Domaine Joseph Roty Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Fontenys. VM 90+. Red-ruby. Floral aromas of red cherry, licorice and tarry oak. More perfumed than the foregoing wines; tightly wound but very aromatic in the mouth, with dark fruit and licorice notes. Pure and fresh for the year but in need of aging.

2001 Domaine Joseph Roty Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Fontenys. VM 91+. Full ruby-red. Pure, vibrant aromas of berries, cherry, minerals and flowers. Sweet, stony, minerally and quite firm, with refreshing framing acidity. ?A mix of old vines and very old vines from a very hot part of this vineyard,? says Philippe, adding that the fruit here came in with a relatively high 12.5% potential alcohol in 2001. Structured finish features firm acids and serious but supple tannins.

agavin: our bottle was slightly tainted

Pan roasted Duck Breast. Cauliflower Puree. Duck Demi-Glace. Some perfect bits of medium rare duck breast. Very juicy.

Flight 4

The partial flight lineup.

2002 Claude Dugat Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques. VM 94+. right ruby-red. Deeply smoky aromas and flavors of black and red cherry and violet. Less nuanced and expressive today than the 1er cru, but also boasts terrific freshness of fruit. Brilliantly primary wine, finishing with slow-building, extremely persistent flavor and superb grip. Give the 1er cru six years in the bottle, but hold off on this one for seven or eight. (Incidentally, Dugat opened a bottle of the ’92 Lavaux, no doubt to make the point that his wines age better than some critics believe. It was a knockout: at its peak right now, and more stylish and complex than 99% of Burgundies from this relatively early-maturing vintage.)

2001 Domaine Perrot-Minot Mazoyères-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. BH 93. This is much like the ’02 in style with a sterner and less elegant character but a good deal more power and the same masculine quality. Earthy, robust and slightly austere minerality and a mix of red and black fruit aromas introduce precise and brilliantly intense flavors that deliver outstanding length and simply incredible complexity. I rarely prefer big over fine but the additional complexity and depth of material make this a better wine and this is just flat out wonderful.

2002 Domaine Perrot-Minot Mazoyères-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. VM 92. Good deep ruby-red. Knockout nose combines black fruits, minerals and coffee. Richer and more tactile than the Charmes but not sweeter; more massive and powerful. This boasts very strong fruit without coming across as overly sweet or heavy. A wine of compelling length, with the well-buffered tannins coating the entire palate.

2002 Louis Jadot Chapelle-Chambertin. VM 90-93. Good bright ruby-red. High-toned roasted fruits, licorice, violet and sweet oak on the nose. Sweet, supple and creamy, with fruit currently dominated by an exotic coconutty oak quality. A second barrel showed even riper aromas and superb richness.

2002 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. VM 92. Ruby-red. Wild, musky aromas of strawberry, minerals and smoky oak. Wonderfully silky on entry, then suave and aristocratic in the middle palate. Very subtle flavors build impressively on the sweet finish, which features very fine tannins.

Grilled Alpine NY Strip. Gratin of Root Vegetables. Haricot Verts. Truffle Jus. I loved the meat and “potatoes” quality of this dish — particularly that the potatoes were rich and cheesy.

Expresso Ice Cream. A nice creamy bit of ice cream clearly made with real expresso beans.

The lineup.

Overall Upstairs 2 did an awesome job with this dinner. Wine service was good and the food was a fowl collection of tasty morsels. Sorry, couldn’t resist. We had only 1-2 flawed wines and a lot of great showings from Gevrey, particularly the 90s wines. Sauvages is always a great time.

Related posts:

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  5. Sauvage Spago
By: agavin
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Weird Sausages by the Sea

Aug08

I was lucky enough to be invited again to a absolutely fabulous wine dinner hosted by my friend Eric Cotsen at his lovely Malibu pad. The group was mostly Hedonists, with a few other pals of Eric’s mixed in. Eric has these diners regularly and they feature an awesome setting, great company, wonderful food, and amazing wines provided by both him and the guests.

You can see the ocean is right there! Like under the house.

The bright and eclectic decor is so Malibu!

And the wines that everyone brought are hidden in socks and served in a giant blind free-for-all, but we start off with some whites.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

From my cellar: 2006 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. VM 96+. A reserved, indeed even reluctant nose of fresh and stony green fruit and citrus aromas that offer real depth leads to precise, minerally and exceptionally powerful full-bodied flavors that possess huge amounts of dry extract on the hugely long finish. This is still sorting itself out but the quality of the raw materials is impeccable and it possesses impressive potential, which will require at least a decade to realize. One of the finest examples from this appellation in the 2006 vintage.

2014 Aubert Chardonnay Eastside Vineyard. 95 points. Nose of butterscotch, beeswax, glycerin, pear, minerals and a touch of honey, very aromatic, flowery nose, of rose and salvia, more of the same on the palate, still very young and slightly subdued, very tasty during the 90 minute dinner, big body, mouth filling, intense fruit, long, flavorful finish of pineapple, salvia, and sage. Better in 2 years.

agavin: lots of malo, but some acid too.

2012 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. VM 94. Soil-driven aromas of apple, biscuit, chlorophyll, fern, anise and flowers. Quite rich, sappy and concentrated, conveying a strong impression of dry extract and stony minerality. Powerful, very solidly built premier cru with a very long finish tinged by licorice. I would not be surprised if this wine needs a good seven or eight years of cellaring to approach its peak.

Various cheeses.

And marcona almonds.

Eric brought out a set of his own reds to be tasted first (blind). They all shared a common “2007” theme, not that we knew that until later.

2007 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 99-100. One of the top wines in this incredible vintage is Avril’s 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape, which is the normal blend of 65% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah and the rest of mix of permitted varieties. Brought up all in older foudre, it’s a blockbuster, almost over-the-top, effort that gives up notes of kirsch, incense, dried flowers, spice and pepper. Deep, full-bodied, massively concentrated, unctuous and downright sexy, it needs another 2-3 years of cellaring and will have 30 years or more of overall longevity.

2007 Dominus Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 98. The 2008 Dominus may eclipse the 2007, but it may just be a matter of style. The 2007 Dominus, the quintessential model of haute couture, is pure elegance exhibiting a seamless integration of wood, tannin, alcohol and acidity as well as a complex bouquet of cedar, new saddle leather, sweet kirsch, black currant and plum fruit and a notion of licorice. Both the 2007 and 2008 Dominus should drink well for 25-30 years. 
2007 Harlan Estate The Maiden. Parker 93. As outstanding as the 2008 is, it is eclipsed by the brilliant 2007 The Maiden, perhaps the finest second wine yet made here. Sweet tobacco leaf, fruitcake, creme de cassis, black currant and licorice aromas emerge from this round, opulent, voluptuously textured wine. It is very much in keeping with the 2007 vintage. Enjoy it over the next 10-15 years.

agavin: ours was corked 🙁

2007 Joseph Phelps Insignia Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 99. Aged 24 months in new French oak, this infant 2007 exhibits an inky/purple color along with notes of graphite, spring flowers and smoky oak. This full-bodied, classic Insignia reveals fabulous depth, ripeness, texture, viscosity and richness. Still young and unformed, it should evolve for 25 or more years.

Tonight had a “game” theme, so we had a whole slew of sausages from whacky animals. This first one is Alpaca Hot Italian!

Then goat garlic basil.

And camel French apple — near universal favorite. Never had camel before!

Ostrich!

Alligator bayou. A little mushy and weird.

Rattle snake with rabbit and Jalepeno. I’m sure there was more rabbit than rattlesnake.

Yak bratwurst. My second favorite after the camel.

Kangaroo bratwurst. Not bad.

Camel chipotle cheddar. Not nearly as good as the first camel.

Ostrich egg scrambled in the egg. That’s just one egg worth and it filled up two halves of the shell!

Some beef for later.
The chaos of the early tasting.

And people sampling the sausages.

Next we move outside to the fiery seaside table.

A light vegan salad with herbs. Almost Vietnamese or Thai in style.

Risotto.

Green vegetables. Nice crunch.

Roasted carrots. Great for carrots.

And this amazing filet mignon with a rich savory BBQ sauce.

For dessert this awesome salted caramel gelato with chocolate chunks.

And one of the richest brownies I’ve ever had. Amazing.

The chef plates and entertains!

Oh, and fruit. For those who eat fruit!

While eating all this we sat around drinking all these wines (blind at first):

2002 Domaine Perrot-Minot Clos Vougeot. VM 91-94. Medium ruby. Expressive, nuanced aromas of black cherry, animal fur, smoke, minerals and nutty oak. Sweet, superripe and generous, with surprisingly opulent black fruit and mineral flavors. Finishes with substantial but fine, horizontal tannins and enticing sweetness. Like so many Clos Vougeots from this vintage, the tannins seem nobler than usual.

agavin: our bottle was off. Corked?

2005 Marcassin Pinot Noir Three Sisters Vineyard. 93 points. Like a very young red burg.

2005 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 93+. Inky ruby. Ripe, powerful boysenberry and blueberry aromas are deepened by musky tobacco and dark chocolate. Weighty dark berry flavors verge on thick; initially brooding but brightens with air, picking up an energetic, stony character. Red fruits build on a long, sappy finish. A serious style, and not for those who demand elegance.

1990 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 96. Two great back to back vintages are the 1990 and 1989. The more developed 1990 boasts an incredible perfume of hickory wood, coffee, smoked meat, Asian spices, black cherries, and blackberries. Lush, opulent, and full-bodied, it is a fully mature, profound Beaucastel that will last another 15-20 years.

2001 Gaja Barbaresco Riserva Che Storia. 91 points. Young, highly structured Neb.

2003 Angelo Gaja Sperss. Parker 93. Gaja’s 2003 Sperss is made from vineyards in Serralunga and offers better balance than the Conteisa. It is plump and juicy, with a generous core of dark fruit, tar and menthol supported by a massive, imposing structure. The wine offers notable length although there is a suggestion of heat on the finish. This powerful, brooding Sperss will require patience, even if today it gives the illusion of being a relatively accessible vintage for this wine. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2023.

From my cellar: 1990 Vega Sicilia Unico. Parker 96. Served from magnum, the 1990 Unico (a blend of 80% Tinto Fino and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon) possesses and extraordinarily, opulent bouquet with cassis, blood orange, Italian cured meat and crushed stone. It is extremely well defined and powerful yet succinctly focused. The palate is ripe and sweet on the entry. Vibrant red fruit, orange peel, marmalade, Asian spices all vie for attention. There is great weight and potency, building in the mouth that is rich in glycerine and climaxes with a spicy, meaty finish that tightly grips the mouth. It has a Right Bank, Cabernet Franc like persona. This is a lovely, decadent Unico that is surfeit with fresh and vitality, a Rubenesque Unico of some style. 109,548 bottles produced. Drink now-2030.

agavin: as Amanda put it, hints of saddle leather. Really delicious though, and many though the WOTN.

1970 Beychevelle. Parker 85. Fully mature with a spicy, plum-like bouquet, and some caramel aromas, the 1970 Beychevelle is round, fruity, quite silky and soft, and nicely concentrated. It lacks complexity and the depth of the best 1970s, but is still quite attractive. Anticipated maturity: Now. Last tasted, 4/88.

2003 Greenock Creek Shiraz Roennfeldt Road. Parker 96. The 2003 Shiraz Roennfeldt Road offers up an ethereal perfume of sandalwood, incense, lavender, Asian spices, and blueberry compote. Rich, dense, and very long in the finish, the wine’s 18.5% alcohol pokes through with a touch of heat. For that reason, it is likely to be controversial.

1995 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Volcanic Hill. 92 points. A throwback. The nose was a nice mix of cassis and cedar. Over two hours, it put on weight and went from a nice but lightweight to a medium weight, concentrated but still light on its feet cab. The last sip was the best suggesting that this still has many years of positive development in front of it.

2012 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Cask 23. VM 91. The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon CASK 23 is the biggest and richest of these wines from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Broad and expansive on the palate, the 2012 is quite pretty, but stops short of being truly exciting. Blue and black fruits, violets and sweet spices add nuance on the perfumed, generous finish.

2006 Colgin Cariad Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 98. Meriting the same rating I gave it at its release, the 2006 Cariad is composed of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot. One of the stars of the vintage, this thrilling, opaque purple-colored wine offers up sweet espresso, jus de viande, blackberry, blueberry, flower and chocolate aromas. A fabulous texture, tremendous purity, sensational brightness and authoritative flavor intensity allied to striking complexity and elegance are the signature of this creative blend from the David Abreu vineyards of Thorevilos and Madrona Ranch. Six hundred cases were produced. Give this wine another 3-4 years of cellaring and enjoy it over the following 15+.

2010 Joseph Phelps Insignia Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 95. A gorgeously intense bouquet of lead pencil shavings, spring flowers, black currants, blackberries, and subtle smoke and foresty aromas jumps from the glass of this full-bodied, rich, concentrated wine with soft tannins, a multidimensional mouthfeel, and a long, rich finish displaying well-integrated acidity, tannin, alcohol and wood. This beauty is one of the top Insignias produced over recent years. It should age easily for 20+ years.

2007 Hundred Acre Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Ark Vineyard. Parker 100! A perfect wine, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Ark Vineyard (1,300 – 1,400 cases) from Howell Mountain is one of the great efforts from this high elevation terroir. It offers notes of burning embers, black raspberries, blueberries and flowers, a full-bodied opulence, wonderful intensity, but the wine is not weighty or overripe. Fleshy and voluptuous with terrific floral notes, it should drink well for 15-20 years.

Arnie’s rare 2005 Levy & McClellan Red. VM 94. Deep medium ruby. Complex, expressive nose offers black raspberry, licorice, brown spices, mocha, smoke, minerals and nutty oak. Wonderfully lush and creamy-sweet for the year, with Graves-like mineral, gravel and smoky notes (from barrel this wine struck me as brooding and Latour-like but today its fruit character is more red). Ripe, harmonious acidity and broad, lush tannins make this cabernet remarkably presentable-not to mention long on personality-for a 2005, but it also has the structure for an extended evolution in bottle. Even in 2005, this young vineyard on volcanic soil produced just over two tons of fruit per acre, according to Bob Levy.

Have a few wines!

Overall, another fun evening. Lots of great wine, company, and food. What more can you ask?

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Toss me down another chunk of yak!

Related posts:

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  2. Epic Ocean Party 2015
  3. Wine on the Beach
  4. Valley Heat
  5. Cotsen’s Again!
By: agavin
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Yazawa – Marble or Meat?

Jul25

Restaurant: Yazawa

Location: 9669 S Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 275-2914

Date: July 12, 2016 & April 25, 2019

Cuisine: Wagyu Yakiniku

Rating: Like eating silk and gold

_

Totoraku, the ultimate Japanese Korean BBQ place evidently has a new challenger in town.

Yazawa is branch of a Japanese restaurant spun out from a super high end butcher. They serve up a variety of Yakiniku (Japanese take on KBBQ) done primarily with genuine A-5 Black Wagyu cows from Japan. The frontage is located on tony Little Santa Monica deep in Beverly Hills.

The interior soars upward with high ceilings, but doesn’t offer very many tables.
In fact, they all conform to this standard fairly small 4 top configuration.

The menu, which takes a bit of time to explain the cow.

For wine tonight, as there were four of us, and the corkage steps up after 4 bottles, we just opened one each — but they were good ones:

Larry brought: 1996 Lynch Bages. Parker 90-93. The 1996 exhibits a dark plum/ruby/purple color that is just beginning to lighten at the edge, surprisingly velvety tannins and a classic Pauillac bouquet of lead pencil shavings, cedarwood, black currants, sweet cherries and spice box. This medium to full-bodied, elegant, savory, broad wine is still five years away from full maturity. It should continue to drink well for another 10-15 years.

From my cellar: 1996 Mouton-Rothschild. Parker 94-96. This estate’s staff believes that the 1996 Mouton-Rothschild is very complex. I agree that among the first-growths, this wine is showing surprising forwardness and complexity in its aromatics. It possesses an exuberant, flamboyant bouquet of roasted coffee, cassis, smoky oak, and soy sauce. The impressive 1996 Mouton-Rothschild offers impressive aromas of black currants, framboise, coffee, and new saddle leather. This full-bodied, ripe, rich, concentrated, superbly balanced wine is paradoxical in the sense that the aromatics suggest a far more evolved wine than the flavors reveal. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2030. By the way, the 1996 blend consists of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 8% Cabernet Franc.

Erick brought: 1989 Mouton-Rothschild. Parker 90-92. Considering the vintages and the estate, Mouton’s performances in 1989 and 1990 are puzzling. I have tasted these wines multiple times since my last reviews appeared in print. The 1989 Mouton-Rothschild is the superior wine, but in no sense is this a compelling wine if compared to the Moutons produced in 1995, 1986, and 1982. The 1989 displays a dark ruby color that is already beginning to reveal significant lightening at the edge. The bouquet is surprisingly evolved, offering up scents of cedar, sweet black fruits, lead pencil, and toasty oak. This elegant, medium-bodied restrained wine is beautifully made, stylish, and not dissimilar to the 1985. It is an excellent to outstanding Mouton that should be close to full maturity in 4-5 years; it will drink well for 15-20.

Walker brought: 1989 Penfolds Grange. Parker 93. A very hedonistic, almost decadent style of Grange, this blend of 91% Shiraz and 9% Cabernet Sauvignon from three grape sources – Kalimna in the Barossa, Penfolds’ other sources in the Barossa, and McLaren Vale – is a gorgeously opulent, almost Pomerol-like Grange with an over-ripe characteristic to the fruit. Cherry liqueur intermixed with cranberry and cassis presented in a seductive, full-bodied, very soft, forward style is truly not the classic Grange in the sense of having huge structure and massive concentration, but this wine is loaded, very corpulent, and fleshy. The wine is going to last for up to two decades, but it will be uncommonly succulent and delicious to drink young, as it was several months ago. Among the young vintages of Grange, this is perhaps the most flattering wine that they have produced over the last 20 years, at least for such a relatively young wine. Anticipated maturity: now-2018.

Wagyu toro sushi. This is raw beef nigiri style. And because of the vinegared sushi rice it pretty much tasted like toro!

After the above ala carte item, we ordered the $200 a person “level 4” Omakase, then followed with some more ala carte in the form of carbs.

Trio of wagyu apps.

Tataki “Ponzu Sauce.” Thin sliced seared wagyu with onion slice. Tender little beef bits.

Wagyu Bresola. Dry aged and salted. With the truffle salt this was bright, salty, and had a bit of an “Italian” flavor.

Uni Wagyu Tartar / Truffles. Raw wagyu topped with uni and truffle.

Mix this puppy up and the uni stands in the same way that the raw egg usually would. Certainly a rich little concoction.

7U1A9344
In April of 2019, the trio was slightly different.
7U1A9345
Wagyu on a toast.
7U1A9350
The tartare with uni, pretty much the same as before.
7U1A9354
And Wagyu short rib with polenta.
7U1A9340
Yazawa Garden Salad (4/26/19). Red Lettuce, Sweet Snap Pea, Bell Peppers, Broccoli and Yazawa dressing. This was a nice salad, probably mostly because of the zesty Japanese dressing.

Meat plate 1. And so begin the cuts of wagyu, ready to grill up. There is one piece each, served in pairs with a light sweet sauce, a “bbq” sauce that is pretty standard for yakaniku (slightly sweet soy), and a egg sauce (more on that later).

First up is the Ranboso (round) from the cow’s rump.

This is then cooked (very fast, just seconds a side) on the very smooth gas BBQ.

Flipped about 4-5 seconds later — then another 4 seconds then into the sauce. So soft and tender!

Next cut is the Jyo-Kalbi (chuckeye/rib eye). Notice how the fat runs in a different direction. A little more beefy and intense. Some really great beef.

Out comes this whipped egg/milk sweet sauce.

And Yazawa’s signature cut, the Yazawa-yaki! It’s a super thin cut sirloin, marinated.

The staff are required to cook this one (other cuts you can do it, or they can). The cutis so thin that we would probably just turn it into beef scraps.

It is then rolled and dropped into the egg sauce. Pretty amazing, with a sukiyaki-like flavor and tons of rich beefiness.

Plate 3.

Maki-loin (rib eye). A very evenly marbled cut.
Nakaniku (rump). This is down below the tail, sort of cow ass. Look at that fat striping! And cooked it was ridiculously soft and unctuous. I actually preferred the leaner cuts.

Plate 4.

Misuji (brisket). Not like Mom’s BBQ brisket!

Zabujan (chuck eye). Up under the shoulders with a heavy diagonal marbling. Nice and tender and a bit more beefy.

Then another signature cut, the Chateau Briand (center cut filet).

Look at that candy-striping.

And from the front.

On the grill. This was one incredible piece of “steak.”

We placed an ala carte order of tongue too.

On the grill. Good stuff, but this cut wasn’t super different than other good tongue I’ve had.

After all that meat we decided to “fill up” on some carb dishes.

Japanese Wagyu curry rice. Minced Japanese wagyu curry rice with an egg. This was certainly the best curry rice I’ve had — and I love curry rice. The egg upped the richness but it was the depth of flavor of the curry itself that won out. I just missed the red pickles.

Uni Gyu Toro Don Bowl. Minced raw Japanese Wagyu on rice with uni and pickles.

A very interesting umami taste. Great stuff.

Yazawa special rice. Umami rice topped with ginger and Japanese Wagyu, served in a very hot clay pot.

They mix it up for us.
This is a teapot filled with dashi and some wasabi.
Tons of garlic in there. Optionally, you pour some dashi in to up the umami factor. Pretty incredible like that.

Cold Tan Tan Noodle. Sesame and chile ramen. Since I’m such a dan dan fiend, I figured I’d try this. Not like Chinese dan dan at al. Pleasant enough, with a touch of heat and a cool sesame vibe, but not the hot nutty intensity I was looking for. Still, that would have been weird.

White chocolate semi-freddo with berries. My favorite, light and fluffy and delicious.

Macha green tea ice cream with crunchies.

Almond panna cotta.
Special tea at the end.

The service at Yazawa was absolutely first rate. Not only did they explain the menu in detail, and cook some of the meat (they will cook however much or little as you like), but they were highly attentive, changing out the grill after every course and the like. Colin, who helped us, was highly knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and like a wagyu evangelist.

The food itself was uniformly excellent. All the meat was super fresh and “clean” (if super rich as well). The taste was lovely, although different, richer, and less beefy than Totoraku. Is it better? Just different, as this is just such a different type of meat. Both are fabulous.

The atmosphere was nice, but the format is a bit rigid with their fixed 4 person tables. And those tables don’t have much extra space at that. I had to keep my wines on a seat, my camera between me and the next guy, and constantly juggle around my (only) two wine glasses and other stuff. They need larger tables for our kinds of groups and they need MUCH larger tables with multiple grills for parties larger than 4. It’s also a general restaurant, and therefore doesn’t offer the “taking over the house” factor that is one of Totoraku’s many charms.

The wine thing at Yazawa is weird. There are nice beers and sake, but the red wine selection is tiny. Not too great too. And oddly, looking around, we saw only one other table with any red wine at all — and just one glass! Most of the tables were Asian women, which is a bit odd for such a meat focused place. This combines with a very rigid corkage policy. Thankfully they don’t limit the number of bottles brought in, but they have an escalating corkage of $35/$35/$50/$50/$70/$80 and then maybe even more. I’m not one of those that argues for no corkage at fine restaurants. The $35×2/$50 would be steep but fine, but going above $50 is always insulting. And to boot, they don’t have anything on their list! A $50 corkage is a flat $50 of profit to the restaurant. It’s way more lucrative than any wine on the list under a $100. Why complain? Why try to massage the system to irritate or exclude “wine guys”? It just doesn’t make sense. And for a restaurant that specializes in high end meat? What better excuse to drink first growths and the like?

Overall, Yazawa was so tasty that I’d certainly go back. It’s expensive but way more repeatable than the high end tempura. But we are limited to 4 people by the tables and the wine rules, so it only fits certain circumstances.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

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By: agavin
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Yamakase Summer

Jul18

Restaurant: Yamakase [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: You wish you knew!

Date: July 8, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Best yet!

_

Yamakase is just hands down one of the most fun evenings in LA. Not only is the “modern” Japanese cuisine incredible, but the convivial nature of the place is just great. It’s not very big and as usual we took the entire sushi bar (we had 10 this time, but you can squeeze in 11 or 12).

The location is in a good neighborhood, but something about this particular strip mall is a bit sketchy. Maybe it’s the 7/11. There are a lot of strange characters hanging about.

Inside, chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto rules over the sushi bar.

In the back there are a couple of small tables — but the bar is really where it’s at!

Have a little tuna/toro!

2000 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses. BH 95. This is more mature than the 2001 with a beautifully layered nose of yeast, lemon rind, brioche, dried flowers and spice hints. There is excellent volume and superb intensity to the firm mousse that despite the firmness exhibits a very fine bead. This is exceptionally impressive in the mouth with the same striking complexity of the nose coupled with positively gorgeous length. A knockout that could be drunk now with pleasure or held for a few more years first; personally I would opt for the latter but either way, this is a classic Clos des Goisses.

agavin: our bottle was delicious, but perhaps a touch advanced.

Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée. VM 94. The NV Grande Cuvée is absolutely stellar. This is one of the very best Grande Cuvées I can remember tasting. The flavors are bright, focused and beautifully delineated throughout, all of which make me think the wine will age well for many, many years. Lemon peel, white flowers, crisp pears, smoke and crushed rocks race across the palate in a vibrant, tense Champagne that epitomizes finesse. This release is based on the 2005 vintage and was disgorged in winter 2012/2013.

2000 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. BH 96. A wonderfully layered and nuanced nose features an intense yeasty character to the maturing fruit that displays interesting phenolic characters, in particular petrol, along with aromas of apple, pear and soft citrus hints. In contrast to the nascent maturity expressed by the nose the flavor profile is still tight and backward with a genuinely gorgeous texture, all wrapped in a strikingly persistent and highly complex finish. For my taste the 2000 Brut is at an inflection point as the nose does offer enough maturity so that it’s really quite pretty whereas the palate impression is substantially younger. As such it really just depends on how you prefer your Champagne because I suspect that the nose will be very mature by the time the still very youthful flavors attain their majority. For my taste preferences it would be no vinous crime to begin enjoying this now but be aware that this will age for a very long time. The best approach is probably to buy 6, or even 12, bottles and enjoy them over a longer period of time.
Homemade tofu, Momotaro tomato, and uni. A “typical” Yamakase tofu dish. Great interplay of textures and flavors. I could even handle the tomato!

Persimmon butter sandwich with marcona almonds. This is an odd one, but delicious. The orange stripes are dried persimmon which has been hung to dry for months. This is a traditional Japanese New Year preparation and very highly prized. The lighter stripe is frozen high end butter! Almost like a little petite four.

1994 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg Vendange Tardive. 93 points. Burnt creme brulee, dried apricot, carmelized peach/apricot in the pie tin; rich, creamy, full bodied with medium sweetness. Slight petrol-botrytis evident here (although not supposed to override varietal characteristics, I believe it does in this case); round, soft, but with overwhelming apricot notes; long finish.

From my cellar: 2009 Weingut Knoll Riesling Smaragd Dürnsteiner Kellerberg. VM 92. Medium green-yellow. Seductive aromas of ripe peach, subtle blossom honey and mandarin orange. Becomes more exotic in the mouth, adding papaya and lime to the mix. Sweet peach and papaya fruit is lifted by extraordinarily elegant lemony acidity. Finishes with palate-staining fruit and intense wet rock minerality. Wonderful to drink now, but should be even better between 2014 and 2024.

From my cellar: 2004 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. VM 95. Pale, bright yellow. Ripe pineapple, liquid stone and exotic honey on the nose, with a spicy lift that suggests an oak influence this wine does not possess. On entry, this is sweeter and creamier than the Frederic Emile, but it livens up quickly in the middle, showing powerful minerality and sharply delineated flavors of liquid stone, pineapple and citrus peel. Still, this conveys a distinctly glyceral impression that suggests more sweetness than its 5 grams of residual sugar, no doubt a function of the 20% or so botrytized berries (in contrast to the Frederic Emile, which included no botrytis). Communicates an impression of power with elegance, finishing minerally and long but not austere. Pierre Trimbach compared this wine to the estate’s great 1990. This is already showing more Rosacker terroir than riesling character. About 9,000 bottles were made from 1.5 hectares of vines.

Abalone with eel sauce. The crunchy chewy mollusk simply served and delicious.

Mantis shrimp, baby peach, scallop, orange clam, and seaweed. I loved the sweet/tangy sauce too. Very lovely.

1996 Domaine Bernard Morey et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets. VM 93. Knockout nose combines herbs, white flowers and spiced pear; at once oily and precise. Rich-bordering-on-thick but given clarity by juicy limey acidity. Very long, palate-staining finish. The yield here was a good 50 hectoliters per hectare, says Morey. Yet this is so much more fleshy and pliant than so many ’96s.

2004 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Boudriotte. BH 89. A deft touch of wood frames citrus and earth infused ripe chardonnay fruit aromas that lead to rich, full and fleshy flavors that are robust if not especially structured, all wrapped in a delicious and easy to like finish. There is good freshness here if not great underlying tension with fine overall balance and fine length. In sum, this is a generous and easy to like effort that should repay a few years in the cellar.

Oyster, uni, quail egg, caviar. One of these super Yamakase spoons of crazy umami-rich ingredients.

Roasted unagi with eel sauce and bamboo shoots. This was very fresh, light, and seasonal.

2006 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. VM 96. Pale, bright yellow-green. Knockout nose combines ripe pineapple, dried fruits, lemon, lime, crushed stone, minerals and mint. A wine of outstanding intensity, power and thrust, with sappy mineral and toasted bread flavors saturating the palate. Most impressive today on the explosive, mounting, tactile finish, which leaves the mouth vibrating. This called to mind Corton-Charlemagne-or a great Austrian riesling. Winemaker Seguier loves this but feels that the 2004 is in the same quality league. And the 2007 is even more chalky, he adds.

From my cellar: 2002 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM93+. Musky aromas of chicken broth, lime and crushed stone; quite austere and slow to open. Then less fruity but more important on the palate, with bracing flavors of lemon and apple and an impression of minerality I can only describe as creamy. A very rich, dense wine with a strength of material that belies the normal-for-Raveneau yield of about 50 hectoliters per hectare.

2009 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 93. The 2009 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre is super-impressive. There is a level of detail, nuance and energy to the fruit that is quite rare in 2009. The Montée de Tonnerre possesses dazzling purity all the way through to the finely articulated, chiseled finish. This is yet another superb effort from Raveneau. I have a slight preference for the 2010 here, but the 2009 will offer fabulous drinking while its younger sibling ages in the cellar.

Shrimp with tomatoes and parmesan. A new dish, and a delicious one. The tangy tomato/parm sauce was quite lovely.

Chef Yama works on his next course.

2001 Marc Colin et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. 92 points. Beautiful from the get go showing honey, roasted hazelnuts, some white chocolate, and a little tropical fruit. Reminded me of an Aubert Chardonnay in many ways. Nice mid weight…not a blockbuster but at the low end of outstanding.

2002 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Corton-Charlemagne. VM 92+. Very subdued nose hints at apple, minerals and nutty oak. Then intensely flavored, penetrating and youthfully backward, with bracing flavors of apple, spiced pear and powdered stone. Very densely packed, spicy wine that’s currently dominated by its powerful spine. This needs a good five or six years to blossom in the bottle and may well merit a higher score.

Frozen toro, uni, and blue crab on toast. This toast and rich toro/crab combo is so good. Like a super high end version of a tuna sandwich.

Truffle, crab, quail egg, salmon egg, uni parfait. Classic Yamakase greatness. White truffles apparently this time of year. In December it was black.

From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 93. While understandably tighter, this is still drinking much like the same wine in 750 ml format (see herein). An expressive and still quite fresh nose includes white flower, pronounced honey and exotic fruit aromas nuanced by spice hints flow seamlessly into a similar flavor profile on the thick, powerful and vibrant middle weight flavors yet that possess more than sufficient acidity to buffer the weight and richness. Overall, this is beautifully balanced, long and offers superb intensity and has everything it needs to continue a graceful evolution. As one would expect from magnum, this isn’t quite ready for prime time and while it could be drunk with pleasure, if you wish to see the wine at its optimum point of development, it will be necessary to wait for a few more years first.

2008 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 91-94. A subtle touch of pain grillé highlights citrus notes that, like the Pucelles, exhibit hints of honeysuckle and fennel nuances that complement perfectly the textured, rich and sweet medium plus weight flavors that are quite supple yet remain detailed, energetic and strikingly long on the explosive finish. This is a relatively powerful Bienvenues. In a word, terrific.

Orange clam and scallop in a dill sauce. A new treatment of some familiar ingredients. The dill sauce make for a different (and tasty) take on things.

Bluefin tuna, caviar. Some of the best chunks of tuna I’ve had.

From my cellar: 1985 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. A little oxidized. Not premoxed, just getting old.

From my cellar: 2002 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. VM 96. Taut, vibrant aromas of grapefruit, apple, pear, and powdered and wet stone. A great expression of rocks in the mouth, with extremely pure flavors of grapefruit and lemon. Conveys a powerful impression of sweetness allied to sheer energy. Fabulous, consistent wine with near-perfect balance and extraordinary length. As penetrating as it is today, I would not describe this wine as austere.

1999 Henri Boillot Chevalier-Montrachet. 94 points. Light yellow in color. A bit of hazelnut to start but also some wood and bitterness. About 6 hours later, the wood resolved and the wine expressed some pear, honey, and hazelnut. This was supported by plenty of lemon acidity. Still very young.

Foie gras, toro, quail egg, truffle cheese, blue crab. Wow! This dish was absolutely out of this world. Just crazy rich and delicious. You wouldn’t think it works, but it’s amazing.

King crab, steamed. Simple steamed fresh crab.

1998 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart. VH 95+. Bright ruby. Highly complex nose melds black raspberry, Indian spices, gunflint, tar and smoky oak; seemed to grow fresher and more vibrant with aeration. Dense, thick and highly concentrated, with brilliantly defined but still rather backward fruit flavors. Finishes with great length and extremely fine tannins that dust the entire mouth.

2002 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart. VM 95. Bright red-ruby. Highly nuanced, expressive nose combines strawberry, raspberry, minerals, lavender, chocolate, underbrush and fennel. Superconcentrated, silky and sweet in the mouth but with superb definition and energy. The wine’s sheer density of material completely buffers its 14+% alcohol. Finishes dry and classic, with explosive rising fruit and terrific thrust. The tannins are buried in fruit and soil tones. A great Burgundy

The chef is working on his ramen. Bright yellow eggy noodles.

Ultimate ramen bowl. This foie gras based seafood broth was topped with truffles and filled with yummy seafood bits. Underneath are the ramen noodles. There was crab, beef, oyster, and who knows what else in here. Absolutely stunning. So rich. So good. The broth had quite a white pepper kick too which was amazing.

1986 Joseph Drouhin Grands-Echezeaux. 94 points.

1996 Denis Mugneret Père et Fils Richebourg. BH 93. Subtly complex nose of leather, earth and dried grasses with delicious yet quite structured flavors and fine length. There is good sève and muscle underlying the flavors though the tannins are completely ripe and the wine should drink well over the medium term. This is not flamboyant or especially opulent yet it delivers plenty of character and quality in a refined, discreet style. I like this very much.

1953 Remoissenet Père et Fils Richebourg. 95 points. Domain release. Must have been reconditioned as it tasted crazy young (for a ’53).

Miyazaki beef with truffle pepper sauce. Melt in your mouth with a bit of pepper kick.

Some amazing sake!

Blue fin sushi. Bordering over to chu-toro. Just a lovely bit of sushi.

Amberjack. Amazing.

Sea bass. To die for.

Chu or O toro. Lethal. We had several pieces of this each.

Uber handroll. Uni, king crab, toro, shiso. You’ve never had a handroll quite like this powerhouse! Had two of these.

A small taste of baby peach sorbet. Super light and refreshing.

“Only” 25 bottles of wine. 10 people. Great stuff tonight too. No bad or spoiled wines. Stuff was great in all 4 categories: champ, white burg, red burg, and sake. Just some really stellar drinks.

There are different was to experience Yamakase, depending on you number, but all but one time I’ve taken the whole bar. On a night when the bar is split between a collection of smaller parties it might be more staid. But when we take over, it’s certainly not. We do the wine service ourselves for the most part with a little aide from the accommodating servers. It feels like a “private party with Yama.”

Food-wise, this was one of my best meals this year — really quite excellent — and regular readers know I have more than my share of great meals. A really great format. A total blow out and Yama’s cuisine keeps gaining in strength and power. Really quite incomparable. He is unquestionably a genius. Yama has a tremendous range within Japanese cuisine, first rate ingredients, and a savvy palate. He is quite skilled at very traditional more subtle Japanese as well, but has tuned up the typical Yamakase meal with high end ingredients and bolder combinations for a more contemporary wow factor.

Oh, and that toro cheese dish and foie gras “ramen” are just to die for.

Click here for more LA sushi reviews,
Or for Foodie Club extravaganzas.

Related posts:

  1. Sumo Bowl Yamakase
  2. Yamakase Yummy
  3. Yamakase – Burghound Bday
  4. Yamakase – Crab Guts are Yummy!
  5. Yamakase Return
By: agavin
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1960s Barolo at Officine Brera

Jun08

Restaurant: Officine Brera [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1331 E 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021. (213) 553-8006

Date: June 2, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Some of the best (new?) Italian in the city!

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Officine Brera is one of LA’s hottest 2016 openings and I’ve been waiting for an excuse to haul myself Downtown for months. Another modern “rustic” Italian by the team that brought us Factory Kitchen, including master chef Angelo Auriana, plus Brera brings in some new blood in the form of Mirko Paderno who rocked it at Oliverio.

The actual restaurant is behind us, but like many recent hot openings (including Factory Kitchen), Brera is located in the “Arts District”, a bombed out region of DTLA not far from skid row that is rapidly up and coming.

The area offers a mess of old brick 40s warehouses and factories which are being lovingly converted, allowing large spaces at reasonable rents (for now).

And inside the gigantic warehouse/factory space has been reconfigured with highly attractive duct work. Who would have thought that grungy 70 year-old factory windows could look so good?

Tonight’s special dinner was organized by Sage Society wine guru Liz Lee (left), shown here with Francine Ferdinandi the wine director at Officine and Factory Kitchen. The theme: 1960s Barolo and Barbaresco!

Tonight’s special menu.

1998 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 95. The 1998 Comtes de Champagne is a different story altogether. This is a sexy, up-front Comtes endowed with lovely richness in its fruit and open, expressive aromatics. It remains an impressive, inviting Comtes that should also continue to develop nicely in the bottle for at least another decade plus.

Farinata. Chickpea “pancake” cooked in the 750 degree wood oven.

This simple dish of chickpea flour and olive oil is fabulous covered with strong black pepper.

Flight 1:

2010 Borgo del Tiglio (Nicola Manferrari) Collio Friulano Ronco della Chiesa. AG 94. Borgo del Tiglio’s 2010 Ronco della Chiesa shows what this hillside site in Cormons can do in cooler vintages. Still bright, focused and intensely saline, the 2010 bursts from the glass with grapefruit, lime, mint and crushed rocks. The 2010 will probably be appreciated most by readers who like tense, vibrant whites. Next to some of the other vintages, the 2010 lacks a little mid-palate pliancy, but it is quite beautiful just the same. I especially like the way the 2010 opens up nicely in the glass over time.

From my cellar: 2010 Paolo Bea Arboreus. 90 points. This is a very special and somewhat odd wine. Very floral and fruity nose with strong apricot and honey notes. On the palate this seems like a different wine with a much drier impression with quite high acidity. This makes the wine seem somewhat confused about what sort of wine it wants to be. This is not objectively speaking a great wine, though it is good, but I just can’t resist the charm of the aromas. 90-91 points, based mainly on the nose.

Salmone Crudo. Copper river salmon, green apple, mustard seed, lovage, oil. A lovely and interesting salmon tartar which paired fabulously with the Bea Trebbiano.

Porcini Salad. Shaved foraged porcini mushrooms, sunchockes, Grana, Culatello, fried parsley. A wonderful early little “salad” that went better with the cooler more herbal Borgo del Tiglio.

Flight 2:

1967 Prunotto Barbaresco Riserva. Very dry and tannic.

1967 Gaja Barbaresco Sorì San Lorenzo. 90 points. The best of this flight, with good balance, some fruit, and strong tannins.

From my cellar: 1964 Gaja Barbaresco. JG 93. Cloudy. At first a little disjointed and flat. An hour or so later lovely, perfume nose. On the palate, this is sweet upfront with a metallic hint. Long finish. Improves in the glass, turning savory and long, richer and sweeter. This is really interesting and enjoyable. Better with food than by itself.

Nastrini al Sugo Divitello. Homemade egg tagliatelle, oxtail veal shoulder sauce, aged reggiano. A wonderful example of traditional braised meat ragu. The meat reduction at the end was to die for.
Risotiata Officine Brera. Carvaroli Arborio Rice, Summer Black Truffle, Fine Herbs, Snail Ragu. Perfectly firm and creamy rice with a really interesting snail center.

Flight 3:

1967 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva Antichi Vignetti Propri. 94 points. Gorgeous stuff. I have always really liked 1967 in Piedmont, and this was a great example of the vintage. It had an intriguing nose, starting out earthy and meaty, with a whiff of smoke in here, then showing flecks of exotic spice, like cardamon and cloves, and a little boiled herb, and after some time, sweeter red cherries and flowers. Lovely, complex stuff. It was on the palate where the wine shone though. There was still some richness to the wine, with lovely sweet fruit flavours of red cherries and berries – something that I often associate with the better wines of the vintage; but this was also wed to a wonderful clarity and purity of expression, with a nice transparency underpinning the fruit, so that the wine came across as elegant without being precious about it. After a fine midpalate with a little smoky undertone, the wine then settled into long, gentle finish that started with a twist of black tea and ended in a little kiss of spice and herb. There was just that remnant of masculine structure as well, otherwise, this could well have been confused with a Barbaresco with its sweetness and elegance. A delicious Barolo, seemingly at peak, this was absolutely singing on the night.

1967 Cantina Mascarello Barolo. JG 95. Color was initially pale red, with orange bricking to the rim. darkened considerably as the night went on. Initial mustiness on the nose blew off. Nose was classic barolo- roses, tea, cherries and slightly decaying leaves- waves upon wave. The palate was fantastically alive with a warm velvet texture, pure cherry fruit with considerable elegance and amazing persistence. awesome wine.

From my cellar: 1967 Francesco Rinaldi e Figli Barolo. JG 94. Dried cork that took a bit of effort to extract. There’s a good bit of earth and dirt on the nose, a hint of manure, and some ripe fruit elements. The palate is quite jammy (somehow) with plenty of fruit. This is a pretty big Barolo, even at almost 50 years old. The tannins are still present, and you can feel them quite prominently on the palate. Here’s hoping that the bottle funk will blow off in the time before dinner. (Dinner) This now displays gorgeous ripe red fruit on the nose, with a few light high-toned elements. The palate has a good balance of the same ripe red fruit, earth, and animale. Fully resolved tannins, this is good to go now. I would suggest a half-day decant before consumption. This bottle did clean its act up quite nicely in those few hours.

agavin: best of this flight IMHO.
Cannelloni Gratinati. Braised Beef Cheeks, rolled pasta, swiss Chard, Black summer truffle. Rich and delicious.

Flight 4:

1964 Cappellano Barolo. JG 94. Smoky black cherries on the nose. Elegant and expansive in the mouth. Still has some tannin. Long, elegant. Still has some richness and sweet fruit.

1961 Franco Fiorina Barolo. JG 92. I thought our bottle was a touch corky. Others thought it wasn’t cork. Not sure, but it definitely had a cardboardy nose.

1961 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo. 93 points. Lots of sediment. Beautiful, full, round, and lush old barolo. Really fantastic, and exactly what I am looking for in a wine like this.

1961 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo. VM 93. Fascinating. Amazing color. Virtually no browning for a 51 year old wine. Fruit was vibrant and in tact. Earthy bouquet, round and pure on the palate. lengthy and elegant finish. Many years ahead for this wine.

Carne Borina. 24 days dry aged rib eye, corn polenta, natural jus, fried piopini mushrooms.

Gianduiotta. Hazelnut choccolate creme, candied nuts. Classic Italian flavors if not the most traditional form factor.

Overall another amazing evening.

Food. The food at Officine is very good. It’s very Italian, with a fairly non Italian “vibe” to the place and a more modern share plates style. Tonight it was particularly on point, individually plated as it was, with each dish being tuned (many off menu) by Chef Angelo himself. This was a different meal in style than my previous visits, with less variety (family style you get more tastes) but more tuned up cuisine. Anyway it was fabulous and I was plenty full.

Service. Service was great and we were treated like family. Wine service in particular is a real standout. Opening and managing all those old Baroli is quiet a chore and Francine spent most of the evening with us.

Atmosphere. I love the big factory look. It’s a little loud, but not as bad as some (Bestia!). We had 8 people in the back where it wasn’t quite as deafening.

Wines. We didn’t have a bad wine tonight. Some a little tannic, one maybe partially “corky” and one a little oxidized. Pretty amazing for 50ish year old Nebbiolo! The pairings were perfect as the cook tasted, chose, and cooked every dish to match!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More Sage Society dinners.

Related posts:

  1. Hedonism at Officine Brera
  2. Rhone at Officine Brera
  3. Republique of Old Nebiolio
  4. Factory Kitchen – Fabulous
  5. Tony Terroni
By: agavin
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Grand Grenache

May30

Restaurant: John Gerber [1, 2, 3]

Location: Flintridge

Date: May 27, 2016

Cuisine: New American

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Today’s Sauvages lunch is a lunch in honor of  late Co-Poobah Steve Levin. It’s graciously hosted by Paul at at his beautiful home in Flintridge. This event is held outdoors in memory of the Zinfandel barbecues that Steve would hold for our group every summer at his home (it being Paul’s idea to maintain this fine tradition). To that end, we always enjoy a few Zinfandels at this lunch in addition to the theme wines for the lunch. The annual lunches at Paul’s home always rate very high on the scales for ambiance, camaraderie and food quality.

The main wine theme:  This year, as it has been the past few years for our lunch at Paul’s, our primary wine theme will be “Grenaches of the World”, in this case from the 2007 and older vintages (the older the better).  Just to be clear, “Grenaches of the World” means any Grenache or Grenache-based blend (at least 60-70% Grenache), as long as it is rated 93+ by a reputable critic, and is from the 2007 or older vintage.  Grenache-based wines from Australia, California, Washington, Priorat, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Sardinia (called Cannonau) or any other parts of the world are fair game as long as the wine has a qualifying score.


This California style building isn’t the house itself, but the amazing top of the integrated cellar.

Inside the upper level of the cellar where staging occurred.
The backyard.

Our triplex mega table — a triclinium?
Today’s menu.

Flight 0:

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

2014 Colinas de Uruguay Albarino. Very bright and crisp.

Bonus from my cellar: 2012 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé. VM 93. Light, bright orange-pink. Complex scents of fresh red berries, nectarine and orange zest, with a sexy floral overtone. Silky and expansive on the palate, offering juicy cherry and pit fruit flavors and an exotic touch of honey. A dusty mineral quality adds bite and lift to the strikingly long, chewy, floral back end.

2015 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé. Really nice young fruit and flowers.

2013 Progeny Winery Grenache. Not yet released! Pure hot Grenache.

2013 Progeny Winery Trinity Rouge. Blend of several Rhone grapes.

Gougères. aka fancy French cheese puffs.

Tuna poke. Wrapped in nori. Somehow the now “plebian” tuna tartar has been rechristened poke.

Flight 1: White

2012 Oremus Furmint Tokaji Dry Mandolás. Bight and fresh.

2013 Clos Mogador Priorat Nelin. 90 points. Dry body, hard to place the fruit on the nose. It’s extremely unique. Marzipan is present on the palate. High alcohol content but very round and smooth body.

2013 Clos Figueras Priorat Font de la Figuera Blanco. VM 91. Vivid straw color. Lively citrus pith and pear skin aromas are complicated by anise, white flowers and dusty minerals. Firm and juicy on the palate, offering zesty lime and orange flavors and a gingery topnote. Finishes dry, precise and very long, with a lick of spiciness and lingering minerality

1998 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc De L’Orée. Our bottle was sadly was advanced.

Fruits de Mer. Razor clam, sea scallop, prawn and octopus with fava beans, fennel and coriander. Amazingly fresh and tender — all of it.

Flight 2: CNDP

2000 Domaine Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 93. Full ruby-red. Expressive aromas of roasted blackberry, black raspberry and espresso. Lush and superripe, with compelling mid-palate fat and fullness. Fresh flavors of dark berries and dark chocolate. Finishes very ripe and long, with sweet, suave tannins. Offers a rare combination of stuffing and finesse.

2001 Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 94. Red-ruby. Flamboyant, wild Chateauneuf du Pape aromas of raspberry, pepper, leather, Cuban cigar tobacco, fruitcake, game and truffle. Explosive, layered and deep, with captivating flavors of game, leather, melting chocolate cake, leather, incense and black pepper. Wonderfully suave and silky but with terrific verve and grip. Finishes with fine, palate-coating tannins and sneaky length. If someone sticks a glass of this in your face and you don’t say Chateauneuf du Pape, you should give up wine drinking.

agavin: great wine. Nice and balanced and mature.

2006 Clos Saint Jean Châteauneuf-du-Pape Deus-Ex Machina. VM 95. Glass-staining ruby. Explosively perfumed bouquet of fresh red and dark berries, potpourri, incense and licorice. Completely saturates the palate with sweet raspberry and boysenberry flavors, picking up anise and lavender pastille qualities with air. For a wine with this kind of palate impact there’s remarkable finesse and clarity. Red berry and floral notes echo endlessly on the long, sappy finish.

agavin: way too hot and young

2000 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes. 94 points. Deep garnet color. First whiff from the nose was fantastic revealing a freshness of cherry fruit which sadly went quickly away leaving in its place liqueur-like, jammy and darker fruit. Nose is scented, complex and mature with tertiary aromas accompanying abundant fruit like blackberry and plum and minerals. Palate is even more intense than the nose with unending finish. Fruit is liqueur-like as the wine is full bodied and with lots of glycerol. Yet it is balanced and drinks effortlessly. Flavors include spices, herbs and ground coffee. Tannins are mellow and acidity has to be high for the wine to be in such an impeccable balance. The wine is mature but I believe it could age and last for at least twenty more years given its structure and still abundant fruit…

2001 Cuvée du Vatican Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve Sixtine. VM 91. Bright ruby-red. Blackberry, bitter chocolate, violet, mint and spicy oak on the nose; intriguing suggestions of mourvedre. At once dense and penetrating, with rather oaky flavors of blackberry, violet and eucalyptus. Finishes with a hint of leather, but also a slight dryness from the wood element.

Grilled Paine Farm Squab. Licorice root braised leeks, sierra morels, and shallot puree. yum!

Flight 3: “Old” CNDP

1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 90. Good medium red. Aromas of red fruit syrup, cola, milk chocolate, humus, graphite and prune. Sweet, lush and rich, with the fruit syrup flavor showing a distinctly roasted quality. Grew fresher and juicier with a bit of aeration and held its shape nicely, but eventually the pruney element became more pronounced. With little in the way of primary fruit remaining, this doesn’t really come alive, in spite of its complexity.

1998 M. Chapoutier Châteauneuf-du-Pape Barbe Rac. VM 93. Medium red. Smoky red fruits, graphite and pepper on the complex nose. Superripe, plump and sweet, with lovely balancing acidity for a wine this high in alcohol. This has real depth and chocolatey sweetness. Very long, ripely tannic finish builds slowly and lingers long. Distinctive, outstanding Chateauneuf du Pape.

1998 Domaine du Pégaü Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée da Capo. VM 95. Saturated dark ruby. Nose like a fruit essence: blackberry and blueberry liqueur, licorice, pepper, Provencal herbs, and hints of more exotic fruits. A wine of extreme unctuousity, virtually too large for the mouth. Suggestion of marc, but with sappy fruits and great solid underlying structure. The tannins saturate the palate on the peppery finish. Very much in the style of Bonneau rarely made Cuvee Speciale. This wine took nearly two years to finish fermenting. Paul Feraud told me he feared that the alcohol would burn, that there would be too much residual sugar, and that the wine would show signs of premature oxidation. But in fact this headspinner (and I mean that in the purest, Linda Blair sense) boasts great surmaturite without quite descending into madness.

agavin: so hands down the best wine of this flight! Huge and balanced.

1999 M. Chapoutier Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Bernardine. VM 88. Medium red-ruby. Aromatic, wild aromas of redcurrant, leather, smoke and game. Juicy, firm-edged flavors of smoky red fruits. Bright and fairly tannic but not especially deep.

1998 Domaine du Pégaü Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée. VM 92. Full ruby-red. Aromas of roasted plum, cherry and raspberry, with a distinct animal aspect. Deep, rich and complete; lush but with sound supporting acidity. Complex mineral and chocolate notes complement the wine’s superripe fruit flavors. Very long, subtle finish features thoroughly ripe tannins. Laurence says the pH here is a relatively low 3.4. #2, not yet racked: Liqueur-like jammy sweetness on the nose. Extremely glyceral palate impression; sauvage hint of smoked meat. Finishes very long, with completely ripe tannins. #3, from a foudre in the back corner of the cellar, where there’s less air movement; includes La Crau plus Montpertuis: Saturated ruby. Completely primary wine; makes #1 seem ready to drink. Black cherry liqueur on the nose. Thick but with powerful underlying backbone. Medicinal black cherry and licorice notes. Finishes with huge, toothcoating tannins. The licorice note comes from the mourvedre planted on iron-rich soil in Montpertuis, says Laurence. Making early assessments of this estate’s wines can be a tricky exercise, as the numerous foudres that go into the ultimate blend range widely in style and quality, but 1998 appears to be an outstanding wine in the making. (Laurence says it reminds her of the domain’s 1985).

agavin: our bottle reeked and tasted of barnyard

Flight 4: Spainish

1999 Cims de Porrera Priorat Classic. VM 89. Deep ruby-red. Low-toned aromas of raisin, maple syrup, damp earth and nut skin; seems far more advanced than the 2000. Fat, sweet and lush in the mouth, but can’t match the 2000 for purity. Hints of bitter cherry, raisin and maple syrup. Finishes with sweet, building tannins and good length.

1998 Clos Mogador Priorat. 92 points. full bodied, with prominent dark cherry and blackberry notes. the wine is bone dry without even the slightest touch of sweetness. Jerry noted that he could taste the alcohol. Distinct barrel flvors including coffee come through on the finish. good complex wine, will benefit from cheese at least.

From my cellar: 2007 Spectacle Vins Montsant Espectacle. 94 points. Upon opening a tangy, yeasty, dark-fruit rolling on the forest floor nose was apparent. In the glass for 20 minutes it was black cherry, chocolate, and lots of orange spice – very enticing nose. Big taste, definitely reminiscent of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Cherry, figs, slightly saline mineral, very good balance, some meaty “chewiness” to it, little bit of pepper coming on in the 30+ second finish. There was also a peculiar cool “sweetness” aspect to the finish. Again – excellent balance in this wine, but I ended up thinking you could drink it with dessert, or even as a stand-alone dessert. A good one from Spain – the overall essence of velvet is never far away.

2002 Clos Erasmus Priorat. VM 90+. Medium ruby-red. Claret-like aromas of currant, licorice, tar and nutty oak. Densely packed, tight and juicy, with slightly green but sappy fruit flavors framed by bright acids. Distinctly a wine from a less ripe year but possesses very good concentration, subtle sweetness of fruit and very firm structure. This may well be better for a couple years of additional time in bottle.

Roast Rib of Veal. Grilled potato, porcini confit and sauce Antiboise. I don’t even like tomatoes and I liked that sauce.

Flight 5: Big Boys (by weight)

From my cellar: 2007 Domaine la Soumade Rasteau Cuvee Fleur de Confiance. Parker 96. The top effort, the 2007 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Rasteau Fleur de Confiance, is awesome. An inky/blue/black color is followed by a stunning bouquet of scorched earth, incense, blackberry jam, coffee, and spice. This full-bodied, massive, stacked and packed Rasteau is destined for two decades of life. Its sweet tannin and textured mouthfeel are compelling. Give it 2-4 years of cellaring and consume it over the following 20 years.

2001 Alban Vineyards Grenache Alban Estate Vineyard. VM 92. Medium ruby. Roasted black fruits, kirsch, gunflint, smoke and game; distinctly syrah-like and not at all tired or overly oaky. Then thick and deep, with urgent, penetrating flavors of sappy black fruits and spices. At once powerful and pliant. Finishes very long, with fine, broad tannins. I preferred the Reva syrah in 2000, but this year the grenache seems even deeper and sweeter, with a larger structure. Also tasted: 2002 Viognier Alban Estate Vineyard Edna Valley, 2001 Roussanne Alban Estate Vineyard Edna Valley.

2001 Torbreck Grenache Les Amis. 94 points. Medium purple with ruby tinge. Nice prototypical superripe Grenache nose, but all fruit and no vegetables so that’s good. Mouth was heavy with nice glycerin and considerable heat that persists through finish. Lots of red berries in there, very sweet.

2006 Sine Qua Non Syrah Raven Series. VM 94. Opaque purple. Succulent, mineral-driven dark berry and kirsch, with strong graphite, iron and black olive notes arriving with air. Vibrant mineral qualities add urgency to deep, sweet black and blue fruit flavors and lend an incisive character to the long, spicy finish. Picked up silky tannins with air but not at the expense of the suave fruit.

Cheese plate. Brebirousse, france. Caveman Blue, Oregon. Challerhocker, Switzerland, Majorero, Spain. Queso al Romero, Spain.

Flight 6: Zinfandel (eek gads)

1976 Sutter Home Winery Zinfandel Amador County. Not bad for its age.

1987 Rosenblum Cellars Zinfandel. Cloudy, but interesting.

1997 Ridge Zinfandel Late Picked Paso Robles.

1999 Turley Zinfandel Tofanelli Vineyard. VM 91. Moderately saturated medium ruby. Slightly high-toned aromas of smoky black fruits and eucalyptus. Dense, sweet and chewy, with impressive depth of flavor. Exotic hint of orange peel. Finishes with chewy, sweet tannins and excellent length. The Neyers Winery bottling from the same vines showed more urgent berry fruit but a bit less volume.

2006 Turley Zinfandel Mead Ranch. VM 89. Bright, deep red. Superripe, porty aromas of mocha, molasses and nuts. Fat, sweet and creamy but a bit over the top. This big, thick, peppery wine finishes with considerable power and strong tannins. I find this rather awkward.

2012 Turley Zinfandel Hayne Vineyard. VM 94. The 2012 Zinfandel Hayne Vineyard is one of the most tannic and structured Zinfandel in Turley’s extensive lineup. Tense, brilliant and beautifully sculpted throughout, the 2012 bursts from the glass with explosive concentration and pulsating acididy. Winemaker Tegan Passalacqua gave the 2012 three extra months in barrel, all of which it clearly needed. Readers will have to be patient here.
My scribbled thoughts on the wines.
The wine list.

On the right is our chef, John Gerber, formerly of the French Laundry!

Overall, a delicious afternoon — food and wine both! As a Burgundy nut, a often forget all the Châteauneuf-du-Pape in my cellar, but it’s really great stuff — and so consistent. Grenache is a nice grape, if a powerhouse. Even the Zins were (relatively) enjoyable.

The setting really is magnificent. The weather was perfect, and just an ideal afternoon in the yard!

Related posts:

  1. Sauvages in the Forest
  2. Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Sun
  3. All Things Akbar
  4. A Night of Cheese
  5. Saint Joseph at Maison G
By: agavin
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Hong Kong Style – Henry’s Cuisine

May27

Restaurant: Henry’s Cuisine

Location: 301 E Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91801

Date: May 22, 2016 & January 29, 2017 & October 30, 2022 & March 19, 2023 & January 19, 2025 (and more)

Cuisine: Hong Kong style Chinese

Rating: Really tasty

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Another week, another trip to the San Gabriel Valley for Chinese!

The oddly named Henry’s is a Hong Kong Cafe, an unusual blend of Cantonese and slightly more western influences.

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The interior looks like an IHOP! Maybe it was a few years back.

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The menu.

1996 Cristian Senez Champagne Brut Millésimé. 91 points. Nice, with a touch of age appropriate oxidation.

Corn and chicken soup. One of those very pleasant mild Chinese soups. Taken up a notch by adding some vinegar and/or chili oil.

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Drunken Pig Feet. Freezing cold, nearly frozen texture. Revolting. Yarom and a few Chinese liked this dish, everyone else hated it (or didn’t try it). I’m just not into the cold flaccid pig skin texture.

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Drunken Chicken (aka Hainan Chicken) but without the sauce or rice. I don’t like this dish in general, but this one had a nice flavor. However, all but a few pieces were mostly bone and very difficult to eat.


Comfort chicken (and pork) soup. Chinese style chicken soup.

2014 Sine Qua Non Gallinita. 93 points. 50% Grenache, 25% Mourvedre, 12.5% Syrah, 12.5% Petite Sirah….open in bottle for an hour and a half…..PRETTY brilliant rose color….GORGEOUS nose of smoke, strawberry fields, crushed cherries, dusty exotic wood spice…..exotic nose…reminds me of a young Vosne Romanee! Definitely big for a Rose..but I’ve seen bigger……the flavors from the nose translate to the palate….very bright and crunchy acidity…tart and sour….awakens the richness. Not the perfect of balance though….15.9 alc comes through a little strawberry martini-ish…but not too too much heat. The Rhone varietals add some interesting flavors….smoked underbrush, stem funk, garrigue, spice box, dried roses…..definitely a spice and heat kick on the finish! A Rose to drink and ponder with each sip like a red…..tasty…..and just so dog gone FUN!

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Smoked Pork Leg. An amazing hunk of pig. Really moist and full of pastrami-like flavor. The skin was delectably crispy too.

Bone it!

2001 Prager Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Achleiten. 92 points. Another excellent 2001 Austrian. Loads and loads of acidity and minerality, yet plenty of richness and body to balance it all out.

House special Vietnamese style lobster. Lightly fried with a mild pepper flavor. You could really taste the meat.

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Spicy Garlic Lobster. This was an interesting Chinese lobster prep, halfway between “dry” and “wet.” It was pretty fried and there was garlic, but the garlic wasn’t heavy or crunchy like in a real “Typhoon Style.” The meat was extremely moist and excellent. It wasn’t spicy at all. Only Cantonese Chinese “spicy” (aka a visible pepper or two).

From my cellar: 2005 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 94. This is a mild step up in overall class and elegance with a gorgeously perfumed white flower fruit nose introducing linear, precise, intense and powerful medium full flavors that remain splendidly focused on the stunningly long finish that drenches the palate in dry extract. This is a striking 1er and one to buy as it easily delivers grand cru quality.

Sautéed Shrimp with salted egg. The batter is drinking with egg yolk and is very pasty. These were super well executed for this dish, although I prefer a “lighter” fry myself. I don’t usually like this prep, it’s too salty and grainy. This one wasn’t grainy at least but it was salty. The shrimp was nicely done. Overall just “ok” but good for this type of dish.

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Crispy Walnut Shrimp. A weird version of this dish as the mayo was on the side. It was very fried. I think if it had been tossed in the mayo nicely it would have been great. This way it was just fried shrimp.

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House Special Tiger Prawn with Glass Noodle. The prawns were overcooked and had a shrimp paste funk to them, not super pleasant. People liked the noodles (I didn’t try for carb avoidant reasons). They had a bit of a pepper flavor.

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Salt and pepper shrimp (1/29/17). Tasty!

We’ve sure had a lot of shrimp dishes here!

2012 Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet. BH 89. Here too there is enough reduction to push what appears to be ripe fruit to the background. The pure and well-detailed middle weight flavors possess a highly seductive mouth feel along with lovely balance and excellent persistence for a villages level wine. The class of a fine Puligny is very much in evidence and this is worth your attention.

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Stir Fried Fish Filet with Honey Peas and Golden Chives. This was a great dish. The fish was super delicate and light and the sauce super savory and full of “flavor” (MSG). The snap beans were crunchy. Very enjoyable, if light and sort of “Chinese American” (really just Hong Kong style).

Vietnamese Style Deep Fried Fish with Basil. The ultimate fish sticks. Very moist and light fish with a great batter.


Chili seabass. Different, but not bad at all.

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Roast Pigeon. One of the best roast pigeons in the SGV, crunchy, juicy, and full of deep dark meat flavor.

Szechuan Spicy Deep Fried Free Range Chicken. A bit too much bone and not enough spicy heat. Not bad, but this dish is better at a Szechuan place.

1991 Bodegas Mauro Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León Vendimia Seleccionada. 92 points. Very nice mature Tempranillo.

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Pan Fried Shrimp and Egg. This is a simple dish but Henry’s example was as good as it gets. Very wet, fluffy eggs and succulent shrimp. Great with chili oil.


Steamed pork with salted egg. Looks like barf, tastes great.
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Beef with mushrooms (1/29/17).

Lamb with mushrooms and peas. Tender meat.

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Sautéed Sliced Lamb with Garlic Leaves. Slightly weird flavor but kind of enjoyable. Nice texture. The garlic leaves were very nice. In 2023 slightly weird flavor but really enjoyable. Nice texture. The garlic leaves were very nice. I think this was better than in November.

2014 Joseph Drouhin / Drouhin-Vaudon Chablis 1er Cru Mont de Milieu. VM 92. (Drouhin used to purchase fruit from the top part of this property but then bought the entire vineyard; this sunny slope is one of the first parcels Drouhin harvests): Pale, slightly hazy yellow. Ripe aromas of lemon peel, pomelo and apple, lifted by a rose petal topnote. Densely packed and pliant, offering a lovely balance of fruit sweetness and acidity (4.5 grams per liter). Finishes floral and long.

Stir Fried Green Bean with Garlic Sauce. The beans were nice and crunchy.

1995 Maison Roche de Bellene Clos de la Roche Collection Bellenum. 93 points. Very powerful, expressive floral nose that jumps out of the glass upon opening (pop and pour). Still very concentrated and rich, this will likely improve over the next three-five years, as it still has a lot of light red fruit and is just starting to show signs of secondary flavors.

Chestnut and Free Range Chicken in Hot Pot. I hadn’t had this dish before. The chicken was very tender. The sauce was a bit sweet and the chestnuts added a nice nutty crunch. Really good.
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Ginger chicken (1/29/17). Very simple but tasty well cooked chicken with ginger.


Orange beef. Great comfort food.

Broccoli with garlic. About as good as straight up broccoli gets. Actually very nice for American broccoli, but still just broccoli and very basic. Would have been better with a different green.
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Greens (1/29/17). Typical Chinese colon sweeper.
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Mixed light vegetables (1/29/17). Nice crunch.

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Stir Fried Lotus and Wood Ear. Another excellent dish with the same white “flavor” sauce as the fish, so the peas were the same. Basically this was nice salty/savory crunchy veggies.

2011 Saxum James Berry Vineyard. VM 96. Dark red plums, exotic spices, crushed flowers, menthol and new leather are some of the nuances that blossom as the 2011 James Berry Vineyard opens up in the glass. The use of 33% whole clusters adds texture and aromatic complexity in a wine that impresses for its purity. Some of the Grenache was done in concrete, which allows the true personality of the fruit to shine. Hints of tar, game and licorice meld into the expressive finish.

Honey Pork Chop. Sweet, fried, and delicious.

2004 Ovid Experiment E0.4. 92 points. This is the only Ovid Experiment wine that predates the first release of its proprietary wine, so it must be from relatively young vines. Good cab franc-centric nose of violets, cassis and a little pepper. This is a rich, almost heavy, wine tasting of cassis and spices. The oak and alcohol were evident to me but not too off putting. This is a good wine but for me it lacks the balance, complexity and seamlessness of the Ovid wines that have come after it (of which I am a huge fan). It will last for several more years but I don’t know if it will get any better.

Singapore Curry Beef. In a mild yellow curry with tender beef, weird gelatinous tendon and potatoes. This is one of the best yellow curries I’ve had. The sauce itself, probably coconut milk based, was extremely delicious and a straightforward version of the English/Hong Kong yellow curry. The meat is tender put packed with collagen and/or tendon.

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Lamb stew (1/29/17). Very mild, and lamb was super tender, but good flavor.

2011 Peter Michael Les Pavots. VM 92. Opaque ruby. Smoky, deeply pitched aromas of cassis, blueberry and dark chocolate, with a hint of truffle adding a musky, earthy nuance. In a substantial style for the vintage, offering sweet dark fruit preserve flavors and a touch of candied licorice. Tangy acidity adds lift to the round, gently tannic, persistent finish, with the blue fruit note echoing.

Steamed Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables. We didn’t try this, but I took a picture next door as this seemed a super popular dish. Light, I’m sure.

2000 Mckeon-Phillips Cabernet Sauvignon Ardison A.D. Valley View Vineyard. 91 points. Medium bodied cab. Fruit forward but not overpowering. Goes down easy but not a long finish. Decanted for two hours prior to drinking. Opened up well. Drink now as it has evolved as much as it will.

Crispy Noodles with Pork and Mushrooms. I just love this stuff once the sauce seeps through into the noodles. Excellent version.

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Meat and seafood over crispy noodles (1/29/17). Love this southern dish — always have — and this was a good version.

House Special Fried Rice with Seafood and Minced Garlic. Great stuff.
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Lasagna! (1/29/17). Yeah, being a Hong Kong cafe they have some weird western stuff.
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Spaghetti! (1/29/17). Tasted like spaghetti-o’s!

1983 Château Suduiraut. 91 points. Medium golden yellow in color. Full, forward & attractive nose of complex, developed, lush, ripe fruit aromas of apricots, peaches & dried figs with floral notes of honeysuckle, caramel, honey, spices, minerals and a bit of vanilla. Medium bodied with a good concentration, balanced, smooth textured, mature, develop & lush ripe fruit flavors of apricots, peaches, almonds, honey, caramel, spices minerals and a touch of vanilla. Lingering finish. Drinks quite well at present and although it may be at its peak of development, it has the fruit/structure to hold onto this present plateau for a few more additional years although any further development would be minimal.

Hong Kong Egg Waffle. Fresh baked and light.

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Yar! Ghostly skeletal praline pirates are marauding — Pecan Pirate Praline Gelato — An eggy Texas Pecan base layered with my creepy skull-shaped New Orleans style Vanilla Bourbon Pecan Pralines and Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Pumpkins — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #vanilla #bourbon #pecan #praline #candy #halloween #spooky

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Baileys Irish Gream Gelato — Stabilized 13% Bailys Irish Cream recipe, with a touch of seasonal coloring! — I have trouble resisting these once a year flavors — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #expresso #whiskey #baileys #StPatricksDay #cream #green

Chocolate Butterfinger Crunch Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Peanutbutter Cream Cheese Ganache and chopped Butterfingers! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #peanut #butterfinger

The owner (Henry) at the table

Looking at the photos on Yelp, I wasn’t expecting too much from Henry’s. There were a bunch of breakfast dishes and odd “macaroni and ham” Hong Kong fusion plates. But I have to admit I was dead wrong. The place is great. It’s not the oddest or most extreme Chinese, but Henry’s really delivers on execution and flavor. These were for the most part darn tasty dishes. Lots of great ones, and the rest quite solid. The overall effect was a great meal somewhat in the vein of Newport Seafood or Boston Lobster. I guess in all three cases it’s that hybrid of Southern Chinese and “Vietnamese” (in quotes because this seems to me more of a Vietnamese influence on Chinese food than actual dishes as I experienced them in Vietnam).

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

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Wines from another night and below are the wines from 1/29/17. I’m too lazy to write them up:

Related posts:

  1. Deep South – Mandovi Goan Cuisine
  2. Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style
  3. Birthday Party, Hedonist Style
  4. Hedonists Hunan Style
  5. Food as Art: Chanukah in Style
By: agavin
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Sumo Bowl Yamakase

May25

Restaurant: Yamakase [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: You wish you knew!

Date: May 20, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Best yet!

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Yamakase is just hands down one of the most fun evenings in LA. Not only is the “modern” Japanese cuisine incredible, but the convivial nature of the place is just great. It’s not very big and as usual we took the entire sushi bar (we had 10 this time, but you can squeeze in 11 or 12). This is my second time at the new location and while the back was empty first time around, this time there were 8 or so people at 2-3 tables back in the “depths” of the restaurant.

The location is in a good neighborhood, but something about this particular strip mall is a bit sketchy. Maybe it’s the 7/11. There are a lot of strange characters hanging about.

Inside, chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto unpacks his giant slabs of tuna.

We start with a bang! 2003 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil. VM 94+. The 2003 Clos du Mesnil is insanely beautiful. Vivid, resonant and textured in the glass, the 2003 boasts magnificent depth and pure breed. Since I last tasted it a few months ago, the 2003 has begun to shut down, which is probably a great sign for its future and overall longevity. Hints of smoke, slate and dried pear gradually open up in the glass, but the 2003 mostly stands out for its exceptional finesse.

Homemade tofu, Momotaro tomato, and sweet shrimp. A “typical” Yamakase tofu dish. Great interplay of textures and flavors. I could even handle the tomato!

1998 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon P2. VM 95. The 1998 Dom Pérignon P2 is open and beautifully expressive today. Unusually open for a young P2, the 1998 drinks well upon release, especially compared to the 1996, which was virtually unapproachable for the first few years after release. That is not at all the case with the 1998, which is quite open at this stage. Hints of apricot, almond, white flowers and chamomile add texture on the fleshy, resonant finish. The added time on the lees has given the P2 an added dimension of texture.

Abalone with eel sauce. The crunchy chewy mollusk simply served and delicious.

2002 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 99+. At first sight a lovely bright golden colour. A very charismatic fresh nose, promise of natural intensity and elegance with strong presence of fruits, fruits of all types. A diverse bouquet of orange aromas with some notes of liquorice and light chocolate biscuit can be enjoyed.
On the palate, astonishing, balanced and delicate with significant fresh, tropical, wild and crystalised fruits. It is a hymn to fruit: red, white and citrus fruit with notes of cassis, chocolate, candied-orange peel, cocoa beans, honey with hints of smoke and toast enhanced by a vibrant, persistent long finish. It is a balanced dialogue between Pinot Noir (40%) and Chardonnays (39%) with Meunier (21%).

Persimmon butter sandwich. This is an odd one, but delicious. The orange stripes are dried persimmon which has been hung to dry for months. This is a traditional Japanese New Year preparation and very highly prized. The lighter stripe is frozen high end butter! Almost like a little petite four.

Mantis shrimp, baby peach, scallop, seaweed. I loved the sweet/tangy sauce too. Very lovely.

1985 Louis Jadot Montrachet Le Montrachet. 90 points. Still intact, deep yellow, but fruit a bit faded.

Fresh steamed eel and baby squid. Lovely textures. I think the green things were bits of sisho too, or shiso flowers.

1986 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet. 94 points. From a virtually perfect bottle, this wine had a deep yellow center and clear rims. Not surprisingly, the nose was rather closed at first. Eventually, the high- intensity nose showed apples, vanilla, macaroons, and white stone. In the mouth, this wine was reasonably ripe and rich but the wine’s majesty came from its powerful acidity. Not surprisingly, it showed awesome length after some time.

Scallop or clam with salmon row and steamed ice fish. These tiny little fish are so cute!

2007 Louis Latour Montrachet. BH 95. A deft touch of wood serves as a background presence for the reserved but fresh and bright floral, citrus, brioche and spice aromas that are strikingly complex and broad and complement the full-bodied flavors that are deep, dense and massive with exceptionally powerful drive and intensity on the gorgeously long and palate staining finish. This is an impressive wine blessed with great underlying material, perfect balance and superb harmony plus it’s built for the long haul. Note however that the expressiveness of the nose aside, the flavors are like a block of stone and thus I would suggest not opening a bottle for the next few years as it would likely be a complete waste.

Oyster, uni, quail egg, caviar. One of these super Yamakase spoons of crazy umami-rich ingredients.

1979 Domaine Michel Gaunoux Pommard 1er Cru Les Grands Épenots. JG 92. Or bottle was in great shape!

Seared beef, foie gras, and a foie gras sauce. Rich and delicious.

From my cellar: 2002 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Montrachet. Burghound 93. Tight yet fragrant aromas of stunning complexity reveal hints of peach, pear and a trace of wood spice, leading to large-scaled, extremely ripe flavors that stain the palate with wave after wave of sappy extract. Exceptionally powerful and very masculine, this is a very backward wine today with impressive focus and precision and it will require a minimum of 5 to 7 years of cellar time to arrive at its peak, though it should be capable of lasting a good deal longer.

Frozen toro, uni, and blue crab on toast. This toast and rich toro/crab combo is so good. Like a super high end version of a tuna sandwich.

From my cellar: 2000 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les . BH 94. Razor sharp aromas of wet rocks, earth and white fruits meld into flavors that are crystalline in their precision, purity and transparency. Understated, discreet and fine yet this is painfully intense with buckets of minerality. Quite backward presently but this is a genuinely breathtaking wine that defines class. In two words, absolutely brilliant and consistent notes.

agavin: our bottle was fabulous. still reduced even.

Truffle, crab, quail egg, uni parfait. Classic Yamakase greatness. White truffles apparently this time of year. In December it was black.

1999 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs Canet. BH 92. Slightly exotic fruit (often a characteristic of Champs Canet) with notes of pineapple and banana with that mouth watering Granny Smith apple acidity. Marvelous intensity on the mid-palate that continues on to the long, powerful yet discreet finish. Not flashy and in fact rather understated for Champs Canet but it has arrived at its peak and is drinking perfectly now. Impressive in that it’s generous yet precise and pure with lovely harmony of expression.

Some kind of delightful raw shrimp or such in a dressing.

Bluefin tuna, caviar. Some of the best chunks of tuna I’ve had.

2000 Faiveley Corton-Charlemagne. BH 91. The nose is still relatively fresh though the aromatic profile is one of a fully mature white burg, offering up notes of dried flowers, green apple and citrus hints that are also picked up by the elegant and pure medium-bodied flavors that display some wood influence on the otherwise admirably long finish. This is a Corton-Charlemagne of finesse and about the only nit is that one could wish for a bit more mid-palate concentration. No other recent experiences.

Yama’s new assistant plating.

Foie gras, toro, quail egg, truffle cheese, blue crab. Wow! This dish was absolutely out of this world. Just crazy rich and delicious. You wouldn’t think it works, but it’s amazing.
Uh oh, crabs!
King crab, steamed. Simple steamed fresh crab.
At work in the kitchen — which is right behind the sushi bar.

From my cellar: 1997 Joseph Drouhin Romanée St. Vivant. 93 points. Garnet color, with light bricking on the rim. Red fruits on the nose, with some spice as well. The red fruits are also present on the palate. Long finish. Very good given the vintage and kept very well.

The chef is working on his ramen broth. Bright yellow eggy noodles.

Ultimate ramen bowl. This foie gras based seafood broth was topped with truffles and filled with yummy seafood bits. Underneath are the ramen noodles. There was crab, beef, oyster, and who knows what else in here. Absolutely stunning. So rich. So good. The broth had quite a white pepper kick too which was amazing.

Because I asked I got the lefthand “sumo” bowl as my personal portion. It was so large even I couldn’t finish it! Almost though.

From my cellar: 1982 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs. Burghound 88. Superb nose of dried rose petals trimmed in minerals and damp earth follow by middle weight, slightly thinning flavors that display excellent complexity and frankly more structure than the mid-palate sap can adequately buffer on the finish. That said, this receives its marks for the sheer breadth of flavors and the clean, pure character. This is a first rate effort in what was a very difficult vintage.

agavin: 94 points. I thought this was drinking great.

This is real Japanese Wagyu, from Miyazaki. It comes with a certificate of authenticity that includes the cow’s nose print and stats. Yeah, the actual animal.

Miyazaki beef with truffle pepper sauce. Melt in your mouth with a bit of pepper kick.

A super complex sake Adam brought.

Erick brought this premium sake back from the brewery in Japan.

Another special aged sake Adam brought.

Some opted for the sashimi plate.

Blue fin sushi. Bordering over to chu-toro. Just a lovely bit of sushi.

Sea bass. To die for.

Amberjack. Amazing.

Chu or O toro. Lethal. We had about 4 pieces of this each.

Uber handroll. Uni, king crab, toro, shiso. You’ve never had a handroll quite like this powerhouse! Had two of these. The second one almost gave me a gout attack!

A small taste of baby peach sorbet. Super light and refreshing.

“Only” 16 bottles of wine. 10 people. Great stuff tonight too. No bad or spoiled wines. Stuff was great in all 4 categories: champ, white burg, red burg, and sake. Just some really stellar drinks.

Plus, food-wise, this was one of my best meals this year — really quite excellent — and regular readers know I have more than my share of great meals. A really great format. A total blow out and Yama’s cuisine keeps gaining in strength and power. Really quite incomparable.

Oh, and that toro cheese dish and foie gras “ramen” are just to die for. I’m headed back in July for more.

Click here for more LA sushi reviews,
Or for Foodie Club extravaganzas.

Related posts:

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  5. Katana – Stripping it all Down
By: agavin
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Time again for Totoraku

May20

Restaurant: Totoraku [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Location: 10610 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064.

Date: May 18, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese Yakiniku

Rating: Best beef in town!

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About twice a year my Hedonist group makes a regular pilgrimage to Totoraku, LA’s “secret beef” restaurant.  Toto (as its affectionately known) serves a refined version of Japanese Yakiniku, which is Beef BBQ originally from Korea but filtered through Japanese sensibility.

We often oscillate between 30 person mega dinners — quite the madness — and more intimate 10-15 person affairs. This was the later, with 12 drinkers, and I much prefer this size. You can talk to everyone, bottles go all the way around, and the quality of the wines is generally more consistently higher.

The outside is basically a shell. The “Teriyaki House” has nothing to do with the food within, and the phone number is incorrect. The place is like a beef speakeasy!

The interior is a tad “minimalist.”


Here, chef Kaz Oyama, himself a part time Hedonist, sharpens his knives. Uh oh!

Stewart brought bonus: 1996 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. VM 95+. Deep, highly complex aromas of citrus skin, nutmeg, porcini mushroom, toasted almond and clove. Rich, dry and impressively deep; superconcentrated and oily. A chewy, spicy Champagne that seemed to grow fresher as it opened in the glass. Really explosive on the aftertaste, finishing with a clinging quality and powerful spicy, nutty flavors. A major mouthful of Champagne, at its best at the dinner table. Displays the combination of high ripeness and high acidity of this vintage at its best. This thick, rich, very powerful wine is still a bit youthfully disorganized and will be even better for a few years of additional aging. One of the standouts of my recent tastings.

The appetizer plate. Lots of yummy little tidbits.

Scallops and/or clam bits.
Sesame tofu with pea.

Kirk brought bonus: 2004 Marcassin Chardonnay Marcassin Vineyard. VM 97. Pale yellow-green. Knockout nose combines stone fruits, minerals, fresh herbs, honey, flowers, grilled nuts and earth. Round and lush yet racy and light on its feet, with compelling flavors of pineapple, grapefruit and crushed stone. A huge but classy wine with considerable finesse. Wonderfully rich yet subtle on the back end, where it stains the palate with fruits, minerals and soil tones.

Some seared and marinated fish on seaweed.

Salmon wrapped in daikon, stuffed with avocado and other vegetables. On the right Egg with pear, potato, and some kind of crisp.

Shrimp with caviar.

I brought as bonus: 1993 Georges Noellat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. 91 points. A bit tart at first, but some air helped the flavors flesh out a bit. Earthy, meaty, spicy, and floral, this had all the components of great Burgundy. The flavors seemed to be a bit muted, though, so the wine had a dulled sense to it…the intensity wasn’t there I guess. Certainly improved with more air, but I’ve had better bottles of this.

Foie gras, some kind of fruit. On the right a vegetable jelly.

Uni risotto balls.

Larry brought: 1998 Château Mouton Rothschild. Parker 89-96. Like many of its peers, the 1998 has filled out spectacularly. Now in the bottle, this opaque black/purple-colored offering has increased in stature, richness, and size. A blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc (57% of the production was utilized), it is an extremely powerful, super-concentrated wine offering notes of roasted espresso, creme de cassis, smoke, new saddle leather, graphite, and licorice. It is massive, with awesome concentration, mouth-searing tannin levels, and a saturated flavor profile that grips the mouth with considerable intensity. This is a 50-year Mouton, but patience will be required as it will not be close to drinkability for at least a decade. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2050.

Danny brought: 1999 Mouton-Rothschild. Parker 93-94. Made in a soft style, many readers will prefer this “friendlier” blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc. A very sexy Mouton, it exhibits a dense ruby/purple color, sweet cassis fruit, coffee, and smoke. Long and lush, with low acidity, ripe tannin, and medium to full body, it should be reasonably approachable upon release, yet evolve nicely for 20-25 years.
Beef carpaccio with special salt, flowers, and some onion family derivative. Very yummy. This is eaten raw.

Two kinds of beef sashimi, eaten nearly raw. From the same cow! On the left beef tataki (rib eye) and on the right (in the cup) beef throat sashimi. Also on the plate is a bit of Korean style hot sauce (the red stuff), some intensely strong garlic (yum) and micro julienned ginger.

The throat was very chewy, more about texture. The rib eye soft and more flavorful. All went well with the garlic and ginger — I particularly liked the garlic.

A raw beef dish. Marinated raw beef is seen here with ginger, raw egg, cucumber, daikon, pine nuts, and something orange. Apparently, this is a Korean dish called Yukhoe. Actually, I’ve had it at Korean places, but in any case it’s delicious.

The elements are mixed together and then eaten. It’s hard to describe why it’s so good, but it is, with a very complex flavor and texture interplay.

The tabletop grill we cook the rest of the dishes on.

Stewart brought: 1983 L’Evangile. Parker 88-91. A gorgeous bouquet of black-raspberries, minerals, spices, and cedar is an immediate turn-on. The deep ruby color is followed by medium-bodied, beautifully concentrated, well-focused flavors. The exotic side of l’Evangile so noticeable in its top vintages comes across in this plummy, rich, viscous, medium to full-bodied, fleshy wine. More tannin was evident in this tasting than in the past, which makes me think the wine might be starting to display more structure. One of the best right bank wines of the vintage, it should be drunk over the next 12-15 years.

Larry brought: 1989 Palmer. Parker 96. Deep garnet-brick. Dark chocolate covered cherries, espresso, cinnamon, rose petals, tree bark and loam. Medium to full body with layers of concentrated fruit and spice flavours supported by crisp acidity and a medium+ level of fine tannins. Very long finish.

agavin: most of us thought this was Wine of the Night!
Beef tongue with salt. After cooking, you dip it in lemon juice.

Do put your tongue on the grill!

Filet Mignon with bell peppers, onions, and sisho pepper.

Filet on the grill.

The “salad.” Cucumbers, carrots, daikon. The vegetables do help to move along the fat and protein heavy meat.

They are served with this spicy sweet miso dip.

Momotaro tomatoes with a vinaigrette. These are supposedly incredibly good tomatoes, as a hater, I didn’t try them. I think Oyama-san gets them from some special place in Orange Country.

From my cellar: 2001 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin. Parker 99. The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin is a blend of 60% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache, 10% Counoise, and 10% Syrah. Full-bodied, excruciatingly backward, and nearly impenetrable, it boasts an inky/blue/purple color in addition to a promising nose of new saddle leather, melted asphalt, camphor, blackberries, smoky, roasted herbs, and Asian spices. A huge lashing of tannin as well as a formidable structure result in the antithesis of its more flattering, forward, and voluptuous sibling, the classic Beaucastel. Readers lucky enough to come across this cuvee should plan on waiting at least a decade before it begins to approach adolescence. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2040.

agavin: also stunning

1989 Guigal Cote Rotie la Turque. Parker 99-100. The precocious, sweet, jammy 1989 La Turque’s smoky, licorice, and black-raspberry aromas, as well as its phenomenal richness, make for another extraordinary tasting experience. Full-bodied, dense, and thick, this wine possesses the essence of black cherries. Still youthful, it is already gorgeous to drink. Anticipated maturity: now-2012.

agavin: another amazing wine

Outside rib eye with special salt and garlic. After being flipped, green onion is added.

Inside rib eye.

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Looking serious about the meat!

You have to special order the lamb, which like all of Kaz’s meats, is pretty wonderful.

On the grill. One hell of a chop.

Ron brought: 1981 Penfolds Grange. Parker 97. The 1981 stood out as slightly superior. Winemaker John Duval always felt this was a tannic style of Grange, but the wine has shed its tannins, and this is one of the few vintages where the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon was above 10%. Sweet notes of creme de cassis, cedarwood, charcoal, and barbecue spices are followed by a full-bodied, opulent wine displaying heady amounts of alcohol, glycerin, and density in its full-bodied, skyscraper-like texture. I was drinking this wine with great pleasure in the mid-nineties, yet here it is nearly 15 years later, and the wine does not appear to have budged much from its evolutionary state. This is a testament to how remarkably well these wines hold up, and age at such a glacial pace.

Yarom brought: 1997 Penfolds Grange. Parker 94. The 1997 Grange (a blend of 96% Shiraz and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon) looks to be a classic Grange, although slightly softer and more forward than the backward 1996. The saturated purple-colored 1997 offers a gorgeously sweet nose of blackberry liqueur, cherries, camphor, chocolate, plums, and mocha. The wine is opulently-textured, extremely soft, layered, and seductive, with Grange’s tell-tale personality well-displayed, but in a seamless, seductive style. This is a superb Grange that can hold its own against the more heralded 1996.

A kind of short rib.

On the grill.

Light it up!

Ilana & Ron brought: 1999 Latour. Parker 93-95. Deep garnet colored with a touch of brick, the nose offers notes of cassis, tobacco leaf and tar with hints of tree bark and earth. The palate is taut and savory / minerally with very firm chewy tannins somewhat dominating the restrained fruit at this stage.

Some other kind of short rib.

Cooking.

Arnie brought: 2002 Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard. Parker 100! One of the greatest young Cabernet Sauvignons I have ever tasted is the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard (which I also rated 100 when it was first bottled). This wine has hardly changed since its release. Still incredibly youthful, it reveals a blue/black color along with notes of black currants, camphor, graphite, high quality unsmoked cigar tobacco, blackberries and a touch of oak. Full-bodied and multilayered with terrific texture and richness as well as a 60-second finish, this young, exuberant, slightly flamboyant classic offers an interesting contrast in style with other top producers (such as Schrader Cellars) that also farm parcels of the Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. Like most young Cabernets, this wine can be drunk now because of the sweetness of its tannins, but it is a good decade away from full maturity. It should last until 2040-2050. Bravo!

Mark brought: 2007 Kapcsandy Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vin State Lane Vineyard. Parker 100! Absolutely riveting, and even better than I predicted last year is the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon – Grand Vin State Lane Vineyard. Made from 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and the rest tiny dollops of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot (400 cases produced), in two weeks of tastings, this wine stood out as one of those singular efforts that it is impossible to get out of your mind and off of your palate. A flawless, seamless, profound example of Napa Cabernet, it exhibits an opaque purple color along with a gorgeous perfume of lead pencil shavings, cedar, creme de cassis, ink, flowers, and espresso roast. With phenomenal depth, a multidimensional personality, unbelievable length, and an impeccable integration of all its component parts, this stunning wine lasts and lasts, with a finish approaching a full minute. Give this profound wine 3-5 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following 25-30 years.

A new one tonight, house special pork.

Cooked very well. Super super tasty.

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Toto veterans

IMG_3933
Stewart brought: 1964 Miguel Torres Cabernet Sauvignon Penedès Gran Coronas Reserva. 89 points. In quite good shape for its age.

Skirt steak.

Phil brought: 1928 Izidro Gonsalves Madeira. Pretty yummy!

Mark brought bonus. 1990 Graham Porto Centenary Malvedos. 90 points. Very good port. Lot’s of dark fruit and some chocolate flavours at the end. Very hot.

Toto serves homemade ice creams and sorbets as dessert. So chaotic was this giant night that they brought out all five flavors on each  plate and just placed them about the tables. I like the ice creams better than the sorbets here. The white chocolate was fantastic. Still, it’s all great. So great we ordered 3 plates for 4 of us!

1990 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey. VM 93. Wonderfully complex, quintessential Sauternes aromas of apricot, smoke, truffle, game and licorice. Thick and mouthfilling, but kept fresh by strong, harmonious acidity. Conveys a tactile, layered texture and strong noble rot character. Really lovely balance. Finishes with powerful fruit and great persistence. Stunning wine.

Mark brought bonus this cognac — in tiny little airplane bottles! 🙂

This place is all about the beef, which is arguably some of the best I’ve ever had. Certainly the best yakiniku/Korean BBQ I’ve ever had. There is a perfect tenderness to every cut that’s fairly transcendant. I’m not even that much of a steak fan — but I’d take this stuff any time over even a spectacular cut from Mastros or Cut. The food here does not vary much from visit to visit. There is no menu. The quality however is utterly consistant. So while it isn’t an everyday sort of dining experience, perhaps once every 6-9 months, I love to return for my fix.

This evening was quite awesome. We had a smaller party (12). Thus every wine easily made it all the way around. Additionally, everyone really stepped up and we had some pretty epic grapes. Every wine was drinking well and some were just total stunners!

More crazy Hedonist adventures or

LA dining reviews click here.

First time at Toto can be A LOT to take in!

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By: agavin
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Hedonism at Officine Brera

May18

Restaurant: Officine Brera [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1331 E 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021. (213) 553-8006

Date: May 12, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Some of the best (new?) Italian in the city!

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Officine Brera is one of LA’s hottest 2016 openings and I’ve been waiting for an excuse to haul myself Downtown for months. Another modern “rustic” Italian by the team that brought us Factory Kitchen, including master chef Angelo Auriana, plus Brera brings in some new blood in the form of Mirko Paderno who rocked it at Oliverio.

The actual restaurant is behind us, but like many recent hot openings (including Factory Kitchen), Brera is located in the “Arts District”, a bombed out region of DTLA not far from skid row that is rapidly up and coming.

The area offers a mess of old brick 40s warehouses and factories which are being lovingly converted, allowing large spaces at reasonable rents (for now).

There is a nice outside patio/bar.

And inside the gigantic warehouse/factory space has been reconfigured with highly attractive duct work. Who would have thought that grungy 70 year-old factory windows could look so good?

Tonight’s menu, slightly different than last time.

Bread and olive oil.

Arnie brought: 2002 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 98. Honey, almonds, butter, tropical fruit and brioche are some of the notes that emerge in the 2002 Dom Pérignon. Here the flavors are bold, rich and exotic, as they have always been, while the textural feel is one of pure exuberance. The 2002 remains dense, honeyed and totally voluptuous on the palate, with more than enough density to drink well for decades The style will always remain opulent to the core.
JF brought: 2011 Domaine Louis Michel Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles. VM 92+. Tangerine, cloves, mint and smoke all emerge from the 2011 Chablis Grenouilles. There is lovely depth and focus in the glass, although the Grenouilles comes across as a bit compact relative to most 2011s. This introspective Chablis isn’t ready to show all of its cards just yet. Although I expect the Grenouilles to soften a bit in bottle, the style is likely to always remain a bit on the firm side.

From my cellar: 2010 Borgo del Tiglio (Nicola Manferrari) Collio Friulano Ronco della Chiesa. VM 94. Borgo del Tiglio’s 2010 Ronco della Chiesa shows what this hillside site in Cormons can do in cooler vintages. Still bright, focused and intensely saline, the 2010 bursts from the glass with grapefruit, lime, mint and crushed rocks. The 2010 will probably be appreciated most by readers who like tense, vibrant whites. Next to some of the other vintages, the 2010 lacks a little mid-palate pliancy, but it is quite beautiful just the same. I especially like the way the 2010 opens up nicely in the glass over time.

Mesin con Salam. Selection of meats & cheeses, crostini, pear mostarda.

Culatello. traditional pianura padana inspired heritage pork, most prized salume. They aren’t kidding when they say traditional. Both Auriana and Paderno are from the Po river valley.

Fagiolini. blue lake green beans, radicchio, baby kale, toasted hazelnuts, raspadura, garda oil. Nice salad.

Polpo. grilled mediterranean octopus, water cress, frisée salad, sunchokes purèe. Good pus.

Chick pea fritters, on the house.

Battuta cruda. hand chopped beef, celery, raspadura, quail egg, black ash dressing. Beef tartar — and I love beef tartar, but some at the table found it too chewy.

JF brought: 1990 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT. VM 95. The 1990 Masseto comes across as quite ripe and almost exotic, very much in the style of the year. This is a decidedly opulent, full-bodied vintage. Tar, smoke and licorice wrap around the huge finish. My preference was for the 1988 in this first flight, but to tell the truth all of three last wines were spectacular.

agavin: we all loved this wine. Maybe WOTN, although there were a lot of great wines.

From my cellar: 2006 Fattoria Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino. VM 95. Medium red. A real essence of sangiovese on the nose: sour cherry, flowers, marzipan and a whiff of orange peel. Wonderfully lush and seamless, with an almost liqueur-like sweetness that does not go roasted. This medium-to-full wine boasts a velvety texture today but really needs time in bottle to show off its inherent complexity. Finishes with a broad dusting of tannins. This powerful, classy Brunello stayed fresh for 48 hours in the recorked bottle.

Yarom brought: 1970 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Ygay Reserva. agavin 93. Really lush and fully of life. Great bottle and about as good as one can imagine from this good but “structured” year.
Nastrini del miracolo. ancient grain house made pasta, butcher’s table meat-ragù, italian parsley. The Fettucine Bolognese you wish your grandmother made! Really a very nice ragu.
Cannelloni. braised beef stuffed oven baked fresh pasta, foie grass, melted cheese béchamel. Now these were awesomely rich and delicious.

Pisaei e faso. House made bread dumplings, borlotti beans, cured pork, reggiano stravecchio. Pork and beans! A table favorite.
Gnocchi. handmade potato gnocchi, castelmagno cheese fonduta, truffle, chives. Simple but amazing. Light fluffy pillows and very cheesy (as it should be). They added the truffle since my last visit. Took it up another notch. Perfect texture too.

Foiade bergamasche. Hand-cut chestnut pasta, braised oxtail ragu, pioppini mushrooms, lodigrana. A solid traditional rustic pasta. Not as sexy as some of the others, but good still.

Arnie brought: 1999 Reininger Cima. 93 points. Super nice and even “somewhat old world” super Tuscan blend. Full of fruit and complexity but not overly hot at all.

Larry brought: 2005 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 92. The 2005 Redigaffi (Merlot) is the most finessed, elegant Redigaffi I can recall. This is a Redigaffi that emphasizes clarity and precision over sheer power. Suggestions of new leather, spices, plums, currants, minerals, blueberry jam and toasted oak emerge from this medium-bodied effort. Although the 2005 might not have the structure of previous vintages, the tannins are beautifully balanced and the wine offers terrific overall harmony.

agavin: a monster, but really delicious.

Bassa padana. Arborio rice, luganega rope sausage, cotechino, grana padano. Another good risotto, although a few thought it could be creamier.

Milanese. vialone nano rice, saffron, bone marrow, lodigrana. A version of the classic Milanese risotto but with bone marrow, including that big chunk pulled out. Awesome!

Pesce. Vialone nano veronese igp rice, pan roasted langoustines, smoked eel, black mussels, clams. Flavored with clam juice this smelled pretty intense (aka fishy). A few were put off by that, but I thought it tasted amazing with a strong briny flavor.

Chevy brought: 2001 Pride Mountain Vineyards Reserve Claret. VM 94. Deep ruby-red. Knockout nose combines roasted black raspberry, cassis, espresso and bitter chocolate. Sweet, fat and deep, with extravagantly rich, seamless flavors of dark berries and chocolate. Not as sweet as the Mountaintop merlot but even larger-scaled. The finish shows more obvious cabernet tannins and considerable sweet oak, but has more than enough powerful, palate-staining fruit. As a potential purchase, this is a no-brainer for collectors who can find and afford it.

agavin: also a great wine. Enough age to have mellowed it out and make it work with food.

Quaglia. Grilled semi-boneless california quail, lardo, yellow corn polenta, sage, natural jus. Some really nice juicy quail. Not dry at all with that lardo!

Special house roasted potatoes. Cooked in duck fat!
Gianduiotta. milk chocolate hazelnut, sbrisolona crumble, caramelized brulee.
Castagnole. freshly fried doughnuts, anise sugar, salty bourbon caramel sauce.
Torrone. honey & nut nougatine semifreddo, warmed fudge sauce, amarena cherries.

Overall another amazing evening.

Food. The food at Officine is very good. It’s very Italian, with a fairly non Italian “vibe” to the place and a more modern share plates style. But the pastas and risotto are as good as any you will find in LA with a real hearty flavor forward style. The appetizers and the mains are more of a mixed bag, varying between awesome and just fine. The cured meats are great, but the mains lean a little too heavily on steak for my taste (we didn’t order any tonight). They feel less Italian as the only straight steak I usually see in Italy is the bistecca (massive rare tuscan cut).

Service. Service was great and we were treated like family. Wine service in particular is a real standout.

Atmosphere. I loved the big factory look. It was a little loud, but not as bad as some (Bestia!). We had 7 people and a fabulous round table in the back where it wasn’t quite as deafening.

Wines. We didn’t have a bad wine tonight. All super on point and really delicious and great with the food.

Group thoughts. The above opinions are mine. Tonight was a fairly contentious night. Everyone loved the wines, service, and atmosphere. But about half of us (including me) really like the food and a couple of other guys consider it “meh”, and although they loved certain dishes, felt that others fell flat. The gnocchi, quail, and beans were particular favorites. Whatever one’s tastes, it is definitely true that Brera is a very contemporary LA Italian in that it fuses dish types from contemporary type places in Italy with the small plate format and sort of “right now” LA tastes. It does not draw as obviously from the heritage of “classic” Italian American restaurants.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More crazy Hedonist dinners.

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  5. Summer of Hedonism
By: agavin
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2005 Burgundy at Water Grill

Apr29

Restaurant: Water Grill Santa Monica [1, 2]

Location: 1401 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 394-5669

Date: April 27, 2016

Cuisine: American Seafood

Rating: Solid coastal seafooder

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Tonight’s outing to Water Grill Santa Monica is with a friend’s wine group. Some of the regulars I’ve known for some time and a bunch of the others I can’t believe I haven’t “met” as we clearly have been at the same events together.

The primary wine theme is 2005 Red Burgundy. A little young, but beginning to come around.

The ocean sunset throws some awesome color on the facade.

1990 Henri Goutorbe Champagne Collection René.

2010 Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir. Burghound 95. There is a lovely mineral reduction to the pure aromas of citrus, ripe orchard fruit, dried rose petal and sea breeze that marry into full-bodied and overtly muscular flavors that possess seemingly endless reserves of acid-buffering extract on the mouth coating, long and almost painfully intense finish. This bone dry effort will require plenty of cellar time but it will be more than worth the wait as it’s a knockout.

2004 Hospices de Beaune Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières Cuvée Baudot Louis Jadot. Good stuff, very “round” and tres meursault.

The King Iced Shellfish Tower. Love me some raw sea creatures.

Downstairs are oysters, clams, shrimps (with and without heads), mussels, and snails.

Upstairs is uni, lobster, crab, and Peruvian bay scallops with salsa.

From my cellar: 2005 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles. Burghound 93. A very discreet touch of brioche highlights the much more reserved honeysuckle, anise, honeysuckle and apricot aromas that are elegant, pure and wonderfully refined and dissolve into sweet, intense and unusually precise flavors that also reflect more minerality than I typically find in this wine as well, culminating in superb punch and energy. A terrific vintage for Pucelles and one to consider closely.

agavin: sadly our bottle was (mildly) corked 🙁

2013 Francois Carillon Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 91-94. A beautifully expressive nose of notably ripe yellow fruit, acacia blossom, spiced pear and hints of lemon are trimmed in enough wood to notice. The detailed, concentrated, layered and intense middle weight plus flavors are unusually powerful before culminating in a stony, persistent and palate staining finish. This is dense to the point of being luscious and while this is certainly a lovely effort, I wouldn’t call it typical in the context of a classic Chevalier.

agavin: crazy young but still fabulous, particularly at the end of the evening once it got some air. Super long finish.
Crudo Sampler. Wild tahitian bigeye tuna, wild eastern sea scallops, farmed faroe islands atlantic salmon.
Farmed Manila clams with Chorizo. Steamed in saffron broth with crispy french baquette.
Jump lump blue crab cake. celery root remoulade.

From my cellar: 2005 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuées. Burghound 94. Here the aromas are slightly riper than those of the villages with a positively sublime elegant dark berry fruit and violet-infused nose that complements the seductive yet notably powerful plum and mineral-inflected medium full flavors that are firmly structured yet velvety with excellent depth of material on the driving, complex and stunningly long finish. The mid-palate sap completely buffers the dusty tannins and this should be capable of at least a decade of improvement but it’s a 25 year wine, perhaps longer. This delivers grand cru quality and should absolutely be on your shopping list.

agavin: lots of promise, but needs more time.

2005 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru. Burghound 93. A strikingly complex nose offers up notes of dried rose petal, exotic spices, tea, earth and very ripe red pinot fruit that merges into rich, full and wonderfully precise medium full-bodied flavors that possess impeccable balance and length that goes on and on. A smaller version of the Musigny and built to age almost as well.

agavin: forward enough to be really yummy, but pretty young
Fritto misto. mixed fried seafood with smokey marinara and tzatziki.

Seafood fritters. crab, shrimp and atlantic cod, with romesco sauce and pickled peppers.

2005 Domaine Xavier Liger-Belair Clos Vougeot. 94 points. Drinking great, with lots of umph. Big wine too.

2005 Domaine de la Vougeraie Clos Vougeot. Burghound 92. Moderate wood spice and a pretty if serious mix of red berry, black pinot and plenty of earth influence can be found on the round, rich and very suave full-bodied flavors that possess ample volume and excellent underlying material though the finish is perhaps not quite as precise and delineated as the very best in the range. Still, this offers plenty of character and superb length plus it’s less youthfully austere than most examples at this very early stage.

agavin: this is a very new world producer. Wine was pleasant, but a little short.

WILD ALASKAN RED KING CRAB LEGS. steamed with our homemade coleslaw and drawn butter.

LIVE WILD NORTH AMERICAN HARD SHELL LOBSTER. steamed with our homemade coleslaw and drawn butter.

2005 Domaine Drouhin-Laroze Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. Burghound 93-95. A pungent mix of wood spice, earth, red berry fruit, game, smoke and natural spice highlights the moderately sauvage character of the rich, full, refined and pure flavors underpinned by ripe and very firm tannins that culminate in an austere and very backward finish. This will require lots of cellar time to be at its best and like the Clos de Vougeot, this will be a long-distance runner.

2005 Camille Giroud Chambertin. Burghound 93-96. There are actually several different cuvées of this wine and at the time of my tasting, Croix had not decided what he was going to use for the final blend. The best of them featured a reserved and very backward, indeed almost brooding nose of ripe and distinctly earth red pinot fruit plus a touch of animale that merges seamlessly into textured, powerful and pure big-bodied flavors that despite the size, richness and raw muscle are harmonious and perfectly balanced. A monument in the making but I reemphasize that this review may or may not reflect the final blend.

agavin: massive but very good

PRIME DRY AGED SPLIT-BONE “COWBOY” RIBEYE 20 oz.

PRIME NATURAL “NEVER EVER” NEW YORK STRIP STEAK 16 oz.

FILET MIGNON “double r ranch” 12 oz.

French fries.
Yukon gold mashed potatoes.

Overall, a super fun evening. The wines were a bit young but fun — plus I never mind a surplus of Burgundy. Food was tasty and fresh. The restaurant did a good job by us, even if they didn’t totally get our “wine guy” thing (they never do). Seafood and apps more exciting than mains. The company was awesome though, and that’s what really matters!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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Rhone at Officine Brera

Apr22

Restaurant: Officine Brera [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1331 E 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021. (213) 553-8006

Date: April 19, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Some of the best (new?) Italian in the city!

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Officine Brera is one of LA’s hottest 2016 openings and I’ve been waiting for an excuse to haul myself Downtown for months. Another modern “rustic” Italian by the team that brought us Factory Kitchen, including master chef Angelo Auriana, plus Brera brings in some new blood in the form of Mirko Paderno who rocked it at Oliverio.

The actual restaurant is behind us, but like many recent hot openings (including Factory Kitchen), Brera is located in the “Arts District”, a bombed out region of DTLA not far from skid row that is rapidly up and coming.

The area offers a mess of old brick 40s warehouses and factories which are being lovingly converted, allowing large spaces at reasonable rents (for now).

There is a nice outside patio/bar.

And inside the gigantic warehouse/factory space has been reconfigured with highly attractive duct work. Who would have thought that grungy 70 year-old factory windows could look so good?

Tonight’s menu — it changes constantly.

Ron brought: NV Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Réserve Oubliée Blanc de Blancs. VM 92. The NV Brut Réserve Oubliée, is essentially the Cuvée de Réserve with an additional year of aging in tank. In this case, the wine is based on the 2008 vintage, which includes reserve wines going back to 1988. Almond, hazelnut, dried pear and spice notes are all nicely delineated. Sweet, perfumed aromatics add lift to the textured, inviting finish.

Frisceu. vegetable sage fritters, red onions, boston lettuce. Very soft, light, and doughy. Sort of an Italian hush puppy.

Bonus from my cellar: 2010 Paolo Bea Arboreus. 91 points. This is a very special and somewhat odd wine. Very floral and fruity nose with strong apricot and honey notes. On the palate this seems like a different wine with a much drier impression with quite high acidity. Good, and I just can’t resist the charm of the aromas.

Culatello. traditional pianura padana inspired heritage pork, most prized salume. They aren’t kidding when they say traditional. Both Auriana and Paderno are from the Po river valley. Check out this ultra similar treatment at a super traditional (and fabulous) place I ate at in Parma.
Walker brought: 1990 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage Blanc Chevalier de Sterimberg. 93 points. Really interesting nose – almonds and flowers. Subtle and understated on the palate but loved by all at the tasting. A haunting rather than powerful finish. If I had any left, I would be thinking of drinking up.

agavin: in really great shape.

Polpo. grilled mediterranean octopus, water cress, frisée salad, sunchokes purèe.

CF brought: 1993 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux. Burghound 91. The once explosive black fruit nose has now begun to evolve and while still showing obvious class and breed, also displays the front edge of maturing fruit, spice and earth notes that leads to still firm but softening flavors that possess impressive concentration with excellent depth of extract and lovely persistence. This has all the material it needs for a very long life and it should go for 30 years with no difficulty at all if properly stored. For my personal taste, I would continue to cellar this beauty until 2010 or so but it could certainly be approached now with pleasure. Tasted twice recently with consistent results.

agavin: opened the night before, kinda gone.

Fagiolini. blue lake green beans, radicchio, baby kale, toasted hazelnuts, raspadura, garda oil. Nice salad.

CF brought: 1993 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg. Burghound 92. Relatively austere and reserved with more minerality than Richebourg usually displays and it possesses outstanding flavor detail. There is still limited breadth of flavors but the intensity here is impressive as is the length and there is clearly a classiness here that is unmistakable. This is still extremely young and very backward in magnum format and this will require lots of additional bottle age to realize its full potential.

agavin: also opened the night before. Better by far than the Ech, but totally missing fruit when I got to it.

Battuta cruda. hand chopped beef, celery, raspadura, quail egg, black ash dressing. Some awesome beef tartar — and I love beef tartar.

Tonight’s theme was actually great red Rhone wines. Funny for an Italian restaurant, but we had the theme before we picked the place.

From my cellar: 1976 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. Our bottle was totally corked 🙁 Forced me to open the Rayas (below), a turn of fates that no one complained about.

Gnocchi. handmade potato gnocchi, castelmagno cheese fonduta, chives. Simple but amazing. Light fluffy pillows and very cheesy (as it should be).

1978 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Côte-Rôtie Les Jumelles. 93 points. amazing gun-powder aroma that lasted for very long, very impressing & shocking aroma that was first noticed after more than 20 years of wine tasting!!! deep secondaries & tertiaries aromas, mainly of dry ripe cherries, some spices, smokiness and lether. A true expereince!

Nastrini del miracolo. ancient grain house made pasta, butcher’s table meat-ragù, italian parsley. The Fettucine Bolognese you wish your grandmother made! Really a very nice ragu.

Walker brought: 1983 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Cèdres. 94 points. The nose is the star here: full on, heavy and rich with stewed red fruit, spice and old tobacco. The finish is medium length, still some lingering tannin; just a little hollow mid-palate where you would expect more fruit to fully complement the enticing nose.

agavin: drinking great!

Cannelloni. braised beef stuffed oven baked fresh pasta, foie grass, melted cheese béchamel. Now these were awesomely rich and delicious.

Emil brought: 1990 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. 95 points. My first impression was how perfumed this was on the nose. Just gorgeous and complex, with many aromas including provence scents with black olive, incense, dark cooked cherry, plum, dark chocolate. The palate was enveloping, broad yet fresh, full bodied. The (13.9%) alcohol was felt on the finish, which was just slightly drying, but I’m nitpicking. Really delicious wine! Thanks to Karl Kellar for bringing this gorgeous wine.

agavin: ours was a little reserved at first, but opened up.

Crostacei. vialone nano veronese igp rice, langoustines, crab meat, asparagus, crustacean broth. The risotto here is amazing. When Auriana was at Valentino long ago (I’m talking the 90s) I first had his seafood risotto and it was the best risotto I’ve ever had. Things haven’t changed.

Vahan brought: 1990 Delas Frères Hermitage Marquise de la Tourette. 95 points. Dark red violet color; lamb jus and charcoal nose; bewitching roasted lamb, smoke, black fruit and pepper palate; medium-plus finish.

agavin: our bottle was drinking awesomely!

Milanese. vialone nano rice, saffron, bone marrow, lodigrana. A version of the classic Milanese risotto but with bone marrow, including that big chunk pulled out. Awesome!

From my cellar: 2000 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. 95 points. enormous spicy nose, very intensive on the other hand fine and very elegant, as light as air and full of vitality, still very young, long, long+, for decades!

agavin: awesome. So much spice!

Polenta and snails. Corn polenta with butter sauce and snails. On tasting the Rayas Auriana went back into the kitchen and ordered this up for us, off menu, to pair. Believe it or not it was perfect, as this wouldn’t be your first guess for a match with big CDP!

Vahan brought: 1998 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul. VM 94. Good deep red. Deep, smoky aromas of black raspberry, pepper, garrigue and spices. Silky on entry, then compellingly sweet in the middle but with strong acidity and firm minerality framing the raspberry, tobacco and roasted herb flavors. The wine’s solid backbone of strong, dusty tannins give great grip to the finish. Offers an uncanny combination of sweetness and verve. This has evolved spectacularly.

Quail. Also off menu. Super tender and with lots of meat.

Ron brought: 1990 Penfolds Grange. Parker 95-96. Deep garnet-brick colored, the 1990 Penfolds Grange has an evolved, earthy character of damp loam, black truffles and tar with an underlying core of figs, dried mulberries, salami and aniseed. There’s a good amount of savory flesh supported by a crisp acid line and medium to firm level chewy tannins, finishing long with some smoked meat coming through. Drink this one now to 2020+.

agavin: big and awesome. Tons of Eucalyptus.
Carne bovina. 18oz California reserve prime ribeye, ash-roasted onions, potatoes, baby carrots. Flannery beef, I think.

Larry brought: 1994 Penfolds Grange. Parker 91. This is the first vintage where Grange went to a bottle with laser-etched identification numbers to preclude the possibility of fraudulent bottles. The wine, a blend of 89% Shiraz and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon, shows some toasty oak mixed with notes of root vegetables, damp earth, blackberry liqueur, prune, and licorice. The wine is dense, full-bodied, not terribly complex in the mouth, but layered and rich. I would not be surprised to see the rating on this wine improve as this youthful Grange continues to evolve. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2020.

agavin: even more Eucalyptus!
Rustin nega’. grilled grass fed 22oz veal chop, cured pork, cipollini, european butter.

Vahan brought: 1997 Ojai Syrah Cuvée Henry Daniel. 93 points. Great color, got darker in the glass as it opened over time, rich, tobacco, blackberry jam.

The dessert menu.
Gianduiotta. milk chocolate hazelnut, sbrisolona crumble, caramelized brulee
Castagnole. freshly fried doughnuts, anise sugar, salty bourbon caramel sauce
Torrone. honey & nut nougatine semifreddo, warmed fudge sauce, amarena cherries
Torta di riso. baked rice cake, meyer lemon mascarpone, raisins, seasonal citrus
Bonet. chocolate custard tart, orange thyme marinated figs, fresh chantilly cream

The chef spent the whole later evening at our table.

Overall another amazing evening.

Food. The food at Officine is just awesome. It’s very Italian, with a fairly non Italian “vibe” to the place and a more modern share plates style. But the pastas and risotto are as good as any you will find in LA with a real hearty flavor forward style.

Service. Service was great and we were treated like family. They are a bit new, and there are still a few minor kinks here — plus this is a busy place casual place so there is a touch of chaos.

Atmosphere. I loved the big factory look. It was a little loud, but not as bad as some (Bestia!). We had 7 people and a fabulous round table.

Company. This particular crew, my “Foodie Club” crew, is really great fun. Everyone steps up, we bring great wines on theme, and there is a touch of organization and division of labor. We plan a whole table food order in flights and flight and order the wine. Plus the company is great.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More insane Foodie Club dinners.

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By: agavin
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Akbar – Big Flavors, Big Fun

Apr04

Restaurant: Akbar [1, 2, 3, 4 5]

Location: 3115 Washington Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292. (310) 574-0666

Date: March 30, 2016

Cuisine: Indian

Rating: Bold and balanced flavors

ANY CHARACTER HERE

It’s time for my my Hedonist group to return to LA’s best Indian restaurant, Akbar (Santa Monica branch). Too many Indian places focus on low cost buffets of very over cooked food, but Akbar cooks everything to order — even baking their own Naan when you place the order. They are more focused on the cuisine of the Punjab (Northern India), with very good curries and kormas. You can get anything from extremely mild to blow the top of your head off. Once I had the “pepper lamb” on 5 (max heat) and my scalp sweat for hours.

This was one of those really crazy evenings where we took over half the place with 25 people and even more wines!

Fellow Hedonist Chef Avi commands the kitchen!

Avi’s Kale Salad with Balsamic Mango Dressing. Not your usual Indian dish, but a nice refreshing salad with a good mix of textures and a bright sweet/tangy flavor.

Chana Samosa. Sort of Indian loaded baked potatoes, potato samosas covered in yogurt, tamarind sauce, curry chickpeas, and more. Awesome tangy, spicy, sweet, curry flavors.

Poutine du Yarom. The big guy requested this one. Fries with curried lamb and fried egg! Good stuff, and certainly not on the vegan diet!

Ground meat skewered and cooked over the fire. One of the Indian variants of Kafta kabob.

Lamb Chops. My friend Dave declared these the best lamb he’s ever had. Incredibly soft and full of fabulous lightly spicy flavor!

Chicken 65. Spicy south indian specialty served with serano and onion. Hot wings crossed with chicken nuggets! Hottest dish of the night.

Fresh baked Naan.

Mushroom Pilau. Rice with mushrooms and maybe a bit of meat.

House favorite Chicken Tikka Masala. Another perfect batch of this amazing dish. The chicken itself is all super tender chunks of white meat. The sauce has this snappy tang and complex flavor.

Shrimp Goa Curry. Shrimp prepared in onion, coconut and tamarind sauce with sauté of mustard. Some found it too sweet, but I loved this — nice creamy sauce too.

Goat curry. A rich, dark, strong curry with chunks of flavorful goat. It is, after all, the most eaten meat in the world.

Kaddu Ki Sabzi. Butternut squash cooked with coconut powder with sauté of mustard and red chilli peppers. Very Southern Indian dish with that coconut and black mustard.

Apollo Fish. White fish battered fried served with tomato onion bhuna.

Shrikhand. Whipped yogurt with saffron and pistachios.

Gulab Jamun. The classic sweet dough/cheese balls in syrup.

This was such a big dinner that wines were many, varied, and chaotic. For the most part, not the really good stuff, and a whole bunch of the New World swill, but a few tasty fellows.

Bonus from Arnie: NV Marc Hébrart Champagne Premier Cru Brut Mareuil-Sur-Ay. 90 points. Light straw. Larger but good bubbles. Toast, apples, okay depth. Nicely done.

Bonus from Ron: NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

2013 Cyril gautheron Chablis Mont de Milieu 1er Cru. Never heard of this Chablis!

Ron brought: 2002 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett. 90 points. Crisp green apples, with some slight honeyed notes on the palate. A little sweet, with not quite enough acidity.

Arnie brought: 2012 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. 93 points. Crisp aromas of passion fruit, nut oils and cinnamon. Rich, sleek and invigorating, but with creamy tropical fruit flavors remaining light and ethereal. Well-balanced, elegant and impeccably long. This does not have the depth of the auction wine, but at present more it offers greater drinkability.

From my cellar: 2000 Trimbach Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles. VM 93. Bright medium gold. Superripe aromas of apricot jam, exotic spices, honey and tobacco; just misses the clarity of the best SGN bottlings from this producer. Very dense but not hugely unctuous thanks to firm, perfectly integrated acidity. Sappy, vibrant and very long on the aftertaste.

From my cellar: 1996 Maison Roche de Bellene Latricières-Chambertin Collection Bellenum. 93 points. A wonderful 1996 Burgundy. Needed a few minutes to open up, but then was great. Plenty of upfront plush rich cherry, still dominating the subtle emerging mushroom and forest floor flavours that should develop well. Lovely balance of acidity and some spice on the finish, makes this all too drinkable (I only wanted to have half a bottle, but it all vanished!)… slightly too sweet now for my liking, but that is evidence of the (further) potential here. Drinks extremely well now, but will easily cellar and improve for another 10yrs. Recommended.

Fernie brought: 2012 Occidental Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast. 90 points. Oaked fruit juice.

1999 Marqués de la Concordia Rioja Reserva. 87 points. A little thin, although had some character. Not bad for a cheap Rioja.

Ron brought: 1970 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Ygay Reserva. 93 points. Still vibrant and dark red, a little VA but not off putting, surprisingly strong fruit and good acidity with a little dill on the finish. Plenty of life left in this one.

2003 M. Chapoutier Châteauneuf-du-Pape Croix de Bois (magnum). VM 91. Light red. Wild aromas of charred meat and garrigue add complexity to the sweet notes of raspberry preserves, candied cherry, red plum and subtle white pepper. Explosively fruity Chateauneuf du Pape with no rough edges to its lush strawberry and candied raspberry flavors. Finishes with excellent length. way too young.

2007 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin. Vinous 94. Opaque ruby. Spicy raspberry and cherry aromas are complicated by garrigue and Asian spices. Sweet, focused red fruit flavors are given spine by zesty minerality and pick up an exotic floral quality with air. Expands nicely on the finish, leaving behind sweet lavender pastille and raspberry notes.

2006 Monti Coroni Amarone della Valpolicella Classico.

2005 Pax Syrah Walker Vine Hill. VM 93. Opaque purple. Sexy blackberry, mulberry and candied licorice aromas, with a gentle graphite accent. Silky in texture, displaying a full array of sweet dark berry flavors and outstanding depth and focus. Very fine tannins add support to this extroverted bundle of fresh fruit, with tangier red berry notes coming on with air. The fruit carries impressively through the bright, seamless finish. This is the highest in alcohol of this year’s releases at 14.8%.

No info on the front, no review.

2013 Justin Vineyards & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon. Can we say young?

2008 Troll Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon.

Not even in Cellar Tracker! Impressive.

2010 Eighty Four Wines Petite Sirah. Some reviewer liked this enough to give it a 93.

2013 Predator Zinfandel Old Vine Rutherford Ranch Vineyards. Oh lord, I don’t even love 70s Zin.

Lipper brought: 1997 Turley Zinfandel Hayne Vineyard. VM 94-96. Black-ruby. Bright, spicy, very complex aromas of blackberry, black pepper, iodine and brown spices, plus a lively floral note. Extraordinary fruit offers great sweetness and intensity. Thick yet almost miraculously poised. Finishes with endless, palate-saturating fruit and exhilarating Christmas spices. Always a monumental wine from Turley.

agavin: if I’d noticed this was ’97 I’d have tried it just to calibrate my semi-mature Zin palate.

Akbar has long been my favorite LA Indian, and this meal was probably my best yet — and very different than usual. Chef Avi really turned out a lot of unique things tonight, including a bunch of southern specialties. And the wines were really great too. All in all an excellent night.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

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By: agavin
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Hill Party

Mar30

It’s time for Hedonist buddy Chevy’s annual birthday party — although this time, as he’s getting married next week, it’s a combined bday and pre-wedding party.

Located at Chevy and Seb’s parent’s house on Venus. Actually La Crescenta, which is FAR out there, but gorgeous.

Not a bad view!

This party was BYOB wine, and pot luck food with some people bringing pre-prepared stuff and some of us cooking!

I made my “famous” Dan Dan Mein — super hot with lots of authentic Szechuan chilies.

Fried onions from… Outback I think. haha. Pretty tasty though.

Falafel and humus and eggplant.

Roast Chinese pork!

Roast goat from Boa (there was a goat dinner there 48 hours before).

Chef Avi’s Indian goat curry.

Rice of course.

Yummy fried chicken.

Vegetables. Like Curry Cauliflower.

Hmmm. Green.

Poke.

Seb holding a live lobster.

Yarom chewing on the goat head!

And lots of others having fun.

What’s a party without chips?

Or sausage.

Ceviche.

Crab mushrooms.

Ron’s Veal Milanese. He spent hours making this totally from scratch and it won the dish of the night — although I hold out for my Dan Dan 🙂

Live lobsters!

Chef Adam killed them and basted them with…

Lavender butter.

Then they were grilled. Next to them are marinated venison and buffalo steaks!

Oh and Mark brought Prime Rib!

I probably missed a brunch of stuff too. And then there were the desserts.

Like red velvet cake.

Here is the happy couple, Chevy and Mary with a bit of their wedding cake (in advance).

This party kept on going. Not only were there about 80 bottles of wine! Yeah, 80, but there was a Napa Cab blind tasting with 19 bottles. I tried, but petered out at about number 7 or 8 because this was WAY too much cab for my “delicate” pallet.

More good times.

I’m not going to bother showing all the wines. Way, way too many. I’ll just show some of the cabs and the like. This is the blind line up after the reveal.

And here are some, but not nearly ALL of the other wines. This was A LOT of wine. Much was too New World or young for me, but some were great.

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By: agavin
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Valentino – 2008 White Burgundy part 2

Feb26

Restaurant: Valentino Santa Monica [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Location: 3115 Pico Blvd  Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 829-4313

Date: February 25, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Fun and educational!

_

This dinner is the second part of the annual White Burgundy Premox test series, hosted by Burg-meister Don Cornwell. This dinner covers 2008 Bienvenues-Bâtard, Criots-Bâtard,Bâtard-Montrachet, and Chevalier-Montrachet. 2008 White Burgundy Dinner series Part 1 can be found here. You can also read about previous year’s 2004 Red Burgundy dinner and 2006 White Burgundy tasting.

This particular dinner is at Valentino, which has been a mainstay of the LA fine dining scene for decades. I first started coming here in about 1995 and it was a mind blowing change from the usual trattoria and red-sauce style Italians. Valentino is much closer to Michelin 2 star restaurant in Italy, although not as modernist as some of those are in recent years. If food in Italy turns you on, check out my Eating Italy segment.

And with regard to the wines. In Burgundy, in 2008, up to the middle of June, when the moon was full on the 18th., the season had been cool, wet and miserable. The flowering was late and drawn out, promising a late and uneven harvest. The next six weeks happily saw a marked inprovement: plenty of sun, not too much rain – and what there was was sporadic and localised – though it was warm rather than hot. Temperatures rarely exceeded 30°C. Then the weather deteriorated. There was more rain and less sun right through to mid-September. A bleak summer indeed! Overall there was less precipitation on the Côte de Nuits than the Côte de Beaune, and less still in the Côte Chalonnaise. Chablis seems to have enjoyed the mildest weather of all. But inevitably, the incidence of mildew, oidium and botrytis became ever more serious as the weeks progressed. At various times from the beginning of May onwards, hail damaged the vineyards of Marsannay, Volnay and Meursault, Chassagne and parts of the southern Màconnais and northern Beaujolais.

At the last minute, however, more benign conditions returned and continued well into October. The harvest kicked off in the Beaujolais, as I have said, on September 15th. A week or more later the growers began to attack the Mâconnais and to some extent the Côte de Beaune. But many in the Côte d’Or held off until Monday 29th or even, in the Côte de Nuits, into October, and were able to profit from natural sugar levels of 13° and higher. It was the latest harvest for some years, requiring 110 or more, not 100, days from flowering to fruition.


Our private room. Notice the large table with a lot of space. This is important when you have 29+ glasses a person!

Notice the awesome array of glasses in the background. Only about half of them are visible. Few restaurants can handle this sort of thing, as they need over 400 stems of the same type and a dedicated Sommelier with sufficient experience and skill. Ours tonight handled the whole wine service with extreme professionalism and personality.


Tonight’s special menu.

Flight 0: Champagne

1998 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses. Burghound 95. A brilliant, complex and broad-ranging nose offers up floral, citrus, yeast and extremely subtle red berry hints that complement perfectly the delicious, restrained and still quite youthful flavors that are very crisp and impressively precise with a medium effervescence on the deep, palate staining and lingering finish. The ’98 isn’t quite in the league of the superb ’96 but it’s not far off either and in my view, trumps the ’97 and ’99 as well.

agavin: had a very nice mature oxidative tone which I really enjoyed.

Prosciutto And Grana Padano “Schegge”. Basically ham wrapped Parmesan!

Burrata Caprese. On a spoon.

Ahi Tuna Tartare Crostini.

Oysters.

Bruschetta With Wild Arugula. The cheese and greens took this up another level.

Bread. I particularly liked the cheesy sticks.

Flight 1: Bienvenue / Criots

A word about tonight’s format. Every bottle was served blind, except we were aware of what flight it was and what was in the flight, just not of which wine was which. The reveal was held until the end of the entire evening so that we could vote on favorite wines without bias.

Personally, I’d prefer a reveal halfway through each flight for a number of reasons. True, this would compromise the voting a bit, but that’s not super important to me. I’d prefer to be able to taste the wines both not knowing which was which and knowing, so that I can continue to build up my subjective memory for each house style. I also find it very difficult to remember back across multiple flights for “best” comparisons. I took notes and marked my favorites of each flight and compared those.

agavin: Also, some general comments on this flight and the vintage. 2008 is really round and ripe. The wines are darker in the glass than average and have Botrytis and tropical notes. Some of them still have a lot of acid too.

From my cellar: 2008 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 94. Soft if not invisible wood sets off strikingly pretty and solidly complex honeysuckle, white peach and spiced pear aromas that give way to intense, delicious and equally complex middle weight flavors that possess ample concentration and outstanding balance and length on the palate staining finish. This is really classy juice and quite stylish as well.

agavin: One of my two favorites of the flight — well, it is Ramonet.

2008 Louis Carillon Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 95. A discreet touch of pain grillé frames an equally expressive and every bit as pure nose of honeysuckle and lemon-lime aromas that combine seamlessly with rich, round and quite generous middle weight plus flavors that possess even better depth and stunning length. This is the complete package with a textured and palate staining finish as the level of dry extract here is most impressive. A stunner of a Bienvenues that should reward at least a decade of cellar time.

agavin: a little darker and more advanced, although drinking nicely

2008 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. VM 91-94. Peach, ginger, honey and medicinal herbs on the nose, plus a more exotic suggestion of lichee. Dry and penetrating on the palate, but with a distinctly tactile quality to the flavors of pineapple and flowers. Today this comes across as more austere than the Corton-Charlemagne, which is probably not a bad thing for a 2008.

agavin: our bottle was a bit corked

From my cellar: 2008 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 91-4. A subtle touch of pain grillé highlights citrus notes that, like the Pucelles, exhibit hints of honeysuckle and fennel nuances that complement perfectly the textured, rich and sweet medium plus weight flavors that are quite supple yet remain detailed, energetic and strikingly long on the explosive finish. This is a relatively powerful Bienvenues. In a word, terrific.

agavin: a bit darker than most.

2008 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 94. Here too the nose speaks of honeysuckle, citrus and lightly spiced pear aromas that serve as an elegant introduction to the pure, cool and understated middle weight flavors that possess outstanding depth of material and stunning length. This is a hugely long and quite serious yet impeccably well-balanced Bienvenues.

agavin: My second favorite of the flight. It was darker, but it was drinking very nicely with a rich honeysuckle quality typical of BBM.

From my cellar: 2008 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 94. This possesses arguably the ripest nose of the range with its mildly exotic aromas of white flower, spiced pear, apricot and mango that combine with rich, full, powerful and overtly well-muscled flavors that offer impressive volume and power on the textured, indeed even opulent finish that is amply concentrated and seriously long. Overall, this is no more elegant than the La Romanée but there is another dimension of depth and length present. A terrific Criots.

agavin: Lots of Botrytis and a touch darker. Perhaps a little advanced.

2008 Henri Boillot Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 94. As one would reasonably expect given Criots’ natural tendency to high ripeness levels, the nose is notably riper than that of the Caillerets with ample amounts of highly complex yellow orchard fruit where a hint of exoticism comes into play. The equally ripe, rich, powerful and sappy full-bodied flavors display impressive size, weight and volume yet the finish remains focused and even reasonably well detailed with so much extract that there is the impression of chewiness. As is usually the case, this is not as refined as the rest of the grands crus but this is imposing.

2008 Hubert Lamy Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 92. The most complex nose in the range with an elegant array of citrus, floral and pear aromas that are less ripe than usual. The rich and precise medium weight flavors are delicious and pure with good if not great volume though there is fine balance and excellent length. This is really very stylish and sophisticated.

Dover Sole Involtini With Wild Mushroom Sauce. The mushrooms were really good, but sole is never that exciting and so this wasn’t a show stopper. It did pair well with the wines and didn’t conflict.

Flight 2: Batard

2008 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 96. Here the nose is notably tighter and more reserved with aromas of citrus blossom and zest, spice, smoke, fennel and hints of acacia that introduce big, muscular and wonderfully complex broad-scaled flavors that culminate in a long, focused and explosive finish of breathtaking length and intensity. This should reward at least a decade in the cellar and drink well for a similar period thereafter. This too is terrific and very Bâtard and like the Combettes, the ’08 version is one of the very best young examples from Leflaive that I have ever seen.

agavin: rich, good stuff.

2008 Ramey Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard. VM 95. Bright gold. Energetic aromas of green apple, jasmine, minerals and lemon zest. Dry and nervy, with brisk acidity and a saline nuance giving energy and lift to its citrus and orchard fruit flavors. Vibrant and impressively pure chardonnay, finishing spicy, long and dry, with an intriguing floral quality.

agavin: A 2008 California ringer. Not bad for a Cal Chard. Burgundian. Tropical too, with a bit more oak than most white Burgs.

2008 Etienne Sauzet Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 95. A more open and expressive nose speaks of white flower, white peach and spiced pear before sliding gracefully into delicious, mouth coating and serious big-bodied flavors brimming with dry extract and power on the driving finish. Despite the substantial size and weight, the flavors and finish retain a fine sense of cut while avoiding any sense of heaviness or loss of focus. This is a knockout.

agavin: rich with a lot of acid

2008 Henri Boillot Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 95. A less expressive but more complex nose speaks of notably ripe but not exotic aromas of lightly spiced and toasted green, yellow and citrus fruit that complements to perfection the reserved, intense, round and very powerful big-bodied flavors that display obvious concentration and muscle on the dry but attractively textured and detailed finish. This is a knock-out effort and worth a special effort to find and cellar as it’s going to require at least a decade to reach its apogee.

agavin: lots of acid

2008 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 94. A restrained but stylish nose of pain grillé, citrus blossom and apple combines with understated, pure and refined medium full-bodied flavors that culminate in a stunningly intense finish that displays a good deal more minerality than is typical for Bâtard. This is still very primary yet oozes class and refinement but even so it will clearly require a few years in bottle before it’s really ready for prime time. In particular, I really like the overall sense of balance and harmony and this should eventually be quite special.

agavin: a bit weaker than most in the flight

2008 J.M. Boillot Bâtard-Montrachet. VM 93. Very rich aromas of pineapple, nut oil and smoky oak; the most exotic of these 2008s and the highest in alcohol at 13.5%. Rich, powerful and generous, combining strong acidity and an impression of sweetness and viscosity of fruit. Very smooth, silky wine with a long finish that throws off hints of very ripe stone fruits, nut oils and brown spices.

2008 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 95. An almost completely inexpressive but relatively high-toned nose of lemon rind, acacia blossom, ripe peach and apricot gives way to almost painfully intense full-bodied and overtly muscular flavors that offer exceptional richness on the magnificently long, mouth coating and palate staining finish that is wrapped around a very firm core of ripe acidity. Chez Pernot, I typically prefer the Bienvenues but as good as it is, and it is very good, in 2008 I give the nod to the Bâtard, if only by a nose, no pun intended.

agavin: finish like Tropical Flavored Skittles!

2008 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 92-94. A strikingly complex if somewhat less elegant nose offers a considerable breadth of aromas that include ripe peach, spiced pear and white floral hints that serve as a flourishing introduction to the equally ripe, rich, muscular and mouth coating big-bodied flavors that are quite serious and hugely long. Just as the nose is more complex than that of the Bienvenues, so is the finish as there is just another dimension of underlying material present.

agavin: rich with a lot of acid

Pan Seared Scallops “In Porchetta” Wrapped In Pancetta, White Wine Sauce. While tasty, the bacon was so potent that this really distracted from the wines and threw off the palate.

Flight 3: Chevalier part 1

2008 Etienne Sauzet Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 96. A notably more elegant, cooler and more reserved nose of white flower, green apple and ample minerality complements to perfection the silky-textured, pure and stylish medium weight plus flavors that possess excellent volume but also wonderful detail and punch while culminating in an intensely mineral finish of superb intensity while remaining a study in purity and refinement. This is one of those ‘wow’ wines that amazes through transparency and delicacy rather than brute force. Still, don’t be fooled by the finesse as the intensity is such that a deep breath is required after sampling this.

agavin: rich and tropical

2008 Domaine Jacques Prieur Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 92-95. An ultra elegant nose features notes of citrus, pear and rose petal that precede the racy, gorgeously intense and seriously pure mineral-driven flavors that are textured, naturally sweet and mouth coating on the energetic and penetrating finish that delivers spectacular length. A wine of sheer class.

agavin: slightly darker. lots of acid and tropical ripe notes

2008 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet La Cabotte. Burghound 96. There really isn’t much to modify since my last review was only a few months ago, except to say that if anything, my score might be one point too conservative as this is going to be a great, great Chevalier. The original note from Issue 39 was: Discreet wood sets off a slightly riper but otherwise similar nose to the “straight” Chevalier, which leads to bigger, richer and fuller well-muscled and impressively scaled flavors that culminate in a powerful and beautifully textured finish of simply stunning length. Despite the weight and obvious heft, there is absolutely no sense of heaviness as the underlying minerality imparts a real sense of lift. In a word, terrific.

agavin: rich, tropical, Botrytis

2008 Domaine Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 95. This hasn’t changed much since my 2010 review as it remains strikingly complex with an ripe, pure and airy nose that speaks elegantly of white flower, spice and subtle pear aromas\nthat complement perfectly the rich and mouth coating flavors that are built on a base of fine minerality, all wrapped in a sappy and explosive finish that oozes dry extract. This is really a stunning effort that is perhaps a bit more forward than I originally envisioned and thus I have shorted my estimated initial drinking window slightly. Seriously beautiful juice.

agavin: slightly darker, with sweet tart like acid

2008 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 91-94. A reserved and quite discreet nose reflects notes of ripe green fruit, white peach and rose petal are trimmed in visible wood spice while complementing well the rich, full and intense flavors that are built on a base of firm minerality which contributes to the textured mouth feel on the beautifully balanced and powerful finish. While there is no question that this is a classy, stylish and delicious effort, the flavors seems quite forward for a young Chevalier though again, it’s possible that this is a side effect of being prepared for bottling. Note that my drinking window assumes that it will tighten up once in bottle.

agavin: very reductive, with an almost potty like nose at first

Risotto With Prawns And Maine Lobster. The seafood risotto’s here are really quite excellent and this one was no exception, particularly with its big chunks of lobster.

We even got seconds in the form of a prawn only variant.

Showing off the golden chard.

Flight 4: Chevalier part 2

A ringer: 2008 Bouard-Bonnefoy Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru en Remilly.

agavin: darker and a bit advanced

2008 Michel Colin-Deléger et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru en Remilly. Burghound 92. A background note of sulfur does not detract unduly from the citrus, anise and rose petal suffused nose. The nicely rich, round and detailed medium-bodied flavors are utterly delicious and display an intense minerality on the elegant, refined and stylish finish. Lovely juice.

2008 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 97. Like the Bâtard, here the nose is quite restrained but exceptionally elegant and pure with white flower, green apple, pear and wet stone where the latter element continues onto the rich, full and highly energetic flavors that tighten up considerably on the detailed, minerally and bone dry finish that displays distinct citrus mineral nuances. This is long, tight and linear with huge amounts of dry extract that renders the very firm acid spine almost invisible at present though the finish is clearly shaped by it. This magnificent Chevalier should be a genuine stunner in 12 to 15 years.

agavin: also a little darker and more advanced

2008 Domaine Ramonet Chevalier-Montrachet. 97 points. a really great wine. Reductive, rich, with a super long finish.

2008 Domaine Jean-Marc Pillot Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 92-94. Not surprisingly, this is the most elegant wine in the range with a spicy nose of citrus peel, acacia blossom and plenty of wet stone nuances that merge seamlessly into rich, vibrant, fresh and beautifully detailed middle weight plus flavors brimming with an intense minerality on the firm and hugely long finish that is almost painfully intense. In sum, this is a wine of harmony and supreme grace.

agavin: tropical and quite nice

2008 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 94. This is also wonderfully elegant with high-toned, pure and airy aromas of white flower, light toast, spiced pear and a hint of green apple that gives way to supple yet detailed mineral-suffused middle weight flavors that are perhaps even more refined than those of the Perrières, all wrapped in a balanced, stylish and lingering finish. As good as this is, and it is very good, it’s not necessarily leagues better than its junior partner, just different though it will most likely require a few more years to reach its apogee.

agavin: very nice

2008 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 93-96. This offers up the most elegant nose in the entire range with its stone, lemon, chalk and citrus characters that complement the ultra precise and intense flavors of crystalline purity and the same penetrating minerality as the Perrières displayed, indeed this seems constructed on a base of stone that is like rolling rocks around in your mouth. The finish is very much in keeping with the rest of the wine as it’s explosive, bone dry and palate staining. A classy, balanced and harmonious effort that brims with energy. In a word, outstanding.

agavin: strong reductive bandaid qualities, super long finish, very nice.

Grilled Veal Chop With Sage And Parmigiano Fonduta Served With Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, Haricots Verts, Carrots. A hefty slab of veal and a nice sauce.

Flight 5: Dessert

Walker brought this old bonus: 1984 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet. 86 points. Very mature, although certainly not totally over the hill. Very strong “nutty” tone.

Ron brought: 1976 Schloss Eltz Eltviller Sonnenberg Gewürztraminer Auslese.

Sicilian Cannoli With Pistachio And Prickley Pear Sorbet. I love cannoli and while this didn’t have the candied fruit tone, the honey pistachio mix was awesome.

The bagged bottles.

And opened up.

There is a lot to say about this tasting. First of all, Valentino did a good job as usual. The wine service was impeccable, and this is a difficult task (pouring lots of big blind flights). Overall service is absolutely first rate. It’s a large quiet room, and the staff was highly attentive. The food was solid, although not as bright or modern as some places. The decor and food are a tad dated now, very very 90s — and not even as good as I remember back in the 90s. But memory is a funny thing. All the dishes tonight were tasty. Pairing with the Burgundy was spot on (thanks to Don and Ron who worked hard on this aspect).

There wasn’t quite enough food and the flights were too large, although maybe not as bad as at the Chablis dinner. Really this dinner could use 6 flights, no bigger than 5 wines each and about 6 savory dishes. This was more a planning/budget issue than anything under the restaurant’s control. I wanted to go for awesome porky ramen after, but we were just a little too tired and full.

2008 as a white vintage is subjective. It’s very very ripe. These are golden wines with a ton of ripe fruit, a touch of advancement, and a lot of Botrytis. Sometimes they are almost honeyed. We had just one corked bottle and no out and out premoxed bottles, but several were “advanced” although in my mind drinking pretty well right now, as I like creme brûlée in my white Burgs. The real question is how will they age. Hard to say. Most at the table thought not well. But these wines do have a lot of acid. They remind me quite a bit of the 2000 vintage, which I have been enjoying in recent years — so who knows?

As usual, these bigger grand crus are rounded and richer than the Chablis etc we had last time, so they seem riper and even more tropical.

In terms of dinner mechanics, I also think we should vote on each wine in the flight and then reveal that flight. Keeping them blind until the end seriously reduces the learning aspect of the evening, as you can’t really remember or effectively revisit. Plus, my “voting” is pretty random, consisting of picking my favorites from each flight anyway. I just don’t have it in me to go back and retaste 30 wines or to compare Chablis and Corton Charlie against each other. Just my opinion.

Thanks to Don C again as always for organizing a super fun and education event! It’s an enormous amount of organization and we all really appreciate it.

Speaking of Don, his compiled results and comments are below:

The top five ranked wines of the evening were:

  1. 2008 Ramonet Chevalier Montrachet, which edged the Colin-Morey Chevalier by just one point (48 vs. 47)
  2. 2008 Colin-Morey Chevalier Montrachet
  3. TIE 2008 Bouchard Chevalier Montrachet
  4. TIE 2008 Ramonet Bienvenues Batard Montrachet
  5. 2008 Jean-Marc Pillot Chevalier Montrachet

The Ringers for the evening – 2008 Ramey “Hyde” Chardonnay, 2008 Bouard-Bonnefoy Chassagne-Montrachet “En Remilly” and 2008 Colin-Deleger Chassagne Montrachet “En Remilly” did not fare as well as the ringer on the first night. The group consensus was that two of them were advanced and four more of us thought all three ringers were advanced.

Of 28 wines, we had 1 bottle which was corked, 1 bottle which was oxidized (Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet — not in agavin’s opinion), 3 bottles which were advanced by group consensus. We had two other bottles for which the group consensus was that the wines were clearly off from technical perspective. In this tasting, 25% of the bottles were either premoxed to some degree or had obvious winemaking defects.

A few generalizations –

  • once again, many of the wines showed obvious botrytis. The professional reviewers did no one any favors in failing to report the overwhelming incidence of botrytis-affected wines in the 2008 vintage. A few of the wines had so much botrytis they were almost undrinkable (to Don — agavin likes botrytis, as this is a highly personal palate thing).
  • The Puligny/Chassagne grand crus all exhibited a greater degree of ripeness than did any of the wines on the first night. The wines had more buttery textures and flavors on the mid-palate and the acidity on the palate seemed softer, although I think was likely just the impression left by the greater level of ripeness and viscosity.
  • Except for many of the Chevalier Montrachets, the colors again tended to be much deeper gold in color than the 2007s at the same stage.
  • The Batard flight was easily the least impressive since the 2005 vintage and quite possibly the least impressive flight of Batard I’ve ever tasted in the premox series (agavin didn’t mind it as much because he likes botrytis). Thankfully, the first flight of Bienvenues and Criots was very good and the last flight of Chevaliers (aside from the three oxidized or advanced bottles) was pretty exceptional.

 

Other big tasting dinners from this dinner series:

2008 White Burgundy part 1

2007 White Burgundy part 1

2007 White Burgundy part 2

2007 White Burgundy part 3

2006 White Burgundy

2004 Red Burgundy

2005 White Burgundy part 1

2005 White Burgundy part 2

2005 White Burgundy part 3

Related posts:

  1. Valentino – 2008 White Burgundy part 1
  2. Valentino – 2006 White Burgundy
  3. Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 2
  4. Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 1
  5. Valentino – 2004 Red Burgundy
By: agavin
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Manhattan Beach Post

Feb22

Restaurant: Manhattan Beach Post

Location: 1142 Manhattan Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266. (310) 545-5405

Date: February 18, 2016

Cuisine: American Tapas

Rating: Solid New Style Eats

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I needed to find a good place in Manhattan Beach and two Hedonist buddies both unanimously recomended MB Post, a New American style share plates place — all the usual features: loud surfaces, wood tables, paper menus, shared plates, fancy cocktails. Let’s see how it is.

The small but appealing menu.

Bacon Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits, maple butter. The house’s signature dish — and well worth it. Awesome biscuit notched up with cheese and bacon. The butter was awesome too.
From my cellar: 1995 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. 92 points. The classic CVM cherry/strawberry nose and flavor. Light, but quite tannic still.
Assorted pickles. Nice crunch. Only mildly pickled. A bit of spice.
Blistering Blue Lake Green Beans, thai basil, chili sauce, crispy pork. This was pretty close to a Szechuan Green Bean dish. The pork ruled too.
Song Family Kimchi Fried Rice, butternut squash, Ha Farm’s Asian Pear, scallion, egg. Another great dish. A good bit of heat too, with nice eggy rich rice.
Albacore Tuna Tataki, Grilled Pineapple, Yuzu, Serrano. A hot/sweet thing. Not our favorite dish, just didn’t quite sync together.
Squid Ink Tagliatelle, shrimp, squid, maryann’s cherry tomatoes, breadcrumbs, serrano. More heat, but a nice pasta. Except the tomatoes.
Mac & Cheese, fontina, parmesan, mycella blue. A pretty straight up baked “fancy” M&C.
Solid stuff, sticks to the ribs.
BBQ Moroccan Lamb Belly, harissa caramelized onions, Japanese eggplant. Rich and tasty. Very soft flavorful meat.
Salmon Creek Roast Pork Shoulder. Apple Mostarda. Grilled Escarole. Good roast pork, but pretty straight up and not as complex as some of the other dishes.
The “Elvis.” A mess of chocolate pudding, peanut butter mousse, bacon brittle. Everything but the banana was great.
Chai Tea Soft Serve, brioche beignet, orange tapioca, caramel. Good stuff. This had a complex soft “chai” taste to it that really stuck with you. Nice combo of textures too.

Overall, MB Post is doing some good stuff. It’s not earth shattering, or haut cuisine, but this is creative tasty fare in a cute little setting and the chef has a good sensibility with combinations. I’m sure it is one of the best places in Manhattan Beach.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art: Sam’s by the Beach
  2. Seconds at Sam’s by the Beach
  3. Sam’s by the Beach 3D
  4. Sam’s by the Beach – Mom’s Annual Dinner
  5. Singapore – Long Beach Dempsey
By: agavin
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Nobu Malibu Now

Feb18

Restaurant: Nobu Malibu [1, 2, 3]

Location: 22706 Pacific Coast Hwy. Malibu, CA 90265. (310) 317-9140

Date: February 16, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese Fusion

Rating: Maintains it’s very high standards, and price.

 

My brother’s birthday again served as the occasion for some fine eating — this time sending us back to Nobu Malibu.


The various Nobus represent the corporate version of the Japanese-Peruvian fusion begun by Nobu Matsuhisa at his eponymous Matsuhisa (REVIEW HERE). While not quite as inventive as the original, the Xerox job is pretty darn good. Food quality is extremely high and highly consistant. The atmosphere is fun. The only deficit is the price, which is perhaps 40-50% higher than most similar restaurants, like say Takao (REVIEW HERE). And it’s not like these are cheap either!


The new location is really quite stunning. The outside is covered on 2-3 sides with couches and tables. Too bad it’s so cold along the ocean in Malibu, on all but the warmest of summer nights, even the heat lamps aren’t enough to make those girls in their little dresses comfortable.


The inside looks great too, and it’s huge!


And an inside/outside patio covered in heat lamps.

I forgot to photo the menu, but I’ll discuss for a second as they have mixed it up, splitting many sections into two halves, “nobu now” and “nobu classic”. This is a nice idea as the kitchen has developed the theme considerably in the now section, but allows all those old favorites when you feel like it. I tried to lean “new” tonight (to good effect).

2006 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons. VM 95. The 2006 Brut Cuvée Spéciale Les Chétillons wraps around the palate and never lets up. Apricot, peaches, wild flowers, butter and spices all flesh out in a dramatic, structured Champagne endowed with tons of pure energy and volume. Stylistically the 2006 brings together the opulence of the 2002 with the minerality and cut of 2004, a great combination in my book.

Grilled Shishito Pepper with Sweet Den Miso. Nice texture and both sweet and a touch spicy. A big upgrade over edamame in my book.

Whitefish mini taco.

Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno. The total Nobu classic, but it still holds it’s own. This version is as good as any i’ve had.

Tai Sweet Shiso with Crispy Shiitake. Despite the almost outrageous $32 for the dish, the sauce and crunchy mushroom were amazing — certainly drowning out the red snapper. Really nice flavor profile and quite strong.

A Matsuhisa classic, Toro tartar with caviar and a miso ponzu. I’ve always loved the combo of the rich fatty toro and the acidic punch of the sauce. This theme of adding acidity to the fish is a consistent one.

Albacore with Meyer Lemon. A little less sexy, but certainly nice.

Kanpachi Basil with Roccoto Soy. Packing more “new style” punch. Lots of flavor again.

Shrimp Tempura with Creamy Spicy Sauce. More classic. I’ve always loved these little fellows. Basically the normal Shrimp Tempura, but heavily sauced, and in smaller bite sized chunks. Addictive, but eat quickly before it sogs up.

1990 Robert Ampeau & Fils Volnay 1er Cru Santenots. 92 points. An earthy medium-to-heavy weight Burgundy, with tastes packed with tar, tobacco, forest floor, mushroom and dark cherry. The fruitiness has mostly disappeared, and is replaced by a solid backbone redolent of the grape’s mother soil. Worth drinking to experience the capabilities of a well-aged burgundy.

Special fish and chips for my son! Cool looking F&C! Tempura too. Big win for drumming this up.

Black Cod with Miso. Another Nobu classic, and delicious as always.

Special. Lobster (and vegetable) tempura with black truffles. There were a bunch of greens and some ponzu, and the tempura went surprisingly excellently with the truffles. Really very tasty.

Ribeye with Truffle Butter Sauce and crispy onions. This is the way I like my steak, hidden under some crispy fries! Meat was super soft and flavorful too!

Our sushi plate. There is Hamachi (yellowtail), salmon, toro, scallop, freshwater eel, and uni.

The dessert menu.

For the birthday boy, Warm Chocolate Souffle Cake. Matcha ice cream.

Banana Miso Bar. Milk Chocolate. Hazelnut. Coffee.

White Chocolate Namelaka. Grapefruit. Shiso. Strawberry. Sounded great, but while fine, it was basically panna cotta with fruit.

Hazelnut Cookie. Vanilla. Caramel. These were little ice cream sandwiches and really good.

Overall, the food is just like is always was here at Nobu. The atmosphere is stellar and it would be really cool to eat outside on a hot summer night (although they don’t usually serve dinner outside due to the cold). There must be an army in the kitchen too because the stuff appeared minutes after we ordered (except for the sushi). All in all, it’s a great experience, if a tad manufactured and divorced from its chef driven origins.

Service was excellent. We had a birthday, a young child, a gluten free person, and they handled it all nicely.

However, the chef du cuisine has been busy over the last 2-3 years, as the new dishes were plentiful and they really stood out flavor-wise. They still have that same basic technic of piling together sashimi, or tempura with various Peruvian / Japanese sauces, but the flavor profiles have broadened out, pulling in more eclectic elements for a lot of flavor punch. The Shiso Tai and Truffle Lobster really stood out.

Worth noting. Nobu is expensive. This meal for five adults was $650ish before tax and tip.

Check out more LA Sushi places I’ve reviewed here.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art – Nobu
  2. The New Nobu
  3. Takao Top Omakase
  4. Food as Art: Sushi House Unico
  5. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
By: agavin
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Valentino – 2008 White Burgundy part 1

Feb10

Restaurant: Valentino Santa Monica [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Location: 3115 Pico Blvd  Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 829-4313

Date: February 9, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Fun and educational!

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This dinner is the first part of the annual White Burgundy Premox test series, hosted by Burg-meister Don Cornwell. This dinner covers 2008 Chablis, Meursault, and Corton Charlemagne. 2005 White Burgundy Dinner series Part 1 can be found here. You can also read about previous year’s 2004 Red Burgundy dinner and 2006 White Burgundy tasting.

This particular dinner is at Valentino, which has been a mainstay of the LA fine dining scene for decades. I first started coming here in about 1995 and it was a mind blowing change from the usual trattoria and red-sauce style Italians. Valentino is much closer to Michelin 2 star restaurant in Italy, although not as modernist as some of those are in recent years. If food in Italy turns you on, check out my Eating Italy segment.

And with regard to the wines. In Burgundy, in 2008, up to the middle of June, when the moon was full on the 18th., the season had been cool, wet and miserable. The flowering was late and drawn out, promising a late and uneven harvest. The next six weeks happily saw a marked inprovement: plenty of sun, not too much rain – and what there was was sporadic and localised – though it was warm rather than hot. Temperatures rarely exceeded 30°C. Then the weather deteriorated. There was more rain and less sun right through to mid-September. A bleak summer indeed! Overall there was less precipitation on the Côte de Nuits than the Côte de Beaune, and less still in the Côte Chalonnaise. Chablis seems to have enjoyed the mildest weather of all. But inevitably, the incidence of mildew, oidium and botrytis became ever more serious as the weeks progressed. At various times from the beginning of May onwards, hail damaged the vineyards of Marsannay, Volnay and Meursault, Chassagne and parts of the southern Màconnais and northern Beaujolais.

At the last minute, however, more benign conditions returned and continued well into October. The harvest kicked off in the Beaujolais, as I have said, on September 15th. A week or more later the growers began to attack the Mâconnais and to some extent the Côte de Beaune. But many in the Côte d’Or held off until Monday 29th or even, in the Côte de Nuits, into October, and were able to profit from natural sugar levels of 13° and higher. It was the latest harvest for some years, requiring 110 or more, not 100, days from flowering to fruition.

A couple of us got here early and decided to get the party rolling with a great value off the Valentino wine list: 
1969 Maison Leroy Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. 94 points. This is just ridiculously young. Even the color doesn’t indicate its age. There’s a fair amount of sulfur, which could explain its vibrancy. Gently oaked, light nuttiness with plenty of lemon with a hint of minerality. Good acidity, round and rich, very Charmes. A treat to drink.

agavin: WOTN actually, as the upcoming 2008s just don’t have the age to compete with this kind of complexity.


Our private room. Notice the large table with a lot of space. This is important when you have 29+ glasses a person!


Notice the awesome array of glasses in the background. Only about half of them are visible. Few restaurants can handle this sort of thing, as they need over 400 stems of the same type and a dedicated Sommelier with sufficient experience and skill. Ours tonight handled the whole wine service with extreme professionalism and personality.


Tonight’s special menu.

Flight 0: Champagne

2005 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons. VM 93. The 2005 Brut Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons from Pierre Peters is beautifully open and expressive, which is quite unusual in young Chetillons. That is good news for those who want to catch a glimpse of one of Champagne’s most exciting wines. This is about as good as it gets in what turned out to be a very challenging vintage in Champagne.

Bruschetta with wild arugula and parmiggiano schegge.

Oysters.

Parmigiana crisps.

Crab cakes.

Pizza Margherita.


A word about tonight’s format. Every bottle was served blind, except we were aware of what flight it was and what was in the flight, just not of which wine was which. The reveal was held until the end of the entire evening so that we could vote on favorite wines without bias.

Personally, I’d prefer a reveal halfway through each flight for a number of reasons. True, this would compromise the voting a bit, but that’s not super important to me. I’d prefer to be able to taste the wines both not knowing which was which and knowing, so that I can continue to build up my subjective memory for each house style. I also find it very difficult to remember back across multiple flights for “best” comparisons. I took notes and marked my favorites of each flight and compared those, but I’m not even really sure it’s fare to compare a Chablis to a Corton.

Flight 1: Chablis

2008 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses. BH 95. A highly complex if discreet nose of noticeably cool aromas features notes of limestone, lemon, oyster shell, iodine and dried white flowers that marry into beautifully precise flavors blessed with an abundance of dry extract on the tightly wound, seriously long and intense finish. This is flat out gorgeous and perfectly balanced with that Zen-like character this wine always seems to evidence.

agavin: lots of Chablis acidity

2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Valmur. BH 95. The reflections are the classic light gold-green hues of a fine Chablis. The barest touch of oak highlights the green fruit, menthol, saline and iodine aromas that precede the extremely stony, concentrated and driving flavors that are also blessed with ample amounts of dry extract that provides a much needed balancing element to the ripe acid backbone on the chalky and sappy finish. When Valmur is really good, it rivals Les Clos for the best grand cru in Chablis and this 2008 is really good.

agavin: slightly darker than most, a bit of oxidized advanced notes on the nose.

From my cellar: 2008 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur. BH 97. A background touch of wood frames green fruit, white flower and salt water aromas that introduce ultra pure, refined, elegant and cool flavors that possess terrific vibrancy and focused power before culminating in a driving, understated, firm and altogether serious finish. I very much like this as it’s classic Valmur and should age beautifully as the balance is perfect. Perhaps the best way to capture the spectacular potential of this wine is to call it brilliant. Don’t miss it but note that patience is required.

agavin: reductive nose, and really singing. Clearly the best of the flight.

2008 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. BH 96. A ripe, pure and airy nose of classic Chablis aromas is trimmed in the barest hint of pain grillé while complementing perfectly the rich, mineral-driven and beautifully intense palate staining and mouth coating flavors brimming with oyster shell nuances on the penetrating, delineated, focused and bone dry finish. I love the underlying sense of tension here and like the Preuses, this has so much dry extract that it will require at least a decade to fully mature. Brilliant.

agavin: much darker, with strong oxidative notes on the nose. Tasted of apple, and at the moment, fairly decent, but probably significantly advanced.

2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. BH 96. Here too the elegance of the nose is simply stunning with a layered and perfumed aromatic profile trimmed in an almost invisible touch of oak that allows it to ooze Chablis character and in particular, a fine minerality that continues onto the impressively concentrated and palate staining flavors that possess striking precision on the explosively long and bone dry finish. This is a great Les Clos that will make old bones.

agavin: my glass smelled soapy, which was distracting.

2008 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. BH 96. This too is impressively pure and cool with an airy but reserved mix of floral, spice, mineral reduction and iodine notes merging seamlessly into gorgeously intense and almost aggressively stony medium-bodied flavors that exude a subtle sense of harmony, indeed this is Zen-like on the explosive, balanced and lingering finish that positively screams Chablis. This is simply fantastic and while I have a very slight preference for the Valmur, this is certainly an inspired effort as well. If you can find it, don’t miss this either but also like the Valmur, be prepared to be patient.

agavin: very nice, with a lot of Chablis acidity and apple notes.

2008 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot. BH 95. A restrained, even discreet nose of toast, white flower, stone and quinine notes can also be found on the silky, pure and sophisticated medium-bodied flavors blessed with ample amounts of dry extract that completely buffer the firm acid spine on the detailed, minerally and lingering finish that is almost painfully intense. A classic Blanchots of both style and grace.

agavin: also a nice Chablis

2008 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 94. A more elegant as well as more refined but also much more reserved nose of white flower and salt water aromas is very much in keeping with the equally refined, pure and silky middle weight flavors that possess excellent detail and precision on the textured and seductive finish that displays grand cru level persistence. This is not quite as rich as the Butteaux but it’s finer as the chiseled flavors are flat out gorgeous. In a word, stunning.

agavin: nice, probably second best in the flight — showing that Rav MDT is a serious value.

Pan seared scallops with wild mushrooms and a crustacean reduction. A lovely seafood salad with good solid hunks of lobster.

Flight 2: Meursault

This flight included all the Meursaults that were not Perrieres.

2008 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Bouchères. BH 92. A classic Meursault nose of roasted hazelnut, fresh white flower, pear and white peach aromas trimmed in a touch of citrus marries into vibrant and impressively detailed flavors that also deliver ample power and punch on the intense and lively finish. This has real personality and in contrast to many examples of the appellation, this is really quite fine. Worth considering.

agavin: lots of acid.

From my cellar: 2008 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots. BH 92. An extremely fresh green fruit and herbal nose cut with hints of underbrush and citrus where the latter element can also be found on the rich, powerful and serious but not rustic medium weight plus flavors that culminate in a mouth coating and impressively long finish. This is robust but actually slightly finer than it usually is.

agavin: very punchy.

2008 Henri Boillot Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. BH 92. As one would reasonably expect, this is much more elegant with an ultra pure nose of apricot, peach, lemon and toasted nuts that slides seamlessly into supple and very seductively textured medium-bodied flavors brimming with dry extract that really coats the mouth on the almost painfully intense finish. This is exceptionally well-balanced and will age though the extract is such that it will be enjoyable young.

agavin: one of the best wines of the flight

2008 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. BH 90-92. A slightly more elegant nose features ripe white peach, pear and lemon aromas that introduce the rich, full-bodied, intense and mouth coating flavors that, not surprisingly, possess more depth as well as more underlying material, all wrapped in an impressively long finish. This is very Charmes as it’s generous but classy.

agavin: at first seemed like a hint of premox, but a very rich wine

2008 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. BH 93. A discreet but not invisible touch of oak frames the ripe orchard fruit aromas, particularly peach and apricot, as well as pretty floral notes. The fresh, intense and notably sweet flavors possess excellent intensity and vibrancy before culminating in a generous and mouth coating finish that displays real verve. I really like the sense of underlying tension and the abundant amount of dry extract confers an almost chewy quality on the gorgeously long finish. In a word, terrific.

agavin: slightly darker, possibly advanced

2008 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. BH 93. An impressively pure if somewhat reserved high-toned nose features wonderfully stylish aromas of white flower, hazelnut, wet stone and ripe lemon-lime nuances where the minerality also adds punch and lift to the mineral-infused, racy and punchy medium-bodied flavors that possess real finishing verve and seriously impressive persistence. The old vine sap is very much in evidence as it confers a seductive texture onto the mid-palate yet does not compromise the precise and chiseled quality of the backend. In a word, marvelous.

agavin: some people thought this might be off

Pan seared scallops with wild mushrooms and a crustacean reduction.

Flight 3: Meursault Perrieres

2008 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Rougeots. VM 92+. Classic aromas of lemon, lime, minerals, hazelnut and grilled almond; smells rich in dry extract. Then dense and superconcentrated, with terrific inner-mouth energy to the flavors of peach, orange blossom, lemon and crushed stone. Time-capsule Meursault, finishing with superb length. This too should age very well.

agavin: nice, very focused and linear

2008 Hospices de Beaune Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières Cuvée Baudot Pierre Yves Colin Morey. 96 points. WOW….there’s that pycm lime! SO friggin good…..piercing lime acidity, crushed slate, chalky limestone….the age has creamed it up well…actually quite rich…dried honey, florals galore…chiseled and drinking perfect! A true pleasure.

agavin: very reductive and lovely. We all swore this was the Coche. It tasted so like Coche. I guess we were wrong. Best wine of the flight.

2008 Comtesse Bernard de Cherisey Meursault-Blagny 1er Cru La Genelotte. 89 points. Showing just a hint of the wax and lanolin I associate with age (and I do not like). Showing more gunflint and power. The many fruit tones are lessened. Very complex. Very well made. We shall see where it ages too but I do enjoy it. But is it better young or old?

agavin: rich and strong with some soy sauce notes

2008 Henri Boillot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 93. This is the most elegant wine to this point with a strikingly perfumed nose of spiced pear, wet stone and rose petals that gives way to minerally and focused middle weight flavors that are crystalline in their purity, all wrapped in a seriously deep and long finish. Like several wines in the range, a classic example of the appellation.

agavin: solid and tasty

2008 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 91-93. Here the nose offers yet another step up in refinement with an almost delicate nose of acacia blossom, citrus and wet stone that leads to linear and precise flavors of crystalline purity, all wrapped in a long, dry, serious and explosive finish that displays a penetrating minerality. A classic Perrières.

agavin: flat nose, but good taste

2008 Domaine François Mikulski Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 91-93. A striking nose of exceptionally fresh and layered aromas of fennel, green apple and spiced pear complement the round, intense and gorgeously detailed flavors that possess outstanding depth and length on the finish that is like rolling small pebbles around in your mouth. As with a few other wines in the Mikulski range, there is a saline character on the almost painfully intense finish that reminds me vaguely of Chablis.

agavin: cork flake nose? a touch darker? apple on the pallete

2008 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 92. There is still a trace of mild reduction that only marginally detracts from the appeal of the otherwise pretty aromas of acacia blossom, spiced pear and wet stone aromas. The delicious, gorgeously elegant and pure flavors possess a silky palate impression on the concentrated, explosive and stunningly long finish that seems to be composed of liquid rock. This classy example doesn’t quite have the precision of the Charmes though the length is certainly most impressive. We’ll see how this develops but for now, I would rank this just below the Charmes in terms of overall quality.

agavin: very solid

Seafood Risotto. Always a favorite. A very nice risotto, although not cheesy. Last year we had two portions, we could have used that this time!

Flight 4: Corton Charlemagne

2008 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. VH 92-94. An upper register and highly complex nose of green apples, white pear and citrus notes introduces almost painfully intense, pure and impressively powerful big-bodied and overtly muscular flavors that possess an almost aggressive minerality on the palate staining, tension-filled and driving finish. This is really a striking wine that is built to age as there is an abundance of dry extract. Gorgeous.

agavin: nice, with green apple. Quite good for the flight.

2008 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne. VH 95. There is a hint of exoticism to the citrus, pear and white peach suffused nose that is presently trimmed in a noticeable, if very slight, touch of sulfur. The rich and extremely fresh middle weight plus flavors possess an impressive amount of dry extract as well as ample mineral influence on the austere and ultra-pure finish that seems to go on and on. This powerful and impeccably well balanced but presently closed effort should live for many years though it will probably come to its peak 10 to 12 years from now. In a word, fabulous.

agavin: pretty big

From my cellar: 2008 Joseph Drouhin Corton-Charlemagne. BH 91-94. Discreet if not invisible wood highlights a ripe white flower and green fruit nose nuanced by spice and wet stone hints where the latter elements are also reflected by the intensely soil-driven flavors brimming with both salinity and minerality on the explosive and strikingly long, palate staining and overtly austere finish. This is a sublimely classic Corton-Charlemagne that offers formidable cellar potential.

agavin: Vanilla, big, a well liked Corton

2008 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. BH 96. This is a classic example of Corton-Charlemagne with its impressively layered floral, green fruit, lime and stone-infused nose that precedes citrusy, precise and powerful mineral-driven flavors that possess real muscle on the almost painfully intense and steely finish that delivers striking length. While it’s not quite as great as the Montrachet, it easily holds its own. A wine to own but note that only the patient will ever see it at its best as this is likely to evolve glacially.

agavin: rich

2008 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. BH 94. A highly complex nose of pain grillé, cool green fruit laced with floral and anise hints leads to rich, powerful, naturally sweet and impressively intense full-bodied flavors that possess an overt muscularity as well as buckets of dry extract that really coats the mouth on the long and distinctly dry finish.

agavin: slightly darker with maybe some advanced notes

2008 Faiveley Corton-Clos des Cortons Faiveley. BH 91-94. Almost invisible wood allows the lightly spiced and earthy red berry fruit aromas that are admirably pure to merge into relatively supple yet well-detailed broad-shouldered flavors that culminate in a lingering and solidly firm finish. This is unusually approachable but I expect that it will tighten up considerably after it is bottled. If so, this will definitely be a wine for the patient.

agavin: solid

2008 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne. BH 96. Hints of oak toast add nuance to the green apple, lime and classic dried white flower aromas that precede the well-muscled, firm and impressively broad-shouldered flavors that are clean, dry and ultra intense with real drive on the penetrating and intensely mineral-suffused finish that delivers stunning length. This beautifully chiseled effort does not deliver quite the same length as the Montrachet but it’s perhaps even more complex. In sum, part of why I like this so much is its sense of completeness.

agavin: a bit weird. caramel notes?

2008 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Corton-Charlemagne. VH 93-95. A reticent nose of lightly spiced green apple, white peach and white rose petal aromas leads to exceptional pure, detailed, tautly muscular and stony medium weight plus flavors that possess superb intensity and huge length on the mouth coating cuts-like-a-knife finish. This is presently an understated yet powerful wine possessing huge amounts of dry extract and stunning verve. A serious effort that will undoubtedly be long-lived though arrive at its apogee before its 10th birthday.

agavin: nice and fruity, probably my favorite of the flight

Pan roasted Napa quail rapped in pancetta. The bacon added a lot of salty goodness. The meat had a nice gaminess too, although was perhaps a touch over cooked.

A side of ravioli in butter sage sauce. A simple classic prep, and great as always.

Flight  5: Dessert

2004 Turley Roussanne LPR Alban Estate Vineyard. VM 93. Deep orange-gold. Apricot liqueur, golden raisin, maple syrup, vanilla, honey and clove on the nose. Thick, fat and supersweet, with the wine’s ten grams per liter of acidity lost in its sugar. An extremely glyceral wine that winemaker Jordan says is lower in sugar and acidity than the 2005 (which came from grapes harvested two months earlier!), and less “electric.” Notes of honey and nuts on the extremely long and sweet back end.

agavin: very sweet and fruity, with a pink almost cloudy tone. Tasty, but not amazing or anything.

Pear tart tartin with gelato.

Above is the revealed flight list.

And the full array of revealed bottles.

The crew is getting young as a new generation of Chardonnay fiends gets in on the action.

There is a lot to say about this tasting. First of all, Valentino did a good job as usual. The wine service was impeccable, and this is a difficult task (pouring lots of big blind flights). Overall service is absolutely first rate. It’s a large quiet room, and the staff was highly attentive. The food was solid, although not as bright or modern as some places. The decor and food are a tad dated now, very very 90s — and not even as good as I remember back in the 90s. But memory is a funny thing. All the dishes tonight were tasty. Pairing with the Burgundy was spot on (thanks to Don and Ron who worked hard on this aspect).

Wine service was impeccable.

There wasn’t quite enough food and the flights were too large. Really this dinner could use 6 flights, no bigger than 5 wines each and about 6 savory dishes. This was more a planning/budget issue than anything under the restaurant’s control. I wanted to go for awesome porky ramen after, but Tsjuita was closing so we couldn’t quite get mobilized.

2008 as a vintage was quite good. We had no corked bottles and 3-4 advanced bottles. No totally premoxed bottles like with 2005. The vintage character is broad and ripe, with a good amount of acid, but not the unrelenting sourness of 2007. Chablis remains tight. The richer wines, particularly Meursault Perrieres and Corton Charlie were very impressive. Some really nice wines there. The Chablis were good, but very Chablis with that acidic linearity. The MPs were the roundest, but I always like MP.

I also think we should vote on each wine in the flight and then reveal that flight. Keeping them blind until the end seriously reduces the learning aspect of the evening, as you can’t really remember or effectively revisit. Plus, my “voting” is pretty random, consisting of picking my favorites from each flight anyway. I just don’t have it in me to go back and retaste 30 wines or to compare Chablis and Corton Charlie against each other. Just my opinion.

Thanks to Don C again as always for organizing a super fun and education event! It’s an enormous amount of organization and we all really appreciate it.

Speaking of Don, his compiled results and comments from this dinner are as follows. The top five ranked wines of the evening were:

1. 2008 Colin-Morey Meursault Genevrieres Hospice de Beaune, which got nine of fourteen possible first place votes and a pretty astounding 55 total points.
2. 2008 Drouhin Corton Charlemagne
3. 2008 Raveneau Chablis Blanchots
4. 2008 Raveneau Valmur
5. 2008 Henri Boillot Corton Charlemagne

The Ringer for the evening – De Cherisey Meursault Blagny Genelottes (located above Meursault Perrieres) fit right in with the Meursault Perrieres flight as expected and did quite well finishing tied for 7th overall.

Of 29 wines, we had 0 corked, 0 oxidized but 5 advanced (17.2%). The latter group included only one surprise (Dauvissat Clos) and four of the usual suspects. The pleasant surprises were that Bonneau du Martray was not on the POX list and neither were any of the Henri Boillot wines.

It was a great performance by the Chablis overall – the best vintage of Chablis we’ve had since 2002 and infinitely superior to the disappointing 2007s.

A couple of generalizations – the colors on the wines were all in the gold range, mostly between light and medium gold – generally deeper-colored than the 2007s at the same point. All of the wines showed good acidity. So far, the vintage seems very successful though we ran into a couple of wines where there seemed to have been an underlying rot problem that wasn’t dealt with well.

Other big tasting dinners from this dinner series:

2007 White Burgundy part 1

2007 White Burgundy part 2

2007 White Burgundy part 3

2006 White Burgundy

2004 Red Burgundy

2005 White Burgundy part 1

2005 White Burgundy part 2

2005 White Burgundy part 3

Related posts:

  1. Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 1
  2. Valentino – 2006 White Burgundy
  3. Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 2
  4. Valentino – 2004 Red Burgundy
  5. Valentino – 2005 White Burg part 2!
By: agavin
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More Shunji Omakase

Feb08

Restaurant: Shunji [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 12244 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. (310) 826-4737

Date: February 6, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: First rate traditional sushi

_

Some of my cousins wanted sushi so we resorted to a bit of shock and awe — going out for Shunji’s omakase!

Shunji, which took over for the “Mr. Cecil’s BBQ” in this oddball looking building on Pico has developed quite a reputation.

At night, Shunji offers an amazing and advanced mix of traditional and modern raw and cooked dishes.

Chef Shunji Nakao was an opening chef at Matsuhisa in the day, then opened Asanebo, then The Hump (one of my old favorites). It has quickly risen to the top of the LA Japanese scene.

From my cellar: 1998 Nikolaihof Riesling Federspiel Steinriesler. 90 points. “Riesler” is an archaic term for Riesling. Saahs wanted to see how a wine might age in cask without sulfur if it were an ordinary and not a grand wine to begin with. The first example was a glorious 1999, offered two years ago. So what do they do for an encore? Offer something even older. This is a masterpiece of time, nature and instinct. Less “humble” than that ‘99 was, and more insanely, dauntingly complex. I could detail its three paragraphs worth of nuance if I had 40 minutes to study it. Let’s just say, a perfect positive oxidation, a whole encyclopedia of wild flowers and herbs, a mélange of every possible salt, and the gentlest note of allspice and pink peppercorn.
From my cellar: 2000 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. Burghound 92. Almost always the best 1er in the Dauvissat portfolio and this displays real energy as it explodes from the glass with detailed green fruit notes and detailed and delineated medium weight flavors that are so pure they seem cut directly from liquid rock, all wrapped in a presently tight and austere but not closed finish. At 7 years of age, this is still on the way up and there is absolutely no rush to drink up, indeed I would suggest that 2010 will see this at its peak, where it should hold for some years. This would give many a grand cru a run for its money. Beautiful juice and aging slowly toward something very special though it could be drunk now with pleasure. Multiple, and consistent, notes.

agavin: a great bottle, mature and complex with a nice Chablis acidic finish.

Vegetable puree with crispy onion and crab. I’d guess the vegetable was eggplant or something similar. There was a dashi base giving it that vaguely fishy (in a good way) extremely Japanese vibe. Soft texture and very pleasant.

Bites and slurps. Left to right. Marinated baby eel, with a fabulous sweet and tangy marinate. Pickled bamboo shoots, nice and crisp. Brussel sprout. Marinated tomato. The purple ball was potato and gorgonzola cheese with some cured persimmon (very interesting and nice). The orange ball was monkfish liver with caviar, super rich.
Oyster soup. One of those classic Japanese light broths with two oysters. Yum.

Cod sperm mousse. Yes, again with the cod sperm, this time mixed with tofu to make a creme brulee-like confection.

Sashimi. I’m not sure of all the specific fishes here, but they were delightfully fresh.

Tomato tofu. This Shunji classic is a block of sticky tomato paste made from 5 Japanese tomatoes. It has been glommed together into a tofu-like texture with a mild but very fresh tomato taste and topped with a shiso pepper. It was pretty good, even by tomato-hater standards.

Sukiyaki with pickled egg and smoked pickles. A lovely bite of classic (tasting) sukiyaki. The egg and pickles were eaten with the truffle rice below.

Miso marinated cod. The Kyoto “classic”.

I’ve been wanting to try the truffle rice for a long time, so finally got an opportunity to place this special preorder.

The seasoned rice gets truffles shaved on it.
Not one, not two, but three types! Southern French black, white, and Burgundy truffles!
Mixed up it is eaten with the pickled egg and radish. Delicious and highly aromatic.
the first flight of sushi. Not sure of all the fish. Some kind of toro, baracuda, uni, and a few others. All soft, and exquisite.

Special house marinated ginger. I’m a ginger fiend and this was amazing stuff. Super potent too like ultra concentrated ginger beer.

Sushi round two. Included chu-toro (amazing), kampachi, and other wonders.

A sashimi version of the same fish.

Roasted mild traditional tea.
A round of homemade desserts. The red is mixed berry sorbet. The brown chocolate mousse (very strong and good), and the rightmost pink orange ice cream. The sorbets and ice cream have that fresh intense flavor, but a texture more like a granite, not the smooth mouth-feel I go for in my own gelatti and sorbetti.

All and all Shunji is rather fantastic, joining the large repertoire of top LA sushi restaurants. This was a really great take on sushi kaiseki style dishes, combining both innovations with a solid grounding in traditional Japanese flavors and seasonal ingredients. There was some really unusual stuff too (sperm!) and it all tasted fabulous. The nigiri was also top flight, with a lot of exotic fish and at the peak of freshness. Great great stuff. When you sit at the sushi bar like this talking to the chef, you always get the best stuff too — although the restaurant was mobbed and all the great plates making their way out into the room looked amazing.

The truffle rice was pretty awesome too!

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Shunji Super Omakase
  2. Shunji Sushi – Nonstop Nigiri
  3. Takao Top Omakase
  4. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  5. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
By: agavin
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