Instead of casual quaffing, an ambitious summer dinner
Splurging in Summer
Some friends and I gathered recently for a wine dinner with some decidedly ambitious goals. After drinking mostly moderate priced whites during these summer months we were all ready to bring out some major bottles and live it up. Traci Harris, who lives in Northwest, did the cooking and fine-tuned the dishes to be unfussy enough to defer to the wines and the season but still intricate enough to match the complexity of the wines. Her husband, Chris Harris, did the organizing and each guest brought wine for one course or another.
We sipped Chateau de Selle 2004, a rosé produced by Domaines Ott, while in the kitchen snacking on cheese sticks (from Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris cookbook). Domaines Ott is expensive for a rosé (about $35), but it is as refined and evolved as a rosé can be. It was supplied by one of our guests, Joseph Gloriosa, who represents Champagne Louis Roederer, a longtime Hampton Classic sponsor and since last winter the parent company of Domaines Ott. We will no doubt be consuming more of this lovely, summery wine on the East End.
Moving to the deck for hors d’oeuvres we had some Merryvale Starmont 2002 chardonnay. Dry, rich, with a long silky finish, this was innately a Napa chardonnay. Current Starmont vintages sell for about $25. Sitting down to a chilled soup we had an important white Burgundy, Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatieres 1996, Premier Cru. It was rich and intricate and more austere than the first chardonnay. The wine sells for about $75.
I had raided my wine cellar and brought out three bottles of old Bordeaux for the main course. They were full of surprises as old wines often are. The first, a 1962 Chateau Haut-Brion, displayed only some of the inherent traits of this legendary Graves estate. It was harmonious with a supple, silky core, layered and mellow, but it lacked muscle. Overall, it was very good, if not perfect. Vintages are important in Bordeaux, and 1962 is considered rather good but not great though connoisseurs now deem it underappreciated. Also, my storage facilities are not perfect and that could certainly influence the quality. Nevertheless, it was thrilling to drink such a serious and ultimately delicious wine.
We moved on to a 1974 Chateau Haut-Brion, not thought of as a brilliant vintage, but what a surprise! It was a wonderfully ripe and still vigorous wine. Clean and powerful, it might have passed for a 1975, one of the best of the decade. The experience of drinking it was sublime.
The real star of our Bordeaux selections turned out to be 1967 La Mission Haut-Brion. La Mission is far less famous than the stellar Chateau Haut-Brion and is often mistaken for a second label of that great estate. It does not possess first growth status and according to the 1855 classifications (still in use), was not placed in any category. Even without credentials Mission Haut-Brion is idolized by many wine professionals—correctly in my opinion.
In the seventeenth century an already established estate was bequeathed to a missionary order, hence the name. Unlike other monks who, as one historian points out, “kept their wine for a quick ecclesiastical tipple after prayers,” these religious but commercially minded men were squarely in the wine business, growing, producing and selling.
Our bottle was fully mature, juicy, plush and concentrated, a classic Bordeaux in every sense. In other words, a knockout of a wine. Prices for these old wines vary quite a bit. They show up at rare wine dealers and at auction rather than regular wine stores, and cost has to do with cellar history and label condition among other things. I found current prices for the1974 Mission varying from about $120 to $575.
With dessert we turned to two superb Sauternes. The 1995 Chateau d’Yquem was another blockbuster. Unctuous, fat, intense, brilliant, it demonstrated clearly why the estate is considered one of the greatest in the world and it reminded me why Thomas Jefferson was such a devotee. He ordered directly from Yquem, not trusting the wine merchants of his day, and had his initials as well as those of George Washington, who shared his taste and his shipments, embossed on the bottles. The 1995 vintage we had sells for close to $300 per bottle.
Chateau Rieussec, our other Sauternes is also right up there with first growth status and a great reputation. We had a bottle of 1990 (which sells for about $120) and while it might be outstanding on its own, it did not quite match the intensity of the Yquem. By comparison it tasted deliciously sweet rather than ambrosial.
We consumed at least $1,500 worth of wine at today’s prices though by virtue of patience and storage our costs overall were much lower. But even if we had paid current sticker price it would have been worth it.
