Dinner at Balzac

25 April 2007

I had dinner last night at Balzac with a bunch of friends. We ate amuse bouche of mussel custard / grilled marlin with courgette flowers / sauted scallops with sweetbreads of calf / ballotine of confit pork belly / roasted venison with horse radish gnocchi / cheese / chocolate fondant. The scallop/sweet breads and the pork belly were sensational, the venison very succulent and well executed. The amuse bouche didn’t work, the marlin was a little powdery and over cooked.

Service was good, especially considering we were 13 people, all very fussy with wines, order and timing.

Wines served:
Pommery Cuvee Louise 1995 Soft, easy to drink but lacks the intensity and complexity of prestige cuvee.
Hardy’s Arras 2000 (?) Very fine beed, good mouth feel, finishes very tight, austere, a little green even. Impressive for what it is.
Delamotte NV Easy to drink, fresh,
Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 1994 Superb German riesling, better than the Egon Muller recently. Complex, spicy, floral nose. Excellent balance on the palate. Loosen doesn’t seem to make wine like this any more. Superb.
Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet “Morgeot” 1er cru 2004 At first, all oak. As it heated up, huge powerful aromas of candied ginger, rose petals, asian spices (like tumeric and coriander seed!), sesame. Typical “out there” Ramonet style. The palate has great structure and could go for a very long time.
Domaine Laroche “Fourchaume” Vieilles Vignes 1er Cru Chablis 2002 Some thought this sulphurous but I thought it very typical and very good. Minerally, white peach, white flowers, a hint of grass, the sea side. Beautiful fine. Excellent palate shows the relative warmth of the 2002 vintage in Chablis. Should start drining around 2011.
Domaine Pillot Chassage-Montrachet “Mogeot” 1er cru 2001 Very reductive for about 25 minutes. Then, more classically mealy with hints of peach and linden. Creamy oak on the palate.
Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 1999 Delicate, feminine, Burgundian nose. There’s an oaky hardness to the palate which made me think Leeuwin but the year was hard to get. Still very youthful and should peak in about 8 or so years. Will be very good once the oak settles.
Rudi Pichler Gruner Veltliner 2005 White pepper, spice. The palate has that kind of extracted roundness of Pinot Gris. Not a style I like.
Cacheux “Les Suchots” 1er cru Vosne Romanee 1999 Explosive nose of juicy cranberry, cherry, raspberry, clay, rosemary. Quite tannic but with the fruit ripeness of 1999. Very long and charming. Needs 8 more years on this example.
Michele Chiorle Barbera d’Asti 2001 Light, spicy, resolved tannins. Many thought it pinot noir.
Lindeman’s St George 1998 Big, juicy cherries and blackberries, crushed rocks, very ripe and primary. Lots of fine tannin. Could go a very long time yet but drinking well now.
Mitchelton Print Shiraz 1994 Ink, crushed rocks, still plenty of stuffing but… boring.
Doisy Verdrines 1981 (Barsac) Very youthful colour, lots of botrytis (typical of barsac). Soft, balanced palate. Good for the year but lacking omph.
Stanton and Killeen vintage port 1996 No fruit on the nose, some hard tannin on the palate, alcoholic and tired.
Fonseca “Quinta do Panascal” 1996 vintage port Beautiful, complex lifted aromas of black berries, earth, spice. Cognac-like spiritiness. The palate is long and mouthfilling. The sweetness balances the alcohol perfectly. Perhaps an earlier drinking vintage port. Yum!