Dinner at Bistro Stock
Michel joined Neville, Fred, Firoz (long time Sydney-based friend of Sanjay), Gen and myself at Bistro Stock in Balmain. The food was of reasonable quality but better can be found at these prices. Service was unprofessional and… slightly confrontational.
The wines were very good and we forgot about the churlishness of the waitresses.
Louis Sipp Alsace Grand Cru Riesling 1998 Clean, mosel like nose. The palate was off dry to my taste, with hints of oxidative wine making. I should have picked this as Alsace but I didn’t. Pretty good.
J.M. Boillot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru (I cannot remember which cru) 2001 A bigger, richer wine, absolutely ready for action. A colour of deep straw, explosive nose but balanced palate. A hint of oiliness which I would usually not like seemed perfectly agreeable here. The balance was superb and the finish quite long. Drinking very well now.
Marc Colin Chassagne-Montrachet Cailleret 1er Cru 2004 At first, quite a sulfurous nose but this blew off. Lots of oak, roses, daisies, peach and citrus notes. The palate is fairly big, like the previous wine. Oak seems to dominate at the moment but I think it has the stuffing to go quite a long way, say 10 years.
Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 2002 Beautiful pure pinot aromas. So fresh and youthful. Very much a village wine and yet so delicious. Neville’s new house wine, after this showing. Drinking very well now.
Comte de Vogue Chambolle-Musigny 2001 Oh baby! An explosion of pure raspberry and delicately candied cherries. So pure and clean. Singing. I was worried this would be closed like one I had a while ago but it wasn’t. The palate is delicious. Great poise and length. Simply beautiful. What a great wine and drinking so well now.
Roger Sabon Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1997 I tried hard to look past the brett… but couldn’t.
Chambers Rare Tokay WOAH! Freshly pressed olive oil at the rim, engine oil at the centre. Something like the viscosity of golden syrup. The nose is an explosion of coffee, cloves, antique furniture, cedar, old leather, five spice. Pretty much very aged wine character. The V.A. and alcohol just lift the wine right out of the glass. The palate is sumptuous. The finish goes on for ever. I think I can still taste it. The texture of the palate is fantastic. The alcohol actually plays the role of acid here, giving your mouth a clean refreshing feel after you’ve swallowed. Very hard to even find anything wrong with this wine. There are only two ways it could be better: 1) if it was freshly poured from the cask 2) directly into my mouth.
I’m going to miss these wines when I leave. Luckily, I’ll have the muscat tonight!
