Dinner at Atelier
Well, now that my head is clearing, I recall a few wines drunk last night at Atelier with Cam, Chris, Rhiannan, Phil, Neville and Danny.
Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2005 Intense nose of passion fruit, citrus, hay, spice and good quality oak. Poised palate with great acidity. Some heat on the finish but the fruit is all there. Will be great wine.
Dönnhoff Spätlese 2006 (unsure on vineyard). Well, after swearing off Dönnhoff on the weekend, this blew me away. A remarkable finesse and subtlety. A hidden complexity I have literally never seen before in Riesling. Superb.
Max Ferd Ritcher Spätlese 2006 (unsure on vineyard) Next to the Dönnhoff, this looked a little heavier. Much sweater, less aperitif style than dessert. A surprising amount of botrytis — but that’s the year in Mosel. A good wine.
I tried these three wines with my entrée: duck egg with foie gras, mesclun and wild asparagus. The dish itself was the best I’ve had at Atelier. Really at a new level for this restaurant. The aromas of the Chardonnay blended very well with the wild truffle infused aroma of the egg. In mouth, the wine showed some alcoholic bitterness. The two rieslings were not successful, due to their sweetness.
Prince Florent de Merode Corton Grand Cru “Les Renardes” 1998 (rouge) In some ways, similar to the Dönnhoff: at first you see a great purity of fruit — here, a fine cherry, rose and cranberry — but then you realise that there’s even more going on: an aroma of jam being made, spice, resin. The palate showed great structure: no dryness or bitterness to the structure. The finish was long and delicious.
Langoa-Barton 1982 A very dark colour, almost black under the restaurant lights. The nose was dominated by world, cedar and something like charcoal. The palate was resolved and quite light. There wasn’t too much acidity to see there. The year should have been a give away but this bottle was so advanced I figured it was a less successful year. Interesting to see but other bottles might give more pleasure.
Lakes Folly Cabernet 1994 Strong American oak aromas, a little medicinal. We all, I think, figured it for a South Australian wine falling apart. We were surprised when it was revealed. An auction purchase which we can only assume has come from less than perfect storage, considering the performance of other bottles from Danny’s cellar.
Battely Shiraz 2004 Not a style I like and feel that I can comment fairly on. Others seemed to like it.
Les Forts de Latour 2004 Very closed and young but structurally beautiful. No hint of under ripeness there. A very well made wine — as you would expect — that has a great future ahead.
The reds were taken with a roulade of squad. Presentation was excellent here but the wines — particularly the Burgundy — were so aromatically intense that I had hoped the sauce would be richer and gamier. Still, a very well executed dish.
Trevor Jones Fortified Muscat Very spirituous without much fruit. A strong rancio character. I couldn’t find much to enjoy in this wine.
I took this with a soufflé with whiskey cream. This was probably not a great pairing — since both were very spirity — but the soufflé itself was great.
I was very surprised by Atelier, which seems to have reached a new level in terms of the presentation and ambitiousness of its food. Definitely worth a visit, especially mid week when they do three dishes for $59.
