Les Truffes, I Tartufi
Thanks to the Périgord truffles of Tasmania and a friend, Fred Schilling, I came into three good sized truffles fresh from the Tasmanian soil. It was time for some proper cooking, eating and drinking.
On Friday evening we assembled at David and Nicole’s. We commenced with a delicious Max Ferd Richter Estate Riesling 2004. Wow. Superb purity and a weight beyond it’s mere QbA class. Excellent balance of mouth watering acidity and refreshing sugar. As an aperitif wine, hard to beat.
We then took a look at a Vilmart et Cie Cuvée Création 1996. This wine took quite some time to open up. When it did, it showed preserved lemon and grapefruit, vanilla, a touch of almond, all framed by evidence of the oxidative barrel maturation employed by Vilmart. The palate was quite typical for Vilmart, a prickly acidity that seems to dominate at first, but which you’ve almost forgotten as you swallow; a real freshness in fruit, almost like gooseberry on this wine. An interesting wine, but I was hoping for a little more complexity.
At this point, we took a foie gras pie with truffle and veal aspic, in a poultry stock reduction with copious truffle shavings.
David brought forth a Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Grand Cru Sélection de Grains Nobles 1993. The rich oxidative marmalade and bread spice of this matched nicely with the creamy richness of the foie gras and paired well with the truffle.
Another white then appeared, a William Fevre Grenouilles Grand Cru Chablis 2002. This superb wine showed classic Chablisien character: delicate mineraliness, linden, a hint of soapiness I associate with Chablis starting to develop, but overall a remarkable finesse. It was the same on the palate, purity and elegance. It didn’t ask too little or too much.
With this we took truffle infused egg omlettes with mushroom and truffle. These were too good to photograph obviously, because I can’t find a photo of them! This dish confirmed to me that truffles and eggs are just an amazing combination.
In preparation for the next dish, we poured two excellent Burgundies: a Louis Latour Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 1988 and a Comte Lafon Volnay Santenots du milieu 1er Cru 1999. The Clos de Bèze was in great condition. The nose was not even entirely secondary. Certainly, there were plenty of undergrowth, old wood, and even mushroom characters, but it was held together by a cherry and tea aroma that gave it real freshness. Structurally, the wine was resolved with the kind of acidity that begs for fine food. An impressive wine from Latour which has obviously been well cared for since being sent to Australia.
The Lafon Volnay was at first reticent but after 45 minutes sitting quietly in my glass, I was captivity for an explosion of prettiness: violets, raspberry, rhubarb and cranberry filled my body and mind. Truly awesome, the essence of great Burgundy. The palate had none of the prickly tannins of Volnay and is just being to integrate. This wine will go twenty years, I have no hesitation in saying. In the time, however, there will be many moments at which it has something unique to say. Lucky are those with some in their cellar.
We then took venison stuffed with truffles, wrapped in poitrine fumé (pancetta). This was served with a truffle and cream mash, roast carrots and steamed haricot beans. The dish was brought together with a veal neck bone and venison blood sauce, with plenty of truffle shavings. People don’t usually serve venison and truffles because of the strength of the meat and fear it will dominate the truffles. I am happy I took the risk because I thought the dish worked very well, especially when combined with the greatness of red Burgundy.
The final red was a Patrick et Christophe Bonnefond Côte Rôtie “Les Roziers” 2001. This was an extremely youthful wine, almost New World in it’s power and pure, rich red berry and pastille fruit. Undeniably a wine of class, this is almost painfully youthful now. There was a hint of reduction about the nose but I feel that it was border line and no one seemed to be talking about. To my taste, this wine needs at least five more years.
This wine, and the remains of other bottles, were drunk with a creamy soft cheese, some blue and a gruyère.
Dessert, a tiramasu cake, was served with a Domaine Sauveroy “Cuvée Nectar” Côteaux du Layon 2001. There was a mustiness about the nose of this wine when it was opened which dissipated as the wine opened up in the glass. The mustiness was not cork taint but I’m not sure what it was… maybe unclean barrels or handling in general. The wine revealed fine tropical fruit aromas, a hint of botrytis. The palate had great balance of acidity and sugar, excellent length. A refreshing wine.
We finished with a Campbells Rare Tokay which had an astounding balance of old and new about it. Rich, spicy… just amazing. A superb balance of alcohol and sugar.
By Saturday evening, it was time to do it all again — this time at Mark and Ingrid’s.
The theme of this evening was a little more Italian. We commenced with a Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 1996. While this bottle was prepared, there was much snickering at the expense of our American peers who are claiming that the Champagnes of 1996 are aging faster than expected. This wine was perhaps not the best way to refute the point. It was not falling apart or aged, it was just lacking in… spirit. It has been some time since I’ve been impressed by Perrier-Jouët and I wasn’t here. Needless to say, a pretty bottle does not a great wine make!
With a Salomon Muskat 1977 (Austria) and a Noël Gagnard Chassange-Montrachet Les Caillerets 1er Cru 2002 we took the first course, green asparagus with truffle shavings and mushroom in an olive oil and butter sauce.
The Salomon was excellent. I’ve had old muscat table wine before but never one so clean and integrated as this. The nose had a spiciness I adore in such wines and the palate a rounded length that really impressed me. A great find.
The Chassange was sulfurous, showing banana peal and sesame aromas all evening. Quite disappointing, especially since I have seen this character from the producer’s other wines. On the palate, this wine was structurally sound. I do not know if the esteriness will dissipate but if it does, it should be a fine wine.
Then came a dish which took the truffles to their peak: fresh fettucini with truffle infused eggs and truffle shavings.
This kind of dish shows why truffles are worth all the fuss: it is hard to eat better than this. The flavours, aromas and texture of the dish are confounding.
The next course was less successful, due to my forgetting about the meat in the oven and the sauce on the stove. C’est la vie.
This was a veal eye stuffed with truffles and wrapped in pancetta, with truffle infused potato, pork and sprout mash and polenta.
With this, we took a Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chamberin “Les Poissonets” 1er Cru 2000. This was nervous and reticent but begun to unwind after some hours to reveal a complex penvil shavings aroma wrapped up with cherry confiture and a certain otherness I could not pin down. We also had a Penfolds Saint Henri 1977. It showed a lifted gum leaf and fortified character. The palate was round, soft and long. Personally, I think this wine would have seen better days but others at the dinner would be able to speak better, being more familiar with the wine. The Castagna Sangiovese 2004 was a rich, ultra clean wine with barely concealed power. It showed great skill in its making but was painfully youthful and nervous now. Should be very good in six years.
With cheese, we took a Château Nairac 1996. This is looking quite approachable now, with a powerful marmalade/botrytis nose and oily lingering quality to the palate. It handled the cheeses well, and will cope with 10 more years cellaring likewise.
Finally, we took two German wines with the red wine poached pear we had for dessert:
Both the wines were Max Ferd Richter 2006s. The first, a Max Ferd Richter Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 2006 was already showing very well, delicious at such a young age! The second wine, Max Ferd Richter Veldenzer Elisenberg Riesling Auslese Cask 83 ** 2006 was even better. It had a complexity to texture and flavour I don’t often notice in German wines. Truly great. Delicious now and probably for many, many years.
Finally, the truffles. The quality is the best I’ve seen from Australia. The perfume is extremely complex and strong. Personally, I did not feel that they carried cooking as well as those I’ve sourced from France but they are still remarkable. Two great evenings with amazing wines and great company. Thanks guys.
