Decanting Champagne and more at French Laundry

First off, is it common to decant sparkling wine? Much to our surprise our Rose Champagne was decanted and served in a Syrah glasses to eliminate some of the carbonation and enhance the fruit flavors. It was definitely a new experience, as it was not fully sparkling at this point and showed some interesting copper-fruit type notes. Also, does anyone have any thoughts about the Borolo producer below? This was my first Barolo ever and would like to find something similar to it again. What might I expect when Barolo shopping- except for some high price tags?

Thanks for your thoughts, Jason

The following is a list of the wines that were served with our meal for those interested:

Billecart-Salmon MV Brut Reserve, Mareauil-sur-Ay Geoffroy MV Brut Reserve, Cumieres Txomin Etxaniz 2002 Hodurrabi Spain- Getariako Txakolina Brokenwood 2002 Semillon Hunter Valley Pierre Morey 1999 Mersault Tessns, 1er Cru Burgundy Rudi Pichler 2001 Gruner Veltliner Federspeil, Wachau Rocche dei Manzoi 1997 Vigna d'la Roul, Barolo Ramonet 2001 Chassagne-Montrachet Vergers 1er CRu Zind-Humbrecht 2001 Pinor Gris Rangen de Thann, Vandange Tardives Bachelet 2000 Gevery-Chambertain Villes Vignes Domaine Pichot 1990 Vovray Paolo Saracco 2002 Moscato d'Asti Cossart Gordon, 15 year old Bual Madeira Chambers-Rosewood MV Museum Muscat Rutherglen-Australia

Reply to
Jaybert41
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I think you meant Monzoni. It's about a $75.00 bottle. Bi!!

Reply to
RV WRLee

Not sure I've ever decanted a NV Champagne (actually, should that be "an NV", since the N is pronounced "en"? We just had this discussion re "SUV" recently).

But I've seen it done with top-quality recent vintage Champagne. Depends on whether you're looking for zip or for depth, in a way

Rocche dei Manzoi 1997 Vigna d'la Roul, Barolo \ I agree that should be Manzoni. Not a producer I know. Unclear where it falls on the new/old producer spectrum. You could get aclue (though only a clue) re Barolo possibilities by trying the Nebbiolos (d'Alba or otherwise) of a good producer. As to what to expect- Barolo is a strange combination of the powerful and the delicate.

Nice list

Yum

I tend to love Ramonet, Tom Reddcik saiod 2000s especially good

Z-H is at it's best with late-harvest wines, especially PG

Always a good wine

Notes, please!

Dale

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Reply to
Dale Williams

I have only heard about the appeal of Barolo in "serious" wine circles and this being my first taste I am definitely interested in another. In a way in reminded me of the Bachelet 2000 Chasagne Montrachet that appeared later in the meal and like you said possessed both delicacy and power in a way that I have never seen. Both wines were greatly intruiging, especially in that redicously huge fish bowl Riedel glass.

This was my first Z-H and it truly blew me away. I love the great Alsacaian grapes and this wine made a strong introduction to such a highly acclaimed producer that will definitly make my holiday shopping list.

Gosh, I wish I could have done better with some notes but I was completly overwhelmed from the minute I walked in the door and frankly was way over stimulated to take consise notes. In all, nineteen courses and fourteen wines later I am glad that I can remember what I did! I can give you plenty of food notes though...

One thing that I was impressed with is that almost all of the bottles that they served to Brooke and I were freshly opened. I knew that these werent just the bottles that happened to be open that night and made it to our table. There was great intenet to really blow our socks off. I was actually expecting to see a lot more wines from California in the flight.

Not only was is a delight to eat such magnificent food, is was also an eye opening wine experience to enjoy many wines that I am not fortunate enough to drink at home. I could get used to this...

jason

Reply to
Jaybert41

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com

This sounds rather curiously old-fashioned and reminiscent of the 1920s when people actually bought a gadget called a "swizzle stick" whose function was to remove the carbonation in champagne. Didn't P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster not have one?

Reply to
James Silverton

I love basque!

M.

Reply to
Michael Pronay

Agreed, it *is* a matter of taste but, IMHO, a flat champagne be it vintage or non-vintage is not very interesting and I think I can find less expensive still wines that I much prefer.

Jim.

Reply to
James Silverton

Jim, Francis's point is not that at all, he is simply saying that unless champagne is made from top quality still wine, it will not be good champagne.

We enjoyed three evenings of wine tasting with Francis about 2 weeks ago, and his new Petraea cuvee is outstanding, the kind of wine you just want to experiment matching food to.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Tommasi

A very long time ago Champagne was a still wine, and such wines, both red and white, were available from many different vineyards. They were popular in England and elsewhere as well as in France. After it was found how to make these wines sparkle in a reliable manner, the still wines of Champagne became considerably less popular. In fact, in many parts of the world today, you may find it very difficult to find a still Champagne, which now must be labeled as Coteaux Champenois. In fact I have only tasted one example of a white one, and it was not very special. Wines from the best vineyards seem to usually end up in the better sparkling Champagne, and little of the top wine is left for Coteaux Champenois. Of course some of the Champagne growers may keep a little of the top still wines for themselves and their friends, if they fancy this style. If I wanted a top quality still wine from Champagne, I probably would have to remove the bubbles from a sparkling one.

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Michael Pronay

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