Not exactly a typical NYE dinner neither for an italian nor for a french resident, but at my place I can do what I want ;-)))
For appetizers, a Champagne by our AFW colleague, my friend Francis Boulard. This wine normally needs to be accompanied by a great dish, but for the 31st of december you can be crazy, so we enjoyed the grand Comete 1986 cuvee (disgorged in 2000) on it own, with its small subtle bubbles and this imposing complex vinous matter. Served in the tulip shaped champagne Spiegelaus, we found these glasses to also be great for tasting sweet wines. Too bad there is no Comete left at Francis' cellars, but do taste his new barrique-aged Petraea, since september it has become very open and expressive.
To start, thin slices of whole foie gras on toast with a small salad and a Savennieres, the Coulee de Serrant that I have been bad-mouthing for the last while, I take it all back at least for this 1995: Nicolas Joly has made a dry (maybe) wine of golden hue that evolves in your glass in an incredible way, with an initial impression of sugar and oxidation at first subtle, then increasing to the point of being almost disagreable after one hour, and then suddenly disappearing altogether to give way to a complex aromatic charge dominated by honey. Very long persistence. But two hours later the wine seems tired (good thing I did not open it 24 hours ahead of time as sugggested on the label). The next day the few remaining drops seemed to have regained some composure.
Next a tajine of guinea-hen with mandarines served with Laubenheimer St. Remigiusberg 2002 Riesling Trocken Spaetlese by Tesch (in the Nahe), fruity, mineral, nno signs of petrol, went very well with the meal.
Friends brought cheese, and as no french meal can be without cheese, and since there were ten different cheeses, I did not even attempt matching wine. A Bourgogne by Domaine Buisson-Charles went with some, the Savennieres did a good job with the banon, and the rest of the riesling went well with the St Nectaire.
Chocolate dessert, we served a "vin de glaciere", an experimental "icebox wine" made with local vermentino grapes by our winemaking friends Dupere Barrera, gives an eiswein impression but it has 15 degrees of alcohol! Aroma reminiscent of the wonderful late harvests of Antoine Arena in Corsica, but more concentrated. Only half a bottle is available, so we open a Maury Mise Tardive by the Preceptorie de Centernach 2001 of Marc Parce', cuvee Aurelie Pereira de Abreu, very nice perfume, none of the cooked aromas of most fortified wines.
At midnight, the superb methode traditionnelle Vouvray 1995 by Foreau.
Happy New Year to all
Mike