Ben and Wendy hosted our (so-called) Bordeaux group for December, as has become a tradition. They did a fantastic job with the food, and everyone chipped in lovely wines
Smoked salmon 3 ways- Gaspe Nova, Scottish, and Pastrami Homemade blinis Creme fraiche Sevruga Caviar
2005 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses Rich, warm apple pie with some vanilla ice cream, pastry dough, honied and long. A-/B+ 2007 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses Apple turnover, smoke, flinty, structured. A-/B+Fun flight, lots of similarities, the 05 more ready, the 07 better wine for the long run.
Iberico and Serrano hams, chorizo
1981 Vega Sicilia Unico Classic, elegant yet powerful, black cherry with cigarbox and citrus zest, bright and long. Nose gets pleasantly truffly with some air. A- 1983 Penfolds Grange Big, ripe, powerful, blackberry and cocoa, B+Tajarin (30 yolks to a kilo flour), with butter, parmesan, and truffles (after rumors of disaster, truffles were very good, though expensive).
1955 Cappellano Sweet raisiny fruit, lifted nose, out the downhill slope but still enjoyed. B 1958 Cappellano (Troglia bottling) Rich red fruit, quite herby, nice length. A-More tajarin and truffles
2001 Giacosa Rabaja Barbaresco Riserva Young, long, complex, bright black cherry fruit with tar and feral notes. A- 1999 Vietti Rocche Barolo Red cherry and plum, some tar, but there’s a caramelly note , and finish is not as long as I expected, my guess is this bottle saw some heat at some point. B-Boeuf Bourguignon, haricots vert
2001 Rousseau Clos de la Roche Red and black plum, smoked meat, an herbal note (someone thought celery, I thought celery seed), quite complex and long. Not one of the Rousseau big 3, but nice showing. B+/A- 2001 Dujac Clos de la Roche Red fruits, very floral, pleasant stemmy notes, incredible length. Gets even more complex, funghi and earthy notes. A-/A 2009 Dujac Les Beaux Monts Vosne-Romanee 1er Big, ripe, spicy, very good but needs time. B+ Tiramisu 1976 Elfenhof Beerenauslese Cinnamon, Earl Grey tea, honied orange fruit. B/B+ There was a Bartolo Mascarello Chinato, loved the nose, skipped the palate.Really incredible night. I walked out of the loft, tried to get a Lyft, they wanted $58 to Grand Central. Luckily subways were running on time and I made my train.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.