with plans for today, we decided to pass on neighbors' New Year's Eve party, and I told Betsy I'd take care of dinner. She pointed out we had lots of leftovers, and I decided a ceremonial cleanout of 2011 food was in order. I did a 5 course mostly leftover tasting menu: "snail salad" (scungilli, a RI specialty that a friend dropped off for me) lentil/coconut soup artichokes with melted butter pasta with mushrooms in cream/cognac sauce capon salad with pimenton
We tried 2 wines with dinner:
NV Bernard Bremont "Cuvee Prestige" Champagne Brut I just thought this was a brilliant showing, a couple of years cellaring has put this in a very nice spot. White fruits, baking bread, citrus zest, honeycomb. Fine mousse, nice acids, full and long. A-
2002 Huet "Le Haut Lieu" Demi-Sec Vouvray (375) I seem to have more false alarms with Huet than any other wine. I often think it's corked, then whatever seems to blow off. This time I was worried that there were signs of oxidation, but nonlogically air seemed to help, and the wine freshened up with just a bit of time. Apple, orange zest, wool. Not the zippiest Huet, though in reality there is plenty of acid. Very tasty, drinking well from small format. B+Nice quiet way to end the year. Happy New Year all.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. 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.