Terrine Event Mk. 5

August 2, 2008 was the day of the fifth annual terrine event, and the weather was looking pretty bad until just after noon, but the sun finally started to shine on us as the participants arrived with terrines, boxes of accompaniments and wine in hand. Each person had created a terrine and had chosen a pair of wines, sometimes similar, sometimes contrasting, to see what worked best with their dish.

The seafood guys got off early with a colourful offering:

Terrine de Deux Poissons (a salmon and sole terrine with watercress)



2002 Meursault Les Clous from Patrick Javillier – this wine was all about gravel and flint. A light colour, very nice nose of wet stones and hint of lime, crisp and tasty, probably improved a bit with food. A very focussed wine – no rush here.

2001 Ch. Carbonnieux blanc – whole different ball game here. Darker wine with some waxiness in the nose and some vanilla, this also had excellent balance and went even better with food.

Next up was Terrine de Legumes served with a couple of very different wines.



2003 Voge, St Peray, Fleur de Crussol – old style label in green monotone, this old vines 100% Marsanne showed some fennel in the nose, along with a floral element, and was smooth and surprisingly rich on palate.

2006 Eben Sadie Palladius – a bit of an outsider, from South Africa, made by an idiosyncratic winemaker, blending Chenin Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne and Chardonnay. It had a real melon nose, with a hint of green, mellow balanced and very tasty on palate, finishing very nicely with a final blast of fruit and clean acidity. Pricy but interesting. These wines were not very similar but both worked well with the food.

Then came what was without doubt the winner on presentation, and the first time we had shown a paté en croute. It was a Pate en croute New Mexico style with spicy pork and layers of quail breast in a cilantro crust with avocado-lime salsa and black truffle tamale.





1996 Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia Rioja Bianco – this was a marvellous wine, the sort of white Rioja you rarely see today. It was medium yellow, quite oaky in the nose, but also had a hint of smoke and roasted nuts along with …what, apricots? No oxidation, dry at end, and nutty, this wine was a treat.

1991 Cune Imperial Gran Reserva – speaking of treats….I also love well aged red Rioja, and this was one of them. Obviously no stranger to oak, this wine was medium coloured, reaching full maturity, but with lots of time, and showed a wonderful nose of mature fruit, vanilla and spice with a hint of tobacco. Very penetrating flavour intensity on palate with great persistence in the mouth. Hard to choose between these two.

We then retired to the field of battle to engage in a game or two of (very amateur) bocce before returning to the table for the next three courses.

Duck Breast terrine with Green Peppercorns



1999 Domaine du Chateau de Meursault Beaune-Greves – sweet fruit in this nose, elegant and smooth in the mouth with restrained fuit and significant tannin that was easily tamed by the food.

1999 Meerlust Pinot Noir Reserve – great choice to match with the Burgundy. Darker wine, darker nose with darker fruit (more plum than cherry), clearly good varietal Pinot, but just as clearly not French, nor American. Both went well with the food.

Veal Sweetbreads and Smoked Ham Terrine



2003 Renard Truchard Vd. Syrah – I’d chosen to try to match a couple of the more European styles of American Syrahs with my dish. The first bottle was corked, so I trotted off to the cellar to get another one (fortunately it was still close to the surface of the stack of cases). I’d thought to use this wine because I had opened the same one last year for T4 with a ham and chicken breast terrine, and it had struck us as very Rhone, right down to the white pepper in the nose. The pepper was AWOL this year, and the wine presented as much larger in frame than I’d recalled, with big blueberry fruit and good length.

2003 Unti Vd.Syrah – I hadn’t tasted this wine previously, and it turned out to be a higher alcohol (14.6%) more American version of the other Sonoma Syrah, lacking the complexity and not a well suited to the food. Winter stew – fine.

Oxtail Terrine



2001 Arcadian Lafond Vineyard Pinot Noir – decent dark plum nose sweet entry, decent balance and length. I liked it bit not as much as I had the Meerlust.

1988 Lungarotti San Giorgio – wow – seriously delicious wine, fully mature, and my kind of wine to boot (I’ve been happily working my way through a case of the also excellent 1990). Lovely mature mostly sangio nose (it is just below 50% sangio, around 50% cab and the balance usually Canaiolo, this wine was elegant and delightful, and would have worked well with any of the meat courses.

We then loosened our belts and those inclined to such indulged in a chocolate terrine with raspberries. No wine was needed.



There was unanimous support for a T6 to be held in 2009! I think I shall advocate venturing further afield into galantines and ballotines, and more en croute presentations. Still lots of possibilities to cover in this area.

All very impressive!

Thanks for the report, Bill.

[Jenise]

Bill, Bob and I are still basking in the warm glow of great food, great wine and the best of friends in your beautiful garden. This event has become one of the best reasons to look forward to summer. And now with the addition of bocce breaks! It just gets better.

Sumptuous photos and nice TNs on the wines. Thanks for sharing.

Ramon

[Jenise]

My notes on the wines:

2002 Meursault Les Clous from Patrick Javillier – initial petrol hit on the nose, which I liked, with terrific minerality. Could not mistake this for a chardonnay from anywhere else, and my favorite with the terrine for it's complex subtlety.

2001 Ch. Carbonnieux blanc – The semillon, though only 35%, was totally in charge and though I liked it immensely, delicate it was not and I found it a bit too loud for the food.

2003 Voge, St Peray, Fleur de Crussol – Very interesting wine, which I preferred initially when it had more chill on it to somewhat arrest the 14.5% alcohol, which gave it a hot finish. To my palate, it became less interesting as it warmed.

2006 Eben Sadie Palladius – my favorite of the two both on its own and with David's terrific vegetable terrine. Very complex and multi-faceted, with a nose that changed every time I sniffed it, the first of which my notes describe as fresh boiled corn--that is, if you put corn on to steam and put a lid over them, there's a sweet, round corn note that's both the kernels and the husk that you get a blast of when you first remove the lid. THAT aroma. It went from there to apples to lemons and many other places. Though very ripe in texture, the 14.5% alcohol didn't show. A good pairing.

1996 Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia Rioja Bianco – My first LdH white. Loved it. Very complex with the nutty sherry aromas and caramel tones and the occasional fleeting whiff of gardenias. I enjoyed both these wines but preferred the Gravonia with the dish where it was just sublime with the corn and truffle flavors of the tamale.

1991 Cune Imperial Gran Reserva – Red ochre color, fully mature, with vanilla and a bit of classic Rioja spice. Very good with the food but overshadowed by it's paler partner.

1999 Domaine du Chateau de Meursault Beaune-Greves – Can't improve on your description.

1999 Meerlust Pinot Noir Reserve – Plums and leather, big and yet graceful, an excellent expression of new world pinot. Had no idea Meerlust made such a thing but this was a great bottle. In the long run I'd probably prefer the Beaune of the two, but for joy because it's so ready right now, and the food match, this wine got my vote.

2003 Renard Truchard Vd. Syrah – I remember this wine very well from last year and was surprised at the change. Where it had some Cornas-like elements before--red fruit, cherries, violet nose--the fruit's now gone to black and the wine's overall sweeter and more saturated.

2003 Unti Vd.Syrah – But this one's sweeter. Blueberry and vanilla, the type of American syrah I don't care for.

2001 Arcadian Lafond Vineyard Pinot Noir – I owned this wine and we enjoyed our last bottle of it about a year ago, where I thought it fit into it's skin a little better than this did last night. Made me wonder where it was going--just on the edge of fading, or just hiding temporarily on its way to better things? Not certain.

1988 Lungarotti San Giorgio – LOVED THIS. A really perfect wine in every way, and crazy good with George's excellent oxtail terrine. What a lovely way to hit a crescendo with the final course.

There was unanimous support for a T6 to be held in 2009! I think I shall advocate venturing further afield into galantines and ballotines, and more en croute presentations. Still lots of possibilities to cover in this area.

Dibs on the seafood course!