For the lunch of December 25th, we had some Pata Negra ham with a champagne that I had taken in the cellar because I had noticed a very low level. Of course, I had a solution in case of a bad taste, but I did not need to use it. The champagne Laurent Perrier Cuvée Grand Siècle has a minimum of 30 years. The capsule is greasy and black, very dirty, the little knot broke, which obliged me to use a tool to tear off the steel “muselet”, and the cork broke, letting the lower part in its place. I took it off, and curiously there was no bizarre smell. I let it stand for one hour before service, and to my surprise, this champagne which had lost one fourth of its volume did not need to be replaced. It had lost its bubble, but the taste was fruity and charming.
We went to the table, and we had simply fried foie gras. I have given my children the habit to accept maderised whites on foie gras, as it works well, when one admits that a maderised wine has its personal life. Of course I had also a replacement wine, but we did not need it. We drank a Puligny-Montrachet Philippe Meunier 1949, whose colour is pure amber. And the wine opened for four hours worked very well. Of course, I would never say that this wine is a champion, but it went well.
After two wounded wines taken in cellar to not prolong an agony, now come the “normal” wines. On a chicken of Bresse with a composition made with foie gras, we had a vin de l’Etoile Philippe Vandelle 1967 which is for me something special. I fell in love with the vin de l’Etoile Jura wines, which are so strange and so unusual that I love them. And this one has a length which is incredible. I love the precision, the definition of this wine, which has in the middle of the mouth a discrete taste of candied fruit. The combination was great.
As my daughter in law is not a fan of such wines, I had opened in due time a Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 1955. Wonderful colour, very charming smell, this wine is comfortable. It has not a great power, but it has a lot of charm. Very adapted too, and we finished it on cheese.
Now, comes the star of Christmas, and probably one of my best wines of the year or of my life. This is a Madeira on which is written “Madère mis en bouteille en 1875”. I have this bottle for more than 25 years. It is a wine which is the complete justification that age increases the quality of a wine. I have never drunk a Madeira of this quality. It comes with that tarte Tatin (apple tart), and it goes well, but it can live alone. Extremely alcoholic, it has a taste of coffee, of tropical wood, and a slight taste of cherry fruit and of pineapple. What strikes me is the integration of every component, the smoothness, the pure logic of the construction and the total sensuality.
To give a note of 100 points would be to insult this wine as it is so much above any other taste. I have a special love for the Cyprus wines of 1845. This one is probably less precise, but largely more sensual.
All of us we were in a complete emotion. To think that the cork came from a tree which was planted before 1800 is emotional. When I opened the wine, my son told me : “instead of smelling the cork, as you do usually, you should smell the bottle, to get air which comes from 1875”. And I did it. Emotional.
If we imagine that the wine, made probably around 1840, was made in a period without electricity, without car, in a time when the global population of Earth was half of the population of India today, we were feeling it as unreal. All of us, we lived it with pure emotion.
Tonight, I could not prevent from finishing the bottle, alone, with a small piece remaining of the hind’s filet. A pure delight, and a way to finish all the meals of Christmas with the best possible way.