I am grandfather for the fourth time, and Lise, daughter of my daughter Agathe appeared on June 28.
My wife was still in Paris to help Agathe and after Vinexpo I had driven directly to the South.
So I flew back to Paris when Agathe left the clinic and arrived at her home nearly at the same minute as she arrived.
Guillaume, the father, opened a Chateau Laville Haut-Brion 1979 which we had enjoyed already, but we could check with evidence how Laville reacts to the temperature. The wine, being too warm (even if it was cold), was flat, did not talk, and had no interest. I asked Guillaume to serve it very cold, and then, we had a real Laville, full of charm, and really talking this time.
As we were dissatisfied by the beginning of the Laville, Guillaume opened a half Riesling Domaine Weinbach, Faller frères 1979. When this one was cold enough it was an exciting Alsatian Riesling, with no real trace of age. Very enjoyable on a delicious chicken. Guillaume had the idea to cut some slices of “poutargue” (pressed eggs of a white fish), and the combination was nice too.
I came back today to spend the day with Agathe and my wife and Lise, and this time, I had ammunitions.
It should be stressed how the corkscrews are important. Because having the corkscrew of the house, I had an extreme difficulty to lift the cork of Chateau d’Yquem 1976 which broke.
And I saw like in an horror film the last part of the cork play as a submarine, answering to the appeal of the abysses and falling in the liquid. It made me mad.
I found another corkscrew in a drawer to try to lift the cork of Romanée Conti DRC 1980.
When the capsule was away, as usual I found some earth on the top of the cork, with a typical smell of the earth of the cellars of Romanée Conti. I tried to lift, and the cork resisted strongly. It took me nearly 30 minutes to lift the cork entire. It is a very sound cork. The level in the bottle is at the maximum possible level nearly reaching the capsule.
I smelt the wine and : wow ! This is a perfect Burgundian smell.
As I write these words, I will have to wait for 5 hours between smelling and serving the wine to check if this wine is as good as this smell suggests.
Of course I will comment the tastes, but to celebrate Lise, an Yquem and a Romanée Conti had to be opened. I hope it will be a good sign for her life.
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While my daughter is feeding her baby, I have some minutes between Romanée Conti and Yquem.
We began with Dom Pérignon 1998. But my son in law has them too warm. The pleasure was divided by two.
On a lamb "gigot" with traces of garlic and potatoes perfectly cooked in their skin, the Romanée Conti DRC 1980 is "the" wine.
My son in law and I, we have enjoyed every drop as a gift of God.
The wine behaves exactly as the meat. What is bitter in the meat is bitter in the wine. What is salty in the meat is salty in the wine.
This is the type of Burgundy that I love absolutely.
Is it my taste : yes.
Am I influenced by the label : probably yes, but who cares.
We have enjoyed every drop as a pure gift.
And I recognise in this wine what I adore in Burgundy : a wildness that is understandable only by conquered people.
I am on a cloud.
I have had the last drops with sediment, and it was as if I had liquorice in small pieces.Yquem is waiting for me !
Then we had Yquem 1976 with mangoes served in two ways : the crude fruit, and the mango just cooked for some seconds.
Yquem 1976 (this bottle) drunk alone is a pure apricot.
We begin with a Stilton which is already advanced, and it works very well.
Then, we have the mango, prepared in two ways.
With the natural fruit, it is fantastic, and the combination works wonderfully.
But on the grilled mango, it is to die. The mango just grilled is like a sweet which disappears in the mouth. And the Yquem gets a taste of tea.
I adore this combination.
What strikes us is the solidity of Yquem, which is perfect at any moment.
What can be said ?
Yquem is the absolute solidity; Romanée Conti is the pure dream.
As Lise did not want that the star would be the wine, she begged for milk for a long time.
But as we were enjoying a rare night, we were ready to accept any attempt of Lise to let us know that the real star is Lise.