I'll start the thread but I am swamped this morning. What a great time last night. So much fun, so much wine, and pretty darn good food. Plus, even though it was an early night, I think we were the last ones there.

December will be a rough month for me, but we shall see. I am sure I can make a January thing. Gents, it was a pleasure glugging down some of that great juice last night.

Later -- I will post a lineup and TNs. But off to work I must dilly and dally forth....

Alright, I guess then I'll start off the notes. Lavandou's food and service were both pretty good, and coupled with the "free corkage" night, it was destined to be a fun time for all. Present were myself, TJ, Dinwiddie, Fred, Corkage and Andrew, who joined us later in the evening.

During dinner a lady came over from one of the other tables and asked us what we were drinking. Her table was also having a BYO wine party and she spouted out all these wines that they were drinking. It was a little condescending, but she did bring us 2 bottles of wine ('94 Comte Lafon and '78 or '79 Ch. Margaux) which we were grateful to try the leftovers.

TJ has more complete notes on his Blackberry, so bear with me until they are scribed on VC.

The wines:

1999 Gary Farrell Chardonnay Rochioli Vineyard
All I can remember was that this was a very well integrated wine that was ready to drink. Generous fruit, restrained oak, good balance. Very nice.
2000 Alex Gambal Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru "La Maltroie"
Contrasting this white burgundy with the RRV Chard was interesting. This had more of the cheese/yogurt element on the nose and was more primary.
1994 Comte Lafon Meursault 1er (forgot vineyard name)
My WOTN. It was a little warm, but the wine was complex, elegant and silky. I need to consciously purchase and age some white burgundy.

2001 Siduri Clos Pepe Pinot
I was in the minority here, but this wine did not do it for me. Too big and thick, it lacked the grace I look for in Pinot. Maybe bottle age will help this, but I'm not sure.
1995 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot
Very nice St. Emilion - it could use a few more years in the bottle, but was quite approachable.
2001 d'Arenberg Laughing Magpie Shiraz/Viognier (Mystery bottle brought by TJ)
This was my kind of Aussie Shiraz. wonderfully balanced without being over the top.
1978 or 1979 Ch. Margaux
Poor vintage for Bordeaux, I think. This didn't really do anything for me.
1997 J. Voillot Volnay
A nice, light-bodied burgundy.
2001 <Producer name here> Samur Champigny Cab Franc
A very enjoyable Cab Franc from the Loire Valley. Balanced, with floral notes, a great food wine. For $12, very nice.

Bender Bissersheiner Held Sylvaner Eiswein Pfalz 2001
I felt this wine was too primary (sweet without complexity) for me - perhaps it was too young.

Line-of-the-night by Corkage:
"My dad kept eating all my ****ing pigeons!"

Thanks all for the great wine and company - can we pull off a December event? Dinwiddie, whose turn is it now to organize?

Great Time Fellas:

DW- Great call on the restaurant, good food and I didn't want to choke when the check came.

There were a ton of wines and I would like to congratulate you all on a fantastic job of making them dissapear. I will be a man and say I was hearing fog horns this morning. Now that the cob webs have disapated I will take an initial stab at the re-cap. A side note in case any of the management at Lavandou are reading this........TWO waiters for an entire restaurant is NOT ENOUGH!!! With that being said the food was very good. Venison was Awesome, cooked perfectly and very tender. Duck terrine very well done, and rich. That was the largest creme brulle I've ever seen. I think TJ managed to go the whole night without taking a picture of his food which has to be some kind of record. Now wines

1999 Gary Farrell RRV Chard- This was an awesome chard, yellow gold color with big legs and a soft mouth feel. I got alot of tropical fruit with a solid back bone of french oak which lended a fantactic buttery texture. This got better and better as it warmed up a bit and the alcohol subsided into a good long finish. Thanks Corkage

2000 Gambal Chassagne Montrachet "La Maltroie" - This provided an interesting comparison against the Gary Farrell. Definelty got a brie or cheese rind aroma from this. Very earthy and this wine provided the TJ Tasting Comment of the night....."New book binding" I think that was it? someone correct me if I'm wrong. Great body in this wine and even though I'm not very experiance with french whites I found this to be a white I could drink more of. Thanks Jaime-T.

2001 Siduri Clos Pepe Santa Rita Hills. - This was the trouble maker of the evening and would have provided us with problems had we tasted it blind. This was mostly because everyone tasted this and guessed that I poured out the Pinot and refilled it with either Zin, Shiraz, or Cabernet. It had a classic Cabernet nose when we first poured this. the pallete was filled with really jammy fruit that with intertwined with great floral notes, lavendar and honeysuckel. Big finish with solid tannins. I loved this wine. Quite frankly it overpowered the venison but I don't care I thought it was very good. Thanks ME

2001 D'Arenberg Laughing Magpie. This was our blind tasting wine, but it didn't take long to realize that this was TJ's back up bottle from last month. I'm really glad he took this out because I was bummed we didn't crack it last time. You could tell right off it was Shiraz but it was softened up by the blend just enough to make this approachable right off instead of it needing alot of airtime. As it opened up I got a good spicy caracter that complemented the rich berry flavors. I would own a bunch of this. Thanks TJ

1995 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot -- This was an elegant & classic St Emillion. Took some time to open up but luckily no one was in a hurry so this just got better and better. You could notice the tannins really disapate from this wine and it really opened up with great earthy characteristics with hints of vanilla. Thanks DW-

1997 Voulnay PN-- Classic Burgondian PN- really a nice comforting wine. It was 180 degrees different from the Siduri, they really couldn't have been more different. It was a thin wine and that wasn't a bad characteristic. I'm not going to lie I can't really come up with anything more on this. Thanks Jaime-T's friend.

Bender Bissersheiner Held Sylvaner Eiswein Pfalz 2001-- excellent dessert wine very sweet and syrupy. Big tropical fruit, pinnaple - pear. very good. vision hazy at this point, TN's gone. Thanks again Jaime-T.

Oh yeah the 1979 Margaux. Very Good but I only had a thimble full and really didn't get a ton out of it. That lady who brought it over and darn near put the bottle through the table was looped!

I know there was another wine in there someplace but common I can't be expected to remember all of them! My WOTN was a tie between the Siduri and the D'Arenberg, I'm just a fruit bomb kinda guy. The stupid adult trick of the night goes to me who noticed there was wine left in bottle and decided to forgo the wine glass. DW will be sharing this award with me because he went along with the game. Next one should be steak sometime in January most likey. December is just too hectic. Thanks guys Good Times.

Jamietown, the Lafon may well have just been a Meursault with nothing else in the name. Those Lafon's are mighty tasty but kind of pricey. They make some really great White Burgundies. I'd like to taste one of the Lafon Montrachet's one of these days.

Fog horns? I got cow bell!

Well, I made it home without falling asleep on the METRO and missing my stop. Of course getting up at 5:30 so I could get the kid off to school was not my idea of a good thing.

What a night, lots of great wine, good food (I was the ONLY one who did not have the venison, and the Australian beef was great). We didn't exactly close the place, but when we were ready to go, we were the only people in the restaurant who didn't work there. It was also nice to have Andrew from Ceciles' Fine Wine at the table. I hope he can make more of these as I learned a lot listening to him.

I'll not commment on the other tasting group other than to say that that chick was a little snotty in offering the "dregs" of what they had left, but hey a '79 Margeaux.

The escargot was yummy, but that duck terrine that Fred had was out of this world. Jamie seemed to enjoy the mussels too. I really like my dessert (fruits in an orange sabion sauce), but that creme broulee that a couple of you guys had was huge.

As to the wines. I'm not even going to try to give detailed notes since I didn't take anything down and it was vdry confusing with about 9 different wines on the table at the same time.

2000 Gambal Chassagne Montrachet "La Maltroie" Jamietown brought this and I really liked it. Nice nose, smoky with tastes of honey, herbs and a touch of brie in the background. It was very different than the Farrell Russian River Chardonnay that Corkage brought. The Farrell was excellent, with pear, apple and melon flavors. Not better than the other, but definitely different. Loved them both. You guys are going to turn me away from the ABC crowd in a hurry.

Fred brought a Siduri Clos Pepe Pinot (99? or 01?) My WOTN. When I first took a whiff I would have sworn it was a big Zin. Gobs and gobs of fruit. Almost port like. Wonderful. Boysenberry and cherrys with a kick. What a wine. Thank you Fred and bring more to another dinner if you want.

I brought a '95 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot. While I liked it a lot, it is just not ready. It needs a couple of more years at least. It has nose of berrys and spice and cinnimon, lots of fruit and a long finish. In a few years this is going to be a stunner.

TJ brought the "Mystery Wine" which ended up being a 2001 d'Arenberg Laughing Magpie. First wiff and Fred cried SHIRAZZZZ. Very nice wine, I think the Viognier adds to this blend. Quite elegant. Very good with the beef.

Arthur brought a 97 Voulnay Pinot Noir that was tasty but compared to the Siduri quite light. The Cab Franc he brought was very good but I am embarrased to admit I can't remember the name.

Jamietown also provided the dessert wine, a Bender Bissersheiner Held Sylvaner Eiswein Pfalz 2001. Very sweet, honey and peach flavors that were very ripe and tasty.

The restaruant was very good about glasses, brought us plenty when we asked and several different types. We were a little crowded because they needed one of the tables we were using but it worked out. Bottom line, lots of fun and another successful outing for the DC Cru. Oh yeah, the stupid adult trick, well if you can't strain sediment with your teeth, you don't belong in this cru.

skwid, I was surprised at how good it was, considering that 1994 was pretty bad vintage in Burgundy. I did actually save the bottle, so I'll report on the details of the name later, but it was more than just a village Meursault.

It would be either Charmes, Genevrieres, Perrieres, or Goutte d'Or. I'm guessing one of the first three. The 1989 Genevrieres was the best dry white I've ever had.

you bet shiraz he kept eating all my ****ing pigeons.

Great time again guys, thanks for all the good wine and the memories. I had stuffed calamari on a bed of saffron risotto that paired quite nicely with both the white burgundy and the RRV chardonnay. The venison was prepared perfectly, with a nice reduction sauce.

And the $50 price including (free corkage) dessert and a 22% tip, made it a great meal.

Well I'm envious...sounds like I missed a really good evening. The cold's getting slightly better and the fever broke this morning but I'm still a hurtin' cowboy. Sorry I had to pass on the evening but look forward to the next one in either December or January. I promise I WON'T get sick.

C'mon Corkage, you have to at least rate the wines on YOUR scale, you know

'Good Sh!t'
'Really good sh!t'
'That is some amazing sh!t'

So what did you rate them all as?

1999 Gary Farrell Chardonnay Rochioli Vineyard
This was quite a tasty chard. It was light medium gold color. This initially had a nice heady tropical frui nose, but, when you compared this with the ‘La Maltroie’, and then immediately smelled this wine again, I got a faint sense of onions, specifically slightly sweated onions in a pan. The wine was quite ready to drink and I never got to pair it with anything since I finished it before the appetizers came around. Nice fruit, nicely balanced and nice finish. It had a delicious creaminess to it as well. Nice. Worth 91 TJ points.

2000 Alex Gambal Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru "La Maltroie"
This was quite different from the Gary Farrell. I’ll side with the cheese comments and go with apricot yogurt, chees rind (a mildly moldy one, too) and the like. This had a pretty distinct acidity that gave a bit of a sour note on the finish (fairly long, too), but this went well with my appetizer – which was a mélange of black trumpeter shrooms (with garlic and parsley and more) which lay beneath a chick pea fritter. It worked well. It had a nice earthy/flinty character to it as well. (NOTE: The book binding comment comes next, but not on this wine!) I’d give this 90 TJ points.

1994 Domaine des Comte Lafon Meursault 1er (Clos de la Barre?)
This was a nice, deep golden color. It was a tad on the warm side, but it was voluptuous and silky. THIS is the wine that gave me the sense of a fresh hardback book’s pages, especially near the spine. I thought at first that it reminded me of faint Brussel Sprouts, but I think my nose was just recalibrating to the cool and delectable book paper/binding. I also got more interesting descriptors as I consumed this in the form of peach sorbet, slight peppermint and cotton candy, white fruits, orange peel, gunpowder and more of the fresh book paper. This was pretty terrific. Worth 92 TJ points.

2001 Siduri Clos Pepe Pinot
I disagreed with jaimetown here. This was a super wine. It was unlike any pinot that I have ever had. It had shades of the Kistler Cuvee Elizabeth Pinot I had in June wandering about (no it was not like it, but there were elements that could be construed as similar). I got gobs of cherry buttercream and vanilla on the nose, which later developed into wonderful floral essences. Upon consuming, this had bucketloads of fruit – especially mid-red fruits. I do not think this is a very friendly Pinot Noir in that it was not something that you could pair food with easily. After it’d been open for a goodly while (I nursed alittle bit of it almost to the end of the evening), it lost the gushiness it had in the beginning and had settled into its transformation. I think that, if decanted for a few hours and then consumed over several more this would be quite a stunner. For now, it was a delicious boisterous, but brilliant child. Call him Mozart. This sucker was worth 92+ TJ points. With this rating this my WOTN.

1995 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot
This was a nice Bordeaux. It hid its secrets pretty well, though. It was still tight and only just started to reveal its inner workings near the end of the bottle. I got senses of thicket, hawthorne, licorice and soapstone. This all led me into fairly burly and tight fruits that fought me every step of the way as I tried to pin down what spices I was smelling but never could. This will be great in another 3-4 years, IMO. This is worth 90+ TJ points presently, with a good bit of possible upside.

2001 d'Arenberg Laughing Magpie Shiraz/Viognier1979 Chateau Margaux
This was the mystery wine that I was responsible for bringing this time (the first bottle of perhaps a new and long tradition?). I had it as my backup for the last dinner and so I knew it’d be in the mix for this time (I brought a CdP and a Henry’s Drive (regular) Shiraz as the other two bottles we never got to). So I figured what the heck. This is a great wine. I think time in the bottle keeps making this one better. This time, I still got the pepperiness and roasted meats, but the jammy and earthy notes and retreated slightly to the background while giving way to interesting new nuances. Some of these nuances were chili powder, slate (instead of pebbles) and oatmeal with brown sugar. A faint niblet of dill was there too, at the very end. This wine is GREAT with food. This is worth now 91+ TJ points.

1979 Chateau Margaux
This I only got a small taste/smell of. But it had an outrageous roasted walnuts and chestnuts nose That was quite wild. It was fairly dead on the palate though. Lots of nuttiness was hiding the fruit, which was still there, but behind the scenes. Still, interesting experience. And hey, it was free! I’d rate the little bit I had with ??85?? TJ points. I really have no idea. The nose was very kewl though.

1997 J. Voillot Volnay (Les Grands Poisots?)
This was a nice lighter styled red. My TNs started to get pretty thin here, and so did my typing. At one point I got a bit of sweet peppers and jalapeno along with darker fruits. It had fairly blinding acidity, too. Not too shabby. Worth 87 TJ points.

2001 Dom. Des Roches Neuves Samur Champigny Cab Franc
This was a decidedly good food wine that was pretty well balanced and interesting, though not extremely complex. These TN comments are both jaimetown’s and mine as he was the only one’s who’s comments I got. Moss, twigs, Korean soy paste, cigarette ash all interlaced with some great fruit and acidity and a quite decent finish. Worth 89 TJ points.

Bender Bissersheiner Held Sylvaner Eiswein Pfalz 2001
This was nice, but too simple and sweet to be really good. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but it was a little cloying, especially on the finish. Still, a nice way to finish the evening off. It would’ve gone great with some fruit/berries, IMO. Worth maybe, ??86-87?? TJ points.

I liked DW’s comment about ‘…being turned away from the ABC crowd in a hurry…’ – funny. I felt similarly about chards up until about 2 years ago, too.

I also think it was Corkage picked up on the d’Arenberg being a Shiraz first, and then Fred looked at me suspiciously and Dinwiddie suggested it was Australian and that made what Fred was thinking click, hence the quick identification of the Laughing Magpie.

The free tastes of the wines we got from the other table were nice and worth the experience. I think the lady was kind of funny in a dorky way. I think she wanted to show off a bit, but was not condescending from my point of view. Just was just a little odd, IMO.

The bountiful stemware was quite welcome and next time, we need to insist on a proper table for 6. We were running out of room to maneuver by the end of the night.

And I saw that food picture comment, Fred. You’ll chuckle when you realize that I was indeed very much thinking of taking food pics, especially once we got to the main courses, but I figured the logistics to get a proper shot would’ve been too complicated.

My appetizer, the black trumpet mushroom thing with the chick pea fritter was quite tasty, the venison was really good (the beans underneath were only ever so slightly overdone that they made me realize that it was not a bad thing since the beans weren’t limp, just ever so slightly different from a crispy snap I’d usually look for) and the reduction sauce was excellent. I toyed with some of the other dessert ideas, but I was on deck quickly and didn’t have time to really take it all in, so I went for the cremem brulee. And yes, it was huge and good.

All in all an excellent meal and evening. We’ll do it again, soon. And heck, I wouldn’t mind going back there again. Although, I know that ‘steak night’ is coming up soon, and there are other locales, too. Time to start thinking of the next event. Heh heh heh

Oh, and the kickers of the evening! Corkage shared his newly minted duck confit recipe (thank you, oh Chef of the Gods!!). And, I had hauled a 3 pack wood crate of some brunellos back from NYC from LCC to jaimetown. He insisted on giving me a bottle of one of his favorites, a 2000 Ripassa Valpolicella Superiore DOC as a thank you for me lugging the wine back for him. I tried and tried to refuse his wonderful gift, but he was adamant. Thanks jaimetown!!!

The DC Crü is getting to be quite a Crü! Woo-hoo!

Skwid, the Lafon was indeed a Clos de la Barre (no premier cru designation). Wine-searcher shows 1 bottle going for $150 dollars.

TJ, thanks for the detailed notes. I really enjoyed the Lavandou experience and would go back again sometime (esp. with free corkage).

I am gonna split these into their respective individual TNs, too. It's be nice to individually search for them in the future, then.

Your the man TJ. Great notes! thanks very much.

I would be happy to coordinate the next gathering. I'll post over in offlines later this week and we can see what month is good for everyone, Dec or Jan.

Cheers

thanks Corkinator. Was that hard?

I just emailed Andrew to see if I could convince him to join up here. I think he'd be a great addition not only to the DC Crü, but also to the whole VC Crü. Don't y'all think?

Boy, we (and since I am in the same boat, I include myself) are getting hard to please when we say that 85 or less is "crappy". Of course, considering the stuff we have been drinking at these dinners, I guess that is appropriate. I must admit, everything the Corkster has brought has fallen into the RGS definition.

TJ, I agree, Andrew would be a wonderful addition to this board as well as the Cru.