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dinwiddie
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2175
 | | 04/02/2006 5:08 PM |
| Oye! My head this morning. What a wonderful meal and just too, too many wines.
The DC Crü met at Dino for dinner last night to wish Fred ado as he moves to Boston (although he really isn't leaving until May) In attendance were Fred (Duh), Fred's brother Brian and his girlfriend Julie, Alexred and Julie, TJ, jamietown, capitolkat, dave, james's friend Andrew (works for Grapes of Spain if you guys are interested in Spanish wines) and of yours truly.
Dinner was a smash, the food being as usual excellent. We put ourselves in Dean Gold's capable hands to start and he provided an excellect selection of crustini, one with Point Reyes Blue Cheese and a slice of Ortiz anchovy, the other with diced mushrooms (wonderful), some Polipo alla Griglia (baby octopus braised in red wine, then grilled, served on lemony chickpeas vinaigrette), a salumi plate, and a Prosciutto plate, and a wonderful selection of cheeses (5 in all, I can't even remember the names of them but they were all excellent). We then shared some Pappardelle al Cinghiale (wild boar pasta), the pasta gargonzola (sorry about the spelling and lack of discription) and a mushroom risotto. (I'm probably leaving something out, but it was a long and wine filled evening.)
Each of us selected our own Secondi course, I had the pork shank (occo buso) which was excellently flavored, but a little less tender than I had expected. It was very good however.
Desserts followed, various people chose the Tiramisu, Panini al Nutella e Mascarpone (Grilled Nutlla Sandwich), and the vanilla gelato with Balsamico. (I didn't see what the folks at the other end of the table were choosing.) Several grappas were also ordered, but I had enough sense to stay away from those (but the nose of the Marolo Camomilla was amazing). Then everyone had to stagger home.
The wines were varied and plentiful. Please forgive me, but my handwriting got worse over the evening, and I'm sure I missed a couple, but I think we had all of the following:
We began with a 1990 Henriot Champagne Brut (Cuvée des Enchanteleurs I think). It was incredibly lush and smooth, small bubbles, great nose of yeast, vanilla, and apples)
We followed with
2002 Gerard Boulay Sancerre Clos de Beaujeu nose of citrus and fresh herbs (cumin?) with a minerally lemon, green apple and herb taste. Wonderful.
2002 Ramey "Hyde Vineyard" Chardonney Nuff said, everyone on this forum knows how great this wine is. There were several bottles of this changing hands as is always the case at DC Crü dinners. (I took home two)
Le Due Terre 2002 Sacrisassi Very nice. Very different. Some tannins, not your usual Italian white.
1997 Vigna di Pienrosso(?) Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Sorry my handwriting was horrible. Unfortunately this wine was corked and we did not get to partake.
2002 Jean Stodden Recher Herrensberg Spätburgunder Reisling Now I was really getting in trouble trying to write down the wines. This was the first wine from the Ahr region of Germany I had ever tried. An interesting treatment of Pinot Noir. I quite enjoyed it.
2001 La Spinetta (Rivetti) Barbaresco Berrys and plums, earth, spice, tobacco?, firm tannins nice structure.
2002 Domaine du Cros Marcillac My notes say graphite, medium body, (then a squiggle that I have no Idea what it means)
1999 Fattoria di Felsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Reserva WOW. What a nose. Wonderful expression of Sangiovese.
2000 Castell de Falset Montsant Old Vines Selection Blueberrys, currents, chocolate. Wonderful wine.
1999 Mas Martinet Viticultors Priorat Clos Martinet I brought this wine so I'm not going to comment other than to say I am really glad I have some more in the cellar. Huge wine.
1999 Clos Mogador Priorat Great wine, but probably infantside to drink. Dark cherry, bacon, smoke, minerals, chocolate, anise, so many notes and flavors it is hard to describe other than great.
At this point I quit even trying to take notes. So the rest of the list is suspect.
1997 Brigaldara Amarone della Valpolicella I understand now why James loves Amarones so much. Wonderful wine. Plums, tar, coffee?
2000 Le Salette Amarone della Valpolicella Classico La Marega See above. Yum.
2003 Clarendon Hills Grenache Old Vines Clarendon When this wine was put on the table, three others said "I almost brought one of those." Cherry liqour, ripe dark fruits, very smooth but by now everything was beginning to blur.
1976 Ererüder Schneider Optima Beerenauslese(?) Can't even read what I wrote here.
1977 Warre's Port I think this is past its prime but still quaffable.
We ended with a bunch of grappa from Dean's wonderful list, that I was smart enought to refrain from since I did have to drive home once I got off the METRO.
Needless to say, everyone had a great time. If I got some of the wines wrong, please jump in and correct it. My notes were, to say the least, hard to read. | | | |
| whiner
Second star to the right, and straight on till morning
Wine Thief
Posts:2875
| | 04/02/2006 5:33 PM |
| Sounds great!
I'd love to know which La Spinetta Barbaresco it was. (They make 3.) I'm guessing jaimetown (who is getting a late Christmas present in the mail any day now) brought the La Spinetta. Perhaps he can enlighten -- and even give relative comments to the '00 Starderi that we had last year?
a | |
I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland.
-- Woody Allen | |
| jaimetown
DC area
Wine Bottler
Posts:3478
| | 04/02/2006 7:43 PM |
| Thanks for the great write-up, DW.
I got to the restaurant about an hour late and missed the champagne unfortunately - but thanks to those of you who saved a few bites of the appetizers for me. I had a really long day at work, so I was exhausted, but the food and company was totally energizing. The food was fantastic - I dunno why I don't go more often (3 times in the last 4 months). The pastas that we shared were delicious, and the fresh fish (whole roasted) that I ordered was flavorful, moist and delicious.
We did have a couple of "misfires" this night though. The Ciacci 1997 Brunello Riserva I brought was corked. The La Spinetta 2001 Barbaresco Starderi that I sold to Fred earlier in the day was an off-bottle (which I will make right to Fred). The Warre's 1977 Port was a little flat, alcoholic, and not a representative bottle. But there were highlights - the Priorat/Monstant flight was delicious. The Felsina 1999 Chianti Riserva Rancia filled in nicely (off the list) for the corked Ciacci. The whites (Ramey, Bouley Sancerre, the Italian white off the list) were terrific, as were the Amarones.
But the star of the show for me was my grappa. Perfumed and beautiful, and complex on the palate - grappa usually seems like fire-water to me, but this was awesome.
Hard time waking up this morning, but well worth the price! | | | |
| Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13698
| | 04/03/2006 12:57 PM |
| I'll add more later, but it was another great night. I got a few decent pictures, and this time, most of the pictures were of people! I'll get them uploaded and post a link soon.
I didn't think the La Spinetta was *too* off, but I think my favorites were the Champagne, the Ramey and the Finca Dofi (the last I think was my favorite of the night).
By the way, next time we ashould order more than pne plate of prosciutto!  | |
www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
| travelrep
Northern Virginia
Barrel Filler
Posts:1103
| | 04/03/2006 2:38 PM |
| Once again, I seemed to have missed a good DC Cru event....bummer! Mrs. T and I ended up staying at home, watching George Mason go down in flames and celebrate her birthday at the house. Not exactly what I expected, but it was a good night nonetheless. So where/when's the next offline???
T-Rep | | | |
| AlexRed
Northern VA
Barrel Filler
Posts:1355
| | 04/03/2006 2:53 PM |
| it was great meeting Fred's Brother and his gf (lots of Julies around), seeing CapitalKat again, and breifly meeting Andrew (?) down at the other end of the table (seems he was familiar to many as he had come to a dinner a couple of years ago)...
the bubbles were awesome. first 90 vintage champagne for me. Damn, now i know how good it can be.
We had more whites than we usually have at a DC dinner, infact we even had to nix TJ's Dehlinger, which bummed me out because i haven't had one before.
my first Martinet and Clos mogador so that was very nice, although both have more to offer. nice deep fruit and flavor. neither of these was decanted. (even though we decanted a white!!)
the "1976 Ererüder Schneider Optima Beerenauslese(?)" was eye opening... very tasty, strange looking, but great.
i opened the Clarendon Hills about 5pm and it had a strong smell of syrup and blueberry pie, even after we got there and had it out on the table, but by the time I got to drinking it either my taste buds were shot or it had closed up, or both.
The grappa was a poor choice for me... did not need that  whoa. i had the barbera and it was a little "fire watery" to me like james feared his might be. I am glad I i had a sober driver.
I did get some nice barbaresco perfume off the Spinetta for a short while. "Maine" Julie said it reminded her of one of her perfumes (in fact she said a few of the wines smelled like her different perfumes)... later a few at our end noticed that it had become mute in the glass, perfume gone. 
a fun evening. lots of wine, lots of people, lots of wine exchanges... | | | |
| Fred
Wine Thief
Posts:2673
| | 04/03/2006 5:16 PM |
| What a killer night! Thanks very much all. I hope that wasn't the last time we all share way too much wine together. Dean was once again a terrific host and we managed to pour some fantastic wines. It was interesting that we had so many off bottles. I don't think that has ever happened before. The Henroit was a stunner, as was the spanish flight. I think the 1999 Fattoria di Felsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Reserva was one of my favorites of the night. My favorite dish was the grilled baby octopus, and all of the pasta's were fantastic. I avoided the grappa but ended up drinking a glass of AP Vin Gary's when I got home.....how nut's am I! I think there were some timing issues with the osso bucco because mine was a bit dry but tasty none the less.
A special thanks goes out to the little lady who made me some of honestly the best ginger snap cookies on the planet. THANKS MRS TJ!!! | |
"It's better to have your enemies inside the tent pissing out, then outside the tent pissing in." -- Lyndon Johnson | |
| jaimetown
DC area
Wine Bottler
Posts:3478
| | 04/03/2006 6:59 PM |
| Yes, the cookies were awesome. Mrs. TJ should consider quitting her day job and doing these full-time!
And I got great enjoyment out of hearing the "turtle story" once again! | | | |
| dinwiddie
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2175
| | 04/03/2006 7:18 PM |
| | Yep. Killer cookies, I'm eating the last one right now. Almost as funny as the turtle story was watching TJ crack up as he remembered it. | | | |
| Dave
Wine Thief
Posts:2890
| | 04/03/2006 9:59 PM |
| | Fun event. Dinwiddie, you were at an awkward angle. The most fun was watching TJ and James laughing so hard that they were crying as they heard it. | | | |
| Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13698
| | 04/04/2006 1:05 PM |
| You know, this telling of the turtle story wasn't as extensive or as meandering and building as the last time...BUT, just remembering the story as Brian was starting to tell it made me start to laugh, and after the little bit of stifling it did not work, the flood gates opened and I just couldn't stop laughing.
It's actually a sad story when you think about it.
I have to decipher my TNs to post soon and I have to juice up the battery of the camera so I can up.load the pics -- will do so by this weekend.
Don't worry, Alex, I'll bring another Dehlinger (or the same one!) to another event soon. I love the stuff!
And as for Mrs. TJ's cookies, she's just happy you all enjoy them so much. When I told her your comments about changing careers to Cookie Baker Extraordinaire, you could see the dream building in her eyes. You never know....  | |
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