good friend came over from London this evening, bringing along with him couple of very impressive gifts. He had two serious bottles of white Burgundy in tow: Laurent Tribut Chablis 1er Cru 'Cote De Lechet' 2006 & Domaine Leflaive Puligny Montrachet 1er cru 'Clavaillons' 2004. I had been looking for a bottle of the Tribut for a long time (as you cannot get his wines in Ireland) and I am always delighted to see a bottle of Domaine Leflaive so I was really excited to receive these gifts. The only thing to do with these gifts was to try to come up with a suitable meal and pop them whilst he was still here. A quick trip to Fallon & Byrne ensued in order to procure suitable foods to match such wonderful wines. To be honest we struggled to find what we were looking for (some nice fresh shellfish or fish) but we eventually settled on a menu.Once 
we arrived home I made a couple of champagne cocktails using Beaumont Des Crayeres Grand Reserve NV champagne and Blood Orange Bitters (I got the idea from Eric Asimov http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/gilding-the-flute/). This was actually a lovely Summery drink, despite the pouring rain outside. T
he bitters and sugar added a nice sweet complexity to the relatively simple (but delicious) champagne. This NV champagne is a great value bottle (€26 from O'Briens), we tucked into the rest of the bottle once the cocktails were complete. Nice biscuits, citrus and a bit of minerality on the palate and a nice length. Not amazing but really great bang for your buck. We opened the Domaine Leflaive wine early on, in order to decant it but unfortunately it was corked!!! This was a huge disappointment given the potential calibre of the wine but we quickly replaced the wine with a bottle of Louis Carillon Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru 'Combettes' 2005 and didn't let the disappointment get us down
we arrived home I made a couple of champagne cocktails using Beaumont Des Crayeres Grand Reserve NV champagne and Blood Orange Bitters (I got the idea from Eric Asimov http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/gilding-the-flute/). This was actually a lovely Summery drink, despite the pouring rain outside. T
he bitters and sugar added a nice sweet complexity to the relatively simple (but delicious) champagne. This NV champagne is a great value bottle (€26 from O'Briens), we tucked into the rest of the bottle once the cocktails were complete. Nice biscuits, citrus and a bit of minerality on the palate and a nice length. Not amazing but really great bang for your buck. We opened the Domaine Leflaive wine early on, in order to decant it but unfortunately it was corked!!! This was a huge disappointment given the potential calibre of the wine but we quickly replaced the wine with a bottle of Louis Carillon Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru 'Combettes' 2005 and didn't let the disappointment get us downOur 
first course for the evening was: fresh green asparagus, podded peas and carrot served with an organic poached egg and fried panchetta. Unfortunately I mistimed the cooking of the poached egg and it was a little overdone but otherwise the dish was delicious. We drank the 
Laurent Tribut Chablis 1er Cru 'Cote De Lechet' 2006 with this course and it was a lovely pairing. The wine gained incredible complexity over the evening. It was never typical Chablis (that I am used to anyway) as even at this stage in its life it showed incredibly smooth mouthfeel with flavours of pineapples, pears, lemons and cream with nice minerality and even a little salinity. This is a really delicious and complex wine, which was good with both the food and without. I'd love to try this with some Dublin Bay prawns or fresh scallops.
first course for the evening was: fresh green asparagus, podded peas and carrot served with an organic poached egg and fried panchetta. Unfortunately I mistimed the cooking of the poached egg and it was a little overdone but otherwise the dish was delicious. We drank the 
Laurent Tribut Chablis 1er Cru 'Cote De Lechet' 2006 with this course and it was a lovely pairing. The wine gained incredible complexity over the evening. It was never typical Chablis (that I am used to anyway) as even at this stage in its life it showed incredibly smooth mouthfeel with flavours of pineapples, pears, lemons and cream with nice minerality and even a little salinity. This is a really delicious and complex wine, which was good with both the food and without. I'd love to try this with some Dublin Bay prawns or fresh scallops.We 
let this sit a while before preparing the main course. Fillet Steak with wild mushrooms and crushed new potatoes. I had heard in the past that fine Puligny was well able to hold court with a steak so I decided to test the theory this evening. The steak was lovely and tender and perfectly seasoned (if I do say so myself). Whist the Chablis was seriously good the Louis Carillon Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru 'Combettes' 2005 was on another level altogether. Lemon, pear, vanilla, custard & stones with loads of subtle but razor like acidity. This is a serious baby of a wine that opened up hugely over about 3 hours in the decanter. It had a finish that went on for minutes and may actually have been one of the finest Chardonnays that I have had the pleasure to drink.
It didn't really do much for the steak but it did have sufficient power to hold it's own against the steak, individually they were both delicious and they certainly didn't detract from each other. Finally we served a selection of cheese (manchego, red leicester, goats cheese & chilli encrusted pecorino) along with Waterford Vineyards Family Reserve Heatherleigh Sweet Wine. To be honest I didn't even try this as I was still entranced by the Carillon wine but everybody else enjoyed it completely and the bottle disappeared in minutes (as did the cheese). More than one of the participants noticed that it was reminiscent of a nice Banyuls (from the South of France).
let this sit a while before preparing the main course. Fillet Steak with wild mushrooms and crushed new potatoes. I had heard in the past that fine Puligny was well able to hold court with a steak so I decided to test the theory this evening. The steak was lovely and tender and perfectly seasoned (if I do say so myself). Whist the Chablis was seriously good the Louis Carillon Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru 'Combettes' 2005 was on another level altogether. Lemon, pear, vanilla, custard & stones with loads of subtle but razor like acidity. This is a serious baby of a wine that opened up hugely over about 3 hours in the decanter. It had a finish that went on for minutes and may actually have been one of the finest Chardonnays that I have had the pleasure to drink.
It didn't really do much for the steak but it did have sufficient power to hold it's own against the steak, individually they were both delicious and they certainly didn't detract from each other. Finally we served a selection of cheese (manchego, red leicester, goats cheese & chilli encrusted pecorino) along with Waterford Vineyards Family Reserve Heatherleigh Sweet Wine. To be honest I didn't even try this as I was still entranced by the Carillon wine but everybody else enjoyed it completely and the bottle disappeared in minutes (as did the cheese). More than one of the participants noticed that it was reminiscent of a nice Banyuls (from the South of France). The food was never going to be michelan standard but it was very tasty and the wines were really superb as was the company. Altogether a wonderful quiet Wednesday evening at home.
4 comments:
Sounds lovely Will. I am loving the cocktails. Where did you get the Blood Orange bitters? I love Blood Oranges. There's a Belgian jenever made with blood orange that is just heavenly.
On that note, where do you find anything like that (mixers, unusual liquors etc.) in Ireland? I suppose a trip to a major city is in order. Been trying to find amaretto and Grand Marnier for ages!
Deborah,
I got the blood orange bitters in Fallon & Byrne in Dublin. With regards to finding other unusual things for cocktails, I think it depends (as with alot of things) on what you are looking for... The Celtic whiskey store on Kildare St
in Dublin is an excellent source for all types of spirits/liquors but some of these things can be expensive in Ireland. Personally I like to try and bring home a bottle or 2 of some sort of wine/spirit when I am abroad as some things are easier to source and are cheaper outside of Ireland.... If you are looking for anything in particular, let me know and I'll try to point you in the right direction. With regard to amaretto and Grand Marnier, I think you can find these in any big off-licence in any of the major cities (I see it all over the place in Dublin).
Cheers,
Will
Thanks Will. A trip to Fallon and Byrne is in order then. I trust the Dublin branch is better than Kildare Village! :)
Thanks for the help, will definitely be looking out for some liquors next time I'm in the big smoke.
I've never been to the Kildare Village but the Exchequer St store is a lovely place, full of all kinds of tasty treats.
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