2007 Chateau Musar Rouge and 2005 Lopez de Heredia Rioja Vina Tondonia were superb with dinner last night
Adventures Of A Black Belt Sommelier
Two very memorable red wines at dinner with friends last night
the welcome back to adventures of a black belt some of a by the way if you're wondering the picture behind me is the wine so are the main dollar on many conti some pretty good stuff in those barrels right there I don't know what specific the RC wines is aging in those barrels but whatever it is very special the with the the main course where I served a duck confit on a moose of cauliflower with the green pepper corn sauce and one of my friends was nice and generous enough to bring a bottle of 2007 Chateau Missaur which well he texted me and asked if he'd like me to bring a bottle of 2000 Chateau Missaur which you know was absolutely the absolute perfect wine to have with the duck confit with green pepperon sauce so I encouraged him to and I asked him to open it at 3.30 because I thought we would drink it at 4.30 with the next course which is a gorgon salad cheesecake that I made with candied jalapenos from my garden I opened a 2005 Lopez to Radio Rio Chiavina, Taldonia so he had two bottles with a little bit of age but you know after my conversation with Francois Uduz yesterday about his philosophy about opening old wine I thought it would be fun to follow his advice and just open them four hours in advance and not to can't them so we did that so I asked my friend to open the mooseaur at 3.30 and I opened the real wine at 3.32 anticipating that it would be about that time that night four hours later when we went when those courses were served if you're not familiar with Chateau Missaur it is from Lebanon from the Becca Valley in Lebanon it is among wine geeks like me regard as one of the world's greatest wines red white rosé it also is a wine that ages almost forever the whites age 20 30 years the rosé age 20 30 years the reds age forever my friend Bartholomew Broadbent and his father Michael Broadbent regarded it really regarded it with incredible reverence it's also you know making wine in a war zone is something hard to imagine doing especially making wines of this extraordinary quality in circumstances that are beyond difficult this bottle was amazing as is now this is the interesting thing as is often the case with really extraordinary wines this wine was flawed it was it wasn't technically perfect when we opened it there was really substantial volatile acidity which is often the case with Chateau Missaur but with time that broke the blue off and it became well it's just a very very special wine it's worth searching out pretty really handy vintage of Chateau Missaur it is special I've never tasted one that disappointed me and I've tasted a lot it was perfect with the duck coffee with very parafford sauce and it was rich and earthy and spicy and textured and multi-layered multi-faceted you know depth and depth and depth of flavor and nuance aroma and bouquet you know every time you went back it was kind of morphed into something different but it just it was the spiciness with the green parafford sauce and the rich earthiness of the duck coffee it was just you know as I occasionally say a match made another it was memorable very very memorable now I know Francois would use would not regard it as an old wine but you know for most of us 2007 is pretty old and then we had the 2005 in Netanyahu from a little bit from low-fester radio this is another wine that among wine geeks like me is regarded with great reverence partly I think because the current release is always much older than what any other winery is and so the 2005 is an infant it was so polished and so kind of elegant and refined and a tremendous foil to the chef of Musar which is anything but polished and refined and elegant it was very youthful they can go another 20 years I easily in a cool wine cellar it was again just perfect with this organ solid cheesecake that I made it's again it's a very very worth searching out it just is again it's a wine that's special both of these wines are special it's not just another Napa Valley Cabernet it's not just another expensive red bordeaux they are unique kind of what you call sugenerous wines they speak of their place they speak of the winery they speak of the philosophy and well worth searching out both wines are around you should be able to find chef in Musar is a wine that is you know generally you can find some even specific vintage is like the 2007 in low-fester radio one thing about real wine is they make quite a bit of the wine so the wine you the 2005 will be available even though it's almost 20 years old and again neither wine is inexpensive but they are so much they perform so much beyond their price point relative to other wine regions in the world you know the Napa Valley Cabernet's kind of you know of this quality kind of you know again at 300 and go to 4,000 red bordeaux of this quality kind of again it you know 500 and go to 4,000 6,000 whatever these wines are way you know some small percentage of those prices and they are very very worth seeking out I encourage you to do so thanks for tuning in hope you have a wonderful day we appreciate you joining us