Bruce’s 50th Birthday Bash

Catered by Grissini

484 Sylvan Avenue,

Englewood Cliffs,

New Jersey 07632

July 2008

This incredible dinner, hosted by collector Bruce Fingeret to celebrate his 50th birthday, was one of the most amazing nights I have been a part of.  All of the food was catered by Grissini, a small family-owned restaurant that did a great job keeping us well fed throughout the night with an array of delicious and pure dishes that worked perfectly with our wines.

Before enjoying a glorious al fresco dinner, we started off with a few bottles of Champagne. The sheer number of bottles of Dom Pérignon on display was amazing, and the opportunity to compare various releases of the same wines was a great education. I hope readers will indulge me in some of these notes, as I found it virtually impossible to pick highlights. The 1966 Dom Pérignon (original release) was beautifully intact and expressive in a generous, utterly seductive style. Both bottles of the 1969 Dom Pérignon were spellbinding. The original release was creamy-textured, sweet, long and incredibly pure, while the Œenothèque (disgorged 2006) was, as one might expect, far fresher than the original release and just insanely beautiful. This was the finest bottle of the 1969 Œenotheque I have ever tasted. The 1971 Dom Pérignon Œenothèque (disgorged 2006) was equally memorable, although quite different in style. While the wines from the 1960s show mature, honeyed and candied aromas and flavors, well-stored bottles of the 1971 Œenothèque still possess a certain floral freshness and minerality that I find compelling. I was less thrilled about the 1973 Dom Pérignon Rosé, a bottle which had seen better days. I must have done something very good in a past lifetime, as I can’t come up with any reason to explain the amount of 1975 Dom Pérignon I have had a chance to drink recently. The 1975 Dom Pérignon (original release) from magnum, was harmonious and remarkably complete in an expression that balanced some of the more advanced nuances one might expect from a wine of its age while maintaining remarkable freshness. If anyone needed to be convinced why Champagne is ideally purchased in magnum, this wine provided a compelling argument. The 1975 Dom Pérignon Œenothèque (disgorged 2007) is one of my all-time favorite Champagnes. This bottle was monumental. A big, powerful Champagne, the wine offered up intricate layers of minerals, smoke, earthiness, apricots and pears in a stunning expression that recalled a fine, aged white grand cru Burgundy.

As we moved out into the terrace to eat dinner, what started as a small sampling of 1996 Champagnes turned into a full-blown horiozontal, with bottle after bottle seemingly appearing out of nowhere. A beautiful bottle of the 1985 Krug Collection bridged the gap between the older and younger wines. This is a beautifully poised, generous and compelling wine with superb balance and purity. The peaks among the 1996s arrived fairly early with two profound wines from Krug. The 1996 Krug Vintage was monumental, large-scaled and exuberant, with tons of density and richness. I was prepared to declare this one of the greatest Champagnes I had ever tasted, but then the 1996 Krug Clos du Mesnil appeared and I was at a loss for words. This wine of staggering richness and depth revealed breathtaking clarity and definition in an elegant and incredibly refined style. The 1996 Salon was another standout, even if this tightly-coiled powerful wine needs another decade. Still, this was a great showing from one of the most reluctant stars of the vintage. Pol Roger’s 1996 Sir Winston Churchill was impressive for its superb balance. Everything was in the right place. The 1996 Clos des Goisses from Philipponnat showed some slightly more advanced aromas and flavors, but with the structure of the vintage in evidence. The Sir Winston Churchill and Clos des Goisses shared a remarkable level of accessibility compared to most of the other wines in this line-up, and it wouldn’t be a shame to open either one of these gems today.

Billecart-Salmon’s 1996 Clos Saint-Hilaire was sensual, elegant and beautiful, although subsequent bottles have been even finer. This rewarding and delicious wine offered terrific balance and poise. Selosse’s 1996 Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs revealed a profile of intense tropical fruit, flowers and minerals in one of the riper, sweeter wines of the vintage. The 1996 Cristal was another of the standouts of the night. Remarkable for its gorgeous bouquet and silky-textured fruit, the wine offered surreal balance in a sensual, seductive style. The 1996 Dom Pérignon Rosé provided a fitting close to this monumental flight of Champagnes. This sweet, expansive wine blossomed with layers of silky, perfumed fruit that caressed the palate from start to finish.

Among the reds, I was especially struck by a magnum of the 1950 Clos L’Eglise Clinet. A superb, fresh Pomerol, it revealed an almost-Burgundian level of finesse and elegance in its floral aromas and bright red fruit. This bottle of Ponsot’s 1985 Clos de la Roche wasn’t the finest I have tasted, but the wine still revealed plenty of candied cherries in an enveloping, generous style. Leroy’s 1949 Musigny was surprisingly fresh for a wine of its age. The 1961 Barolo from Cantina Mascarello (magnum) was masculine, powerful and impressively rich for a wine of this vintage, while the 1958 Barolo (magnum) fared less well. The 1958 can be a legendary wine, but on this night the wine was exceedingly evolved. A magnum of Gaja’s 1990 Barbaresco Sorì San Lorenzo was breathtaking. The wine revealed jaw-dropping purity and elegance in an extraordinary display of vibrant dark fruit. Those lucky enough to own this gem of a wine, especially in large formats, can look forward to several decades of profound drinking. The 1982 Pichon-Lalande, also from magnum, revealed a glorious bouquet that melded seamlessly into a core of ripe, dark fruit. This bottle showed awesome balance in a harmonious and utterly engaging style. The 1996 Guigal La Mouline was incredibly delicious. Dark fruit, tar and bacon fat were just some of the nuances that flowed from this sensual, generous Côte-Rôtie. The 1990 La Tâche was monumental. A dense, powerful wine, this spectacular Burgundy blossomed on the palate with masses of fruit. Still very primary, this bottle was just as fresh as a bottle I had tasted at the domaine about a year before. Wow. My last red of the night was the 1978 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. I am not sure I own the vocabulary to do the 1966 La Chapelle justice, let me just say this utterly profound, moving wine remains extraordinarily primary, dense and packed with fruit. It was a privilege to taste this impeccable example of a legendary wine that has probably still not peaked! 

Food:

Assorted pizzas

Mozzarella di Bufala

Seared Tuna 

Wine:

1906	Pol Roger	88
1966	Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon (original release)	94
1969	Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon	93
1969	Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Œenothèque (3rd release)	97
1971	Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Œenothèque (3rd release)	95
1973	Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Œenothèque (2nd release)	94
1973	Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Rosé	90
1975	Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon (original release, magnum)	94
1975	Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Œenothèque (3rd release)	97
1985	Krug Collection	94
1996	Krug Vintage	98
1996	Krug Clos du Mesnil	99
1996	Salon	97
1996	Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill	94
1996	Philipponnat Clos des Goisses	96
1996	Billecart-Salmon Clos Saint-Hilaire	95
1996	Jacques Selosse Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs	94
1996	Roederer Cristal	96
1996	Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Rosé	96
1950	L’Eglise Clinet (magnum)	95
1985	Ponsot Clos de la Roche	94
1949	Leroy Musigny	91
1961	Bartolo Mascarello Barolo (magnum)	95
1958	Bartolo Mascarello Barolo (magnum)	?
1990	Gaja Barbaresco Sorì San Lorenzo (magnum)	97
1982	Pichon-Lalande (magnum)	95
1996	Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline	96
1990	Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche	98
1978	Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle	99

[Photo and credit: Grissini, New Jersey]

-- Antonio Galloni