Yeah, OK, so shoot me... it was all of a sudden Persian New Year, and I lost track of time, blah-blah-blah... my apologies for the way tardy post.
Because this was such a special dinner, I didn't take notes, and so I do have some holes in the selections; that said, anything I thought was particularly well-paired or special I did work a little harder to remember.
During our short wait for our table, we enjoyed glasses of Gosset Brut Rose Grand, which I really loved. It's got a the bright strawberry notes that I love in the Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose, with perhaps a hair more residual sugar. It's lovely & creamy, with a really beautiful and lingering finish.
With our first & second courses, we were served Mure Cuvee Oscar Sylvaner '02. This wine was really, really wonderful, particularly considering how difficult it is to find good Sylvaner in this country. There was a bit of residual sugar left here, with lots of stone fruit and really rich honey notes, but there was also plenty of acid to keep things balanced.
Next, we were poured a White Burgundy which was fine, and paired perfectly with courses 3 & 4, but which I didn't commit to memory because, frankly, I haven't developed a taste for the minerally, acidic whites. (Melanie & Alder can attest to this inherent flaw in my palate).
My seared foie gras was paired with a Donnhoff Auslese Riesling, which had some really beautiful aromas and flavors, and was a different sort of pairing than what I'm used to for foie gras. It was a nice pairing, and I enjoyed trying something new. C's torchon was served with a Suduiraut Sauternes, one hell of a powerhouse wine. It was interesting to see how M. Lacroix played with this pairing.
Our game course was served with a Chateauneuf-du-Pape (I can't remember the producer) which was exactly as it should be - gamy, earthy and fairly well-concentrated.
As we were brought the C du P, I asked that we be brought something else for our red meat course. And, as most of you know, I'm not a big Cal Cab drinker (in general, I think the good ones are opened and poured way too early, and the not so good ones are too loaded with green pepper and fruit for my taste), so I asked to be steered away from that. So, here's where it gets really interesting.
Our waiter brought over a perfectly respectable St. Estephe, and said it was "fine", but asked me to try a 1999 Lancaster Estate Proprietary Bordeaux-style blend.
I loved it. 55% merlot, 44% cabernet, 1% malbec (or something close to those proportions). Really soft black fruit, enough tannins to stand up to the richness of the meat... I remember thinking this had a really wonderful, long finish.
Finally, with dessert, we had a Moscato d'Asti which, you guessed it, I don't know the producer of. For some reason, I think it might have been Chiarlo, but don't hold me to it.
The wine service was impeccable, and it was really nice to be given a bit of background on each wine we expressed interest in.
I also really loved that there was no awkwardness about the female being the primary purchaser - a concept that many establishments still seem to struggle with.