A Taste of Champagne
at Eleven Madison Park

<a target="_blank" href="http://elevenmadisonpark.com/">Eleven Madison Park</a><a target="_blank" href="http://elevenmadisonpark.com/">

</a>11 Madison Ave,

New York, NY 10010

Tel: (212) 889-0905

This delicious dinner was a slight departure from the norm
at Eleven Madison Park. From time to time the restaurant hosts intimate
theme-oriented wine dinners. Executive Chef Daniel Humm prepares a menu
designed to pair with the wines of a specific region. Diners bring bottles from
their own cellars (with no corkage) to share with fellow guests. The atmosphere
is fun and celebrative.

To be sure, the cuisine is less ambitious than the profound
level of what is offered in the main dining room, but at $75 per person, Eleven
Madison’s wine dinners offer incredible value for the money. Our food was
beautifully prepared, and most importantly of all, served the wines
exceptionally well. I especially enjoyed the seafood platter and confess I
probably had more than my fair share of oysters….they were divine! Humm’s
organic chicken roasted with lemon, rosemary and summer truffles was also
fantastic. I was fortunate to enjoy a number of great wines that were served at
my table, and also had an opportunity to taste wines from a few other tables
thanks to the generosity of many of the attendees.

The 1988 Dom Pérignon
was an appropriately exuberant wine with which to kick off the evening. This
harmonious, mellowed Champagne offered a compelling array of typical mature DP aromas
and flavors supported by vibrant minerality. Vilmart’s 1998 Cuvée Creation was lush and full-bodied in a
Chardonnay-dominated expression of fruit. This was an especially beautiful
bottle of the 1998 Cuvée Creation. Jérôme
Prévost’s 2006 Les Beguines was absolutely beautiful. A bold, rich wine, it
seemed to have put on quite a bit of weight since I had last tasted it, with
clean, minerally notes that framed the pure, crystalline finish.

I loved Gaston
Chiquet’s 1997 Special Club. The wine was round, perfumed and harmonious.
Nothing in particular stood out, but the wine’s overall balance was terrific.
Sadly, we suffered through a cooked bottle of Alain Robert’s 1979 Reserve Le Mesnil that was clearly the result
of poor storage at some point in its life. What a shame. Deutz’s multi-vintage Anniversary Cuvée (vintages 1979/1981/1982)
is a bit of a historical curiosity released in 1988 to commemorate the estate’s
150th Anniversary. It was a beautiful, perfumed Champagne with gorgeous length
and a silky, finessed finish. Roederer’s
1996 Cristal was awesome. A sweeping, dramatic Champagne, it revealed an
expressive core of exuberant fruit that came to life in the glass with
marvelous clarity and precision. It was magnificent. The 1999 Gosset Grand Millésime, tasted from magnum, was spectacular,
and far more interesting than the same wine from bottle. Smoke, ash, graphite
and toasted oak emerged from this fat, full-bodied Champagne. It was superb.

The next flight of Champagnes appeared just as the organic
chicken was being served, and the pairings could not have been more divine. I
loved Selosse’s NV V.O. (Version
Originale), disgorged October 2006, for its lush, creamy fruit and
expansive personality. Despite the wine’s richness, it preserved a surprising
amount of minerality that complemented its honeyed finish. In a word: sublime. Selosse’s NV Substance (disgorged November
20, 2007), a solera-style Champagne composed of vintages dating back to
1987, was even better. This profound, enveloping Champagne flowed onto the
palate with intricate waves of fruit. It was a meditative, contemplative wine
of the very highest level. Larmandier-Bernier’s
NV Rosé de Saignée lived up to the glowing praise I bestowed upon it a year
ago. A prodigious, spellbinding wine, it unfolded to reveal endless layers of
intensely perfumed fruit wrapped around a long, powerful frame. Imagine a
first-class Chambolle with bubbles and you have some idea of what this unique
Champagne offers. Though not for the uninitiated, this is first-class juice and
absolutely required drinking for anyone who seeks to discover the level of
ambition of Champagne’s most fiercely driven, artisan growers. Krug’s 1995 Vintage was a bit of a
shock after these big, rich wines, as it was a decidedly focused, sinewy Champagne
built on a linear core of fruit. Still, I loved it and am convinced it is a
wine with significant upside. Drappier’s
1999 Grand Sendrée was also quite pretty, especially in its vibrant, long
finish.

Once again, Champagne proved that it can be so much more
than just a simple celebratory drink or aperitif, and that it is one of the
world’s most versatile wines at the dinner table.

Food:

Nova Scotia Lobster; Chilled Bisque with Summer Corn 

Fruits de Mer; Beau Soleil Oysters, Smoked Sturgeon, Smoked
Salmon and Peekytoe Crab

Atlantic Salmon; Slow Poached with Horseradish, Cucumber,
Dill and Champagne

Organic Chicken Roasted with Lemon, Rosemary and Summer
Truffles 

Greenmarket Strawberry Shortcake with Vanilla Mousseline and
Champagne Meringue

Wine:

<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>
 1988
 </td>
 <td>
 Dom Pérignon
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1998
 </td>
 <td>
 Vilmart Cuvée Creation
 </td>
 <td>
 92
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 NV
 </td>
 <td>
 La Closerie (Jérôme Prévost) Les Beguines (2006)
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1997
 </td>
 <td>
 Gaston Chiquet Special Club
 </td>
 <td>
 90
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1979
 </td>
 <td>
 Alain Robert Reserve Le Mesnil
 </td>
 <td>
 ?
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 NV
 </td>
 <td>
 Deutz Anniversary Cuvée
 </td>
 <td>
 92
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Roederer Cristal
 </td>
 <td>
 96
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1999
 </td>
 <td>
 Gosset Grand Millésime (magnum)
 </td>
 <td>
 95
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 NV
 </td>
 <td>
 Selosse V.O. (Version Originale)
 </td>
 <td>
 93
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 NV
 </td>
 <td>
 Selosse Substance
 </td>
 <td>
 96
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 NV
 </td>
 <td>
 Larmandier-Bernier Rosé de Saignée
 </td>
 <td>
 96
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1995
 </td>
 <td>
 Krug Vintage
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1999
 </td>
 <td>
 Drappier Grand Sendrée
 </td>
 <td>
 89
 </td>
 </tr>
</tbody></table>

&nbsp;--Antonio Galloni

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