Bruce’s 50th Birthday Bash

Catered by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.grissinirestaurant.com/">Grissini</a>

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.&nbsp; 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!&nbsp;

Food:

Assorted pizzas

Mozzarella di Bufala 

Seared Tuna&nbsp;

Wine:

<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>
 1906
 </td>
 <td>
 Pol Roger
 </td>
 <td>
 88
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1966
 </td>
 <td>
 Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon (original release)
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1969
 </td>
 <td>
 Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon
 </td>
 <td>
 93
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1969
 </td>
 <td>
 &nbsp;Moët et Chandon Dom
 Pérignon Œenothèque (3rd release)
 </td>
 <td>
 97
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1971
 </td>
 <td>
 Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Œenothèque (3rd release)&nbsp; 
 </td>
 <td>
 95
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1973
 </td>
 <td>
 Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Œenothèque (2nd release)
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1973
 </td>
 <td>
 Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Rosé
 </td>
 <td>
 90
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1975
 </td>
 <td>
 Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon (original release, magnum)
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1975
 </td>
 <td>
 Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Œenothèque (3rd release)&nbsp; 
 </td>
 <td>
 97
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1985
 </td>
 <td>
 Krug Collection
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Krug Vintage
 </td>
 <td>
 98
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Krug Clos du Mesnil
 </td>
 <td>
 99
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Salon
 </td>
 <td>
 97
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses
 </td>
 <td>
 96
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Billecart-Salmon Clos Saint-Hilaire
 </td>
 <td>
 95
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Jacques Selosse Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Roederer Cristal
 </td>
 <td>
 96
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Moët et Chandon Dom Pérignon Rosé
 </td>
 <td>
 96
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1950
 </td>
 <td>
 L’Eglise Clinet (magnum)
 </td>
 <td>
 95
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1985
 </td>
 <td>
 Ponsot Clos de la Roche
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1949
 </td>
 <td>
 Leroy Musigny
 </td>
 <td>
 91
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1961
 </td>
 <td>
 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo (magnum)
 </td>
 <td>
 95
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1958
 </td>
 <td>
 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo (magnum)
 </td>
 <td>
 ?
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1990
 </td>
 <td>
 Gaja Barbaresco Sorì San Lorenzo (magnum)
 </td>
 <td>
 97
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1982
 </td>
 <td>
 Pichon-Lalande (magnum)
 </td>
 <td>
 95
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1996
 </td>
 <td>
 Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline
 </td>
 <td>
 96
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1990
 </td>
 <td>
 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche
 </td>
 <td>
 98
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1978
 </td>
 <td>
 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
 </td>
 <td>
 99</td></tr></tbody></table>

[Photo and credit:&nbsp;Grissini, New Jersey] -- Antonio Galloni

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