Something about the words "birthday week" bodes well for the overall quality of wine consumption. The Puck-Lazaroff/Meals on Wheels/AWFF event got things off to a good start on Saturday night, but that event was more about working rather than partying.
The real celebration began Tuesday night at Savory, the newest (and already the best) restaurant in Malibu. Joyce arranged a bit of a surprise party, where what I thought was going to be a nice romantic dinner for two turned into a group of six, with the Four Fun Drunks joining us. Ms. Stein had also brought along a couple of bottles of wine from her collection, bottles that she thought would be interesting to me (go figure, depending on the prevailing mood I've acquired a reputation of being either a wine snob or a wine geek - and I'm not so sure either is preferable, and y'know, sometimes both come to the fore).
We began with a magnum of 2001 Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay, a wine that was showing at its peak of evolution, reminding me more of white Burgundy than California Chardonnay. There was enough (but not too much!) oak and the wine's acidity seemed perfectly in balance with the fruit, resulting in a wine that might be described as being a tad on the lean side, but fortunately, that's how I like 'em! All the flavors were perfectly integrated and a slight nuttiness was beginning to assert itself, adding flavor to the wine's texture that went well with the crab cakes. A brilliant wine (and very ueseful in the 1.5 size) and the perfect choice to accompany not only the cuisine but the company.
As we moved onto the main courses, the 2004 Mount Eden Vineyard Pinot Noir and the 1993 Domaine Tempier Cuvée Speciale Cabassaou were poured:
The Mount Eden had been chillling in the cooler for an hour or two and when first poured was extremely unexpressive. I was expecting (and hoping for) more, given the track record this winery has and also on the basis of how the Chardonnay showed. It took about twenty minutes to begin blossoming and when it did, it was worth the wait (despite the mains being served before the wine was even brought out). Great aromatics, a little on the fruity/woody side, but that's unsurprising given the forward nature of the 2004 vintage. The texture was quite soft and velvety and led to a long finish; although one usually thinks of Mount Eden PN being in more of a Burgundian style, this one had one foot in France and the other in California. It was a lot of fun to drink and went well with the food.
While the Pinot Noir came from more of a fruit influence, the 1993 Domaine Tempier Bandol Cuvée Speciale Cabassao was more on the savory side (appropriate given the name of the restaurant). 1993 is one of those weird vintages that was fantastic in Bandol but wasn't received well by the critics in other parts of France. Since there's rarely any mention of Provence on any vintage chart, people tend to overgeneralize about the vintage and wash over such fine points as geographic location, climatic impact, etc. Factor in the Bordeaux-shaped bottle that's used in Bandol and everything falls into place to enable the watchful to pick up great wine at a fraction of what a similar bottle would sell for had it been from a more-lauded vintage. That's what happened here. Cabassaou is a small section of the lower section of Tempier's La Tourtine vineyard. Where their Cuvée Speciales La Tourtine and La Miguoa are pretty special, Cabassaou is sort of a reserve bottling in the winery's vineryard hierarchy. Made from a blend of 95% Mourvèdre and small bits of Cinsault and Syrah, Cabassaou tends to be tannic and dense in its youth. Its production numbers are just the other side of minuscule, making it all the more difficult to track down, much less afford nowadays). More's the pity, as it's one of the world's great wines. This specific bottle was particularly good, showing lots of provençal herbiness (thyme, lavender) and a bit of sweaty wild animal funk way in the background. Plummy fruit flavors led the way on the palate, and while Tempier isn't really about evolving into secondary sensory elements as is the case with Burgundy or northern Rhône wines, there was no lack of compelling complexity in the glass. It was pretty brilliant stuff, although maybe not for the squeamish or risk-averse, as it's been my experience that older bottles of Domaine Tempier from the pre-Daniel Ravier era can very much be a bottle-to-bottle experience. I'm willing to play in that arena, but others might prefer a more squeaky-clean approach to their winemaking.
It was a great night, and as Joyce waved goodbye to the our fellow diners (after closing down the joint) we began preparing for dinners scheduled the rest of the week (to be posted anon)
Joyce waves goodbye
