White Truffle Dinner - Take 2

2003 Yquem

24 November 2010: Our small group at the white truffle auction dinner bid for a more sensible sized white truffle as our contribution to the charitable cause of Mother's Choice.  Our white diamond weighed 300g and as we were not able to eat it straightaway, we did a swap with Chef Bombana who gave us the exact same weight but made up of 7 smaller pieces.  We also divided the cooking responsibility amongst ourselves.  Charles, the scrambled egg; Frank, the foie gras and risotto; Debra, the buttered pasta and me the coq au vin jaune with morels.  It worked very well - we brought our ingredients to Frank's place and we had a cook-out!  All the dishes turned out really well, with very generous shavings of white truffle.  Anne prepared a delicious orange angel cake with a warm orange sauce - it went so well with our dessert wine! 

For this evening, we did not pair the dishes with Italian wines....instead, we opted for Bordeaux, one white burgundy and one champagne....our wines were:

1997 Haut Brion Blanc: Amber-gold colour. Marmalade, dried apricot, honey, biscuity. Full body and rich.  Good acidity. Excellent with the risotto with foie gras.  Drinking at peak now, if you like this wine with a fair amount of oxidative character. 16/20


1990 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne: Peach, melon, nutty, mineral, spicy (ginger, pepper), firm acidity. Fresh, rich, complex. Drinking well now, and for next 10+ years. 18/20

1996 Haut Brion: smokey, tobacco, gravel, mineral, blueberry, blackberry, blackcurrant leaf. Elegant, structured, very fine. Soft tannin. Builds weight and complexity in glass.  18/20

1989 Pichon Baron: herbaceous, bell pepper, mineral, tobacco, blueberry, violet, spicy. Grainy tannin. Silky texture, but a little weak in terms of concentration and depth. 17/20

1989 Palmer: much more elegant, showing character of chocolate, cedar, black fruit, but generally quite reticent for the evening.  17.5/20

2003 Yquem: pale golden colour. Complexity of peach, melon, honey, raisin, dried apricot, orange peel, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, brioche, caramel. Full body, fantastically balanced.  Drinking perfectly now, not cloying at all, harmonious and pure.  Just perfect. 20/20