Dinner at The French Window with a 1951 bottle and a Jayer

28 Jan 2012: Dinner at The French Window. As it's a slightly special event, we organised a bottle of 2002 Cristal, Louis Roederer from the restaurant's wine list to be opened.  (We had brought the other bottles with us.)  We all had the champagne served in white wine glasses as it's still rather closed, and needed better aeration to release aromas of blossom, granny smith apple, pear, citrus and toast.  On the palate, minerality, herbal and cardamon notes abound, leaving a slight almond aftertaste, in the rather long and crisp finish.  Racy and classic, with beautiful delineation.  This is still very much in its youth, with plenty of evolution to look forward to. 17.5/20



Foie gras terrine

 I had the foie gras terrine, served with intensely flavoured blackberry and fig preserve, as starter, because I thought it would go well with the 1951 Laville Haut Brion.  This wine went through the most amazing evolution during the 2.5 hour dinner.  Medium golden colour.  A whiff of musty stink at the beginning was not enough to put us off the rich undertone of honey, honeysuckle, spicy and smokey bouquet.  The mustiness gradually disappeared and a note of ripe fruit returned, like guava and gooseberry. The rounded and viscous texture was laced with very fine acidity, rendering a timeless freshness to this 60-year-old wine.  An intense spicy note of ginger preserve and rich fruit character dominated the palate.  As the evening progressed, the bouquet took on a macadamia nutty and nougat like complexity.  The finish lasted almost 2 minutes, leaving us with a most memerable smokey and spicy honeyed aftertaste.  We were all totally gobsmacked with how this wine transformed during dinner and it was just the most wonderful revelation.  17.5/20  (We bought this bottle with a very special purpose: 1951 is the birth year of our dear friend and it's just the most wonderful experience to share it with him on this special occasion!)

Our red wine was a bottle of the 1985 Vosne-Romanée Cros Parantoux by the legendary Henri Jayer.   We wanted to try this bottle ahead of the Christie's auction next week of wines directly from the cellars of the domaine!  Well, our bottle, though with a stained label, was absolutely stunning!  Still showing much youthful vigour and energy.  Rose pot pourri, redcurrant, cherry and blackberry aromas, layered with leather, mushroom, star anise and mineral notes.  On the palate, the wine shows a freshness that belies its age and a concentration and power that is understated but very much present.  For me, this wine is nowhere near its apogée, which may come in 4 - 5 years' time.  There is already a very harmonious structure of vibrant acidity and fine tannin.  The velvety texture leading to a nice long finish that could easily last a couple of minutes for me.  A very fine example of first rate burgundy from a master at the top of his game.  Drink till 2025+.  18.5/20  (Just a thought: what price would you pay for a bottle of wine like this?  Does the market price really  justify the enjoyment?)

Pheasant in soya sauce

I chose a rather creative dish as main course: pheasant cooked in soya sauce with celeriac puree and grapes.  It's the best pheasant I'd ever had. I normally don't like pheasant much and find it quite bland.  This version however was moist and tender, and full of lovely soya sauced flavoured meat jus, which married rather well with the somewhat challenging flavours of the celeriac.   The restaurant has a page dedicated to some creative game dishes.  I rather liked the sound of the venison dish too (wish they would call it venison, rather than deer on the menu though) - another visit would be necessary!  Richard and Frank shared the côte de boeuf which was juicy and cooked perfectly rare!  Anne had the lobster dish for main course which looked rather nice too.  Decoration is a big thing at the French Window and all the dishes came artistically decorated - quite appropriately served in plates that took the shape of an artist palette. 

We ended the meal with a 1996 Yquem in half bottle.  Just perfectly sweet, with great balancing acidity within a more delicate and elegant framework.  Honey, marmalade, apricot and rye bread came to mind. Nicely harmonious, but it's not a massively rich, unctuous and concentrated Yquem.  Rather delicious, with a very long life ahead!  17/20    

We enjoyed it over a couple of desserts and a cheese platter to share.  Not a bad selection either: we had munster, comté, mimolette, livarot and Ossau Iraty.  When we asked for bread, they had to bake the rolls again.....which took quite a bit longer to arrive.

It was a very high quality experience at the French Window, from the quality of the food, the presentation, the service to the ambiance. (Quite a change from our experience there last time. The most improvement came from the service.) Pity that it wasn't busier, the restaurant looked half empty.  Located in the shopping mall, quite a few people started their dinner rather early.   Our waiter came round to ask us for our feedback on the dinner - a rather nice touch!