Unauthorized

Another superb evening with the highly refined cuisine of Chef Cindy Wolf began with her sublime cornmeal crusted oysters, followed by an exceptional shellfish bisque and a perfectly roasted, bacon-wrapped breast of pheasant served in a gorgeously reduced brown stock. Chef Wolf is a master of many things, but the intensity of her sauces, her extraordinary talent with deep frying (a lost art, in my opinion), and her hard work in putting together delicious stocks and soups from scratch are all highly commendable.

The wines began with a gorgeous bottle of 1996 Pol Roger Blanc de Chardonnay, which was crisp, light, refreshing, and dominated by its minerality. It should have another ten years of drinking potential ahead of it. We then moved to two rare wines, the exquisitely rich 2003 Corton Charlemagne from Coche-Dury and the outstanding, but slightly evolved 1998 Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne. Even though it’s from a freakish vintage, the 2003 possessed great acidity, a natural texture, and wonderful opulence as well as richness, but no heaviness. The 1998 started off much stronger, but finished quickly. It needs to be drunk up. The next three wines were all magnificent. The 1961 Latour, while great, revealed a touch of amber at the edge, but not the profound perfection that this wine and vintage can deliver. This bottle had been in my cellar for over thirty years, and still had a terrific fill. The tannins were somewhat prominent, which was the only reason it did not merit 100 points. The fruit was sweet, the bouquet celestial, and the full-bodied power was amazing for a 46-year old wine. Even more profound was the 1959 La Mission Haut Brion. For me, this is an older version of the 1982. While one would suspect there would be a noticeable difference between these two vintages, in fact, there was little difference between these two wines. Both were opulent and rich, with a scorched earth smokiness and unbelievable levels of sweet fruit and glycerin. The 1982possessed a slightly lighter dark garnet/purple color, and the 1959 (from a case I had purchased from the Nicolas Collection in Paris) was in pristine condition. As one of the guests said, it may be the greatest single bottle of wine they ever had - it was that good. Altogether, it was a fabulous evening of great food at Baltimore’s finest restaurant served with some of the treasures from my personal cellar.