Unauthorized

We had a set menu at Corrigan's for The Wine Advocate team. This is a very handsome restaurant in Mayfair, and everything we had was tasty and well-done. I would loved to have sampled a few other things, but since we all had the same menu, that was impossible. I certainly give Corrigan's high marks on its lamb and the salmon. As for the wines, the NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Rosé is always a safe choice and was, again, quite reliable, with lots of strawberry and berry fruit. It was dry with good effervescence and was exceptionally well-made. Stephan Reinhardt did bring a few German Rieslings. I know I saw a magnum of Leitz that I tasted, but didn't get the vineyard or vintage, although I rated it 93 and thought it was pretty terrific wine. So much for note-taking, as I was ready to relax after an intense seminar.

We then moved to some reds - two vintages of Troplong Mondot that were beautiful, followed by a gorgeous magnum of 1990 Gaja Barolo Sperss, which was seemingly fully mature, but still very fresh and lively with plenty of rose petal, tar, strawberry and black cherry fruit, with some licorice and tropical notes. The wine is full-bodied, opulent and impressively done. This was a great showing for one of Gaja's famous single-vineyard wines from Barolo.

The perfect 2009 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon was entirely too young. Black/purple in color, massive and rich, it was impressive, with 50 to possibly 100 years of aging potential. One never knows, of course, and I certainly won't be around to reflect if it doesn't age well. However, I don't see anything in it that suggests it's going to last less than another 30 to 50 years.

A fun night getting together with our team, in a very attractive restaurant that seemingly has excellent food.