Unauthorized

This dinner, sponsored by the Wine Advocate Foundation, to benefit Cancer Research at the renowned Dana Farber Institute in Boston, began with a gorgeous lobster bisque, and my favorite courses, the eggplant stuffed calamari with red lentils and Maine halibut baked in fig leaves. I also enjoyed the Pennsylvania squab and chateaubriand.

The evening began with two exquisite bottles of Champagne. A pristine bottle of 1947 Veuve Clicquot still had plenty of effervescence, a golden color, and honeyed notes of marmalade, orange zest, toast, and spice. It help up beautifully in the glass until some oxidation crept in. The 1995 Krug Clos d’Ambonay was almost brutally young despite being 13 years of age. This wine appears to have an incredibly long life ahead of it. Drinking this crystal clear Champagne is almost like drinking pure rocks, with hints of citrus and flowers. It is a beautiful, crisp, mineral-dominated Champagne with 20-30 years of life ahead of it.

As for the wines (all from my cellar except for the Free-For-All flight and the 1947 Champagne), the first flight included the best showing yet of Dauvissat’s 2002 Chablis Les Clos, a brilliant 1997 Chevalier-Montrachet from Niellon, and two superb California Chardonnays from what may be that state’s two finest Chardonnay winemakers, Helen Turley’s 1999 Marcassin Estate Chardonnay and Aubert’s 2004 Lauren. Remarkably, the youngest wine of the flight was the Marcassin 1999 Estate Chardonnay, which, chronologically was one of the oldest wines of the flight with the exception of Niellon’s 1997 Chevalier-Montrachet.

The second flight proved just how good Jean Thevenet’s Mâcon Clessé from his beloved Domaine de la Bongran can be. In a year of excessive heat and precarious acid levels, the 2003 is vibrant and rich. For me, it was one of the two best wines of the flight. The 1996 Niellon Bâtard-Montrachet was oxidized, and the 1995 Bernard Morey Puligny La Truffière was very good. The finest wine of this flight was the incredibly young, honeysuckle and wet stone-scented 1990 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Chevalières.

The three flights of red wines began brilliantly with a virtually perfect bottle of Domaine du Pégaü’s 2003 Châteauneuf du Pape, the outstanding 2001 Janasse Chaupin, perhaps the finest vintage of that wine to date, and a gorgeous, but controversial Bois de Boursan 2001 Cuvée des Felix. Many guest thought the latter wine was the best wine of the flight, but others thought it was flawed by too much brett. I was in the latter group, and I have a reasonable tolerance for brett in red wine. After a poor showing at Veritas of the 2000 Cuvée da Capo the day before, at this event that wine was absolutely spectacular ... even perfect if I dare say!

Flight four included the finest performance I have experienced by Henri Bonneau’s 2000 Châteauneuf du Pape Réserve des Céléstins. True to form, his wines often go through a somewhat “dumb” period after bottling, only to build weight, richness, complexity, and personality after being bottled. This cuvée was doing just that the first few times I tasted it after bottling. Another wine that never tasted as good out of bottle as it did from barrel was Domaine du Pégaü’s 1998 Cuvée Laurence. Now, at ten years of age, it is strutting its stuff. A wine that was tannic and closed, always impressive, but not that charming during its first decade of life is the 1995 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf du Pape, which has now hit a magical peak. This brilliant effort is one of the great wines of this somewhat forgotten vintage. To demonstrate how well Châteauneuf du Pape can age, we had the 1985 Domaine du Pégaü Châteauneuf du Pape, which displayed wonderful lavender, garrigue, pepper, kirsch, spice, and herb notes in its gorgeously flamboyant, rich, full-bodied personality.

We finished with a remarkable flight of six wines. After 1961, 1990 is the greatest vintage for red Hermitage, and three of these wines performed beautifully. The most mature and ready to drink was the 1990 J. L. Chave Hermitage. The Sorrel 1990 Le Gréal, which can be variable from bottle to bottle, was spectacular, and the 1990 Jaboulet La Chapelle, the youngest wine of the flight, was pure crème de cassis. Bernard Faurie’s 1989 Hermitage Le Méal was dense and tight. Of course, it is from a more tannic, backward, less flamboyant vintage. We next enjoyed a pristine bottle of Guigal’s 1976 La Mouline, and a young, barrel sample-tasting magnum of Chapoutier’s 1996 Ermitage Pavillon, both provided by incredibly generous guests

After the first five flights, which all came from my cellar, some of the guests pulled out some wines that I’m calling the “Free-For-All” Flight. A magnum of the 1990 Rayas Châteauneuf du Pape flirted with perfection. Its extraordinary nose reminded me of Château Lafleur (the wine was served blind and that was my guess) because of the incredible sweet black cherry and licorice notes. Full-bodied, fresh, and lively, it is a singular expression of Châteauneuf du Pape. As noted, the 1996 Chapoutier Ermitage Pavillon was much too young to drink, revealing abundant acidity (a characteristic of this vintage) as well as tremendous depth, richness, and smoky meatiness. One of the legends of Burgundy (and a wine I was lucky enough to buy when it was inexpensive) is the 1980 Ponsot Clos de la Roche. This remains a freakish vintage as the wine is still younger than most recent vintages of Ponsot’s wines. The complex floral, black and red fruit, underbrush, forest floor, and spice-scented aromas are followed by a full-bodied wine with extraordinary purity, length, concentration, and depth. Few Burgundies made in the last fifty years will age as well as this profound wine. Somewhat out of place, but incredibly impressive was a limited production Ribero del Duero 2003 Llano del Almendro. Tasting like a barrel sample, it was super-rich, very perfumed and velvety-textured with tremendous opulence and length. I am anxious to see how this prodigious wine ages.

Lastly, we had a real elixir, the 1970 Fonseca Vintage Port. I bought a lot of this port when port prices were cheap in the mid to late-seventies, and I’m fortunate enough to have over a case left in my cellar. It is pure essence of Fonseca, filled with spicy notes of incense, licorice, and caramelized red and black fruits, with an intoxicating, extraordinarily ostentatious, but perfectly balanced, pure style. This is as good as vintage port can be, and it has another two decades of life remaining.

Another great night of eating and drinking in good company, with all the money raised benefitting the Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute. Thank you a million times over to Daniel Boulud, his superb staff, and the charity of both Daniel and the guests.