Food and Wine of the World: Usual Suspects last Meal for 2009 at Masseto

I know it's been a while since I've updated my blog. I've just had too many things going on, work, relatives, Holiday rush, etc...I've resumed blogging but will start from my latest meal, then work backwards from there.

This a was dinner organized by Jojo. He had prepared a set menu care of Chef Tippi Tambunting. It was one of those "I'll take care of all the wines' by Jojo, so we were sure to enjoy. Obviously it would not be complete if he did not serve some of them blind...he likes playing those 'guess the region/year" type of games..

For starters, as we arrived , we were served by Jojo himself (who was our Bartender/Sommelier for the night) nicely chilled glasses of 2000 Champagne Jacquesson Avize Grand Cru. I have only tried a few vintage Champagnes, so I don't have much experience. I was expecting this to be not as fresh and Fruity but I was pleasantly surprised with this Champagne. Very nice, lemon, fruity... a perfect way to start the night.

Once we were complete,. food and more wine started arriving. We had for appetizers: Scrambled Eggs-Chorizo and shrimps with Garlic Chips, we were served 2 reds blind. Clues we got were it was the same maker and we were to guess which was the older vintage and the region of possible.

I decided to leave the blinds reds and have the tapas with the 2004 Maison Leroy Bourgogne, which I have had twice this year, I enjoyed this light fresh red wine. As for the blind reds, I was almost immediately able to tell which was the older one, as it was quite of a brick color, while the other one was still a brighter more vivid ruby red. I enjoyed Wine number one (the younger one) which turned out to be a 1998 Château Le Bon Pasteur. With wine number 2, I detected a weird smell, which Noel pointed out to be saline aroma..I called it a 'fishy' smell and Rene had mentioned salt water If I'm not mistaken. I left the wine and the particular smell was gone in about 45 minutes. The wine was revealed as 1982 Château Le Bon Pasteur. It was an enjoyable wine, but not as good as the same bottle we had on our DEC 21 Dinner at the Goose Station.

Done with the reds, we moved on to the whites. We were served 3 New World Chardonnays, all of the, very different in style. 2000 Château Montelena Napa Chardonnay, still quite fresh for a 10 year old wine. It was oaky and buttery, typical qualities of Chardonnay. The second wine was 2003 Ridge California Chardonnay Montebello, a lot oakier. A few had mentioned that it was like Buttered Popcorn and i definitely agree with them. Not really my style of wine. The last was 2006 Leewin Art Series Chardonnay, this was more my type of wine. Much less oak and with some fruit and acidity on it.

After this, yet again another wine served blind. This was a magnum and we were to guess if it was New World or Old World. Many had voted new world, but at the end it turned out to be a 2000 Chateau d'Aiguilhe. My first time to try this wine. Many said this Chateau really makes Modern wines, that's why many were confused.

More food was served: Halibut, Clams and Clam Jus, Fideo, Aquid and Prawns and Prime Rib Eye Steak.

Then, 2 more wines were served blind: this time, Jojo wanted to to say which was Right Bank and which was left Bank. It was very hard for me to guess, so I just decided to enjoy the wine instead while the rest analyzed and analyzed. I preferred the first one, which turned out to be a 1998 Château Pape Clément, mostly the one preferred by everyone. The 2nd wine was a 2000 Chapelle d'Ausone, for me no where close to the first one and not as open and ready to drink yet. Maybe this will get better after a few more years in the bottle.

This last 2 wines were served with a cheese platter (sorry no photo). We had more wines after this, but at this point I don't remember most of them, so no pictures of them anymore. Here are some 'fun' pictures: