Saturday 6 March 2010

Château Mouton-Rotschild 1982: A comparison

Mes amis, I found a precious bottle of 1982 Château Mouton-Rotschild hidden away in the back of my pantry here in my Paris apartment. Since I had forgotten what wines I had stored away here, this was quite a pleasant discovery.

I decided to celebrate this with something special for dinner. I instantly rang Agliè and he agreed to visit that evening for dinner.

Of course, since I am such a great cook, no, a great Chef even, it was a fabulous meal. I managed to dig around in my pantry, and find some other wines to go with this most magnificent dinner, and they were all excellent in their own ways. Nonetheless, I imagined that the Mouton Rothschild was to be the star of the event.

The menu went as follows:

Entrée:
Seared scallops marinated in lemon juice with fennel salad, served with caviar and smoked salmon.
Served with 1976 Château Haut-Brion Blanc.

Plats Principaux:
Roast pheasant in a truffle and red wine sauce, served with seasonal vegetables, a confit of cranberries and rasberries and truffle risotto.
Served with 1982 Château Mouton-Rothschild.

Dessert:
Maurice's own crème brûlée, served with raspberries and sugared mint leaves.
Served with 1962 Château d'Yquem.

Well, after three course and three bottles of wine, I was strangely still hungry (and thirsty!). Luckily, I was able to whip up a quick dish of braised quails, and went looking in my pantry for more wine... I was not disappointed, let me assure you, my friends!

I found more bottles of Château Mouton-Rothschild: 1981, 1982 and 1983. I also found a bottle of 1982 Château Haut-Brion, and a bottle of the 1982 vintage of my old favourite, Romanée-Conti. This seemed to call for a comparison! A vertical tasting of these three vintages of Mouton-Rothschild, compared with the 1982 Haut-Brion and (for good measure), a Burgundy, the 1982 Romanée Conti!

Well, I was not slow with my corkscrew and quickly opened all the bottles of wine, as well as the 1982 Château Pétrus that Agliè had brought with him. Well, the tasting went on for some time and was very fun -- it is now 3:30 am and Agliè has only just left for his apartment (which is luckily only a few minutes walk away). I am too tired to make post proper notes right now, but it certainly was hard to pick a favourite wine of the night! Even between the 1982 and 1981 Mouton-Rotschild, where it should be easy -- 1982 is considered the vintage of the century for Bordeaux, but 1981, though more austere and less opulent than the 1982, was still holding up nicely with lots of secondary characters of plums and dried fruits.

Ah well, mes amis, it is now bed time for this tired, tired genius. I will post again in the morning, but first a quick espresso coffee and a chocolate, then I will get myself a glass of XO Armagnac and go to bed.

Bon nuit, my friends!

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