Demand and Deliver

Well, it was a birthday, but not a significant one. There is a mild demand on one to celebrate it, and this entails a good meal and some good wine. Good company can be easy to find, especially when it is SWMBO and the Young One. So, off to a to eatery with a couple of 'treasures' from the old cellar.

Selecting the wine is not always easy, as the demand is to provide something decent. But you don't know what it's going to be like until you open it. You hope it will deliver the goods and not let the ocassion down. Out came a Drouhin 1983 Meursault1er Cru Perrierers (around $58.00+ from Wilson Neill) and a 1978 Chateau Branaire-Ducru St Julien. The white burgundy was a little ullaged, and the 1978 clarets, described by Michael Broadbent as a 'miracle vintage' at the time, as a cool year was saved by the oft-quoted 'Indian Summer', are showing their true, less-than-spectacular provenance now. So demands were not too high for them. If they delivered, it would have been a bonus.

The Meursault came out of the glass golden, and somewhat oxidised, but with big toastiness and nuttiness on attack, fading to non-descript mouthwash on the finish. Drying out, it was teetering on being shot. In fact, drinking it, it wavered between interesting and unpleasant. SWMBO was more forgiving on it. Food interaction with it was acceptable, especially the Scampi tails and Paua ravioli. The claret came out green, coarse and stinky. Gary, the English sommelier and SWMBO thought it shot. I was prepared to give it time. Bad call. It did not get any better over the course of two hours. Those 1978s have shown their true colour greenness all the more over time. And Branaire-Ducru then was not as flash as it is now. The demands were probably a bit too much for these bottles. Delivery did not happen.

The demand was on to have a couple of glasses of drinking wine. So we ordered a glass each of 2006 Escarpment Chardonnay and 2005 Papa Luna Calatayud from Spain. Larry McKenna's Chardonnay looked very white burgundian - and we had a real white burgundy to compare it to. It delivered beautifully. The Papa Luna was simple, jammy and easy. Nothing wrong, but it did not rise to the call. It didn't deliver.

It was a slightly pressured situation for the Young One, with all this talk on wine, service, flavours etc in a fine dining establishment. Some demands on him to be an adult. He responded well, with humour and personality. He delivered!