Burgundy at Dinner

Friday night we were off to a dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Paris, La Cordonnerie (no website, but read this review on Trip Advisor ). It was a celebration of sorts, and we were a small group; therefore, the menu was predetermined, but we had a hand in choosing the wines.

With an amuse-bouche of an airy cauliflower mousse with a truffled balsamic sauce, a sparkling wine from the Loire Valley was served. It was methode champenoise, from chenin blanc and pinot blanc grapes, 2004, made only in certain years and actually not again since that year. A lovely alternative to Champagne.

A first course of sauted scallops in a light citrus sauce was served with an Hautes-Cotes-des-Beaune 2007 by Maison Felettig. What a miracle of wine making! A simple wine by birth but in the hands of Felettig, this white is raised to a complex balance of acidity and fruit with a slight minerality that lingers in the mouth.

Our main plate was a slow-cooked filet of beef in a fragrant red wine sauce served with a 2003 Chateau Muret, Haut-Medoc which was expressing all of the typical ripeness and roundness of the vintage with a lovely lingering finish.

Cheese was presented with a bottle from our cave - a magnum of 1990 Corton-Les-Bressandes Grand Cru from Domaine E. Cornu. What a revelation! The double size bottle had allowed this wine to age slowly into the Burgundy fever dream of all pinot noir collectors. The nose expressed a mix of musk, herbacous matter and violets. The color was a dull red with bronze reflections and in the mouth it exploded with the flavors of red fruits, particularly blackberries, followed by a light minerality supporting flavors of licorice, leather and musk. As a fellow diner said, "it triggered taste receptors on my tongue that I did not know existed."

Drink them old and enjoy!