This holds for any – geeky – field: keep digging into one thing long enough and stuff that’s generally considered good stops being much fun, and you drift toward the odd and the obscure. I felt that clearly at an earlier meetup when we opened an old vintage of Château Canon, one of the leading estates of Saint-Émilion. I loved that wine with its intense horse-leather nose, but everyone around me went, “What on earth is this?”
So this time in Korea I planned two wine gatherings. Both were at a restaurant in Hongdae called 2chef; the theme of the first was geeky wines, and the second was wines anyone could easily get. This one was the geeky-wine night, with a few friends who really know their wine.
The 1974 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon I brought
These days Chile and other New World regions slap “Reserve” on everything, but with American wine a Reserve generally means the winery’s flagship. In French terms it’s roughly Grand Cru level. And it’s Mondavi, so no worries about quality.
I picked this one because, with a ’74 vintage, it had to be drunk soon. Still, even for a wine built to age, a red holding up for over 30 years is impressive. American wines of the ’70s were made firm with long ageing in mind, so it seems to have survived just fine. Come to think of it, it’s already a 36-year-old wine ^_^ Older than me. Old vintages come in very limited numbers and few are in good shape, so it’s hard to put a price on them. One of the friends at the dinner was born in ’74, which made it all the more meaningful. Drinking a wine as old as you are is a fun experience. As an aside, I got a culture shock hearing that in Korea even ’90s vintages are called old vintages. A ’90s wine is only just becoming ready to drink.
Merryvale Profile 1997
Another Napa Valley wine; Profile is this winery’s flagship. That gold label looks seriously classy, doesn’t it? It’s white these days, which is a shame. Legend has it Robert Parker gave it 99 points and later lowered it to 89, and since it had reached its drinking window I brought it along. Having tasted it, 89 is about right ^_^
Almaviva 2002
Almaviva is Chile’s flagship wine, but honestly it didn’t quite fit this gathering. Its style is ordinary, so it risked being buried under the characterful wines before it. Anyway, I got to taste a wine I’d only heard of, so I gained plenty of experience points.
A commemorative group shot
Put together a group of people who understand wine and you end up with nothing but middle-aged men -_-;; Not an atmosphere I like much. And the conversation inevitably drifts to politics and elections. Like most problems between people, politics is never going to be settled rationally, so talking about it usually gets you nowhere. Then again, the arguing itself is a total waste of energy, but it’s true that it’s a fun topic for power-minded men. Personally I’d rather have more realistic, constructive conversations, but…
Bread
Much better than before. I’d seen in a recent 2chef meetup post that the bread had changed, and actually eating it, it beats most places. If I had to compare, it’s not quite at Boutique Blooming’s level. Though I wonder if that place would sell its bread on its own… the rest of their food didn’t satisfy me that much…
Old vintages need decanting
There’s an element of showmanship, but old vintages have lots of sediment, so you can’t drink them without decanting. Being able to trust this kind of expert work to the staff makes drinking wine at 2chef really easy. Plenty of other places are corkage-free, but they don’t know wine, so you can’t expect proper service. One place even chilled -_- the red, and cork crumbling while opening an old vintage happens all the time, but I’ve never seen the sommelier here make a mistake. Many thanks for looking after us so well last time with the Canon too.
Octopus carpaccio
The octopus is nice and fresh. The sauce is sweet and tangy, which seems to be typical 2chef style. Women would probably love it.
The Mondavi’s 36-year-old cork
My respect to the sommelier for extracting a cork this soaked without a single mark. I’d have broken about half of it.
Starting with the delicate Mondavi
On the first sip you get cassis and berries. I’d been worried, but it’s still vividly alive. There’s none of the explosive, rough edge of a young vintage, though; the tannins, slowly melted in over the long years, just wrap around your throat like a silk scarf and glide gracefully down. In terms of the wine’s lifespan it seems past its peak, but as an old vintage its charm feels at its height right now. It’s also fun to enjoy it slowly opening up over time. I learned that if they’re in shape like this, old vintages are well worth experiencing.
Grilled pork jowl
Maybe this is their signature dish… it’s delicious every time. For this evening we left the food up to the chef, though, and maybe because we’d brought three bottles of red, it was meat after meat. Not that the meat was bad; it’s our fault for only bringing reds. But collecting reds and sweet wines is hard enough already; if I start collecting whites too… ugh…
Whale bacon
It’s whale meat I had brought over from Shimonoseki. Eaten without any preconceptions about it being whale, it’s a bit chewy, springy and salty, and perfectly edible. I handed the ingredient to the chef and asked him to do whatever he thought best, and the dish came out almost exactly as I’d imagined it. Thanks so much~
Tenderloin steak
Since the evening was all about the wine and it was only middle-aged men -_- we tossed formality aside and ordered à la carte instead of a course. So every dish came on a big platter and everyone helped themselves. With the food served on big platters, it was obvious they’d used better ingredients than in a regular course. Food really does taste better when it’s made in big batches.
When I first planned this gathering, I actually thought of doing it Japanese-style, sitting at a counter facing the chef, chatting while we ate and drank, but 2chef doesn’t really have the space for that. Oh well… next time I’ll try setting up a more free-form gathering.
Around here the second wine, the Merryvale, came out. The taste was so-so, but the nose was really unusual. It gave off wafts of something like children’s syrup, or cheap junk-food candy. Being at its drinking window and bursting with character, it made for a fun experience. The label looked great -_- too. Though if you told me to buy it again, I’d have to think hard…
Lamb steak
Maybe because only the outside was seared, the inside stays perfectly juicy. It was on a different level from any lamb I’d had before. And how did they manage to plate it so prettily, like a flower? Dishes like this take so much work that they can’t be part of a regular course menu. I only get to come occasionally and hardly bring in much business ^_^ so thank you so much for going to the trouble~
Mustard
It’s young lamb, so it didn’t really need any sauce.
Mint jelly
It was a first for me, but apparently in Korea mint jelly is a must with lamb. It’s pretty, but the lamb served at Korean Western restaurants isn’t very gamey, so it’s not really needed either.
Finally, the Almaviva
A standard Cabernet Sauvignon, a little spicy. It gave me an image of a tropical island. It might have become delicious with a few more years in the cellar, but it’s fine as it is. As I’d expected from the start, it did feel a bit buried by the characterful wines before it…
Crème brûlée for dessert
The food was so generous that I was full, so we kept dessert light. The wines were delicious too, and I’d call it a pretty successful gathering ^_^ I’ll have to host another one with great wines next time. I’m already looking forward to it.