We ordered off the wine list a bottle of Selosse, which seemed slightly evolved and tired. It was a major disappointment. We then moved into the 2003 Chave white Hermitage and 2003 Chapoutier Ermitage l’Ermite white, which both showed incredible minerality and freshness, but no over the top richness. They are both super-concentrated, but they possess such great minerality and extract that they were perfect foils for the warm Langoustine salad with white truffle, the Nantucket Bay scallops, and the Scottish game consommé with black truffle cream.

A spectacular bottle of 2003 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf du Pape was pure raspberry liqueur and kirsch. A wine of quintessential elegance, it revealed none of the overripe character that can exist in this vintage. Decadent, but elegant, rich, and Burgundian in style, this is a beauty of purity and finesse. It should drink well for another 15 or more years. A magnum of the 2000 Pégaü Cuvée da Capo was stunning. Beef blood, lavender, licorice, and seaweed notes were followed by a full-bodied, massively rich wine. While drinkable, it has 20-30 years of life remaining. The 1989 Henri Bonneau Réserve des Céléstins was pure pepper, aged beef, beef blood, meaty black cherries, and roasted Provençal herbs. Extraordinarily full-bodied, it was beautiful with the Oeuf Cocotte with chanterelle duxelle and white truffles as well as the whole roasted John Dory with black truffles.

The 1998 Brunel Les Cailloux Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée Centenaire (my last magnum) was the youngest wine in the tasting ... but there were no regrets. It was a great wine drunk with superb food with the greatest of friends. Several people preferred the 1998 Janasse Châteauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes, which was nearly as perfect. Pure kirsch liqueur, blackberries, licorice, spice, and incense, this beauty worked fabulously well with the chicken cooked in a pig’s bladder and the macaroni gratin with white truffles.

We finished with a magnum of the 2005 Domaine La Barroche Pure, which, along with the 2005 Deus Ex Machina from Clos St. Jean, gets my nod as the wine of the vintage.