After a previous lunch at Beaugravière, I looked forward to a return visit for dinner during my long sojourn in the Rhône Valley. There were so many things on the menu I wanted to try, including wonderful fresh baby purple artichokes and a delicious dish of summer vegetables in a nice broth. It always amazes me how much flavor is noticeable in freshly harvested vegetables presented in such a simple manner. We then moved on to one of La Beaugravière's great specialties, their pastry shell stuffed with a big, sautéed lobe of foie gras and a black truffle served in a gorgeously rich sauce of reduced brown stock and black truffles. It's a killer dish. That was equaled by a wonderful roasted whole chicken served with black truffle mashed potatoes. What's so amazing is that all of these black truffles are preserved by Chef Guy Jullien, who does a better job than any other person I know in preserving much of their flavor in a process of freezing them. They probably lose 30-40% of their flavor based on having had fresh black truffles in season, but they are still remarkably aromatic and intensely flavorful.

The wines included a gorgeous magnum of 1998 La Nerthe Cuvée des Cadettes. Out of magnum, this is still a very young wine, but we had it decanted for a couple of hours, and that seemed to open it considerably. It's a brilliant example of a modern-styled Châteauneuf du Pape. Since La Nerthe is dominated by Mourvèdre, we next had a magnum of Château Beaucastel's 1998 Hommage à Jacques Perrin, which also includes at least 50% Mourvèdre. This bottle, which was decanted after we arrived at the restaurant, seemed very closed and tannic. At the end of the meal, when we were nearly ready to leave, the wine began to strut its stuff. It has enormous potential, but in retrospect, it was probably a mistake to try and drink it at this stage of its life. I have a few bottles in my cellar, and I don't intend to touch another one for at least 5-10 years.