By: AJ McClellan
Last week we had a absolutely fantastic dinner with Jean Marie Cadot up in North Dallas. The food was terrific but the real treat was the two stunning bottles of wine we had. We started out with a bottle of 2006 Cristal which while it is young the wine was showing extremely well. The Cristal was showing fresh lemon zest and a great finish of brioche and ripe apples. The Champagne paired perfectly with the caviar that was served with it as the freshness and crisp fruit cut through the salt of the caviar.
Next course was a pheasant frizze salad topped with shaved black truffles. For this we had a bottle of 1992 Emmanuel Rouget Vosne Romanee Cros Parantoux! From the 1.01ha vineyard this Cros Parantoux was simply stunning. The Burgundy was showing earthy aromas of truffle (which was a perfect match for the truffles in the salad) as well as dried cherry, cherry blossom, and limestone. I tried to keep the Rouget in my glass for as long as I could and the wine just got better and better the longer it sat…
Last but not least is the 1975 Ausone paired with seared sea bass served over a black truffle risotto. This was a little unusual as pairings go but surprisingly it worked out very well. The Ausone was very light and delicate with a nose full of black fruit and subtle earthy aromas that carried the risotto perfectly. The only shame was that there was only one bottle and before I knew it we had drank the whole thing!!