A Wine Dinner that's a Night to Remember
 | The private wine dinner at Longchamps at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mansingh Road, New Delhi on November 29, 2007, was a night to remember. Most of Bordeaux's first growths from the host's extraordinary private collection were served at the dinner. The wines were excellent vintages from Chateau Margaux, Lafitte, Latour, La Mission, Haut Brion, and Mouton Rothschild. |
The Ambassador of France to India couldn't have put it better when he toasted the hosts at the end of the evening by saying, " There are very few people who are skilled, knowledgeable and generous enough to put together such a wine dinner. Certainly very few people in France are able to do so and describe the wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy this way."
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Chocolate confection teamed with Ch d' Yquem
The wines from Bordeaux served at different tables with the five-course meal were:
Château Lafite Rothschild, 1985
Château Latour, 1975
Château Margaux 1997
Château Mouton Rothschild, 1975
Château Haut-Brion, 1970
Château La Mission Haut-Brion, 1991
Château d' Yquem, 1988
Three other wines served were Champagne, Tio Pepe Palomino Fino Sherry and Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Saering Domaines Schlumberger, 2000
Comments
Saw your blog post on the amazing dinner. I was accorded the great honour of preparing the wine for the dinner, something that I liken to being invited to the Miss Universe or Miss World pageant and then asked to go back-stage to prepare the contestants for the pageant...the only difference being that in the case of these great wines, the only tool I would have to use was my nose... an act that I could be very promiscuous with without protest from anyone!
And for the record (if I may point a small factual imperfection) all the First Growths of Bordeaux by the 1855 classification were served – Latour, Lafite, Margaux, Haut Brion and Yquem – in addition, Mouton that was declared a First in 1973 was also included along with La Mission that is a classified growth according to the Graves Classification of 1959 and very much a quality equivalent of the Firsts.
One could argue that Cheval Blanc and Ausone, the only other First Growths were not included, but the classification of the wines of St.-Emilion took place only in 1956 and has been subject to change every 10 years, with the last one in 2006 nullified under controversial circumstances. The wines of Pomerol have never been classified, although 3 or 4 of them, with Petrus in the lead, naturally, qualify for being quality equivalents of the 1st growths of the Medoc.