Wine-tasting dinner with visitors from Michigan and California. Warm summer night at Rover's begins with Gosset Grand Rosé in the garden.
Then Thierry Rautureau starts sending out delectable tastes, starting with a caviar-filled eggshell as sommelier Cyril Fréchier uncorks a stunning 1999 Puligny-Montrachet from Domaine Leflaive.
Next, Chapoutier's 2001 Chante-Alouette accompanies a crab-and-fennel dish.
Then we switch to a much older white, Kalin Cellars 1993 Semillon. A huge diver scallop and a slice of seared foie gras is served to the gents; the ladies get beets with a couscous truffle. We taste from each other's plates, of course.
Now come two magnificent Burgundies: from Jean Grivot, a 1997 Nuits-St-Georges "Les Boudots" and from Louis Jadot a 1999 Vosne-Romanée "Les Suchots." They're textbook illustrations of differing styles: Grivot's rustic and earthy, Jadot's subtle and ethereal.
With the contrasting wines, two great pieces of fish: Copper River salmon and Alaska halibut. Eight people at the table, eight views of which combination was "ideal." Wonderful thing, great wines with perfectly prepared food: one's senses are heightened, concentration deepened, descriptive powers enhanced.
After a pause for cucumber sorbet, a great Bordeaux, the 1985 Chateau Pichon-Lalande. First tried this vintage during a visit to the property in 1989; it's never tasted as good as this: rich, ripe, its youthful fruit giving way slowly to mature aromas of tobacco and leather.
Again, two dishes: lamb medallions for the ladies, venison "burgers" for the guys. Then a trio desserts, which I photographed but don't remember eating. Maybe I didn't?
Rover's, 2808 E. Madison St., Seattle 206-325-7442
