Sunday, November 10, 2019

Ducru Beaucaillou Vertical Showcases Pour Boys Wine Dinner

Ducru Beaucaillou Vertical Showcases Pour Boys Wine Dinner

Following our trip to St Julien - Bordeaux recently where one of the highlights of our trip was a visit and tour of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, and another, our visit to Château Branaire Ducru, we were eager to explore a vertical tasting of the Second Growth grand vin.

During our recent Pour Boys Sassicaia owner dinner, I suggested we focus our upcoming dinner on Bordeaux - St Julien and offered a range of producers I could support. Over the ensuing weeks we selected Ducru-Beaucaillou as our featured producer for this evening's dinner. As noted by the boys at dinner, not many small groups could muster a vertical tasting of such a great wine spanning three decades.


Our dinner was hosted by Lyle and Terry and it was our first time there to see their new wine cellar. Lyle and Terry's pied-a-terre is in the city in Chicago's trendy West Loop neighborhood. The area has exploded in recent years with the new McDonald's world headquarters and the nearby Fulton Market district and its emergence as a high tech mecca anchored by Google and many others. The meteoric rise in popularity and property values in the area not only justifies Lyle's investment in his custom designed and built cellar, but suits the upscale feature requirements of upscale neighborhood residences.


Lyle and Terry prepared a spectacular dinner of beef tenderloin with roasted potatoes, asparagus, butternut squash, all capped off by Terry's decadent orange cake and cheese cake desserts with chocolate ganache, fresh berries and cherry jubilee.


 


Before dinner, they served grilled breaded scallops, salmon and an assortment of artisan cheeses, cheese dips and olives. The opening dinner course included a dinner salad and cream of mushroom soup.



John kicked off the appetizers and early courses with a garagiste Champagne.

Tarlant NV Champagne


The white wine flight consisted of a selection of premium and ultra-premium chardonnays from Burgundy, south central California Santa Rita Hills, and north California Sonoma County, and a Riesling.

The white flight:

Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Ruchottes 2012
Sea Smoke Streamside Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay 2012
Peter Michael Ma Belle-Fille Sonoma County Chardonnay 2006
Dönnhoff Tonschiefer Riesling Dry Slate 2018 

To pivot or transition from the whites to the Bordeaux red flight Steve brought this Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Burgundy.

Domaine François Gerbet Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots 2010

The red Bordeaux flight:

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 1989
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 1998
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 2000
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 2009
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 2014

Le Croix de Beaucaillou 2008 
Château Branaire-Ducru 2016
and 
Cos d'Estournel St Estephe 1996


After dinner, the dessert was accompanied by two dessert wines:

Chateau Coutet Premier Cru Classe Barsac 2013
Niepoort Vintage Port 1977

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1879011

http://chateau-ducru-beaucaillou.com/ 

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