Summer dinner on the patio at Chez Joel

Summer dinner on the patio at Chez Joel Bistro, Chicago, with special vintage birth year BYOB wine

Going back more than a decade it’s been a tradition of summer to have dinner on the patio at Chez Joel Bistro in Little Italy, Chicago. 

We dined with Son Sean and his family, MIchelle and their two daughters, our grand-daughters for whom we babysit for several days each week, including the last couple of weeks.

 

We ordered several starters before dinner - our usual Pate’, the Escargot and tonight’s special Cerviche

Pâté de deux Sortes - Duck Liver Pâté with Traditional Garnish & Toast Points

Escargots A La Bourguignon - French Snails with Garlic Butter, Pernod & Herbed Breadcrumbs

For our dinner entrees, Linda had one of the daily specials, Pan Seared Alaskan Halibut with bok choy, corn/mango salsa and pomme puree’.

Sean and I both ordered from the menu the regular Duck entree -  

Magret et Confit de Canard, Sauce à L’orange - Seared Duck Breast & Leg Confit, Wild Mushrooms, Red Cabbage, Beets, Poached Pear, Sweet Potato Puff 

Michelle ordered the Rack of Lamb chops served with pomme’ purée. 

For a special wine with dinner, I pulled from the cellar an aged vintage wine commemorating Sean’s birth year that we took BYOB.

Cos d’Estournel St. Estephe Bordeaux 1985

For a special wine with dinner, I pulled from the cellar an aged vintage wine commemorating Sean’s birth year that we took BYOB.

Chateau Cos d'Estournel is a Grand Cru vineyard located on the road from Pauillac as you enter the St. Estephe appellation. Its oriental facade is adorned with three pagoda turrets.

The estate is situated in the very south of Saint-Estèphe, just north of Pauillac's Lafite Rothschild where the south-facing vineyard slopes gently down to the Jalle du Breuil stream which separates it from the first growth Chateau Lafite Rothschild. 

We visited the iconic Chateau Cos d'Estournel with oriental facade adorned with three pagoda turrets and the Grand Cru vineyards in St. Estephe during our visit to Bordeaux in 2019. 

Cos d’Estournel St. Estephe Bordeaux 1985

In old Gascon, "cos" means "hill of pebbles", and the vineyard does consist of deep Quaternary gravels and clay on limestone bedrock. 

The Chateau Cos d'Estournel estate covers 170 acres separated from Chateau Lafite Rothschild on the southern edge, by the stream between St. Estephe and Pauillac. The gravelly soil, over a flint, limestone and silicate subsoil low in nitrogen, has eroded over centuries to form steep ridges which perfectly drain the vineyards. 

The vineyards are planted 60 percent in Cabernet Sauvignon vines, 2 percent of Cabernet Franc, and 38 percent in Merlot. Naturally, the percentage of Cabernet or Merlot in the composition of each vintage depends on the climate which favors one grape variety or the other.

In the 1855 Classification, it was classified as a second growth and remains one of the most prominent and sought-after of all Bordeaux wines. Historically, the Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant grand vin has had a high percentage of Merlot compared with other Médoc growths, although this has lessened in recent years. 

Cos d'Estournel is known to be dark, brooding and tannic when young, developing complexity and intensity with time.

1985 Cos d'Estournel, St-Estèphe

This release was awarded a concensus 93 points by Wine Advocate, Vinous and Wine Spectator. 

Still holding its own at forty years shows the age worthiness of this wine in top vintages and the 1985 from cask could have been a lighter version of the 1982 and 1953 vintages. We’ve held this since acquiring it on release back in the eighties. The foil, label and importantly the cork and fill level were all acceptable for their age. The cork was partly saturated and a bit soft but was able to be extracted by the waiter with his traditional cork screw. 

Showing its age, the color was garnet colored and a bit opaque with moderate bricking, medium bodied, ever so slight subdued nose on the concentrated red and black berry and black cherry fruits accented by leather, tobacco and spice with a hints of cedar and pain grille on a moderate finish of fine grained tannins. 

Vinous said “This bottle constitutes the best example of the 1985 that I have encountered.”

RM 89 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?13153

https://www.chezjoelbistro.com/

https://www.estournel.com/en/

 

Château Sérilhan Saint-Estèphe Cru Bourgeois Bordeaux w/ artisan cheese, roasted nuts and fruit

Château Sérilhan Saint-Estèphe Cru Bourgeois Bordeaux with artisan cheese, roasted gourmet nuts and fruit plate

On a quiet evening binging on latest streaming phenom, we enjoyed sipping this easy drinking Medoc Bordeaux Grand Vin Cru Bourgeois with plate of artisan blue cheeses, fresh pear fruit and delicious gourmet roasted Marcona Almonds with Sea Salt.

Château Sérilhan Saint-Estèphe 2010

The Saint-Estèphe appellation at the top of the Left Bank of Bordeaux is known for deeply colored, concentrated wines, often distinctive as ‘go-to’ for great, age-worthy and reliable Bordeaux reds. 

Separated from Pauillac merely by a stream (shown below), St. Estephe is the farthest northwest of the highest classed villages of the Haut Medoc, and is therefore subject to the most intense maritime influence of the Atlantic. We drove through the area during our Bordeaux region visit in 2019.

Vineyards on Pauillac St Estephe boundary

Saint-Estèphe soils are rich in gravel like all of the best sites of the Haut Medoc where the formation of gravel over clay creates a cooler atmosphere for the vines compared to those in the villages farther downstream (south and west). This results in delayed ripening and wines with higher acidity compared to the other villages.

While they can seem a bit austere when young, St. Estephe reds prove to be long lived for aging in the cellar. Traditionally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, many producers add a significant proportion of Merlot to the blend, which will soften any sharp edges of the more tannic, Cabernet.

Château Sérilhan was transformed in January 2003, when technology businessman Didier Marcelis took over the 20 acre family estate started back in 1982 by his grandfather Merlet, and managed by his parents, Jean and Maryvonne. After his arrival, he began heavily investing to improve the quality of the wines, increasing the vineyard size, replanting, and new material buying including new barrels.

Didier Marcelis expanded the domaine to 35 acres. He hired emblematic wine consultant Hubert de Boüard (owner of Château Angélus) who went on to receive numerous awards for the high quality of recent vintages.

The Saint-Estèphe cuvée is classified “AOC (Appellation Original Controlee) Crus Bourgeois du Médoc. The classification Cru Bourgeois dates back to the Middle Ages, when the citizens (bourgeois), residents of the “burgh” (bourg) of Bordeaux, acquire the region’s best lands and were subsequently granted this designation. 

In 1932, the Crus Bourgeois producers were grouped in a list established by the Bordeaux wine merchants, under the aegis of the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce of and the Gironde Chamber of Agriculture. The criteria for inclusion was based on the quality and value of red wines produced in one of the eight Médoc appellations: Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Listrac, Moulis, Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac, and Saint-Estèphe.

This is an evolving classification as from 2010, the official selection has been published annually in September.

Of course, the greatest Medoc Bordeaux are considered to be the Grand Cru Classés, which are themselves divided into 5 growths. For example, the most famous Medocs (Latour, Lafite, Mouton Rothschild, and Margaux) are all “First Growths.” Chateau Palmer, stellar and expensive but not generally considered on their level, is a “Second Growth.”

While there are hundreds of Chateaux in Bordeaux, about 130 are classified as Grand Cru Classés. See my posts of the UGC Bordeaux (Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB)), and their annual release of the UGCB in these pages. The “Cru Bourgeois” are the best producers that are not Grand Crus Classés.

In a tasting of the Crus Bourgeois 2010, this vintage release was rated 92 by the Wine Enthusiast; Stephen Spurrier of Decanter and Ronan Sayburn both gave it 86 points, while Stephen Brook gave it 81 points.

The Saint-Estèphe cuvée generally presents a bouquet of ripe red fruit with spicy notes. This vintage release was rated 92 by the Wine Enthusiast who wrote “Good depth of ripe red fruits, fine and lively expression on the palate, still green on the finish, but this is a youthful greenness and will blend in, good wine for the mid term.”

Stephen Spurrier of Decanter gave this 86 points and said, “This firmly tannic wine, characteristic of Saint-Estèphe, is very dry. Underneath the dryness, there is a delicious, opulent juiciness that brings out black currant and plum flavors.”

Good value. Nice every day sipping… best with food … drank with blue cheese, pears and marcona roasted almonds .. medium bodied, dark black cherry fruits with notes of graphite, black tea, tobacco leaf and hint of cedar with moderate tannins on the smooth finish.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?1150709