For this course I opened my long awaited white Burgundy, the 1991 Bâtard-Montrachet. We purchased two cases of the white Burgundy wines back in 1992. From the two cases, only seven bottles are left. This is one if the two 1991 Bâtard bottles. Bâtard-Montrachet is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for white wine from Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy. It is located within the communes of Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet. Bâtard-Montrachet borders on the Grand Cru vineyard Montrachet in the west, on Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet in the east/northeast and on Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet in the south. In terms of the Côte d'Or hillside, Bâtard-Montrachet is located below Montrachet, with the Route des Grands Crus running between the two vineyards. The AOC was created in 1837.
The color of this wine reminded me of an old Sauternes, amber gold color. The nose was raisin stem, minerals and roasted vanilla, On the palate the wine was outstanding with full body, chewy and layers after layers of complex flavors including toasted honey, Carmel and vanilla. This wine was just perfect with the crab cakes.
The main course was s beautiful cut of meat (bone in prime rib) that Alinda specially grilled using Bobby Flay's recommendation where she placed the cast iron skillet on a hot grill for ~15 minutes prior placing the steak for sizzling. The sides were sweet potatoes gratin and micro greens.
Since the Burgundy was such a big wine, I decided to continue with the same wine for this course. As I suspected, the wine just stood up to the rich flavors of the meat and the sweet potatoes gratin. Wow, what a versatile wine!
The dessert was a chocolate mousse from the Praline Bakery & Restaurant in Bethesda, MD. Highly recommended.
