Three 3 stars in France day 3: 100 years of Lafite-Rothschild

Enfin, la pièce de résistance!

The main reason I flew all the way to France and planned this trip was tonight's dinner, which came at the joint invitation of Château Lafite-Rothschild and Caprice. Three years ago the Hairy Chevalier invited me to dinner at Château d'Yquem, and that was an amazing experience. Tonight we are back in Bordeaux, but a little further north in Pauillac.

Upon arriving at the château, we were received jointly by Antoine Granger and Victor Petiot. We got to chill on the lawn just outside with Champagne and canapés while we waited for everyone to arrive.

Tomato tart with Parmesan cookie - this tastes very familiar...

Caviar tart with blue cheese - not a combination I remember from Caprice, but no complaints!

1979 Krug, en magnum - lovely toasty and nutty nose, with a little bit of straw. This was very much alive with thrilling acidity. What a beautiful wine! The third magnum I got my second pour from was even better, with a huge, toasty nose that was also reductive at the same time. Sooooo amazing, and I love it!

Our hosts made their welcoming remarks, and I certainly felt very privileged to have been invited for this occasion.

We adjourned to the dining room for the dinner, and I was shocked to be told that it would be a candlelight dinner because... there is no electricity in the dining room! Right away I knew that my photos from tonight would turn out terribly... and in restrospect, I should have just dispensed with my Sony camera and used my iPhone instead. I'll know better next time!

Alaskan king crab, crustacean jelly, Gillardeau oysters and Osciètre Prestige caviar from ⟪La Maison Kaviari⟫ - a dish whose different variations I'm familiar with, including this one with caviar. Always love those micro-coriander and the lemongrass. A great combination of the sweetness of the crab, the umami from the jelly, slight briny flavors of ths oyster, and a dose of salt and fat from the caviar.

Look, ma! This here's got them goldfoil! It's so purrrty!

Anything tasty will also taste good on some bread, and the crust added some crunch besides the shredded courgettes.

2005 William Fevre Chablis Le Clos, en magnum - flinty nose with notes of stone fruit. Pretty round and ripe on the palate.

This big ol' tart looked kinda familiar, but as always with the Hairy Chevalier, there are multiple variations to the same dish as he switches things up depending on the occasion and season. This one came with strawberries.

Tart of duck and foie gras, bell pepper and strawberries - most of the strawberries used in the pie as well as the marmalade made with bell peppers came from the château's own gardens. Gotta say I really liked the fruity acidity in the marmalade as well as the pie. What I didn't expect was the crunchy feeling of biting down on all the strawberry seeds.

Just look at all the delicious fat in there! That, and the rich foie gras, is why you need the acidity from strawberries.

First pair: opened and double-decanted, then stoppered for 5½ hours and aired for 30 minutes prior to serving.

2005 Lafite-Rothschild, en magnum - smoky nose that was a little ripe, and not so open right now. Still kinda tannic on the palate, even at the ripe old age of 21 years.

2000 Lafite-Rothschild, en magnum - WOW! This was soooo fresh! Nose of smoke, graphite, cigar box, and mint. Sooo smooth, soooo elegant. Pretty savory on the palate, and I hate to describe it as brett but there seemed to be a touch of it, along with leather. Another 30 minutes in the savory, bretty notes were pretty obvious. My favorite wine of the night.

Lobster in bordelaise style - I jokingly complained that the Hairy Chevalier has served me the same dish three times in a month, but he was quick to point out that the sauce was different for each occasion. Indeed, tonight was very different. We've still got the fruity acidity in the sauce, but instead of the usual raspberry vinegar it's strawberries from the garden, along with stock made with the lobster head, teal, and duck. This combination with the birds meant that the sauce was very punchy and more pungent, and while I was perfectly fine with it, I thought it might be too much for some people. The thin wafers of ceps from the garden came with rosemary and some coffee bean shavings, and the fig jam underneath was made with fruit from the garden.

The lobster itself was crunchier and more difficult to cut into. To me, that's the sign of a really good, wild product. But of course it was! We're much closer to Brittany here than if I were sitting in Hong Kong. Apparently even the glaze on top of the lobster was different from the usual.

Second pair: opened and double-decanted, then stoppered for 6 hours and aired for 30 minutes prior to serving.

1990 Lafite-Rothschild, en magnum - softer on the nose but more minty, a little woodsy, smoky and slight dusty, savory, leather, and was there also a touch of brett? Obviously this was more mature on the palate. About 30 minutes in this finally opened up further, and the nose was pretty fragrant. The nose kinda died about 1 hour and 20 minutes in, but the palate was still going.

1986 Lafite-Rothschild, en magnum - the nose was soooo fragrant and woodsy. Also savory, but much less brett. A real lovely wine.

Now I see what the Hairy Chevalier did here... Three weeks ago at Caprice, I had opened a bottle of 1986 Lafite-Rothschild in a blind tasting. And Hairy Chevalier already knew he was serving the lobster for tonight, so that's why he chose to serve me lobster with the same wine. It's too bad my bottle's condition was not so good.

Beef fillet with vine shoots - the Aussie wagyu was a little dry and stringy on the edges from grilling over fire, but otherwise the beef was fine. The chanterelles on top had been pickled and were very acidic... so not my favorite. The zucchini flower on the side had been stuffed with ratatouille and I could certainly taste that. This paired very well with the 1955.

1955 Lafite-Rothschild, en magnum - beautiful, fragrant nose, with lovely notes of cedar, smoke, graphite, and pencil lead. The nose still got the fruity acidity. The palate was savory and very much oxidized now.

We've got some nice local lamb...

Roasted lamb from Pauillac, yogurt gel and mint condiment - the taste of lamb fat was sooo strong, but sooo good! The ras el hanout in the jus was pretty strong but I love it. We've got the usual celtuce with the lamb shoulder, but tonight we've also got some crunchy buckwheat in there. The green pea condiment was made with mint from the gardens, which was really lovely and fresh.

The next wine was listed as "vin mystère" and we were asked to guess the vintage. We all know I suck at blindtasting, and while everyone put in their much younger guesses, I threw out 1929 just because... Well, it was even older than that. Since the first wine chosen was 2005, it was decided that 1955 and 1905 would also be served, making it 100 years between the oldest and youngest vintages.

1905 Lafite-Rothschild - the color was pretty light and not quite pink. The nose was so, so, soooo fragrant, with the red fruits and a little peppery, along with some coffee and toast. So elegant. What an amazing treat!

Peach with château honey, blue vanilla ice cream - love this dessert, as the peach was infused with saffron, and we've got that beautiful ice cream made with Blue Bourbon vanilla from la Réunion.

1976 Rieussec - lots of honey, botrytis, marmalade, and honeydew melon. Beautiful. So sweet and unctuous.

We adjourned to the drawing room for some mignardises and Cognac. Normally I'm not so eager to go for the digestif, but when this is on offer...

Cognac Très Vieilles Réserve Lafite-Rothschild - really sweet with lots of caramel on the nose.

When Antoine asked whether anyone would like to see the cellar... the answer was unequivocally MAIS, BIEN SÛR! This was the part where the oldest bottles were displayed for show, and when I saw the bottles of 1787, I immediately thought of Hardy Rodenstock...

A couple of friends who were also staying at La Maison d'Estournel arranged for the driver to take them back, as they needed to get up early tomorrow morning. I figured I should probably also get back and try to get some sleep. Unlike 3 years ago, this time I'm not staying at the château... so I called it a night.

Our souvenir for the event was a pied de biche, the traditional crowbar used to open wooden cases of wine. I've always been using a flathead screwdriver and hammer, but now that I have this... I can't wait to take it to my cellar and give it a try!

Many, many thanks to Antoine, Hairy Chevalier, Victor, and the teams for this amazing experience. I've been very privileged to be a friend, and I love these benefits of being a friend!