What's Pressoir Drinking? (Our first Pressoir.wine dinner at Le Pavillon by Daniel Boulud!)

WHAT'S PRESSOIR DRINKING?

June 4th, 2021
by Raj Vaidya

A deep dive into the Premier Cru Vineyard of Petits Monts (and its neighbours) …

Last night we were delighted to finally host a wine dinner “just like in the before time'“ at Chef Daniel Boulud’s newest restaurant, Le Pavillon at One Vanderbilt.

We started out with a delicious magnum of Champagne Lassaigne, followed by two flights of white Burgundies before moving on to the main event, a vertical of the phenomenal Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Petits Monts from Veronique Drouhin. We sourced these bottles from the domaine some years ago with the intention of showcasing them during a La Paulée dinner but had to reschedule a few times, and finally decided we were too excited to try them to wait any longer. The first flight showed the overall finesse of the cuvée, with the often rich 90 vintage showing greater balance than is typical for such a warm harvest, and the 96 showing great depth and balance despite the higher acid levels of that vintage. It seemed like the harmony and delicacy inherent in the place overshadowed the vintage character, and all four were beautiful.

To offer a little perspective on the place, and the producer via contrast, we finished the evening with three 99s; Drouhin’s Petits Monts, Méo-Camuzet’s Cros Parantoux, situated directly north of Petits Monts (showed a touch more richness and oak, but beautiful and long on the palate) and DRC’s 1er Cru blended cuvée “Duvault Blochet”, which contains DRC’s Petits Monts fruit. A glorious way to return to the wine dinners of yesteryear, and it was so much fun that we’ll be back at Le Pavillon in a month or so to do it all again!

The wines:

CHAMPAGNE JACQUES LASSAIGNE, “Colline Inspirée” Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs NV en magnum

DOMAINE VINCENT DAUVISSAT, Chablis 1er Cru “Séchet” 2014

DOMAINE VINCENT DAUVISSAT, Chablis 1er Cru “Vaillons” 2014

DOMAINE VINCENT DAUVISSAT, Chablis Grand Cru “Les Clos” 2014

DOMAINE ANTOINE JOBARD, Meursault 1er Cru “Genevrières” 2012

DOMAINE PIERRE MOREY, Meursault 1er Cru “Les Perrieres” 2015

DOMAINE MATROT, Meursault 1er Cru “Les Charmes” 2009

MAISON JOSEPH DROUHIN, Vosne Romanée 1er Cru “Les Petits Monts” 2000, 1996, 1993, 1990

MAISON JOSEPH DROUHIN, Vosne Romanée 1er Cru “Les Petits Monts” 1999

DOMAINE MÉO-CAMUZET, Vosne Romanée 1er Cru “Cros Parantoux” 1999

DOMAINE de la ROMANÉE-CONTI, Vosne Romanée 1er Cru “Cuvée Duvault-Blochet” 1999