DMV Luxury Wine Dinners

N.V. Krug Grande Cuvée | Vivino US

2002 Salon Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs (Cuvée S) Brut Champagne | Vivino US

The menu may be subject to change, but the current plan is:

Appetizer

Gruyère Gougères with Herbed Crème Fraîche

Main

Coq au Champagne

Dessert

Classic Tarte Tatin with Vanilla Crème Chantilly

Salon is one of the most prestigious houses in Champagne. Instead of making a range of styles that includes a prestige cuvée like most Champagne houses, Salon makes a single prestige cuvée, which is made entirely from Chardonnay from the village Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.

The house was founded in 1911 by Eugène-Aimé Salon, who thought that Champagne was overly dominated by heavy Pinot Noir. Consequently, Salon decided to make a top Chardonnay-based label instead.
Today Salon is made in only the best vintages. The wine comes from a one-hectare (2.5 acre) parcel owned by Salon and 19 smaller parcels cultivated through agreements with various growers in the Grand Cru-classified Le Mesnil.

In years deemed not good enough, the grapes and wine production are diverted to become a part of the Champagne Delamotte label.
Salon is held back in cellar for much longer than other Champagnes – it can spend up to a decade in bottle before it is released onto the market, and can be cellared further.

Krug is one of Champagne's most prestigious houses and its wines are among the most collectible and expensive in Champagne. The house was founded in 1843 by Joseph Krug, a native of the Mosel region in Germany, who had moved to France and spent some time working for Jacquesson, the leading Champagne house of the time.
Krug's philosophy was that every Champagne should be the best possible expression, and eschewed the common idea of a hierarchy of Champagne. Instead, he began to craft a premium wine from a reserve of wines vinified separately by the growers themselves, a wine that would eventually become the Grande Cuvée.

This wine sits alongside the likes of Dom Pérignon and Cristal at the top of the Champagne tree, and is a blend of 120 different wines from 10 or more vintages from the so-called Krug Library (a repository of still wines held prior to blending and refermenting in bottle). It is aged for six years, and is noted for its complex brioche and spice characters.
Today, the wines are still vinified by individual plot, and are stored in the Krug Library. Every year, the chef de cave heads a tasting committee which decides on the final blend.

This library holds reserve wines anywhere from the current vintage to those 50 years old and are produced from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier, which are all grown at Krug and used throughout the collection.

The cost of the event is $300 and all guests must prepay to reserve their seat. Once paid, no refunds will be given but you can have somebody else come in your place.

*Disclaimer* Vintage wine is finicky even with perfect provenance and the Krug may not be drinking well. If the unfortunate occurs, I will have another excellent wine on hand to soften the blow!

Dominus Dominus (Christian Moueix) | Vivino US

We will be served a three-course meal that will look something like:

### FIRSTS (Pick One)

• Roasted Cauliflower Arancini
  With parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and fontina.
• Grilled Mushroom Panzanella
  With sautéed onions, celery leaf vinegar, and thyme.
• Meadow Creek Dairy Cheese Plate
  With apple mostarda and grilled baguette.
• Radicchio Salad
  With beets, mandarin, chives, and tahini dressing.
• Salted Halibut Brandade
  With chives and semolina sourdough.
• Grilled Cabbage alla Romana
  With breadcrumbs, Grana Padano, and chives.

***

### SECONDS (Pick One)

• Fazzoletti
  With fennel roasted pork, smoked collards, parmesan, and spicy breadcrumbs.
• Cappelletti
  With ricotta and pine nut-basil pesto.
• Cavatelli alla Vodka
  With semisecchi tomatoes, parmesan, and Etesia vodka.
• Chitarra
  With braised lamb, olives, and pecorino.
• Pork Milanese
  With Meyer lemon aioli, pearl onion agrodolce, and arugula.
  Make it vegetarian by asking for smoked eggplant Milanese.

***

### DESSERT (Pick One)

• Amaro Budino
  With cranberry jam and brown butter crumble.
• Olive Oil Cake
  With red wine figs and whipped cream.
• Panforte
  With hazelnuts, pears, candied ginger, and whipped mascarpone.
• Chocolate Sorbet
  With olive oil and cacao nibs.

Dominus Estate is a wine producer based just outside northern Yountville, in California's Napa Valley wine region. The winery makes one Napa's so-called cult Cabernets and its eponymous wine regulary receives critical acclaim. The owner, Christian Moueix, has had ownership – at least in part – since 1982, and ran the estate concurrently with his family wine business in Bordeaux until 2008.

The estate is based around the Napanook vineyard, which is notable for being one of the first sites planted to grapes in the Napa Valley. George Yount, who gives his name to the Yountville appellation, set up a vineyard here in 1838 and, since then, the 50-hectare (124-acre) site has been owned by all manner of Napa stalwarts including John Daniel Jr, who is widely credited with bringing the Inglenook estate to world prominence.

Moueix went into partnership in 1982 with Robin Lail and Marcia Smith, the daughters of John Daniel Jr, and, in 1995, took over as the sole owner. Since then, a second vineyard has been added to the Dominus portfolio, this time in Oakville.

The Napanook vineyard sits on the edge of the Mayacamas Mountains, rising slightly into the hills to the west of the valley. The vineyard is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, although there are plantings of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

This makeup is reflected in Dominus Estate's flagship red wine, which is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon with some Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc – although the exact proportions depend on the vintage. Dominus Estate also makes an entry-level red wine, Othello, and a mid-level Cabernet, Napanook.

The vineyard is dry-farmed both to conserve water and to control yields and thus the quality of the fruit. Moueix has also been a particular proponent of crop-thinning, having used it since the early 1970s at his most high-profile estate: Pétrus. This practice is said to improve the quality of the fruit as it improves the leaf-to-fruit ratio, aiding ripening.
Dominus Estate is also notable for its winery, designed by the same Swiss architects that designed Beijing's Olympic Stadium. It is constructed from gabions filled with stones, which give the winery natural light as well as moderating Napa Valley's extremes of temperature.

The cost of the event is $150 and all guests must prepay to reserve their seat. Once paid, no refunds will be given but you can have somebody else come in your place.