Post-Christmas - Magnum Madness @ Bobby Van's

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas festivities. For this dinner we will wine and dine at perennial favorite, Bobby Van's on Park, and enjoy some aged Magnums. One from Bordeaux and the other a Bordeaux style blend from Argentina! PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT WITH OLDER BOTTLES, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN STORED PROPERLY, THERE IS ALWAYS THE RISK OF A "OFF" BOTTLE. SO PLEASE CONSIDER THAT WHEN SIGNING UP FOR THIS DINNER.

For this dinner with 8 people, we'll be having one white wine and two red magnums. It will be at Bobby Van's on Park Avenue, at the corner of Park Avenue and 46th Street.

Here is a link to their menu...
Bobby Van's on Park Menu

Just a reminder of our usual rules:

** The cost of this event is $65 and is for the cost of the wines only.

NOTE: Meetup has started charging a "Partner Fee" that is above and in addition to the listed price of the event. It comes to approximately $4 more for each RSVP. You will see this charge when you complete your rsvp and pay for the event. Sorry! Meetup+ members are exempt from this charge.

You will also have to pay the cost of your food (plus 33% for tax and tip). Please order at least two courses (i.e. a main dish and either appetizer or dessert) for your dinner. There are very few restaurants that allow us to bring our own wine for a Zero corkage fee. We must be good guests to encourage the restaurant to continue to be generous to us.

Please read and understand the group's cancellation policy. If you take spot, then cancel, and no one else takes the spot, you will not receive a refund or credit. No refunds or credits will be given for no-shows or late cancellations (unless someone else takes your spot). All cancellations are subject to a $6 service fee.

Please use public transportation - NO DRINKING AND DRIVING!

The Wines:
2021 Domaine Denis Bachelet Bourgogne-Aligoté ($45) - I do love Aligote. But they are highly acidic wines with a big dose of salinity. Sounds like an Oyster and wine combo to me!

2010 Bodega Catena Zapata Nicolás Catena Zapata ($180) - CT 92.4, Vinous 94 points, A 75/25 blend of cabernet sauvignon and malbec) "(14% alcohol; 6.5 g/l acidity; 3.45 pH): Bright ruby-red. Very pure, multifaceted nose offers black fruits, dusty spices, game, leather and minerals. Plush on entry, then classically dry and uncompromising, showing a lovely light touch and terrific violet lift to its sharply delineated flavors of cassis, menthol, licorice, bitter chocolate and saline minerality. Very claret-like in a St. Julien way. This wonderfully suave, still-primary wine, from a small, cool harvest, finishes with sneaky breadth, fine-grained tannins and captivating spicy lift. (Drink between 2020-2032) " NOTE: WA gave this 95 points, but closed the drinking window at 2023, which frankly surprises me. Especially given the recent CT posts.

2000 Château Branon ($266) - CT 91.9, Rated 4 times by the WA, each time scoring at least 92 points, the most recent review is from 6/2010 and they scored it 97 points saying, "Everyone at the tasting where this wine was presented was rocked (or should I say shocked) by the greatness of this wine. It needs no defense. I rated it 96 seven years ago, and it comes from a beautiful vineyard in Pessac-Leognan near Haut-Bergey. Made by Helene Garcin and her winemaking team at the time, Michel Rolland and Jean-Luc Thunevin (now replaced by Dr. Alain Raynaud), 650 cases of this wine were produced. It has a deep, opaque bluish/purple color and a gorgeously sweet nose of incense, asphalt, blueberry liqueur, coffee, bacon fat, and a hint of meat juices. Full-bodied and dense, with silky tannins but enormous richness, length, and texture, this is a stunner to drink now or to age for another two decades."

An earlier review said, "it is Perhaps the first garage wine from the Graves region, this 200-case lot of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc is made by Jean-Luc Thunevin. The owners, Garcin-Cathiard, have quickly built the Pomerol estate, Clos l'Eglise, and Haut-Bergey in Pessac-Leognan into serious producers."