Highlights of this dinner were a stunning flight of 99 Richebourgs and a beautiful bottle of 1974 Ridge Montebello. The 1999 DRC Richebourg is, like the 99 La Tache, one of the greatest burgundies ever produced by DRC (or anyone else). It is surprisingly approachable now — deep, dark, dense, layered — a mind blowing wine. Second best was a producer I really love, A.F. Gros. The Gros Richebourg was leaner, lighter, more delicate, but quite a fantastic effort and worth searching, especially bang for buck wise. The 1974 Ridge is a beautiful Cali Cab, and this was a perfect bottle. Ridge Montebello is one of my favorite Cali Cabs ever produced, especially 91 and older.
Chef Walter created a fantastic menu — highlights were: spot prawns paired with champagne; lobster, asparagus and morels with White Burgundy (2000 Leflaive flight, of which the Batard was surprisingly delicious); Wild Quail with the Richebourg flight (an incredible sauce); and my favorite dish at Republique (and one of my top ten dishes in Los Angeles), Duck A La Presse (I don’t think any other restaurant in Los Angeles does this — you have to go to Daniel in New York for a comparable!) — this was paired with a flight of 1995 Bordeaux (see below).
Head Somm Samuel and his team did a top notch job. It is worth noting that the Mixology program at Republique is one of the best in Los Angeles, and the mixologists are all top notch.
Here is the final menu (the wines are all served blind) and photos:
