Myoukarangyoku and Champagne

Dinner at Neighborhood.

Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru Vieillissement Prolongé, dégorgée en juillet 2008 - a bottle that I carried back from Reims all those years ago.  60 month on lees.  Wonderfully caramelized nose, toasty, very ripe and rich, with savory salty plum notes.  Nice depth of flavor here.

With this as the chaser to beluga caviar, this brought out a little more of the smoky flavors.

Daishichi Myoukarangyoku Junmai Daiginjo Shizuku Genshu (大七 妙花蘭曲 純米大吟醸 雫原酒), 24BY - brewed in 2012 and released in 2016.  Aerated in bottle for about 40 minutes before serving. Very sweet on the nose, with plenty of banana notes, really fragrant.  Reasonably sweet on the palate but a little dry and spicy on the finish.

Daishichi Myoukarangyoku Grande Cuvée (大七 妙花蘭曲 グランド キュヴェ), 2013 version, released in July 2015 - this bottling represents the pinnacle of Daishichi's offerings.  The 2013 version is the third iteration of the Grande Cuvée, and is a blend of 21 vintages of the "regular" Myoukarangyoku brewed between the years of 1988 to 2008.  The 1,256 bottles of this version were released over three years - generally on July 7 of each year - and this particular bottle would have come from the last batch.

Aerated for 40 minutes before serving.  A little more dry on the nose compared to the single vintage bottling, and also more elegant and fragrant.  Sweet on the attack but more dry on the palate.  With further aeration the nose became sweeter.  According to other, more experienced experts, it would seem that we should have aerated this bottle for half a day at least...

With a single slice of white truffle, the nose turned really, really explosive.  The amazing combination of the truffle seemed to have been magnified by the alcohol and sweetness of this sake.  Absolutely unbelievable!  This was probably the best use of this thin slice of white truffle, EVER.

2012 Lécheneaut Gevrey-Chambertin - nice and fruity, with some forest and dried herb notes.  Huge nose of toasty corn.

With a single slice of white truffle, the toasty nose was enhanced further.  At this point it's approaching the level of a Coche-Dury Meursault in terms of toast...

2006 Louis Roederer Brut Nature - nice and toasty nose, with ripe and yeasty notes.  This would have been a nice accompaniment to the caviar, too.

Lots of reaction when you drop a slice of white truffle in the glass.  Pretty nice, too.

Full post on dinner is here.