Thanks to the generous crew who showed up with such great bottles for the (soon to be) annual White Truffle/White Wine dinner last Saturday in 
Irvine. Lots of old Champagne and white Burgundy and a few older red Burgs along with a stunning Inglenook Pinot Noir 1951 out of half bottle. (where the hell did that come from??JJ) We did open a starcrossed lineup up Barolo, 1978 back to 1964, but couldn't get excited about them. Good thing we were so well stocked with great whites. Marcarini 1967 was promising, as expected, until the TCA notes soared out of the bottle upon opening. It was actually great for a minute and then gone. Two bottles of Cavallotto 1964, both DOA, a 78 Brovia Rocche which was nice if not brilliant and a 74 Giacosa Barbaresco which was pleasant. Surprisingly elegant 1948 Ygay with lots of sweet fruit and good length. Wine of the night may have been an Ecard Savigny-les-Beaune Vergelesses 1993. A real dark horse in that lineup.
The whites were just great with the truffle dishes. Pasta, eggs, bechamel, butter and Alpine cow cheese really like truffles as well as these sorts of
wines and it just makes a lot more sense. Too many excellent bottles to list but my faves were the Ampeau Perrières 1993, Rapet Corton-Charlemagne 2002 - if that one reappears at one of these dinners I'm doing a scallop tartare - 88 Cristal and a near perfect 76 Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Clavoillons and an increasingly rare sighting of old Stony Hill Chardonnay 1981.
