Christmas Eve Part II

The second bottle we opened for the Christmas Eve shellfish dinner turned out to be very unfair to the wine that was opened first - see below.  Bottle #2 was a 2006 Clotilde Davenne Chablis Grand Cru, Les Preuses.  It's nost that the Muscadet wasn't good - it was, but this bottle was from another world.

There were layers of perfectly ripe fruit with crisp apples being the lead fruit, but there were pears and a bit of citrus there as well. The wine filled the mouth with those flavors but the structure that was there kept this from being a fruity wine.  Sharp edges of acid and limestone cut through the fruit and brought everything to life.  There was nothing shy with this wine.  This was an elegant woman in her prime wearing a simple black dress and flashing a Mona Lisa smile.  Gorgeous.

The rest of the dinner was delicious, but the wine was the star.  The dinner, pictured below, was a smoky, multi-layered chowder full of potatoes, corn, crab, clams, cod and calamari.  Alongside there was a lobster salad that was steamed lobster dressed with mayonnaise, lemon juice, a tiny bit of fresh thyme and dill.  The Chablis and the lobster were simply perfect together.

2006 Clotilde Davenne Chablis Grand Cru, Les Preuses.  13% alcohol and $70.  One more bottle in the cellar.