This week, I had the great pleasure of dining at Veritas in New York. Considering that we were a table of oenophiles (full disclosure: I pretty much only hang out with wine people), we couldn’t help but mine their extensive list for gems and old favorites. The Veritas crew graciously poured us a glass of grower Champagne from Agrapart to begin. From there, we went to a 1er cru 2010 Chablis from Daniel-Etienne Defaix, then Bernard Moreau’s Volnay Santenots 2008. Each was a wine of distinction, and I was glad that I was not paying!
The highlight, however, arrived with cheese: the Madeira. Why don’t I drink more of this stuff?! Richly textured, yet incredibly refreshing, Madeira is the perfect completion of a great meal. For us, it was the D’Oliveras Sercial 1969 and the D’Oliveras Boal 1968. Toffee, salted nuts, candied citrus peel, ginger… there is a lot going on in these wines! The Sercial was the showstopper for me. The driest style of Madeira, it’s a knockout with cheese.
Lucky for us all, we have the 1969 D’Oliveras Sercial at L’Espalier. Grab a friend, take a seat in the Salon, and select a mouthwatering assortment of cheese from Louis’s cart. Add two glasses of Madeira, and I bet that you’ll float back out onto Boylston Street with the same glow that I had in New York that evening.
