Is there anything better than Blue Hill?

I will say it to anybody who listens. Blue Hill is food geek heaven. Fresh, naturally raised vegetables and animals presented in an unpretentious manner. Such dazzling purity. This restaurant takes simple ingredients and elevates them to an artform. I have never had a better rhubarb then I had at Blue Hill the other night. Probably because it was so fresh it just burst in my mouth with insane crunchiness. But I am getting ahead of myself as that was desert. In between there were great wines, succulent pork and wonderful cod. We brought our own wine...thank goodness as I thought the wine list was severely lacking which was too bad as there could be a number of sensational matches with a deeper wine list. The first wine, the Chidaine, was from the list.

We started off with the 2005 Francois Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Clos Breuil which was the best '05 Chidaine I have had so far. The nose was wispy and delicate but that deceieved you somewhat as the body of this wine was big, chewy and ripe with wonderful acidity. Crunchy apple and pear fruit along with intense aggressive minerality. A true mouthful of Chenin. Forceful yet so pretty with loads of structure for the long haul. After some aeration delicate doughu, appley and mineral notes started to arise from the glass. This was delicious but gone too quick. This matched wonderfully with some sort of watercress/arugula shot thing.

Next up was the 2000 Louis Carillon Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Champs Canet" which was exactly how I like my Chardonnay to be. Mainly not taste like Chardonnay. This had very high acidity, some creamy oak and dazzling minerality. The nose came around but only after an hour of aeration and when it did it was quite lovely. Pear confit, hazelnuts, iodine, some creamy oak and wonderful mineral complexity. This had great length and breed. As Clive Coates would say........this jut oozes class.

The first red of the night was the 2002 Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes which was easily the WOTN. This just was sensational albeit very very young. The nose was intense rasberry coulis mixed with spice dust, cinnamon and wet earth. The palate was velvety, seamless and concentrated with lots of power and richness which it wore gracefully. Lovely finish and lively fruit backed up by BIG acidity. This was essentially closed but still had enough there to be immensely pleasurable. Profound bottle of wine and one that will last easily 40-50 years in the cellar.

The next red was a wine I used to love and the key word is USED to love. It was the 2000 Grange des Peres in magnum format. Man has my palate changed. I used to live for this wine and now it was interesting but too modern and manipulated. Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah it had ncie barnyard aromas and some interesting kirsch aromas too but there was not much clarity and it came across as pretty ponderous. The oak stuck out to me and this goes on the list of wines I used to like that I cannot deal with anymore. I left half the magnum for the Blue Hill staff. Hope they enjoyed it.

The final red was the 2001 Le Vieux Donjon which was good, classically structured CDP but altogether boring for me. Kind of hot but very minerally and pure. It went incredibly with the Berkshire pork.

A great night and a special shout out to Lisa for organizing all of us together.