Well, actually his brother is Coudert's BIL, so sue me. Anyway, he was
over from France so we had him over for dinner as we owed him for many
favors lavished upon us through his good agency.

With a salad of heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and basil:

2001 Cazin Cour-Cheverny Vendanges Manuelles
Iodine, grapefruit, honey and a nice bracing acidity. I like it, but my
wife Jean initally hates it because of her aversion to aged white wines,
but comes around as it sees some air. It's a known quantity to our
guest Christophe, so he just sucks it down while complaining about his job.

With herb-rubbed grilled leg of lamb (thanks for the recipe, Joe!):

2003 Williams-Selyem Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
Christophe belatedly tells us of his fondness for Burgundy, so we pull
out this to further his education re CA Pinots. It's a wine of medium
body, silky texture, smoky, earthy, just a hint of oakiness and filled
with bright red fruit. No one will ever confuse this for Burgundy,
especially with 14.1% ABV (not at all noticeable until we try to stand,
though) but it's a very pretty example of a CA Pinot Noir that doesn't
try to be Syrah.

1990 Dunn Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Since we recalled that Christophe had spent his 7 years in the US
frantically collecting CalCabs, we decided to open up this bottle from
the cellar. Christophe initially asked "Has this got Merlot in it?"
Once the raucous laughter had subsided, he decided that it actually
resembled a St. Julien, a subject he knows more about than I do, having
drunk many '37s and '45s in his youth. What I do note is that the
tannins are fully resolved, that it's still quite primary with good
cassis fruit and only a slight mineral element to complicate things. My
last mouthful is the best, at which point the wine had picked up some
leather, earth and tobacco notes. Even I began to see some Medoc-like
character to the wine.

Since he brought a bottle of his brother's 2005 Fleurie and Coudert's
2004 Fleurie, Christophe's welcome in our house for perpetuity has been
assured. All in all, a great evening with a good friend, with
conversation ranging from chemistry to politics to France to wine and
food and back again.

Mark Lipton