Capital Tasters Round 6 - Courgette. Wed 20 Jan 2010

The Wines:
Veuve Clicquot NV
Veuve Clicquot 2002
Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillion 2002
Rockford Basketpress shiraz 2006
Petaluma Coonawarra Cabernet 1999
d'Arenberg The Noble 2008

What a great night. Service at Courgette was a little slow at the start but picked up as we got into the food. Like Paul, I loved the freshness of the NV Clicquot, however the vintage just gave a little more grunt with that toast and yeast. I wasn't a fan of the Tyrrell's Vat one. Definitely needed more time and I just couldn't get past all the slippery soap and lemon/lime.

I'm usually compelled to try the duck if it's on the menu and Courgette had both an entré and a different duck dish for main (see photos) - and I must say that this duo of duck was some of the best duck I have ever eaten.

Orange and Szechuan pepper pressed confit duck,seared Queensland scallops, apple and fennel puree

David's Prosciutto wrapped quail breast with mixed mushroom and confit quail roulade, pumpkin tortellini and truffle oil

Next off it was onto the Petaluma Coonawarra Cabernet 1999 alongside the Basketpress 2006. The Petaluma was the best of 3 I had recently won in a competition and it still had lots of beautiful fruit with leather starting to emerge in the background. The Rockford was an amazingly balanced and very drinkable well made monster. Massive endless fruit that just didnt stop, WOTN. These were served with my second duck main while others enjoyed fillet of beef and pumpkin and goats cheese ravioli to name a few:

Roast duck breast and confit leg with Toulouse sausage, pickled red cabbage, baby turnips, prune and Armagnac sauce.

90 day grain fed fillet of beef with potato bobbin, pea puree, roasted baby beetroots and bordelaise sauce

Pumpkin and goats cheese ravioli with nutbrown sage butter, apple and walnut salad. Usually, Lindsay and I share mains but in this case it was so good I didnt get much of a sample  :evil:

I heard "Tastiest chips of all time" thrown around the table.
Finally it was d'Arenberg The Nobel.  Not overly sweet and a pleasure to drink - went well with my crème brulee, which although looked pretty, has to be the worst crème brulee I have ever eaten (including my own attempts). It tasted just like Paul's custard with vanilla seeds. The biscuit finger with fruit on top was was a bit bland. Probably better with a cup of tea. I should have chosen the tart which was a big hit with others.

Vanilla crème brulee with seasonal mixed berries and short bread finger.

Warm Belgian chocolate and fresh raspberry tart with vanilla cream Chantilly

This completes the first circle of Capital Tasters and looking forward to the next.