Bécasse Cellar Night + Grower Champagne

Inside Bécasse. Good wine list too

I’ve just returned from a superb dinner at Sydney’s Becasse restaurant which celebrated the launch of the new ‘Bécasse Cellar Night’, an evening that encourages diners to bring along a favourite bottle of wine from their cellar, with a more than reasonable corkage charge of just $15 .

The concept is mighty enticing indeed for anyone with a few bottles of wine in their cellar (like me) and the menu was fittingly impressive (included below):

Canapé
Black olive biscotti with whipped goats curd

Bread
Freshly baked Bécasse smoked bacon and onion bread

Amuse bouche
Marinated tuna with chilled Mediterranean consommé and prosciutto

Confit blue eye with roasted prawns, cauliflower and salted buckwheat

Cep royale with seared scallops and caramelised veal tongue

Caramelised pork hock, forgotten vegetables and cedar smoked potatoes

Victorian cheese with sugared walnuts and fig preserve

Twice baked quince soufflé with spiced anglaise, candied orange and vanilla ice cream

To match with this special degustation fare I brought along a Larmandier-Bernier Terre de Vertus which was simply superb Champagne. It’s a blanc de blancs style with no dosage, sourced from two premier cru vineyards that are ideally situated mid slope in Vertus. Uncompromisingly dry and quite fiercely acidic at first, with air time it opens up to reveal the most powerful, firmly structured and super pure palate of superb length and flavour.

It’s one of those wines where every sip seems more powerful, longer and even more impressive. $150 well spent and again reminding how fine good grower Champagne can be. Yum. 18.6/95