1988 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux
Finally popped my DRC cherry. Thank you J!
I had been talking to my friend J about Burgundy and how I generally don’t get it. Sometime during the conversation we talked about how a few years ago he poured me some blind Petrus to try to prove that there is some good merlot out there. I unceremoniously dumped it out after a sip in favor of a glass of Pott. (I did not know what it was when I dumped it out, I would have at least poured it in someone else’s glass had I known 
We talked about my never having tasted a DRC and joked about how I would probably dump it out too. We gathered the next day for a dinner at a nice steak house in Toronto, in preparation for the Grapes Under Pressure event and to celebrate seeing each other as a few of us wino/Rush fans were gathering again. I brought a Dangerous Birds and a 1975 Suduiraut. The wines were casually declared so we knew there would be a Raven as well and J had said he wanted to bring a Lafite of some sort. There was also a Harlan, a Marcassin and a Cayuse. No slouches but no delicate wines either. J decided that he needed to get me to hate something else so he brought this DRC.
Damnit. I loved the wine. Way to ruin my life and credit card. We obviously had this first with a very short decant. The nose had a little barnyard but this is the first time I can say that barnyard actually felt like an integral and enhancing quality in a wine. It sort of interwove with the warm cherry aromas and the mouthwatering baking spices on the nose. I smelled and smelled and smelled some more. I thought I would be let down by the palate because how could I like a Burgundy this much, especially while sober. F**k, I loved that too. Just seamless and playful. Lots of hints of things like tart cherries, orange peel notes, even cinnamon playing hide and seek at first sip but followed by a wave of more earthy, autumn leaves notions. From there it was almost mushroomy. Then back to clean and sensuous. It struck me that I had to pay attention to this wine or I would miss half of it. The SQNs were awesome but I could have been talking about whiskey and Rush and still enjoyed those because they blast through whatever you put in front of them. The DRC demands your attention less you miss all its nuances. This was quite the experience for me. Again, thanks J.
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