2010 Le Dome - My First RP 100 Pointer!? Updated with notes.

I am attending a Bdx dinner this evening, and in looking through the wines on the menu, they are all made by (or consulted by?) Jonathan Maltus, someone with whom I have absolutely no knowledge.

The menu is as follows:

Chateau Teyssier Clos Nardian, 2010
Grilled, fresh calamari with mustard buerre blanc and chives

Chateau Teyssier, Chateau La Forge, St Emilion, Grand Cru, 2010
Tuna Tartare with pickled red onions, blood orange, Thai basil and crostini

Vieux Chateau Mazerat, St Emilion, 2010
Braised and seared pork belly with sofrito and herbs

Chateau Teyssier Le Dome, St Emilion, 2010
Grilled Ostrich medallions with truffle oil and braised red cabbage

Coffee & Macaroons

The chef is excellent and I have no doubt the food with be awesome. But I don’t really know what to expect from the wines. Given that the Le Dome got 100 Points from Parker, I’m interested to taste what he considers perfection to say the least, but my palate is running from his at a pretty good pace as of the last few years.

Any guidance on the style or character of any of these wines would be appreciated. I generally don’t take formal notes, but I’ll try to follow up with some generals after the fact. The crowd that is attending always brings the goods as well, so there will likely be several more Bdx from the 80’s and 90’s.

Gotta love Jancis Robinson

Dusty, I had a 2009 La Dome last year. I found it undrinkable, modern, oaky and it bore no resemblance to Bordeaux for me. It was also a very highly scored RP wine.

Not my style at all, good luck and keep an open mind.

brodie

I am excited to try these, but my worry is that they will clash terribly with what everyone brings, which tends to be more of the Sociando-Mallet, Potensac, Figeac variety, and drinking a 2010 modern oak bomb against an 86’ Sociando could be a mess.

To be fair, I don’t think Parker would recommend drinking this now. Check back in twenty years plus and let us know whether the oak integrated and how it drinks. Tonight, I would expect it shut down.

Open mind Brodie open mind !!!

I have had said wine, and its siblings. All are VERY modern, oak ridden, rich, opulent, etc. I think that people seeking Bordeaux should steer clear as Maltus makes California wines no matter where the vines are planted.

Of course they are too young. I hope they are decanted for a few days.

They are undoubtedly going to be big and modern in style, considering the winemaker and the vintage. And of course years or decades too young.

Having said that, just try to enjoy them for what they are and what they might become. Just because a wine is not traditional or typical doesn’t mean it might not be good anyway. Try to see what good or education you can find in it on its own terms. There are some modern-styled Bordeaux that are quite enjoyable.

Just don’t get on their email list. Getting off it requires a resolution of the UN Security Counsel plus TSA clearance and sacrificing your first born on a mountain on a small island with no harbor and no air strip in the Pacific.

Perhaps taste some of these blind, without preconceptions/judgements, and just decide for yourself what you think.

Clos Nardian can be an outstanding white - I wouldn’t be surprised if it outshone the reds at this stage.

Also, Maltus’s reds can take days to open up - if the better 2010s were opened up tonight [Wednesday], then they might not start peaking until Friday or Saturday, and it might be next week before Le Dome starts to blossom.

Even Clos Nardian tends to be better on the second day.

Here are some of my notes on the wines we tried. Somewhat reaffirmed that my tastes are pretty tolerant/appreciative a variety of wine styles.

2010 Clos Nardian – Wonderful nose, good balance of body and acidity, long finish. Started with a little honey note, but that kind of blew off after awhile. Paired very well with the calamari w/ mustard beurre blanc.

2005 Fieuzal White – Really nice, wet rocks, crisp. A little alcohol on the finish.

1983 Smith Haut Lafite – oxidized, port like nose, but the palate didn’t show it as much as the nose.

2003 Clos Junet – This wine was surprisingly aromatic and really hit the “grandmother’s purse” note that I think of when I think of Bordeaux. It seem to begin fading pretty quick, but for an inexpensive wine from a maligned vintage, this gets a thumbs up.

1982 Calon Segur (from magnum) – Tom’s official Birthday wine! This wine was on the same trajectory of opening up nicely as the Beaucaillous, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to follow it as long as I would’ve liked. It was a very good wine, but was overshadowed by the Certan and Beaucaillous.

1983 Beaucaillou – Interesting to taste this alongside the 89’, considering the 83’ was overlooked in the shadow of 82’ and 89’ is generally heralded as great. Very elegant, but with notable size. Quite a bit stiff right after opening, but softened considerably after 20 minutes in the glass.

1989 Beaucaillou – Not hard to see the similarity in character to the 83’, but this one has a deeper bass note to it and seems like a more complete package. Both of these wines were excellent.

1999 Petite Eglise – It was nice to have something in-between fresh in the bottle and fully mature. This came across as a little riper than most of the older Bordeaux on the table, but it wasn’t overdone. The concentration was a little less, but I thought it drank well.

2010 Teyssier La Forge – Definitely lighter than the other Teyssiers on offer. Not simplistic, but softer and easier drinking. Juicy red fruits. Debate whether this is really worth the price of admission, but tasted alone, I would probably like it quite a bit more.

2010 Vieux Chateau Mazerat – This was nice, but didn’t really stand out in the lineup. A darker, deeper version of the La Forge. Again, this would’ve probably been much more interesting without such stiff competition.

2006 Teyssier Le Carre’ – I really liked the character of this wine, the palate had a great mixture of high and low notes and it was completely unique in the lineup.

2006 Teyssier Les Asteries – This wine was a little hard to know, and came across a bit like a fruit bomb at this point. Really surprising this wine is going on 9 years old. Complex, but bound up and very concentrated.

2008 Canon la Gaffeliere – This had moderately high tannins, but the structure of this wine was really nice. Seems well built to be very nice several years down the road.

1989 Clos de Jacobins – This wine had a wonderful nose and a really defined leathery aspect on the palate. I really enjoyed it.

1988 Chateau Certan de May – Wonderfully pure and put together. Bright fruit and perfectly balanced with a long finish. A contender for wine of the night.

1986 Comtesse de Lalande – Nice cedarbox aromas and flavors up front and a silky texture, but the finish was surprisingly short compared to the Certan.

2010 Le Dome – My first Parker 100 point wine, and one that I approached with some skepticism and caution, given Parker’s penchant for over extracted wines. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. This wine is really something special, with the caveat that in no world would I have called it a Bordeaux if tasted blind. There is a ton of guts to this wine, but no one aspect stuck out in an overbearing way. The first sip was kind of a shock to senses, so based on that, the 3 oz. pour was all I really needed.

2006 Le Dome – I certainly appreciate Rob opening this one, this really gave you a window into the possibility for the 2010. Just starting to unravel, this was much easier to dissect as a multilayered and silky wine. As far as “modern” styled wines go, I think Mr. Maltus has the right idea. It definitely reaffirmed that my palate is accepting of many styles of wines, as long as purity and quality are in the forefront of the winemaker’s mind.

Very interesting notes Dusty. The 83 Ducru is of particular interest; I just bought a couple of bottles.

And I have one bottle of the Dome – bought on a lark from PC for $79 and delivered in perfect shape. Maybe in another decade. Or two

'10 Dome for $79? Nice move.

Hooray, another omnivinovore!

Thanks for sharing the notes.

Yeah, it is funny, because I am an omnivinovore when it comes to Cabs and cab based wines, but when it comes to Pinot Noir or Syrah, I am much less tolerant of big, blown out wines.

I got a chance to taste through Maltus’s entire line card [from France & Australia], back when he was also working with Colonial Estate, and I even got a chance to resample the bottles for several days, to learn their oxidation curves.

I can understand if someone doesn’t like his style [which is very distinctive], but I don’t see how anyone could argue that the wines are poorly made.

It was also the only time that I can remember encountering those Northern Rhone “bacon fat” notes in an Australian Shiraz. I’m not exactly sure how he pulled off that trick, but I’m sure that there are thousands of Aussie winemakers who would like to learn the secret.