I have enjoyed this exploration into the wines; so far a Corton Bressandes which was all muscle and structure, and needed serious time; the Clos Saint Denis which was emerging quite nicely but lacked the intensity and concentration of the superb Clos de la Roche, clearly a couple of tiers better than the CSD. Strangely I have the opposite view for the Dujac in 1999, where I preferred the CSD, although it was a lot closer. The Bonnes Mares was relatively weak, both the Girardin bottling and the private label they offer for the US market, Baron Charriere.
So what did I get with the RSV. A wine that was very primary, unformed and with little or no integration of parts. The raw materials are superb, the wines has a long and exciting finish, but it has a clown car profile as it comes in fits and starts. Quite odd really and although it became easier with time, it was never that easy. Not sure ultimately what to make of it; I have three bottles left and will open the next one in ten years, and hope it will be a little more settled.
Have you been running into brett? The Girardin CdB reds in 1999 were delicious young but then many or even all showed brett to varying degrees with age, as the primary fruit faded and the brett bloomed.
I really enjoyed the '02 Girardin Chambertin-Clos de Bèze in it’s youth. It seemed to have everything lined up to be something great with more time in the bottle. I just had a bottle last year to check in on it…and I was horribly disappointed. My hope is that with another decade in the cellar it will even itself back out. My experience with the '55 Pierre Ponnelle Chambolle-Musigny a few months ago made me wonder about how these wines seem to fluctuate in and out of being ready. About an hour after opening the wine as the '55 PP had more time in the glass it reached a point where I briefly assumed it had fallen off a cliff…it tasted tired, oxidized, and so I just set the rest of the glass down. A little later when I picked it back up again it had come back to life, smelling & tasting of bright fruits. I wonder about how quick so many of us are to judge a wine without letting it just rest in the glass.
I had the 1999 RSV Girardin about 8 or 10 years ago.
At that time, it tasted like extract of pine sap. As though you were drinking pinesol right out of the cleaning bucket.
My suspicion is that 1999 RSV spent A LONG TIME in whole cluster fermentation. A really really long time.
Based on what you’re saying now, about a decade later, I wouldn’t open another bottle until at least Harvest Day, 2029.
Maybe 2039.
PS: This is not to say that it’s a bad wine. For instance, the Pinot Meunier champagnes of Jose Michel have those overwhelming conifer/evergreen notes when they’re young, but the champagne insiders insist that properly aged J.M. Pinot Meunier is to-die-for.
I guess the big question is how long does it take for these wines to age properly?
Maybe they should be thought of as family heirlooms rather than consummables within our lifetimes.
Had his 2000 Clos de la Roche a couple of weeks back; it was drinking wonderfully…balanced, long, the oak was maybe a touch large in the finish, but the wine had the “material,” as some say, to balance it out. I wouldn’t thave held this a moment longer, and backfilled for <$100, it was probably my deal of the year so far. I have a 99 Ech from him in the queue (under the “Carriere” name, I assume no difference, as he is a negoce anyway), but the experience most of all made me want to find more 2000 GC’s, as they seem to be offering a lot right now.
