BEEF AND VOSNE - Holland Park (15/8/2018)
Lots of lovely Ohmi beef, a splash of Vosne, great company
WHITES
-
2002 Bollinger Champagne R.D. Extra Brut - France, Champagne
Stellar. This was a champagne that married power and style. The nose tumbled out of the glass with expressive notes of cream, apple and cherry flesh underlined with a strong mineral seam. The palate was still tight, but there was real power to it, with notes of plums, cherry flesh, and more of those apples on the nose exploding on the attack, and then a super lemony acidity pulling the wine into a long, minerally, very dry, textural finish, all this wrapped in a fine mouth-coating mousse. Very fine and focused indeed. Drinking quite compelling now, but this clearly has its best way ahead of it yet. Would love to try it again in 5-6 years. It will probably last for decades. (92 pts.) -
2009 Domaine Leflaive Meursault 1er Cru Sous le Dos d’Âne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
A nice start to the dinner. This had a nice nose of butter and cream floating around ripe yellow fruited notes, and then just a hint of Leflaive’s smoky, oyster shell flintiness. Very nice, and quite distinctly Meursault. The palate was lovely too. Sweet and ripe, as one would expect from the vintage, with notes of pineapple amongst stone fruited flavours, all this packed together very nicely with a surprising amount of citrussy acidity that lifted it into a long, chalky, quite classically Leflaive finish. Not brilliant - this was just a bit blowsier and well-cut than usual - but this was a very solidly good wine. (92 pts.) -
2000 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Not quite as impressive as the last time I had it, but this was very nice nonetheless. It had a more exotic nose, with lifted spice, layers of cream, and then white melons shading into stone fruited territory, a lift of white flowers. Just lovely. The palate was rich and powerful, yet well-controlled, with a graceful leap of white fruit, apple and citrus notes laced with notes of butter, mineral and spice leading into a full, rich, warm finish. Lots of subtle complexity to it, but I thought it lacked just a bit of the focus and cut on the finish that one would normally expect from a Leflaive Chevy. It even showed a touch of hot glycerol at points. Even then, this was very nice indeed. (93 pts.) -
2000 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru
This had a lovely nose, with a hint of smoky toast, some sweet cream, white fruit, a drift of white flowers, very classically Puligny. The palate was lovely too, soft and voluptuous, with enough balancing acidity to keep its delicious flavours of white fruit, citrus peel and gentle spice all very balanced and focused. Great long finish too, with a touch of minerality and a soupçon of spice wrapped up into a beautifully integrated back-palate. A superb Folatieres, drinking nicely now. Hitting above its weight - this stood toe-to-toe with a 2000 Chevalier-Monty and showed nicely. (93 pts.)
VOSNE + 1
-
2007 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Vosne-Romanée Clos du Château - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée
From a magnum, this is the best village wine I have had in a long time. The nose was pure Liger-Belair, with exotic whirls of clove and white pepper and other Vosne spices swirling around a core of sweet red cherries and wild berries, and just that typical bit of earth, meat and green, stalky flowers. Beautiful. Absolutely lovely on the palate too - pure, clean, juicy, with gobs of crunchy cherries and wild berries filling the mouth alongside little flecks of spice and mineral. Maybe not quite as complex as the nose, but this was gobsmackingly delicious and drinking beguilingly well at the moment. Wow. (93 pts.) -
2001 Domaine Méo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Chaumes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Like the last bottle I had, this was slightly underperforming. The nose was a knockout. Full of exotic Vosne spice - pepper and cloves and sandalwood - along with sweet cherries and strawberries, perfume violets, and then more savoury earthy notes. Just beautiful. The palate was unfortunately a step or two behind the nose though. While clean and pure, with nice, limpid flavours of dark cherries and berries, and lovely notes of spice and earth, this just came across a bit thinner than one would have liked, especially towards the finish, where citrussy acidity and a bit of sour plums trialed away on the back palate. Good, but not quite as compelling as some of the other wines on the night. (91 pts.) -
1998 Sylvain Cathiard Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Really nice, but perhaps half-a-decade too young. The nose was a lovely melange of sweet dark cherries, lifted spice and some earthy tones. A bit of glycerol distracted slightly, but otherwise very nice. The palate was nice and strong too, with a good textural depth lent to it by slightly powdery tannins and decent acidity draped over a delicious core of dark cherries and more savoury, almost umami sour plum notes. Still tight, with something monolithic about it, but this was such a strong wine at 20 years old. Nicely balanced and poised throughout. Good long finish too, long and powerful, with a real punch of mineral, earth and a little kiss of spice. Still needs easily 5-6 or more years yet, but this was quite impressive. (93 pts.) -
2000 Emmanuel Rouget Vosne-Romanée - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée
In magnum. I enjoyed this, but it was not a great wine. It showed red cherries, berries and sour plums on the nose, and a bit of earthy, woody spices, all this coated with a little layer of dusty, earthy aromas. Quite pretty, if just a touch obviously dusty at the edges. The palate was a bit behind the nose though. It was marked by a lot of juicy, citrussy acidity speared through clear flavours of red cherries and Vosne spices moving away into the finish. Nice enough, but a bit thin in the mouth. (90 pts.) -
2007 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
Last magnum of the night, this was very good. The nose was clearly different from the Vosne wines, with an earthier, loamier tone, and deeper shades to its sweet blueberry and gentle spice notes. The palate was really nice too, with crunchy, pure flavours of blueberries, coconut and spice lined with notes of mineral, then fine-boned tannins and really fresh acidity. This had lovely definition and a good amount of depth for a 2007 - the only issue I had was that the flavours all seemed just a bit tightly-wound and not as generous as I would have liked. Not a world beater then, but still a very good wine. I thought it had just started falling asleep, like quite a few 2007s I have tried recently. It would be interesting to try this one again in a decade or so. (93 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker