Lunch with Paul Hanna

Paul invited us around for a light lunch. We drank well.

1988 Pol Roger Champagne Vintage Brut: A golden colour. The nose has some honey, white mushroom, grilled nuts and baked apple. Baked apple and brioche flavours abound on the palate. It has the vintage’s line of strong, minerally acidity.

2010 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Very expressive, showing some light tropical fruits, white peach, aniseed and flint. It is full, rich and powerful. With air, the lemon and mineral spine of Corton becomes evident.

2010 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chevalier-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Very, tight, fine, intense and classy. There’s fine white peach, honeysuckle and struck match on the nose. The pure white peach in the mouth is so pristine. It is a wine of perfect shape and build, finishing with loads of sappy, dry extract and possessing outstanding length.

2005 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Rougeots: Purchased on release. Lovingly cellared Chez Holmes since. Pours out glistening with a green tinge, oh so youthful. Smells of wet cardboard and hessian. Fucking cork!

2015 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos des Grandes Vignes: Has some meaty reduction and plenty of oak spice. There’s powerful dark fruits, loads of earth and a suggestion of purple flowers. It is ripe, rich, deep and long. Needs plenty of time.

2015 Domaine Bruno Clair Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, Grand Cru: Highly perfumed and extremely pretty Beze. A lovely nose of blue and black fruits trimmed with floral spice. It is sweet, dense and full, with latent power and a light on its feet feel. Balance is extraordinary and it has length to burn.

1990 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Rouge: An expressive nose of ripe cherry, plum, Asian spice, leather and tobacco. It is generous and full, with good fruit intensity, a velvety feel and plenty of earth to the long finish. Delicious now but so much left in the tank for extended cellaring.

2001 Château d’Yquem: Complex aromatics of apricot, honey, lavender, coconut ice and vanilla. Awesome concentration and sweetness, perfectly balanced by the wine’s minerally acidity. A powerful, luscious and intense Yquem of superb proportion, length and class.

Nice, except the Coche disappointment

love that 90 Drouhin Mouches

What is considered a light lunch with a set of wines like that?

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the notes on the 10 PYCM wines. Great stuff.

Thanks for the notes Jeremy! Bought a 2001 d’Yquem a few days ago , can’t wait …

wow! What was dinner like?!

+1

Any experience with the ‘93 vintage? I am sitting on some in long term storage.

Great lunch and nice set of wines. Thanks for the notes.

I don’t have direct experience with the 93 Mouches
But I have had other 93 Drouhin ie, the Petite Monts and Amoureuses that were simply amazing.

Jeremy,

Thoughts on where the 10 PYCMs will go? What format for the 01 d’Yquem? I tasted from 375 late last year and thought it was emerging from a bit of a sleepy phase after its amazing youth.

Paul’s wife is an outstanding cook. Her idea of a light lunch, as far as food is concerned, is similar to Paul and my idea of a quiet drink. We had leek tartlets, followed by superb roast pork belly, slow cooked shoulder of lamb and a beautiful cake for dessert.

Haven’t had the '93 Mouches for a few years. It was very tight then.

I reckon the '10’s in general are ready to drink Jim. The PYCM Chevalier could do with another couple of years though. The '01 Yquem was from half. A lot more generous and expressive than my last 750.

Yquem was a half bottle - really in the zone.

The Bruno Clair was so accessable and really quite pretty, and just a lovely drink. Have been working my way through tasting a number of their '14’s and '15’s and they are really very good.

Jeremy thanks for posting your always informative notes. Bummer about the corked Coche 05, the 05s from Coche are really good when they’re on. I got a chuckle out of your description that it smelled like “hessian”; we Americans think of Hessians as German soldiers who served as auxiliaries to the British Army during the American Revolutionary War, so indeed they were odious.

I had to lookup your meaning, btw which for other vocabulary limited Americans is a synonym for burlap.

Thanks. I am drinking some ‘93 Drouhin Charmes Chambertin, they are drinking great at the moment.

Recently I had a bad run with white Burgs from 2010 vintage ( Boillot and PYCM) with many showing overt Premox or subtle features that it is almost on its way.

You had a good run…

What did you drink for dinner !!!

Very light dinner Sanjay (although I did have a bit more of the left over Drouhin - very nice).

Lots of issues with '10 Boillots, but haven’t had any with '10 PYCM - both these bottles were very fresh.

I had an '89 a few years ago that was stunning.