Came across this bottle in a Cannon Beach wine shop and went for it. Crumbly, wine soaked cork. Surprisingly opaque ruby color. Billowing, piercing floral and iron-inflected nose with wafts of black cherry and rounded plum scents. Delicate yet steely layers of tangy raspberry and black cherry fruit mixed with iron granules and earth on the satin-textured palate. Lovely acidity and filed off tannin leading to a longer finish of ferric notes cut with chimes of shimmering red fruit. Very much alive at age 40, this wine exemplified the timelessness of wine. What an incredible treat.
Awesome find, Doug! What a treat. Drouhin CdM is a fave of mine. I’ve only gone back to '85. They age gracefully and over-deliver in context of the usual cost of great Burgundy.
Well done!
Nice post. I’ve only had this once 3 years ago, carried to 10th anniversary of my Westchester wine group (I had brought the 79 Drouhin CdBeze to the initial meeting in 2006, this was closest thing I had left). Showed well. Drouhin did well overall in '79 I think, not usually a vintage I really look for.
Mouches in general has given a lot of bang for the buck for a long time.
That’s fantastic, I saw that bottle at Laurel’s but passes in favor of an ‘80s OR Pinot from Cameron. That CdM looked really enticing though. Glad the storage (as I expected) was fine. Not many better places than the Oregon coast for keeping wine.
I have had similar experiences and always laugh at “expert” drinking windows that are so early and so narrow. Even “lesser” Burgundies drink well for a very long time.
The oldest I have ever tasted from Drouhin was a 1959 at Veritas in the 2000s. It was on the list. One of the best treats of the year. A spectacular wine. I love this bottling just like I love the Jadot Beaune Clos des Ursules. They age forever. Great note Doug on the 1979. It sounds wonderful.
That sounds fantastic. What an experience. It really is like opening a time capsule. It puts the aging of wine into a totally different perspective (for me).
Frederico,
Although this thread nicely discusses how long one can wait, it doesn’t yet address how early! Depends on how you like to follow the vintage’s evolution, which is a very personal thing. For what it’s worth, if I had just three bottles I would wait 15-20 years after the vintage.
I’ve yet to have a 79 Burgundy, though will likely change that this year.