March 3rd George Derbalian hosted a dinner at Petrossian in West Los Angeles with Caroline and Pierre-Yves Colin attending. Petrossian is one of the few remaining restaurants in LA where you can go to have a great meal in a quiet setting and actually hold a conversation without yelling at each other. The food and wine service were both excellent and the evening was very enjoyable.
The wines were mostly provided by George were all first rate and it was great to hear Pierre-Yves’ comments on his own wines and the others.
1995 Heidsieck Blanc des Millenaires - toast, full bodied Champagne in a perfect spot now
2008 PYCM Batard - crisp, tight, and racy taking a while to open
2009 PYCM Batard - more open that the 08, fuller bodied, lush with that cool lemon lime nose and Pierre-Yves’ favorite for current drinking of the three tonight.
2011 PYCM Montrachet - light color, holding back all it will eventually show but even after a couple hours it wasn’t revealing its full potential.
2002 Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze - There is a reason that this wine is now selling for stratospheric prices - it is just so damn good. A sweet spicy nose, pure fruit with perfect balance and length. Still young but such a pleasure to drink now.
2006 Anne Gros Richebourg - Darker than the Rousseau with an intoxicating nose of Chambord like menthol. Dark fruits and its power explodes in the mouth. Wonderfully surprising.
1990 Ridge Monte Bello-brought by John Brincko, this had an effusive cabernet sauvignon nose which would rival any 1990 Bordeaux I’ve had, but in this lineup of Burgundy it seemed a little out of place. Very dark and looking like a recent release, the palate didn’t seem to follow the great aromas coming from the glass as it fell off a bit in the mouth.
2009 Maison Ilan Chambertin - I brought this and served it blind not to try to fool anyone but to truly get an unbiased view of this. I hadn’t tried this and thought it would be interesting to hear others opinions. I visited Ray Walker back in the 2014 or so before all his troubles and he was very charming, which is probably one reason he was able to get a grand cru vineyard holding for his first vintage. This was lighter in color and even looked less dense than the other burgs. A pleasant enough nose but I’m not sure it showed any typical Chambertin earthy characteristics. Also light in the mouth and comparatively not in the same grand cru fleshiness that it should have. I think everyone was in the same place with the wine - good but not at grand Cru level.
Thanks for a great night George and it was great to see Caroline and Pierre-Yves again after I missed them in Burgundy a couple weeks ago.
The next day Atherton Imports had a trade tasting at Republique and George invited me. PYCM was pouring some 2018 barrel samples which were excellent, including Meursault Narvaux and St Aubin le Banc. Carloine also had 2018 Chassagne Chambrees and Chaumees which were a slightly different style than Pierre-Yves’ wines, but delicious. There were probably upwards of 100 wines to taste but I just picked a few that I was interested in trying. 2017 Latour Giraud Meursault Narvaux and 2016 Genevrieres, Pernot 2018 Folatieres, 2018 Ballot Millot Pommard Charmots and 2015 Larruau Margaux were among my favorites.
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