Did a little tasting for our tasting room team crushing their goals last month. Figured it would be cool to give all of them their first DRC experience. It was fun to watch everyone’s experience. Worth it!
15 DRC Corton: Signature beautiful stemmy quality mixed with fairly forward fruit and subtle hints of sandalwood and autumn leaves. Everyone was definitely spending lots of time with their nose in the glass on this one. The aromas evolved beautifully over the evening becoming less primary and settling into a state where it was harder to pick out individual elements. I’d say for a fairly recent vintage this wine was very open for business from the get-go. Really nice notes of wild strawberry, red plum, roses and some darker fruits too. Walks a fine line (very well) of being ripe without being jammy or overripe. Really lovely. Id give it 94-96 points.
15 Gouges NSG Clos des Porrets: Also quite open and ready considering the producer and vineyard. This one was a little reticent and primary for the first hour but man it really came alive and unfolded into something beautifully after that. Also walking that line between ripe but not too ripe. Darker fruits here are mixed with a very pleasant and rich earthiness. Beautiful spiciness and long finish. Although a different appellation, this honestly gave the DRC Corton a run for its money by the end. 94ish.
19 Reeve, Kiser Vineyard “Lower Block”, Pinot Noir: Very young and primary at the beginning but a really packed core of earth, savory notes and black and red fruit. A lot of depth packed on to a 13.2% frame. Very long finish. Elegant. This is going to have a very nice life ahead of it. Has opened a little on day 2 but still totally fresh and full. We won’t release until December 21. Happy with how it fared qualitatively in the context.
Never experienced anything like it any other place, but of course, it could have been a matter of timing…