Thanks to a dear friend, our dinner last night was embellished by his contribution of this exquisite champagne:
2005 LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL- 55% Pinot Noir, 45% Chardonnay; when this first came out, it was touted as having a ton of potential and just needing some time to evolve and come together; well, its making some progress and already has arrived at a place that merits some accolades so here comes a few; following its appropriately gold yellow color came aromas of honey baked apple that was joined by lemon, lime, pear and honeysuckle on the palate; it is full bodied, has bright acidity and is enhanced by all of the goodness being delivered in a creamy, tactile pleasing medium that extended the finish to our delight; this bottle seemed to grow and expand with time; it has loads of stuffing and still needs more time for added maturation, but its already arrived at a place that made our evening a whole lot better.
I discovered how wonderful the following wine is when sharing a bottle with some Burgundy friends who raved about it a few months ago and brought this in hopes that it could shine as well on this night and it did:
1993 DOMAINE MICHEL GAUNOUX BEAUNE- yes, this is a village wine and it comes off more like premier cru and if tasted blind, it might receive even higher status; decanted for an hour or so; this had a grainy red purple color and aromas of spicy red raspberry and strawberry that also showed up on the palate and then a nice dollop of blueberry came in past mid palate to seal the deal; I found myself comparing it to a recent 2000 Brogan Cellars Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and many previous 1994 Williams Selyem Allen Vineyard RRV Pinot Noirs that have very similar notes; thats a switch; dont most of us do that comparison the other way around? As with the Cristal, this also got better in the glass over the course of the evening and we were nicely satiated; lovely wine.
Here`s another night when great wines contributed to a great evening with friends.
Cheers,
Blake
