TN: Trip’s visit to DC - Capital Grill - Shafer HSS, Rousseau CC, Il Caberlot and etc

TRIP’S VISIT TO DC - CAPITAL GRILL - Capital Grill at Tysons corner, VA (5/17/2013)

Trip and Leah were in town and a few of us got together to drink some interesting wines.
RD

• 1996 Bollinger Champagne R.D. Extra Brut - France, Champagne
  Apple, yellow fruits, a hint of brioche and sweet spices, sweet, warm and round notes that continues into palate. Excellent concentration, lovely sweet fruits and good acidity. The overall expression is warm, round and sweet and sort of in the middle, nothing too extreme. This is a lovely champagne. I just checked by earlier TN and my impression and rating seem identical. (96 pts.)

White Burgundy

• 2004 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
  Showing the vintage GM note, also smoke coming from pyrazine, fresh, granny smith, lemon and saline. Medium concentration but lacking energy and dull despite not being premoxed. This is showing so much like the 11 Dauvissat line up, ie noticeable pyrazine and dull. If you are not too sensitive to GM, you may like it more. Disappointing as a Clos but not a bad wine overall. (91 pts.)
• 2008 Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Mouchère - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru
  Fresh but ripe fruit expression, a hint of butter scotch, yellow fruits lemon curd and mineral. Good concentration, sweet fruits and bright acidity. This is ripe, sweet and fat but good dose of minerality and acidity make the wine fresh. Drinking nicely. (93 pts.)
• 1995 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
  Not completely premoxed but a bit tired. Caramel, crème brulées and ripe yellow fruits. Assuming that you are lucky enough to find a fresh bottle, I prefer the 96 to the 95 for bright acidity and this is also slightly lacking acidity. Still barely drinkable. (83 pts.)

CDP and Rousseau

• 2005 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  En Magnum, I originally thought it was 2003 and was really impressed as I didn’t notice extremely ripe fruits. I mentioned to Mark and apparently it was the 05. Classic CDP dark fruits, fruitcakes, wet tobacco, sweet spices and a hint of garrigues. Excellent concentration, soft, warm and silky with nicely integrated tannins. Big yet nicely restrained CDP. It is drinking well but will improve for at least 10 more years gaining more tertiary notes. (95 pts.)
• 2009 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru
  This wine nicely demonstrates the magic of Rousseau. From barrel not rated high by the most critics but it is showing beautifully. Sweet red fruits, fresh strawberry and jelly, sweet spices, tree bark and earth. Medium concentration, ripe and earthy yet delicate and airy palate. Delicate texture and energy are there but the overall expression is a bit simple for a GC. Nevertheless it is so darn delicious, a lot of Rousseau signature here. How do you rate a wine like this? My rating is 93 but prefer to drink it to the wines that I rated higher in this evening. (93 pts.)

Reds

• 2006 Enrico Fossi Sassaforte Toscana IGT - Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT
  Noticeably oaked VA juice. Very ripe fruits and jammy. If this is a correct bottle, avoid. NR (flawed)
• 2006 Robert Foley Claret - USA, California, Napa Valley
  Big ripe cab, fresh blue fruits, tobacco, baked fruits and a hint of lead pencil. No noticeable heat. Seems a bit monolithic. (92 pts.)

Reds

• 2001 Podere Il Carnasciale Il Caberlot Toscana IGT - Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT
  This is a lovely showing that reminds me the 02. White pepper, Cannabis which I seem to always find in a mature Caberlot, prune and black fruits. I am a big fan of the palate expression of Caberlot, subtle, silky, precise and elegant. Lovely wine that is drinking beautifully. (95 pts.)
• 1990 Château Beausejour (Duffau Lagarrosse) - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
  Very poor showing. No noticeable outer appearance of heat damage but I am sure this was exposes to relatively high temperature for a long period of time. Apparently came from a passive cellar in DC which explains. I need to find out what other wines came out from this cellar as I have had a number of heat damaged top end Bordeauxs, all from private cellar. NR (flawed)

Shafer HSS

• 2002 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select - USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District
  This is a youthful monster, not evolved much showing mostly primary fruits. Crushed blackberries, crème de cassis, lead pencil, vanilla and earth. Incredible concentration and chewy palate. It seems a bit closed. This is a truly impressive wine rather than enjoyable. I preferred the 01 which seem a bit more open and slightly less concentrated. (95 pts.)
• 2001 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select - USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District
  Jammy blue fruits, cassis, lavender, lead pencil, a hint of ash and caramel. Excellent concentration, opulent sweet fruits and silky palate. This seems slightly less concentration and more subtle than the 02 but drinking better. Certainly very impressive. (96 pts.)

It was a wonderful evening sharing wines with great friends!
Posted from CellarTracker

Kevin,

I opened two bottles of 04 Fevre ‘Les Clos’ on Sunday night. The first was showing some premox. The second was exactly as you describe, full of pyrazine. This wine has changed rapidly over the past couple of years.

Best Regards
Jeremy

Thanks for the notes. What kind of wine collector would rely on a passive cellar in D.C.? Yikes.

Bruce

Kevin, thanks for the notes. I opened two bottles of the 04 Fevre Clos back in 2011…one was premoxed and the other was youthful and classic (citrus, saline, minerals) with just a touch of wood. Based on your note and Jeremy’s comments I’m concerned about my remaining bottles.

For the Boillot Clos de la Mouchere, I noticed you said “a hint of butter scotch”. Do you think your bottle was advanced or showing as you’d expect it to? Thanks.

The 2004 Fevre, specifically Les Preuses, showed best within a couple of years of release. It had the tension and excitement I get from Grand Cru Chablis, but started losing it over a year or so ago. I have 1 bottle of Valmur remaining, which I last tried in 2010, and it showed those qualities back then. I will open it soon.

Kevin,
I agree with you that wine critics are rating the lesser wines by Rousseau to low. Drinkability should also be regarded as a quality parameter. I tasted the 2011 vintage from barrel and found The Ruchottes just fantastic. I have rarely tasted such a subtle and elegant wine. Still no critic is rating it very high due to its soft character.

Actually Kevin, I think your rating on the '09 Charmes is a bit high, if anything, but I do know what you are getting at.

It’s a nice drink indeed, but not really anything particularly special.

I have had numerous vintages of this wine, and never had a great one…

I think we all have different opinions where a wine goes from being elegant, to becoming too soft and ungiving. For me, the reason for loving Burgundy, is about balance and complexity and not about concentration and power. I can undrestand that some people find some Burgundies being too soft, but for me, the wines from Rousseau, is just like driving a luxury car in different speeds. I don´t remember the 2009 Charmes Chambertin, since I only tasted it from barrel and never bought it, but it is lovely in 2010 and 2011.

Fresh, fat and ripe. Definitely not premoxed.

Paul,
As I said, it is not terribly complex nevertheless just hedonistically delicious. Some mentioned it as WOTN. Based on the way that critics are using 100 point rating scale, below 90 seems pretty low for this wine. I find the style similar to Truchot CC, another wine I find lovely but not terribly complex.

Having them side-by-side is a blast and a privilege! Nicely done.

Best,

Kenney

Hi Kevin,

I know what you were getting at, and point s are a subjective thing for sure, sorry if it seemed as if I was questioning this, as everypne should be free to score how they like, and that was not my intent.

I’d probably give this wine a 90/91, so ultimately, no big difference really.

A nice, enjoyable wine indeed, but ultimately just lacking something…especially as far as complexity and depth goes. Really, I’d rather have the much better QPR village Geverey than this.

The point I was trying to make more so though is that for the price, it really should be a better wine…Roty make a fabulous Charmes, and I’v always been unsure how Rousseau make such great wines in the big 3, but seem to miss something of this greatness with their other vineyards, especially Charmes and CDLR (IMHO).

Having said that, it does appear they are making steps to rectify this somewhat, and recent vintages do seem to be better for their “lesser” wines than in the past in this respect.

Hans,

I understand where you are coming from, it is a personal thing, but for me, I’d take a bit more complexity, depth and interest in a wine over it being elegant and pretty at the same sort of price point.

To use you car analogy, I’d rather drive a Porsche than a Mercedes…