I’m a bit behind in posting tasting notes from our Burgonauts group 2011 dinners, and I promised Peter Funsten I’d catch up. So here’s the first one…
On July 13, 2011 our Burgonauts group got together at Melisse Restaurant in Santa Monica (two Michelin stars) to taste Echezaux from Rouget, DRC and Dujac. Our host for the evening was Wes Jennison, who migrated from Los Angeles to Jacksonville FL about a year ago and makes periodic trips to have dinner with us. As usual, chef Josiah Citrin dazzled us with the meal.
Champagne and Appetizers
Luna Oyster with French melon, ginger and lemon basil
Spanish Mackerel, cucumber, celtuce
Beef Rib Eye, Crispy Bernaise
NV Beaufort Rose Champagne
100% grand cru grapes. Deep red for rose; lots of fine mousse; some pinot aromas (strawberry, cherry) and citrus; good acidity, a tight wine; this seems to have grand cru structure for sure, but harder to say it has it grand cru depth; a mix of strawberry juice and minerality on the finish. 92
First Flight—Old Echezaux (served single blind)
Copper River Wild King Salmon with chanterelle mushrooms, courgettes and red wine consomme
#1 [1970 DRC Echezaux]
Medium garnet color with lots of browning; notable sous bois and a faint rose petal hint which means stems (clearly DRC); very light bodied, light earth flavors, and some elegance on the palate but nothing else. This faded notably in the glass and pretty rapidly too. A couple people thought this might be corked, but others disagreed. 86
#2 [1969 Leroy SA Echezaux]
Medium red with a large amber/brown edge; sous bois aromas; some light cherry and sous bois flavors on the palate. This faded a bit too, but more slowly and I found this a much better wine than #1. 89
#3 [1978 Drouhin Echezaux]
Dark red but very murky/milky color suggesting a potential bacterial issue; absolutely horrible bottle stink on this bottle—completely foul, smells of a dead body and fecal matter; this is utterly wretched on the palate too – the tiny bit I could manage to taste was disgusting. I’ve never had a wine quite this bad on the palate before. 60
Second Flight—Rouget Echezaux (served single blind)
Wild Mushroom and Lobster Ravioli with watercress
#4 [1989 Rouget Echezaux]
Deep garnet color with some lighter amber edging; some sous bois aromas over some dried cherry; on the palate this had dried cherry and earth; the best feature is a nice cherry finish with a hint of racy minerality and very light fine grain tannins. But this wine did seem to improve the longer it was open and the finish got nicer. [N.B. I’ve had this wine twice before, but not since shortly after release. Unlike most 1989’s I’ve had lately, this wine wasn’t particularly fresh I couldn’t help wondering how this wine has been stored throughout its life. I know it wasn’t acquired on release.] 92
#5 [1993 Rouget Echezaux]
Extremely deep dark garnet red; aromas of dark red plum and blackfruit that practically burst out of the glass and largely cover some soft earth tones underneath –very impressive but needs time; this is extremely concentrated with blackberry, plum, good acidity and again some detectable minerality, but the finish is a bit hard and slightly bitter and marked by fine tannins. If more bottle age takes away that hard slightly bitter edge on the finish, my rating tonight will be ultra conservative. 92++? [N.B. I’ve had the 1993 twice in the last two years. In 2009 I rated it 94 and in 2010 it was 95. So this bottle seemed a bit off.]
#6- [1990 Rouget Echezaux]
Dark garnet red color; aromas of blue fruit, earth and slight peppermint; rich plum and cherry fruit and earth tones and here, again, some minerality on the finish along with the fruit and earth. Really impressive wine and my favorite of the night. 95
#7 [1995 Rouget Echezaux]
Dark garnet color; plum, cherry, earth and an oak note on this one; dark cherry fruit, not as much earth here, very good fruit density and bright acidity; a very long fruit dominated finish. Needs more time. 93
#7A [1988 Rouget Echezaux]
Medium garnet color; the most secondary set of aromas in the flight – sassafras, earth and some light cherry tones; on the palate this was cherry, and earth tones, well rounded; the finish was cherry, a hint of black tea and earth and it was quite long. On the second pass I also noticed some light ultra-fine tannins on the finish. Continued to improve in the glass. My No. 2 wine of the night. 94|95
Third Flight – DRC Echezaux (served single blind)
Jimenez Farms Lamb, Petite Vegetables, Pork Jus
#8 [1991 DRC Echezaux]
Dark garnet with a light red/pink halo; rose petals, earth tones and light cherry; there is great concentration of dark cherry fruit on the palate – much more than what I would have expected from the aromas-- and some very light earth tones; very nice, but more monochromatic than some of the Rougets; seems quite youthful, so may develop further. 92+
#9 [1988 DRC Echezaux]
Dark blood red with an amber edge; again some rose petals and light cherry aromas; light cherry, good acidity and notably tannic; a bit thin and dry. {N.B. Very consistent with showing at 88 tasting] 91
#10 [1990 DRC Echezaux]
Dark red-violet color, more saturated color than the others in this flight; plum, cherry and fainter rose petals this time; fairly concentrated plum, cherry and earth tones, just secondary enough to be the complete package; very nice. My no. 3 wine of the night. [N.B. I’ve never had this vintage of DRC Ech before but it was clearly much better than the Tanzer and Burghound reviews had led me to expect.] 93
Fourth Flight – Dujac Echezaux (served single blind)
Iberico Pork Shoulder with swiss chard, Forbidden Rice, Pork Jus
#11 [1988 Dujac Echezaux]
Medium garnet with a lighter red edge; peppermint, light rose petals and cherry aromas; this had some light cherry fruit and sous bois notes but finished notably dry. 90
#12 [1990 Dujac Echezaux]
Dark garnet color that is pretty saturated to the rim; peppermint and cherry candy aromas; on the palate, this has round, relatively full dark cherry and earth flavors; charming and easy to drink, but lacks the great finish of the best wines tonight. My number four wine. 93
#13 [1993 Dujac Echezaux]
Dark garnet red color; marked brett – some wet horse elements, cherry and rose petals; on the palate there was some cherry and earth, but this was quite dry and way too bretty for me. In my view (being sensitive to brett), this was clearly the least good of the modern wines. 88?
Frommage and Yquem
1979 d’Yquem
Medium-full gold color with notable browning; brown sugar aromas; this has some slightly underripe apricot and brown sugar flavors, notable acidity and a glyceric texture, but its not a great Yquem. 92
A Postscript Note: While most of us generally agreed on the top wines, there was a degree of variation in the order of people’s favorites. A couple of tasters (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) stated that they had the three DRC wines as the top 3. Trying to be as objective about matters of taste as I can, I just couldn’t rationalize that conclusion.