Big lunch at fermentAsian today with the ‘Breakaways’ crew.
Navazos La Bota De Amontillado: Super complex with notes of curry leaf, grilled nuts, citrus and sea spray. It is mouth watering and airy in the mouth with all sorts of wonderful savoury things wafting around the gums. The finish is salty and ethereal.
2004 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru ‘Les Perrières’ : The 2000 was oxy so I called this one up off the bench. It has some floral green things the vintage is famous for. There were also some ripe, mildly exotic fruits (think gooseberry, guava and rockmelon). It has piercing mineral line and good posture with a cool, long finish.
2000 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru ‘Charmes’ : I loved this wine and thought it was perhaps the best wine of the bracket in very strong company. It is classic Meursault with a big dollop of almond butter. Fruit is of the white peach persuasion and is crisp and sappy. It is rich but shows restraint and it has perfect shape in the mouth and finishes with a big lick of grapefruit acidity.
2009 Coche-Dury Meursault ‘Les Rougeots’ : Quite overt and full of sappy orchard fruits at first but tightens considerably in the glass. There is a petrol note on the nose, it is quite pleasant mind you. The fruit has a cool feel and is sweet at the wine’s heart. It is round and full with a chewy mineral finish.
2007 Bernard Boisson-Vadot Meursault 1er Cru ‘Les Genevrières’: Really flinty with a big whiff of toasty oak. It is rich and dense with citrus fruits a plenty. There’s a light vein of spice working through the flavour profile and it finishes with piercing acidity and plenty of mineral action.
2008 Arnaud Ente Meursault 1er Cru ‘Gouttes d’Or’ : Just so dense and compact, brimming with potential. It is all citrus, white peach and mineral. It is tight and sappy with real tension and terrific detail. The finish is loaded with dry extract and you get a big puff of chalk right at the end.
1905 Château Pape Clément : After a very patient battle with the Durand I managed to extract the cork in one piece. The wine was still very much alive but had plenty of cellar stink. There were notes of leather, antique furniture, mushrooms and mould. It was sweet and vinous in the mouth and still had a gentle kiss of acidity on the finish.
1943 Château Pape Clément : Re-corked in 1999 this was showing well. It has some moss, leather and spice on the nose. In the mouth it was pure, full and sweet with some mushroom development, a little smoke and a thread of tobacco. It possessed sneaky length and kept repeating all sorts of interesting savoury things once swallowed.
1967 Château Pape Clément : Quite lovely and just about the best 67 I can remember. Full and sweet with delicious jube-like cassis fruit. There’s some gravel, leather, and dried flowers as the wine breathes. Its structural elements have all but folded into the wine and it is in a perfect, harmonious place.
1962 Château Pape Clément: Oxidised. Bloody premox!!
1986 Château Pape Clément : Fresh, dense, richly fruited and chewy. Loaded with cassis and has some black olive saltiness. Ample structure but fruit is front and centre. Drinking really well.
1979 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Échezeaux : A couple of lads at the table who have drink plenty of DRC thought this was the 78, it was smokin’ ! Engaging aromatics of beef stock, fresh roses and brown spices. The palate was so lacy and sensual with a perfect balance of sweet fruit and savoury soy and earth. Length was terrific.
1996 Domaine des Perdrix Échezeaux : Youthful, muscular and chewy. Has some Asian spice coupled with red berry and cherry fruit. There’s a light creaminess in the mouth then it’s a little sinewy with some sweet cedar from the wood and a bright minerally finish. It is drinking well but has plenty left in the tank.
2008 Emmanuel Rouget Echezeaux Cuvée Georges Jayer : Just so pure, pretty and perfumed. It smells of fresh raspberries and cherries. It is creamy but crisp (if that makes sense?). It is chiselled with minerally detail and one is left with an intoxicating floral perfume wafting around one’s gums once the wine is swallowed.
2010 Cecile Tremblay Echezeaux du Dessus : Plenty of gingerbread oak but commensurate with the dense red berry and cherry fruit. Spicy and dense. Pretty, powerful and perfumed. The pomegranate and cranberry fruit was so detailed as the wine breathed. Will be brilliant in a decade or two.
2003 Faiveley Echezeaux: Gritty, grippy, chewy, dense, masculine, big….oh I dunno, not my cup of Twinings.
2001 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes: Very pure and punchy on the nose with aromas of lavender, dried apricot and honey. Full, rich and majestic in the mouth with good intensity, balance and freshness. Me likes.
1961 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes: This was superb. Complex aromatics of butterscotch, honey, apricot jam and toffee apple. In the mouth it tastes of salted caramel yet has a green apple and citrus fruit freshness to it. It is full, resolved generous and finishes with a touch of orange rind bitterness.
Cheers
Jeremy