'90s Burgs with Jay Somers and Erni Loosen and friends

WINE TALK
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Birthday dinner for Jay with Erni Loosen. Enjoyed these with a nice coq au vin. Good times all around.

1993 Rene Le Clerc Gevrey-Chambertin Combe Aux Moines 1er. Never been a fan to be honest. This was okay and severely out of its depth in this company. Whatever positive '93 characteristics that were present were harshly blurred by a distinct mintiness that lay on top of all other flavors. Probably some decent if not great Gevrey material underneath but I only bothered to try once. No one really liked it too well.

1995 Domaine de l’Arlot Clos de Arlot. Very stinky and musty upon being opened. Worrisome but it tasted correct and the funk subsided as the wine was poured. Very nice. Floral and a touch spicy and earthy. Nice weight to the medium-bodied nature of the wine. Felt like it clung to the inside of your mouth despite very soft tannins. More fruit than one would expect. Delicate and graceful. A classy and demure effort that was a pure pleasure to drink.

1998 Domaine des Chezeaux Griotte-Chambertin. New to me. Apparently it is a collaboration between Rene LeClerc and Ponsot. Nice combination of bright, sappy, cherry-oriented fruit and a slate-y minerality. A little blocky which isn’t unusual from '98s at this stage. Enjoyable and shows potential. This could open and evolve into something pretty good if not sensational. It could also just stay at this point and slowly decline. Hard to say. I liked it well enough and it was a nice rustic-foil to the coq au vin.

1994 Domaine Claude Dugat Charmes-Chambertin: Erni brought this from his sizable cellar in Europe. Showed a little element of being shook up as it was slightly turbid. Mattered not. Sexy, complete nose that spanned the range of fruit, earth and animal quite easily. Rich and powerful with dark fruit, beef stock, soy and a earthy/clay note on the firm finish. Lots of complexity and the wine just went on and on. Terrific stuff.

1999 Domaine Pierre Guillemot Corton Le Rognet. This came out at the end of the evening. Very Corton and very 99. For about 5 minutes there was rich, red fruit and this seemed like it was going to be a surprise. Then it clamped shut and became wickedly tannic and very difficult to evaluate. Given the little peek beneath the covers as it were this seems as though there is fairly vast potential for those with deep, dark cellars.

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Thanks for the notes Jim. I feel exactly the same way about all the 98s I’ve tried recently.

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1998 Domaine des Chezeaux Griotte-Chambertin. New to me. Apparently it is a collaboration between Rene LeClerc and Ponsot. Nice combination of bright, sappy, cherry-oriented fruit and a slate-y minerality. A little blocky which isn’t unusual from '98s at this stage. Enjoyable and shows potential. This could open and evolve into something pretty good if not sensational. It could also just stay at this point and slowly decline. Hard to say. I liked it well enough and it was a nice rustic-foil to the coq au vin.

My understanding is that Domaine des Chezeaux owns the vines in Griotte-Chambertin and they have a sharecropper agreement with both LeClerc and Ponsot, so the wine is made by one or the other. I don’t believe Ponsot and LeClerc collaborate on any single wine. Also, it is unclear to me whether both Ponsot and LeClerc make wine the same vintage, but I think so. Never tried it, but I have one of the 98 (ironically) resting sideways (I believe LeClerc made the wine I own, unfortunately, as I really love Ponsot’s wines of course.)

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Ernie is a lot of fun. He told us his Kabinett is perfect for drinking yourself sober.

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Jim, nice to see a report on a 94. Actually a number of these wines have turned out surprisingly well.

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It may sound crazy but I have lots of good memory with my 1994 DRC… flirtysmile

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Well done Jim. Thanks for sharing and cheers to Jay…(who made some damn fine 2011s!). Are you finding 1998 and 1999 GC reds to be, in general and respectively, blocky and closed?

RT

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Not crazy at all. It is revealing itself as a very enjoyable vintage indeed, for which one needed to wait.

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I think the descriptive difference I have between many '98s and '99s is that the former have this sensation of being unsettled (blocky) at this point. To me that is a combination of tannins not in harmony with the wine’s other elements and the fruit being tight/reserved/overly dark/lacking expression. In some cases I feel that this is a stage. In others I worry that this just might be it. The '99s that aren’t ready, like the Corton, I just find too tannic but with ample elements that nearly always point toward future upgrades.

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Tom…what are you talking about [wink.gif] ?

I enjoyed 1994 because I do not need to wait as they were always ready and very enjoyable.

Honestly, I enjoy them because I was lucy to buy them so that I do not have to open the 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1996 .

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The 94 reds (non DRC) came across as a little lean and underfruited when younger. I just buried mine (not a bad strategy for any burg) and when I stumbled upon them in the last few years, found a number that had turned out pretty well.

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G-cru and 1ieme cru performed better due to unfavourable weather conditions …I guess !