A couple of nice dinners :O)!

A couple of nice dinners - several good friends were in town for the weekend from the Portland, OR area… We had some great food over the weekend and semi nice weather for them until this morning :O(. One night was burgs vs. Oregon… The second night was burgs vs. Piedmonte. Here we go:

1995 Krug Champagne Brut: I loved this - my 3rd time tasting this one. Fine bubbles with flashes of tight citrus and brioche. Lovely with plenty of structure and character. Love it for different reason when compared to the '96. 96pts.

1990 Henri Giraud Champagne Fût de Chêne: Purchased these from a restaurant a few years ago - glad I did. As good as the '95 Krug was - this was a lot better. Seemed younger with floral effervescent bubble - chalky minerality - seemed so youthful. 97+pts.

1989 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne: Wanted to get a few theme driven white burgs in there. Youthful color with wafts of smoke and creamy orchard fruit. Lovely balanced acidity with just a touch of well integrated oak. Really nice IMHO - 94pts, drink up.

1989 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne: Bummer - slightly corked but still had a bunch of underlying fruit and viscosity. Just off a bit - a shame.

1985 Hospices de Beaune Corton-Cuvée Charlotte Dumay: Murky tastes here - lots of earthy flavors and dark fruits. Just seemed off and didn’t give much pleasure - corked… Yes, maybe slightly!

1990 Frederic Esmonin Mazy-Chambertin: Wonderful wine here - a real bright and savory mouthful of wine. Spice, black cherry fruit, kirsch, swirling coaxed out some nice perfume. Lovely - 95+pts and drinks young.

1989 Adelsheim Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard: From memory… What a nice surprise - this wine had plenty of fruit and nice secondary characteristics. Medium bodied beauty - soft and pure. Exceeded expectations - 92pts.

1989 Cameron Pinot Noir Abbey Ridge: From memory - this one seemed a bit tired and on a downward trajectory. 88pts.

1994 Thomas Pinot Noir Dundee Hills: This was a very nice pinot and my first Thomas. Perfumed spices - creamy cherry earth toned fruit - medium+ finish. Diane and I both agreed - the nose was wonderful and seemed very Vosne 1er’ish with really undertones of baking spices and earth. Anywho - I liked it - 94pts.

2001 Domaine Dujac Clos St. Denis: Oh Yeah - this is one of my favorite wines that Dujac makes. Powerful fruit and structure with a feminine floral and earth toned nose. Cool fruit that extends in the mouth for a long finish. 95+pts. Needs another 5+ years at least…

2001 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Musigny: At first - I thought this was a more meaty burgundy - maybe from Gevrey. Dark personality that really opened up to more creamy Chambolle cherry fruit, roses, and spice. Powerful and feminine at the same time - this has a long and glorious life ahead of it. This will drink good right now if you give it enough time to develop in the glass. 97+pts.

1998 Torii Mor Pinot Noir Quail Hill: Slight VA that blew off from what I remember. Dark personality that just didn’t click with me for some reason…

2004 Cristom Pinot Noir Sommers Reserve: Ruby color - nice cherry fruit - light medium finish. A nice drink - 89pts.

1980 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline: This one was a favorite of mine in 2011 - Jim had never had a LaLa before - so I went and grabbed one of these. Black olive, spiced blackberry, flashes of violets, tar, chewy smoked bacon - lovely wine IMHO. This also had a good 30min-1hr of further development in the glass. 97pts.

1961 Château Climens: I had some Philadelphia Market Day Canele cakes sent for desert - yum little cakes :O). This went very will with the dessert - light to medium color and loaded with custard cream, burnt honey, and flashes of creamy tropical fruits. Not bad - 94pts.

Next night:
N.V. Bruno Gobillard Champagne Vieilles Vignes Brut: Bright personality with creamy lime and soft bubbles on the nose. Round and long in the mouth - nice acidity. 90pts

N.V. Egly-Ouriet Champagne Brut Rosé Grand Cru: This was a really nice rose - just a touch of strawberry and plenty of chalky minerality. Bright personality with lots of small lively bubbles. I like this rose style - 93pts.

2006 Domaine Guy Roulot Meursault Les Luchets: I keep having these really good bottles of Roulot - at this rate I’m going to have to start looking harder to find more Roulot. Nothing overdone here - balanced with rich fruit and balanced acidity - touch of well placed oak. I love Meursault when made right :O). 93pts.

1999 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne: Touch of smoke and matchstick when first smelled - a slight shade darker than the Roulot. Balanced wine in the mouth with savory apple and balanced oak cream. Another wine that really pleased from start to finish. 93pts.

2004 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon: Uhhhh - this one was nice. Loved it more than others - there were lots of different favorites for the whites from those at the table. '04 white burgs in this style will be fantastic with more time - this is no exception. Balanced with brilliant savory cold orchard fruits - touch of smoke and fennel. Lovely. 94pts.

1990 Domaine Leroy Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts: This is a winner! There can be so many more dimensions that come from Leroy wines - you have to savor a bottle like this to believe me. Complex spice aromas - bright fruits - floral and spice. Medium+ finish. Lovely - 96pts.

1990 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques: I love this wine from Jadot - try and buy it every year… Balanced personality - cool dark fruits, silky personality, flashes of clove spice. 95pts.

1996 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Le Corton: This was nice enough - just didn’t fit in with the '90s. Very Corton’like - cool personality with still present tannins. Young - 91+pts.

1990 Gaja Barolo Sperss: This drank really young last night - still so youthful but can be enjoyed now… I got chocolate, cherry cream, leather, roses, and touches tobacco spice. Long in the mouth - nice. Man, I’d really like to try this one again in maybe 15 years. 95++pts.

1996 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sperss: This one seemed a wee bit more advanced and maybe stripped of something…? The wine was there - just didn’t have the pizazz and future that the '90 has. 91pts. I have to find some '97 Sperss to sample!

1990 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano: I could immediately tell this was my wine of the night - super nose of tar, roses, baking chocolate, layers of savory fruit with a long finish. The nose is really nice - the mouth-feel of this wine makes it great! 98pts.

1982 Château Margaux: Corked - Oh yeah, TCA sucks!

1971 Château Coutet: Dark golden caramel color. Classy wine that had lovely custard aromas and enough acidity to really make it work. Showed well as it sat in the glass - 92pts.

The End!!

Great notes! Big fan of the 89 jadot corton charlie, shows big time with Jadot could do if it wasn’t for all that nasty premox
90 leroy BM is one of my favorite 1er’s of all time, it is just incredible.

Great notes. thanks.

Nicely done Jon. OR Pinots keeping up with a Mugnier Moose, assorted GCs and that excellent La Mouline…yipes. No easy task. Glad the Thomas made a nice statement. Night 2 looks even more off the hook. I’ve had the Leflaive Clavoillon and it took several hours of air to really come around. Margaux tragedy and Giacosa amazement. Jim must be seeing stars.

RT

Drinking well I see. Good for you.

Jon, what a weekend. Your notes are spot on…I will not re-duplicate notes of the two nights, as they are within a few points of one another. My wine of the weekend would have to be the 90 Giacosa Red Label…what a wine…I have had it several times and have the same reaction every time…2 more left in the cellar, purchased on release…liquid gold. The Leroy VR Beaux Monts was singing, as it always has when I have had it before…unfortunately this was my last bottle. I agree that the 2 Gaja Barolos were great as well…the 90 surprisingly young when compared to the 96. My biggest regret was not having the La La earlier in the evening, when I could have analyzed better…what a great wine, but my palate was trash by that point. And oh yes…what a bummer on the 82 Margaux…Only one of those left. Hope we are more lucky with that one.

The following night we had a few nice champs and burgs as well. A Bruno Gobillard VV was really delicious. A definite step up from the regular release and a wine I will be purchasing. A Bruno Palliard Rose was also spot on…light, elegant, creamy with touch of strawberry. Lovely. An 06 Sauzet Referts was plus/minus…typical ripeness, low acid of 06’s and a little disjointed initially, but seemed to come together with some time in the glass. A pair of 95 reds were up next…the 95 Gaunoux Pommard 1er cru was soft with nice sous bois notes and a nice sweetness in the mid-palate and finish. This wine is ready now…Along side was a 95 Jadot Clos St Denis. This was much darker, bigger style and texture…lovely sous bois, soy and still very nice fruit with soft tannins and a sweet finish. I quite liked this wine and no hurry to drink the next one. The next wine was an 02 Fougery Bonnes Mares. This wine was very dark, has some weight, extract. Loads of fruit and tannins relatively soft…Need to lay this one down for awhile. Next was another Oregon surprise…a 94 Ponzi reserve. As with the 94 Thomas the night before, this wine showed extremely well. Sous bois, very ‘burgundian’ with plenty of fruit left to enjoy for a few more years…quite impressive. By this time of the evening, I thought perhaps one more pinot would be in order…so a trip to the cellar resulted in a 95 Williams Selyem Hirsch. No problems identifying that it was CA, when comparing to the Ponzi…a bigger style, cola, dark fruits…nicely balanced…a bit of palate fatigue was setting in by this time. We finished with an 88 Rieussec which was quite nice.

A great weekend had my all…need to take a break and get ready for La Paulee [cheers.gif]

Great notes fellas. Especially enjoyed seeing your notes on the 90 Leroy Beaux Monts. Had the 88 a couple months ago and was easily my #1 Burg of 2011.

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Sounds like a great weekend! Jon, you have been drinking so poorly after the past two weekends, you must step up your game.

Roger, I have a '80 La Mouline with your name on it, to open together soon and earlier in the evening.

Wowza. Quite the weekend. I can probably do my Top 10 Wines of 2012 right now! Hard to top. Great group of folks, 3 really interesting dinners and a slough of fantastic wines with everyone chipping in some stuff that was terrific. Too bad the 3 days we were there the weather decided not too cooperate and I had to fight a minor head cold that showed up the day we got there. Played better golf than I ever would have thought possible though.

I won’t go through all the wines but comment on a few:

'89 Jadot Corton-Chuck: I thought this was really beautiful. At first I had it pegged as CC but as it opened its texture evolved into this ethereal/airy richness that I associate with older Chevalier so I switched my guess. Deep, penetrating stuff. I would have liked to have seen this against the other white wine I liked best from the weekend which was the '04 Leflaive Clavoillon.

'01 Mugnier Musigny: This was simply awesome. Powerful and delicate all at the same time. Great aromatics and incredible texture. This was something else.

'01 Dujac CSD: I thought this was a little too primary at this point for my taste. Felt like this has massive upside to it and could eventually get to a 95 point kind of level but the fruit was so juicy still at this point that I Cellartracker-ed it at 92.

'90 Leroy Beaux Monts: This initially had a Barbaresco-y note to it but then it became clear that this was a superbly made, high-whole cluster content Burg. This is a superb and exotic wine that will go and go and go.

'90 Jadot CSJ: Much “lighter” than the Leroy but very delicious and in a great ready to drink zone. This was sexy, supple Gevrey. Well done here.

'90 Gaja Sperss: Wow. Structure monster. This has nothing but upside to it. I could see this drinking like mad in 30 years. Incredible.

'95 Jadot CSD: One of the best '95s I have had in a long time. Very, very pretty.

'02 Fougeray de Beauclair: I always like their Bonnes Mares and this is a young, sappy, sexy wine. Utterly drinkable but I have no doubt this will be popping along just fine in 15 years. Great stuff.

'80 Guigal La Mouline: Never having experienced a La La before this was quite the treat. Starting out at cellar temp and only being given the barest modicum of time to breathe this struggled at first. However, after an hour it had resolved its tighter, stinkier side and was really beginning to show some oomph and distinction. John’s wife, Kelly, sanely had retreated to bed at this point leaving her glass of this behind. We were able to make hay with this as it had been open for enough time for all this rush of fruit and spice to join the party. Really an unbelievable wine. You start getting ruined on shit like this.

'95 Krug: Yeah, this was nice. To say the least.

Thanks to all the gracious folk in Tucson that opened their homes and cellars! Great stuff. Looking forward to doing it again in the near, near future.

This post inspired me to purchase lottery tickets.

Nice guys!
Thanks.

Jonathan is to wine consumption what Brett is to football.

Hall of fame, baby!

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Thanks for the notes Johnathan, some great wines also…