Overview
One of my great joys in life these days is seeking out the Hardcores. A bit of a mutant, myself, it’s good fun to get an assemblage of supremely experienced, unusual Burgundy drinkers. With orders of magnitude more experience than me.
To my great delight, I pulled in a few characters for a lovely upscale Chinese dinner inland. We had the coverboy from World of Woodtuners, an up-and-coming fitness influencer on Instagram, and a Lupine Burgundy Savant (& fellow boarding school kid).
The evening was awesome 
. If anything, I don’t think we talked enough about the wines. Really enjoyed the flow of the conversation all evening. High levels of empathy and curiosity into everyone’s backstory.
And we managed a Killer Lineup. With total spontaneity, I might add.
1996 DP Oenotheque
Alan started us off well. We all commented that it was even fresher & more powerful than most.
This was more traditional brioche & pastry crust compared with the more exotic Almond Cake that I picked up on from another bottle of this in March. Phenomenal mouthfeel and viscosity. When the energy of 30 yr old bottle of Champagne is lingering on your teeth in the most pleasant way (i.e. not because it’s shrill), it’s very cool. Complexity in that mid-palate, very textbook from front-to-back. Superb.
Burgundies
We had to get our Peking Duck on an early arrival, so we had these opened pretty quickly.
The 2010 Tremblay Chambolle Les Cabottes was the simplest wine on the table. Probably by some margin. I still enjoyed it quite a lot, but it’s stylistically not as light & evocative as more recent vintages. Denser, simpler. I still admire its purity. It’s possible I’m overrating it as the person who brought it, but I hope not. Probably the least spectacular wine out of the six we assembled but it still combined with the next bring for an incredible side-by-side.
2005 Truchot Chambolle Les Sentiers was fantastic. Juicier on the nose than the Tremblay. And also brighter & more joyful than the 2004 Sentiers I had last December in D.C. This has more velvet, but it still shares the density (like the earthier, cooler-fruited '04) with the Tremblay. Plenty of 05 'ness in its back-end size. Sentiers is basically beneath Bonnes Mares, so some depth & size isn’t out of character. I think this wine is far more similar to the Clos de la Roche, though. Beautiful mouthfeel.
1995 Dujac Clos de la Roche was even more spectacular. I have such little experience with Jacque’s wines, but the recent examples this year from 1995 & 1999 have brought me serious joy. And showcased the winemaker’s abilities. This got a double-decant 3 hours prior to serving. And it was a thrill to follow.
A touch of sauvage musk intertwined with some good dark cherry aromas. Mid-palate layering. Wonderful finish. Harmony in all three phases. Sensational wine & my wine of the evening.
Raveneau
This 2009 Valmur was lighter & carried less weight than one might expect. This got a 3 hour slow-ox, but no double decant. Alan & I had some good chat about just how much weight might/should be missing, but I always revert to a core principle that I’d rather a beautiful wine be lighter & on song than denser and somewhat obtuse.
I thought this was fantastic, and particularly capable of blending into different dishes on the table (Alan’s son-in-law pointed out its combining with an unctuous lamb chop, and boy was he 100% right). Valmur often has a little extra ‘je ne sais quoi’ with the interplay of its oily nature & beautiful chalky limestone. And this really hit the spot for me.
Egon Muller
As I was traveling sans Chang, Charlie thoughtfully bright a stellar Riesling for me. (Editor’s note: this might not actually be the reason for the Egon Muller, but I like this explanation best).
2021 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett was very joyous. Such great perfumes and lightness. Thankfully wide open & exceptionally explosive aromatically. Peach & Petrol, and a mix of other fruits. And feather-light in the mouth. Really good example of an elevated Kabinett. I’m always DTF with a bad ass Riesling.
Fin
Alan & Charlie were wonderful company. The wines were truly phenomenal; what a rare mixture of wine making legends. The table conversation was very personal & had a great range of honesty.
Alan arrived early and was tremendously empathetic to my family stories. Charlie graciously watched all my kiddo videos and pictures! He only corrected me on a couple of things 
. He even hung around a few extra minutes to keep me company as I waited for a rideshare, which was an unexpected gesture of warmth.
Table really delivered this evening. World Class wine is such a good conduit for mixing personalities with aplomb.
95 & 99 Dujac CdlR are my grail wines. Glad it showed well.