1971 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Hors-Série: A wonderful bottle. Complex aromatics of buttered toast, brioche, lemon curd and truffled honey. Rich and voluminous, layered and harmonious. A beautiful line of minerally acidity and a core of something sweet and vinous. Chalky throughout the long finish and a hint of spice.
2010 Bernard Boisson-Vadot Meursault Les Grands Charrons : Pours out with a luminous green tinge. The nose has some struck match, pure white peach and spice. The palate is deep and rich. There’s a light butteriness and good mineral detail. It finishes with fine cut and there’s a wealth of sappy orchard fruit flavours that linger.
2017 Coche-Dury Meursault: Very fresh, pure and primary. Intense white peach fruit at its heart. Some smoky minerals and fennel tops too. Silky of texture, strong of build. Seriously long and chewy. Still just a pup.
2015 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru : More open-knit and expressive than a bottle we had last year. An explosive nose of smoky mineral, menthol, ripe peach, guava and vanilla. The palate is so deep, rich and powerful. It is unctuous through the mid and layered with fruit and almond butter flavours. It oozes minerality below the flesh and the finish is so direct with so much drive and authority.
2008 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche, Grand Cru : A mature nose of decaying rose, black earth, Hoisin and soy. The palate is rich and velvety. There’s so much savoury nuance along with echoes of perfumed fruit. It is mid-weight La Tâche, beautifully balanced and cut by the vintage’s fine minerally acidity. The finish expands.
1989 Bouchard Père et Fils La Romanée, Grand Cru : This showed just a hint of earthy development but otherwise was remarkably youthful. There’s highly defined cherry fruit with a touch of aniseed spice. It is deep and rich in the mouth and has so much build and chew. There’s mineral tension and some tart fruit rind bitterness. It is super powerful but light on its feet and the finish is so expansive and persistent.
“I.C.B.M’s, S.S.20’s they lie so dormant they got so many” Name the song?
Many of the same traits as Romanée-Conti. Stylistically very different to DRC. This would have been vinified by Régis Forey before its élevage at Bouchard. Very little, if any whole bunch evident.
How was this in terms of effervescence, youth, maturity? I have a bottle to drink for one of my wife’s birthdays (born 1971) and generally wondering how long this may be drinking well.
It’s not necessary unusual - recent DRC can show this way. A 2010 La Tache drunk in June was a very good wine, but was surprisingly advanced its age. Whether that’s the intent or a flaw is a different question.
Interesting comments on the 2008 DRC La Tâche, thanks for sharing all.
I’ve got a single of the 2008 Rousseau Chambertin Clos-de-Beze and have recently been told it’s probably ready and will likely not improve with further age. This conversation adds to the urge to pull that cork in the near future.
Oh dear I’ll have to hurry up then. I gifted one for my brother’s wedding and planned on following up gifting them my second and third bottles (talk about planning ahead!) for their 5th and 10th or something
Any chance you think it might be bottle variation?