Carillon Bienvenue Batard Vertical and a "fake" btl of Red Burgundy!

Last night, 6 drinkers of Burgundy descended upon Blue Hill at Stone Barns, to go where very few others had gone before…a vertical of the very rare and very sought after Bienvenue Batard Montrachet from Domaine Louis Carillon. Six vintages would be tasted before we moved onto a very impressive array of Pinot Noir from “Mecca,” also known as Bourgogne, or Burgundy!

Before we get into the wine, let’s talk about Blue Hill for a moment. Personally, I dined there numerous times when they first opened, but after a few hiccups and a couple of large private wine dinners that went awry, I have stayed away the last few years. Well, they may have brought me back with what they served last night. We opted for the “Farmer’s Feast” at $135 per person, but we practically had to stop them from bringing more food. All of the the little starters were great, including the zucchini flowers, chicken pate surrounded by chocolate, corn soup with verina (sp?)as well as the charcuterie (Lanzo? was extraordinary, I would like to purchase that by the pound at my local deli). They even served pig face bacon!!! The "savory dishes were even better…Lobster with local veggies melted in your mouth, and the Berkshire pig was delicious. It came with an almond and bean side that really worked. Finally, they forced us to the ER with two delicious lamb chops, and lamb NECK, which was a lot like Pork Belly but with better texture. Something better than Pork Belly? Who would have thunk it?

Thomas Carter, and staff, treated us like royalty (well, shit, Laurent Drouhin practically is royalty, so that explains it)!

Onto the wines…first Carillon…Peter provided all except…
1984: I brought this pristine looking btl and, of course, it was corked. Thomas came to us and said it was very slight…but the “corkiness” only picked up steam over time and rendered the wine undrinkable. Before that happened, the wine, to me, showed amazing youthfulness. There was good fruit under there somewhere. The color was lighter than the 1998 and the 1996. A good show, despite the cork problem. Anyways, only corked one of the night.

1998: This was right in my wheelhouse when they poured it. Very rich, fat fruit (not in the CA way, though), this is the second time I have enjoyed this wine over the past 6 months. Over time, the wine did lose a lot of its character, but that took a solid 45 minutes to an hour of it in the glass. Impressive and delicious.

1999: There was much debate as to the order we should pour these wines in and, inevitably, I lost. I thought the 1999 ought to be in the next flight and the 1997 here. Well, the 1999 was put here and stole the show for most of us. An absolute baby, this took about 30 minutes in the glass for it to really come out of its shell. Someone used the word, precise, to describe this one and that appeared to be very accurate. At 10 years old, this one clearly has more life ahead of it, but on this night, it was still outstanding!

1997: I think others liked this more than me, I thought this was a good wine, but would have expected more. I found the finish to be a little short, and a little nuttiness to the wine (possibly some oxidation?). Over time, the wine did actually get better in the glass. It took on more weight, but it just never got there for me.

2005: Why not, right? This had 2005 written all over it. Upon pouring, I noted the distinct tropical fruit flavors in the wine. It was sewet, rich, and fat. There should have been a sign on my glass that read “do not drink for 2 hours!” Upon revisiting the wine much later in the evening, the nose had turned to a coconut smell, and the wine lived. Good show.

1996: Well, when drinking white Burgs from the late 1990s, you are bound to get an oxidized one, and the 1996 was it for us. Deep yellow. light orange color…the wine was very simple and monolithic. I took two sips…that was enough for me.

Onto the reds…
1990 Drouhin Bonnes Mares: DQ’ed (maderized)
1985 Pierre Amiot Clos de la Roche: This was not a favorite of mine. I found it a little old and uninteresting. A very short finish…drink 'em if you got 'em! Paul brought this one!

1993 Drouhin Bonnes Mares: Man, these 1993s are delicious. Who was the wine critic that pancaked them? Oh, yes, RP. Laurent had a good laugh about that as we all enjoyed this sexy wine. Big, rich fruit, this wine is still in its infantile stages…got to find more 1993s…thanks Laurent for this btl!

1990 Jean Grivot Clos Vougeot: I brought this one. I am never a huge fan of Grivot. His wines tend to be a little rough around the edges for me, and upon opening, this one was no exception. Closed, muted nose. Then, after about 30 minutes in the glass, this wine shined…for about 20 minutes, with a nice sweet long finish…but then I found it declined again…a roller coaster never seen by a wine critic that spends just 45 seconds with each wine!

1962 Potinet Ampeau Volnay Clos des Chenes: Even brought this one. He purchased it from a prominent retailer. He guessed about 8 years ago. The label was gleaming white (obviously a new label). The fill was up to the top (obviously topped off)…and the color was an amazingly bright red…and the wine was tasty…very tasty. We all just sat there in disbelief. I kept questioning the color on this wine as I sipped it. Finally, Laurent put his hands in the air, and said, “I have something to say…there is no way this is 1962 Volnay!” He sounded frustrated. The wine was good, but clearly noy 47 years old. The cork was saturated as if it had been recorked when it was topped off, about 10 years ago. Of course, no branding on the cork. There is not one indication that this wine came from 1962, except the sparkling white label. Even says that he purchased 1959s, 1966s, and 1971s as well. He says that the 1966s have been very bad. He is sure he has more 1962 in the cellar. Who would fake such a wine? Not sure…stay tuned…Robert Parker will investigate…

1982 Clair Dau Chambertin Clos de Beze: Many of us know the history by now. Jadot bought Clair Dau’s holdings in the mid 1980s and Jadot became a star in Bonnes Mares, Musigny, etc. This Beze is from a very underwhelming year, and I found the wine fairly underwhelming. At first sip, the wine was tasty, but the wine quickly fell off the cliff for me. In the end, it was a harsh, rustic wine, that could have used more fruit. But, alas, the fruit just was not there. Peter shared this one.

1985 Pierre Bouree Chambolle Musigny les Amoureuses: Paul brought a very nice surprise for all of us…this wine kept getting better in the glass. It started off a little tight, but you could sense that this wine was going to be good. Not a flashy wine, but just a very solid wine that was a pleasure to drink! I need to find more Pierre Bouree like this!

It was a great night, with some great people!

Sounds like a great dinner. I have only tried the Carillon BBM on two occasions (both the 96) and they were stunning. It was a number of years ago and premox had not yet reared its ugly head. This is a wine that is rare and tres cher and I envy a vertical tasting of it.

Shame about the 90 Drouhin as that bottle really rocks when its not faulty. But it sounds like you had plenty of nice stuff to assuage any bad bottles.

Al Fenster

'93 Carillon BBM is on the top white burgs i have ever had.

I’ve had a few '60s and '70s Potinet-Ampeau. Like the Robert Ampeau domaine, with which they sorta share a cellar, the wines are held back for late release in some of the coldest cellars in France. As a result, labels are usually pristine (since they’re labeled 10-30 years after the vintage), fills are often high, and the wines taste much fresher than the age would indicate. They’re not topped off. They are also relatively cheap so I doubt anyone would bother to fake one.

This was my thought as well, a somewhat recent release from the domaine. I’ve had plenty of Burgs from the sixties, stored cold, which have amazingly youthful color and are still “young” tasting.

With all due respect to Laurent Drouhin’s judgment:

I have been in the Potinet-Ampeau cellars and they are extremely cold. As Keith says, they sell a lot of old wine (when I was there about 8-10 years ago, they had wine for sale back at least to the early 1950s), and the bottle only is labelled when it goes out of the domaine.

I had a Bouchard P&F 1962 Volnay-Caillerets at Bouchard about 4-5 years ago (obvioulsly straight from their cellars beneath Beaune) and it was amazingly youthful and vigorous.

I’ve also had many other much older Burgundies of impeccable provinence (often in the producer’s cellar) that looked and tasted amazingly fresh. People vastly underestimate the aging capacity of well-stored older Burgundy.

Bottom line: I see no reason to suspect that the Potinet-Ampeau was a fake.

You just drank six vintages of Carillon BBM and yet you have the audacity to whine and bitch and moan about [u]California chardonnay[/u]?

I have never even seen a bottle of CBBM - and I am not entirely sure that I even know anyone who has ever seen a bottle of CBBM.

Getting the opportunity to taste a CBBM would be the vinous thrill of a lifetime.

You people are hopelessly spoiled.

Just hopelessly.

Somewhere in Nathan’s post is sarcasm…I will find it.

I do not have experience with mountains upon mountains of older wines, but the color on the Ampeau was ridiculous for a 1962.

Claude and Keith,

I am not an idiot. I am aware that the labels were put on just prior to release.

But, if it is not refilled, then how do you explain the fill level on this one being so perfect?

How about the cork? Would they recork the wine before release? because this unbranded cork was not 40+ years old, no way, no chance, no how.

Dan – Maybe it was refilled and recorked – I did not ask about the practices when I was there. But if you saw the low temperature and high humidity of the cellar, you would not be bothered about high fill levels for a wine that left there relatively recently, and I think unbranded corks were not uncommon nearly 50 years ago.

It is clear to me that wines suffer when sent to the US, no matter which coast, no matter how much care (possible exception for air transport). As a result, I think that those who have not tasted the same wines in Burgundy or the UK don’t know the extra dimension that they really are missing. I don’t say this to be snobbish, for virtually all my wines have so suffered, and that is not to say that they cannot give astonishing pleasure, too. (The flip side is that wines from the south of France often are better from U.S. cellars than at the estate.)

Claude

I appreciate the feedback, but I have to say that I see a little double talk in your previous comments.

This wine showed no age problems.

THis cork was not 50 years old (which I agree with you, that the cork could have been unbranded, if it was original). I had Laurent take a picture of the cork on his phone. Hopefully I will post it.

???

You say that they could have recorked the wine but that also corks from 50 years ago could have been unbranded.

You also mention transport issues to show why the wine could be old, but this wine was as fresh as could be, like what you have tasted in their cellars.

So did they charge you $85/bot corkage for all of those too? [stirthepothal.gif]

Wow, great dinner, Dan!

$60/btl corkage. They charged us for 8 btls…$480 in corkage…

[swoon.gif]

$480 tio open up 12 btls of wine ($40/btl) at a place like Blue Hill, and eat that kind of food, is a relative “bargain” to me.

When will I taste 6 btls of Carillon Bienvenue side by side again?

Sometimes, it is hard to put a price tag on this stuff.

I’m not doing double talk, just making honest disclosure about facts that are not known to me in the first case.

In the second, do you know how that wine was transported to the US or that it would not have tasted even better in Burgundy?

I know exactly how it was transported, based upon the strip label.

Maybe the wine is legit. I put “fake” in quotations for a reason.

No one fakes wines worth less than $3000/btl, anyways, right?

I’m going to say, “What is never, Alex?”

Daniel, no offense intended here, but you’ve made it a mission to discuss integrity and fairness in various segments of the wine industry. You strongly insinuated the wine was fake and even quoted Drouhin as saying so. You are a prolific poster on an increasingly influential board. What you say can impact a producer who still releases old vintages as well as the retailers who sell the wines. I obviously have no idea whether the wine was legit or not as I wasn’t there, but this is probably the reason Meadows kept quiet with the Ponsot wines until he could further research his suspicions.