Clos De La Roche Dinner

WINE TALK
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CLOS DE LA ROCHE DINNER - The Ledbury, London (6/2/2009)

Ten of us gathered on a Tues night in london to do a little wine research on the Clos de la Roche. We were led by the fearless prof of vino, Jim"Napolean" Finkel and cooked for by the talented Brett Graham, and looked after by Manu & co
the food was great, the wine service perfect and we even had a few nice wines.
in general the older CdR’s showed better as they have had 15+ years in the bottle to come around and knit. Many of the younger wines showed promising flavors of sweet red cherries and strawberries with lovely floral hints
Good fun was had by all
Lasagna of Rabbit with Watercress and Morels

  • 2001 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
    Clos De La Roche Dinner - Ruby color, clear wine. sweet cherries and baking spices on the nose. in the mouth this had a creamy candied fruit flavor with a good vibrant splash of acidity and smmoth tannins. well balanced wine, long finish. very nice effort (92 pts.)
  • 1997 Domaine Dujac Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
    Clos de la Roche Dinner - a starter off theme wine. light ruby color, earthy nose with a touch of red fruit. bright acidity in the mouth with of fruit left , a lightish wine but still showing good bones. nice dusty tannins, med length. alot of people at the table liked this wine (89 pts.)
  • 2004 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
    Clos de La Roche Dinner - Clear Ruby color, a bit of barn on the nose and red cherries. medium weight and medium length, sweet cherries and pepper in the mouth. nice young wine (90 pts.)
  • 2001 Nicolas Potel Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
    Clos de la Roche Dinner - medium ruby colored, nose of violets, cherries and wood. medium length wine but i felt it was somewhat over oaked and a bit grippy (89 pts.)

Presa of Iberian Pork, Baby Turnips Wrapped in Ham with Parsley Root and Cider Puree

  • 2000 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
    Clos de la Roche Dinner - light ruby colored wine, a nose of floral cherries with a touch of earthiness. a bit lighter in the mouth than the 01’s from the previous flight, but clean pure red fruits, which seem to get a bit sweeter as it sits in the glass (90 pts.)
  • 2000 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
    Clos de la Roche Dinner - mix of strawberries and cherries on the nose. this wine was bright and lively in the mouth, fruit was great blend of sweetness and acidity. medium weight , medium long. it is in a very nice place right now but should continue to improve for many years. not as good as the 01 from the first flight but these two are food back to back CdR’s from Rousseau (91 pts.)
  • 1999 Joseph Drouhin Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
    slight lightening up around the edges, wasn’t giving much on the nose. it was tight in the mouth as well, a little red fruit but really not very exciting. will give the bottle benefit of the doubt that it was just in a really closed place and i guess we will have to try it again in 5 years and see what if anything was hiding (89 pts.)

Assiette of Hebridean Lamb with Green Tomato Juice, Spinach Puree and Aubergine Glazed with Miso & Garlic

  • 1995 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
    Clos de la Roche Dinner - ruby colored, looking quit youthful still. this had a nose of red smokey fruits, some baking spices as well. first taste or too were a bit tight but i think this wine has a lot going on, bright tight fruit, balanced well with straight clean acidity, and the trailing edge of some very fine tannins. the wine is very long and well made/balanced. i enjoyed this very mush and think this will continue to improve (93 pts.)
  • 1996 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
    Clos de la Roche Dinner - a bit of funk on the nose mixed in with cherries. somewhat soupy in the mouth , cherries and earthiness but this bottle seemed a bit tired. this wine should have been better (91 pts.)


  • 1993 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
    Clos de la Roche Dinner - lighter ruby color, still some red fruits on the nose, with a hint of some brambly underbrush and roses. nice mix of minerals, medium acidity. the tannins have receded and the fruit is lightening up and being replaced by some lovely barnyard flavors, very well balanced and medium long finish. the wine seemed to be in a good place and drank real well. my WOTN. if i had some of this in cellar i would start drinking over the next few years (93 pts.)
  • 1993 Dominique Laurent Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
    Clos de la Roche Dinner - vibrant ruby color, flowery red fruit nose. bright red fruit taste, bigger style wine, seemed a bit out of balance though and didnt really improve in the glass. nice bottle but not as good as the Rousseau it was paired up with (91 pts.)
  • 1993 Domaine Dujac Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
    Clos de la Roche Dinner - earthy smokey nose wrapped around some red fruits. this was a mouthful of wine and seemed a step up at its core the CdR’s we had been drinking for most of the night. it was rich ripe bright fruits, medium acidity and long in the mouth. still improving and all in all a excellent bottle of wine (92 pts.)

Finished up with a little cheese and a little sweet wine. Great night !!!
Posted from CellarTracker

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Wowza. Bang. Very nice. Jealous.

CdlR is my favorite GC. Not the best, but my fav. Combottes abuts it, so it is always fun to put them together.

A Truchot would have been a great addition.

Sounds like that Potel hasn’t changed since I had it several years ago. The oak gave it an ashtray element which was repellent.

Thanks for posting this.

A.

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Hmmm. When I saw the thread I got very excited, but I was surprised that the scores weren’t higher.Looks like a great dinner anyway.

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in all fairness steve i prbly always a bit conservative on scores
all in all i thought it was a really good , wines showed well for the most part and the older guys were starting to come into their own
CdR a lovely vineyard with some nice wines and good producers but not sure if there are alot of 100pt CdR’s
we are doing 93 burgs for lunch, some cros parantoux , some gros richebourg, a little jadot montrachet and leflaive and some Ducs
that should be fun

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Wow! That will be fun.

BTW, did you detect any greenness in the 04?..there’s been a lot of talk about that but when I tried it I didn’t detect any.

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steve
i have seen the endless threads on this and i have to say in the dujac i didnt find it, a little touch of pepper but none of the “meanie greenies”
love your avatar

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Nice notes on a great event. I really like it when the number of people and food are included in notes for “larger” events, as it gives me a better sense of the action and wines.

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ten/twelve is about as big as we go with single bottles
gets harder to really get any wine beyond that

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Even twelve can get problematic. Ask Mike Pobega.

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I’m of the same opinion. The most my little group does for a lunch or dinner is 8 for single bottles. Usually, we keep it to 6 or below.

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Very nice notes! Thanks for posting. There are a few there that I’ve been trying to seek out for a while, so this is good information.

Dan

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yes 6 people, each person bringing 2 bottles is a good day
tmrw we have a thing in london called WIMPS. each table usually 8 people and everyone usually brings a bottle or two and so we get a little champagne, some white, some red and some sweet wine
tmrw is 93 burg…should be fun

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Thanks for the notes. I love Dujac’s CdlR.

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i love the dujac, a nice sweetness to the wines
however in this grouping i think the rousseaus had a slight edge

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Nice to see some love for Rousseau’s CdlR. A wine often overshadowed, understandably, by the domaine’s more regarded vineyards.

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Ahh… life is so relative!
I’m a big fan of Dujac CdR, thanks for the notes & have fun with that lunch, (HOLY COW!)