A good friend and I enjoyed a fine dinner at his local country club. We each brought a wine and blind tasted the other. Some notes:
1995 DE VENOGE LOUIS XV de VENOGE BRUT- my friend magnificently concealed the very unique and distinct clear glass bottle shape of this wine or I would have recognized it since I’ve had a few bottles including this vintage after I was turned on to it by my favorite wine shop in Amsterdam years ago; this bottle had an amber gold color denoting some age and the nose confirmed it with advanced/ oxidative notes of musty age funk, caramel and butterscotch which was also in the taste; we decided to give it some air time and re-visit occasionally and thankfully we did as we experienced an interesting dynamic of the oxidative notes being joined by some honeyed lemon, yellow apple and peach and then over time they became foremost with the oxidative notes in the background; also, some anise and licorice accents came in and it even seemed to gain more richness and after an hour or so, it was really good and worth waiting for its real gifts to show up; this is a 50% blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir sourced from numerous Grand Cru plots and was made by Eric Lebel, the winemaker for Krug from 1998 to 2020 who is now the deputy director.
Before revealing the bottle and after waffling from 1985 to 2002 and various houses, I called it 1996 Krug or Bollinger RD.
From the house’s website:
“The most prestigious Cuvée of de Venoge bears the name of the French king Louis XV, to whom the Champagne owes so much. By the decree of May 25, 1728, Louis XV authorized only the wines of Champagne to be marketed and transported in bottle. At last, the sparkling process could take place in the bottle: Champagne was born. The Cuvées of Louis XV, made exclusively of Grands Crus and produced only in the best vintages, represent the quintessence of the House’s know-how.”
1987 CHATEAU MONTROSE SAINT- ESTEPHE- I decanted this for 2 hours and checked its aromas throughout and found saddle leather accented wondrous black currant and knew this would be good; the fill was high neck and the color was a deceiving dark, unadulterated purple suggesting a much younger wine as was guessed by my friend who got it as a younger Cab based Bordeaux when first poured blind; for me, it was the epitome of what stellar Left Bank Bordeaux is all about; it had the requisite cedar, earthy leather accented black currant that was joined on the palate by ripe black cherry and blackberry; it was full bodied, silky smooth, elegant and exuded class; I wouldn’t have wanted this to be any different- it was perfect and I found myself being grateful for it giving up all of its treasures for unto enjoy on this night.
It was a fun evening of good fellowship and conversation that included some more wine exploration and education.
Cheers,
Blake