Seven members of our dinner group enjoyed a fine meal at Petit Valentien with a red wine theme of N. Rhone in addition to the usual request for champagne and good white
Burgundy and the like.
We ate and drank well and enough and got off to a great start with this fabulous bubbly:
NV KRUG GRANDE CUVEE 166 eme EDITION BRUT- as a result of having just had the 164 Edition and sharing notes with some of these folks, one brought this bottle to do a comparison; the ID code gives us the info that this is comprised of 140 different wines over a 13 year span, 42% of which comes from their reserves with the oldest coming from 1998 and the youngest from the base year, 2010; the blend is 45% Pinot Noir, 39% Chardonnay and 16% Pinot Meunier; I thought the 164 had more to give at this stage, was fuller and richer and yet this had a lot going on and in and by itself, was fabulous; its hallmark was its richness, but its aromatics and taste profile was so inviting being redolent of honeyed and ginger accented lemon, apple and mango delivered in a creamy, oily textured medium that carried all of the goodness to the back end where it just graced the palate with all of its splendor.
NV PIERRE PETERS GRANDE RESERVE BLANC de BLANC- this is a special bottling that is based on the 2017 harvest, the blend includes more than 40 percent from a perpetual reserve, with vintages going back to 1988, all Chardonnay from the family’s parcels in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Cramant, Avize and Oger; ideally, this would have been a better choice of champagne to start with over the Krug as it had more grace, charm and elegance and less power, complexity and energy in comparison; it was super refreshing and had a frothy, cotton candy like mousse to support the lemon, lime and grapefruit notes; delicious.
Next up came 4 white wines:
2018 PIERRE-YVES COLIN-MOREY AU BOUT DU MONDE BORGOGNE HAUT-COTE de BEAUNNE- I`ve had numerous releases from this producer, but never this one and it falls right in line with so many other fabulous ones even though it is an entry level wine; our bottle was served quite chilled so it took some time for the nuances to open up and reveal, but it was fun to track it; mineral laced citrus fruit prevailed in the nose and taste profile with lemon zest most prominent; it had a lovely mouthfeel and bright acidity and served to clean and prepare the palate righteously.
2018 DOMAINE LATOUR-GIRAUD MEURSAULT-GENEVRIERES 1er Cru- this was a woozer of a wine that generously gave some amazing treasures and actually seemed more new world like with integrated oak notes along with a buttery component that softened the acidity and placated the tactile senses with everything maintaining ideal balance; toasty, honeyed golden delicious apple, Anjou pear and lemon concentrate were most evident and the long finish left a lasting impression of splendor.
2015 FRANCOIS COTAT LA GRANDE COTE SANCERRE BLANC- very good Sauvignon Blanc here; this medium bodied lovely wine had some very pleasant notes of lemongrass and honeysuckle with a streak of minerals running through it; it also had some decent acidity and as usual, paired beautifully with some of our appetizers.
2020 TERLAN TRADITIONAL TRENTINO-ALTO ADIGE GEWURZTRAMINER- peach, mango, and other tropical fruit made up a tasty and pleasing profile for this nice Gewurz; it was light in weight and body, was mineral laden and had a bit of sweetness with its honeyed coat.
And now we move on into the red N. Rhone theme wines plus a CdP:
2003 DOMAINE RENE ROSTAING LA LANDONNE COTE ROTIE- this wine was laden with bacon fat from the nose through the tail; the aromas also included very mature, jammy blueberry and blackberry fruit which continued on as well; it was medium to full bodied and finished with everything coming together.
2005 E. GUIGAL CHATEAU d`AMPUIS COTE ROTIE- funny thing about this bottle and quite a few others I have from Guigal; they came from a local friend who sold them to a wine retailer who I purchased them from; this comes after having drunk numerous other wines including many La Las with the friend whose wine cellar has a long, tall column of cases right down the middle he affectionally calls his “Wall of Guigal”; this bottle was really good starting off with a nice nose of licorice and spicy blueberry and then once tasted, joined by tar accented dried red cherry and cranberry; past mid palate, a touch of talc came in and sealed the deal in this nicely balanced beauty; this wine has a much longer time to go before reaching its apogee and has the structure to support it. Decanted 1+ hour.
2010 ROGER SABON RESERVE CHATEAUNEUF du PAPE- 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 10% Mourvedre that comes from 60-75 year-old vines and is aged for 18 months in foudre and demi-muid; one of our folks got the Rhone part right, but not the the region so we had the pleasure of tasting this fine wine which was super fruity and pretty serious showcasing the results of its significant extraction; leather and earth provided an accent to the super ripe and concentrated blackberry fruit; it is very youthful, had lots of energy and is no where near full maturity which could be another couple of decades.
2008 DOMAINE JEAN-LOUIS CHAVE HERMITAGE ROUGE- at first, this had subtle Bretty notes of bandaid/ barnyard that became more prominent with time; there was enough redeeming qualities to allow for one to move on through it, but the Brett component became more and more evident and distracted me away from the spice and pepper accented black currant, blackberry fruit; that was not the case for at least 3 others who voted it WOTN.
2015 DOMAINE PICHAT LES GRANDE PLACES COTE ROTIE- this youngster had a lot of energy and power and needs some time to gather, collect and evolve; at this point, it gives loads of flavors including spicy, pepper and leather laden black currant fruit; it finished with some heat and dryness; although good now, it will be much better in 10+ years.
2019 DOMAINE JOHANN MICHEL CUVEE JANA CORNAS- named after the owners daughter, this 100% Syrah is whole cluster fermented in tanks for 3 weeks, then goes through ML fermentation in oak barrels and aging on the lees for 12-18 months in barrels [new old barrels]; this bottle had some very different notes that were hard to identify and give words to, but what was obvious was a huge amount of bacon fat, a very ripe dark fruit profile and a super tannic structure that left the mouth puckering.
It was a fun night and we were blessed to have some really fine wines to compliment some nice dishes from a local fav.
Cheers,
Blake
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