One of our Monday night dinner group members created an extraordinary evening for 7 of us to enjoy some very special wines while dining at Birnam Wood Golf Club.
Our wine theme was individually directed resulting in 3 champagnes, a white Burgundy and 6 old world red wines from 2000 or older which was honored by all but one who failed to remember “old world”, me.
All wines were tasted blind and most of us took our own stemware to ease the load on the restaurant and to ensure we could follow every wine over the course of the entire evening.
We had a table discussion on each wine with everyone participating and offering their impressions. As usual in a blind format, we all learned a lot.
Here’s some notes.
Recognizing that some may not arrive at the designated time, our host thoughtfully brought a starter champagne to drink non blind and get us prepared for the serious players forthcoming:
NV CHAMPAGNE PAUL LAUNOIS MONOCROME #1 BLANC de BLANC EXTRA BRUT LE MESNIL SUR OGER GRAND CRU- dosed at 2 gpl; disgorged 5/14/20; this is the first of 5 iterations of this release and it is a good one made by Julien and Sarah Launois, 3rd generation of the Launois family; it’s full bodied and very rich and luscious sporting mineral and chalk enhanced citrus and stone fruit which was mostly peach, lemon zest, pear and green apple on the palate; it had bright acidity, a frothy mousse and was very delightful.
2012 DOM PERIGNON BRUT- 51% Chardonnay, 49% Pinot Noir; dosed at 4 gpl; I brought this to not only check out where it is in this early stage, but to share it with the one who turned me on to a recent offer that resulted in me purchasing it; have you ever tried to remove the neck foil off a Dom? it’s not easy and in a blind format, it is too telltale to just pass it around in a brown bag with some of it exposed in order to pour; so, I poured each glass for everyone; I was surprised to find the nose full of toasty brioche indicative to me of an advanced Maillard reaction that occurs between sugars and amino acids, peptides, or proteins resulting in such; nonetheless, I enjoy toasty brioche especially when it is in balance, but here, it dominated the nose but fortunately, not the flavor profile which was citrus fruit dominated with lemon and lime most evident; it had good acidity, a creamy mousse and overall, a pleasing experience with promises for better showings in the future; this just needs time to develop and mature as it has all of the structure to be a good DP IMHO.
1995 LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL BRUT- the color was suggestive of oxidative influence and the nose confirmed it and more; it was also corked; once revealed, I immediately thought of so many wondrous bottles I’ve been blessed to have of this vintage and as with Taittinger Comtes, I initially preferred it over the much more highly regarded 1996 vintage until such time they caught up and maybe surpassed them. Great bring; bad bottle.
1999 PHILIPPONNAT CLOS des GOISSES- 65% Pinot Noir and 35% Chardonnay; blind tasted; medium yellow color; the nose was so wonderful, i just hung out with it and let that be enough for the first few minutes as it gave generous notes of honeyed apple, pear and citrus with an accent of ginger coming in late; everything in the aromatics continued on to be joined by buttery lemon, lime, orange and apricot and now it is a taste treat par excellence; the creamy mouthfeel was magnificent and its hallmark was its amazing balance throughout; this is the best ’99 CDG I’ve had and one of the best champagnes I’ve had in recent times; some of us were recently graced to have the 1996 from these same folks that bought this bottle; 2 truly outstanding champagnes and this ’99 bottle was the better of the two IMHO.
2013 PIERRE-YVES COLIN-MOREY LES PERRIERES SAINT AUBIN 1er Cru- blind; this was our one request for a white Burgundy and it was a total winner and also one I’d had many a bottle of previously, all having been stupendous; it had the requisite flint and mineral aromas that were joined on the palate by nice, mature citrus notes, lemon and orange being most prevalent; on the heels of a remarkably balanced ’99 Clos des Goisses, this continued the trend by being perfectly balanced from the nose through the tail.
Retaining small portions of the first 4 wines for continued exploration, all 6 of the reds were poured:
1958 PIO CESARE BARALO- as it turned out, it had a deceiving dark purple color; blind; the aromatics and the taste were pleasantly mild giving violets, leather and plum on the nose joined by fruit black currant once tasted; it was full bodied, but somewhat light in weight and as such, had lots of finesse plus its hallmark, a soft, velvety smooth mouthfeel; I’m loving it and searching for the varietal/ blend and place, not even considering its age; once all were disclosed, this was the red WOTN.
1964 ENRICO SERAFINO RISERVA BAROLO- as it turned out, the light red grainy color was even more deceiving than the ’58 Barolo before it; blind; there was no doubt, this had some age and I’m thinking 60+ years; the nose and the taste confirmed the maturity with dried black currant accented with smoke and earth; as with the first wine, I have no clue as to what it is and where it came from, but I do know this has some graying hair, if any at all.
1997 CANALICCHIO di SOPRA BRUNELLO di MONTALCINO Le GODE di MONTOSOLI- blind; the color was an inky, dark purple and was the darkest of the 6 wines, again throwing me off as it appeared to be much younger especially in the taste which featured very ripe black cherry all the way through; the nose also included violets and blueberry and a hint of blackberry arrived late past mid palate; it had a soft and easy mouthfeel and an aura of elegance and charm; once revealed, I was surprised to find it to be a ’97; good Sangiovese here.
1998 CHATEAU LA CLUSIERE ST. EMILION- blind; and here comes another lovely wine that is in a good place and delivering more joy to the evening; it seems each of the first 4 wines had violets in the aromas and this one had them in spades along with anise, minerals and dark fruit; the taste profile included milk chocolate accented black cherry and as one stated, Barolo cherry, which to me means leather and mineral inundated plum and black cherry; I’m at a loss for identifying the source, age and place on all of these wines, but loving how they are showing; BTW, 2001 was the last vintage for this label before it was acquired by Chateau Pavie and merged into 2002 Pavie. The vineyard is planted to 100% old vine Merlot.
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1986 CHATEAU LEOVILLE LAS CASES SAINT- JULIEN- 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot; blind; unfortunately, this was corked, but there was some underlying qualites that supported how good this could have been without the taint.
1987 LEONETTI CELLARS CABERNET SAUVIGNON WASHINGTON- early on in the evening, I recognized I had blown the request for old world red, but hid the fact until everyone had tasted through the flight; I had an inkling this was my bring and was hoping it was not the corked wine before it; blind; decanted for 30 minutes; no doubt, this had some age and even though not evident by its dark purple color, the nose and taste was pretty obvious with dried black currant and blackberry accented with a hint of leather, coconut, eucalyptus and mint; it had a smooth texture which aided in the leaving a good last impression.
This was a good night helped by the replacement of a smaller round table in favor of a larger one affording us more space for stemware and plates and side tables for all of the bottles and extra stems. Additionally, we were served by a competent wait staff and ate well with individual selected courses from this fine restaurant, the best of the local country club scene.
Cheers,
Blake
