2002 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill- France, Champagne
Initially showing a lot of dough and yeast. Then the acidity kicked in. Dry pure, clean and enjoyable. Overall quite nice, if not exceptional.
Batard
1993 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Lovely wine that punched above its weight. Liked it a lot and kept coming back to it. Tied for #2 white of the night.
2001 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
The most classic Leflaive of our Batards and very good.
2007 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
The 07 started slow, but became more interesting with time. Nice nose, a bit watery.
2009 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
The 09 didn’t express producer or vineyard. Not a flawed bottle, simply underwhelming.
Chevalier
1999 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Whether you like it or not (I did), this wine stands out and makes you take notice. The words fiesty and sassy were bandied about. Pretty in that sassy way and very good. White WOTN.
2000 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
For a number of us there was something weird (in a bad way) that we couldn’t get past.
2001 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Very good, showing classic Leflaive and Chavalier. A definite hit with all.
2002 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Not the typical inspiring nose, very decent palate. A good bottle but somewhat less than this wine is capable of.
2001 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Good, not great, which it can be and should be. For a few of us it just wasn’t that interesting.
1972 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
Still showing very nice fruit, with leather, light spice, and just a touch of tobacco. Thankfully this held together and could be appreciated over a couple of hours.
1999 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
Still a bit tough and unyielding, the 99 is just starting to present what I suspect (hope?) will be its beauty. I’d counsel against opening these, as they just aren’t showing enough yet.
2006 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
The 06 didn’t get much love, and frankly didn’t deserve much. An underwhelming showing.
2009 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
Quite sexy for a youngster, and a crowd pleaser. Should be great over time, and is a nice “young” DRC to open early.
2010 Domaine A.-F. Gros Richebourg- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
This was really quite special, showing beguiling fruit and an appealing personality. Very approachable and a wine to try early.
1998 Domaine Anne Gros Richebourg- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
While it was late in the night, this 98 didn’t move any of us.
1999 Domaine Jean Grivot Richebourg- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
I truly think this was a well stored “correct” bottle, but it was massively unappealing.
2002 Domaine Méo-Camuzet Richebourg- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
Hedonistic and electric on the palate. Animalistic. A crowd pleaser and a wine that brought the excitement back for our last bottle of the night.
Do you think the reason the 2006 DRC Riche didn’t get much love is that it was just too soon? Or do you think it was more just due to an average vintage amongst legends? Thanks, Kirk
1982 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut- France, Champagne
An extremely fresh bottle of 82 vintage Krug. Always a great champagne, but this bottle was pristine.
1989 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut Collection- France, Champagne
I’m not a huge fan of 89 Krug in general, and the 89 Collection was my least favorite of this champagne flight. Interesting conversation around this bottle, and the table was split vs. the 90 Collection side by side.
1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut Collection- France, Champagne
My first bottle of the recently (this year) released 90 Collection. Versus the 89, I found it had more power and concentration. As my note on the 89 indicates, the table was split between the two.
Salon
1999 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut- France, Champagne
The 99 Salon was racy, exuberant, powerful, and downright fun. If the Beach Boys had drunk champagne, etc…
2002 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut- France, Champagne
In contrast to the 1999, the 2002 Salon was clean, tight, precise, and linear. While I like it, its never lived up to its billing for me. The table was split, but there was more enthusiasm from the 99 lovers than the 02 fans.
Coche CC
2006 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Initially very pure, clean and a touch lean. With air over a few hours this fully came together and gave the 09 a run for its money. Like the 09, very approachable notwithstanding its youthfulness.
2009 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Stunning. So voluptuous, lush and rich. Both the 06 and 09 were extremely approachable given their youth.
1992 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Ruchottes- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
This was showing so much sulfur. I held my glass back for a few flights, and after the sulfur finally dissipated a terrific wine ensued.
2010 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
Words fail me on this wine. Incredible, and my WOTN, wine of the weekend, and in the running for top three of the year. Brought by Andy Bridge, and he said that Dominique told him he felt it was the best Montrachet he’s ever bottled. Utterly sublime.
2013 Domaine Ramonet Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
Served next to the sublime 2010 Lafon Montrachet, this had tough positioning. But it was also stunning, and easily the top 2013 white I’ve tasted (and I like the 13’s a lot). I’m thrilled to own some of this, and would not hesitate to open one young.
Thanks for posting all these notes Brad!!! I need to get my thoughts down but most if not all would be pretty darn close to yours. What a great weekend getting this group together to share wine - 6th year doing this and I plan on going well into version 20.0+ .
Details, details. We’re still mad at his cousin in Minnesota for a) kicking our a** for many years, and b) not taking us to the Super Bowl. So we abuse the young cousin in many ways.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I am most struck, and most devastated, by how Leflaive can go from the pinnacle of white burg to middling, inconsistent, flawed wines that are still exceedingly expensive. One of my major wine disappointments of the last 20 years.
John. Agree with you, and we talked about it on Friday. It’s interesting that in this sample size of twelve wine geeks, I don’t think one said they still buy Leflaive. And for me, well over half of my purchases in the last five years have been white burgs.
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