Laloupalooza

WINE TALK
1

Greg Melick marshalled the Monday Table troops together in Melbourne to have a look at a Platoon of Lalou’s wines. The theme was Domaine Leroy and Domaine d’Auvenay and he brought with him from the apple isle Aussie artist and competent amateur cook Tom Samek to prepare the accompanying meal for us. We have a few pieces of Tom’s witty work adorning our walls at home and it was a treat to have him cook for us.

A skewer of Tasmanian crayfish was succulent and sweet and did the job with the Champagne bracket. I may have mentioned that I thought the 02 Dom is almost as good as the 96…it is not. The 1996 Dom Perignon we had last night was pure and focussed with great mineral line and all sorts of citrus and blossom notes. A 1996 Cristal next to it also looked excellent. It was rich and bready with outstanding concentration and length of flavour.

The first bracket of whites kicked off with a 1986 Bourgogne Blanc smoky that was labelled Leroy d’Auvenay. It looked a bit like dry Sauternes with notes of honey, apricot and citrus rind. It was drying out a tad but had some pleasant tertiary mushroom and honey notes. The 2004 Domaine d’Auvenay Criots-Batard-Montrachet was smoky with a hint of the exotic. White peach fruit was intense and sappy and the oak had a touch of coconut ice about it. It was broad shouldered with good line. The 2004 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne had some toasty oak on display along with nettle, citrus blossom and white peach. There was also plenty of struck match, not right on the flame, but a sulphurous whiff that you often see in these wines. It was concentrated and full with good length. The 2001 Domaine d’Auvenay Criots-Batard-Montrachet was in great form. There was a blanket of smoky sulphur that lifted to reveal pure orchard fruits, minerals and flora. It was cool and rocky with real power, precision and poise. Quail legs, Salmon tartare with seaweed and quail chequered thighs was a nice little surf and turf dish to accompany.

Big D and Big G were both on song, firing off cutting barbs with great alacrity. Greg quipped that it would be hard to pull together such a bracket of whites again, quick as a flash Big D responded with ‘it would be bloody hard to find that Bourgogne for a start’. A fresh oyster with caviar on Durham wheat spaghetti was served with the second bracket of whites. The 2005 Domaine d’Auvenay Chevalier-Montrachet was loaded with peaches, mangoes and paw paws. It was dense and fruity with good line buried under the flesh. It breathed up well in the glass. The 2001 Domaine d’Auvenay Chevalier-Montrachet had some brulee and white peach but with too much nutty oxidation. This is the 2nd bottle we have seen in the last 6 months of this wine that has been premox’d. The 1999 Domaine d’Auvenay Chevalier-Montrachet was just about wine of the night for mine. It was lightly honeyed but looked youthful. At its heart was something cool and rocky and the palate was sappy and unctuous. It possessed typical Chevalier shape with a strong spine underpinning all of the flesh. The 2004 Domaine d’Auvenay Chevalier-Montrachet showed a sprig of mint on the nose along with white peach and smoke. It was sappy, dense and tightly coiled in the mouth. It finished long and cool.

Big G was in full flight recounting a Len Evans story as the first bracket of reds were poured. It went along the lines that Len was having a prostate examination when he exclaimed ‘doc, I can feel your wedding ring’, the doc replied with ‘that’s not my wedding ring, it’s my Rolex’. We dried our eyes and moved onto the 2001 Domaine Leroy Clos de Vougeot. There was some menthol on the nose along with forest floor and red fruits. It had a light smokiness running through the flavour profile and was nicely proportioned and balanced. The 2001 Domaine Leroy Clos de la Roche was a beauty and almost looked ‘DRCesque’ with its scents of Hoisin and soy. It had notes of freshly grated ginger, sweet earth and fruits that started red and morphed to black. There was good cut to the finish and outstanding volume and length. There were differing opinions on the 2001 Domaine d’Auvenay Mazis-Chambertin but I quite liked it. It was sweet and luscious with liqueur cherry aromas and flavours and a real waxy feel on the gums. It had great concentration and purity of fruit with meaty/earthy undertones. The 2001 Domaine Leroy Corton-Renards had some coffee like oxidative things going on. It breathed up ok to show red and black fruits, spicy wood and some florals. It had plenty of muscle on the back end. Whole squab roasted and served with its head on was pink and silky and made a most amiable partner to these 01’s as did quail breast and foie gras encased in sheep’s stomach…

Wild venison with the final bracket of reds was just about the best piece of this meat I have encountered. It was rich, textural and gamey and came from the loin of an old beast. One member asked where the venison came from and Big G said ‘It’s mum’. The 1999 Domaine Leroy Clos de la Roche was deep of colour and deeply pitched. Sweet cherry and dark fruits abound both on nose and palate. There was a thread of liquorice weaving through the flavour profile and it is full, sweet, dense and long. The 1999 Domaine Leroy Clos de Vougeot had some spicy sandalwood aromas coupled with sappy, dark fruits. It was a big wine but perfumed and succulent. It had great balance and whilst decades away from its eventual apogee is thoroughly enjoyable today. The 1996 Domaine Leroy Romanee St-Vivant was extremely classy. It is taking on some earth and smoked meat development. It is sappy with some cinnamon spice sprinkled through the pretty, sweet fruit. Plenty of minerally acidity aids with the cut on the finish and it is a wine of excellent length. The final red wine was the 1999 Domaine Leroy Corton-Renards. It played in that area somewhere between sweet and savoury. The fruit was sappy and redolent of liqueur cherry. There were also notes of violets and Asian spice. It was a complex, complete wine that should drink well for several decades.

As has become a recent tradition we finished with a Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port. I don’t think I’ve ever had a 1996 V.P, not sure if it was a declared year but this was excellent. It was dense and brooding, full of dark chocolate, blood plum and liquorice. Perhaps not the most complex Nacional but very good none the less. Big G needed a nightcap and a bottle of 99 Faiveley Beze was found for him. I only had a small sip but wasn’t concentrating, I’m sure Paul will chime in with his thoughts.

Cheers
Jeremy

2

Was a great night, even if the wines didn’t perhaps quite look as good as their exalted reputations suggest, although the CDLR and Renards were pretty good.

The whites with that big whack of sulphur still really need lots of time, although the couple with oxidization issues perhaps belay that this is the savior from this issue…the '99 Chavealier was pretty great though.

3

Guys,

Wow, I’ve had some experience with these wines but this was an embarrasment of riches for sure… and the food doesn’t seem too shabby either. At first I was surprised they all showed that well, but Paul’s remarks seem to suggest that some youthfulness was on display.

4

Thanks for posting, however I must admit that the whole squab roasted and served with its head on and the quail breast and foie gras encased in sheep’s stomach would be a bit adventurous for me … [cheers.gif]

5

Thanks for the great notes, I can almost taste the venison, it is my favourite meat, certainly with great burgundy. Though these are all trophy wines I am not such a Leroy fan, the house sits with Dugat Py in my mind making wines that are typically a little too big/worked and powerful, lacking some detail, though I expect many would prove me wrong. I have had the 01 Clos Vougeot and thought it great. Some great laughs from Big G and D. Cheers Mike

6

Hi Jeremy amazing wines thanks for the notes!

I get the 2001 d’Auvenay Chevalier-Montrachet in a few months, reading your notes it’s not promissing … That said, bottles are released years apart from her cellar, hope mine will show better.

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Jeremy and Paul
To me Leroy wines are super expensive and Domaine d"Auvenay even more so. Unfortunately, my circumstances do not allow me to lurk in that rarefied atmosphere. On the other hand I am sure the guys like Greg (or Paul) who open these wines often are not bothered by terms like QPR.

So the question is, even if we were take the $ away from the equation, do these wines deliver on promise?

8

Interesting one for sure, and for mine, I’d say not exactly…especially at the current release prices.

The Table is usually somewaht divided between Leroy and DRC lovers as far as style goes (although we all enjoy both), but for me, Leroy never delivers the consistent highs of DRC.

The whites are interesting, they look like they need more time (especially with the high sulphur), but will they ever reach a perfect balance? Or will premox get them, as appears to be happening with say the '01 Chevalier. The wines do appear to be similar in style to DRC Montrachet in the sense that they often exhibit some botrytis, especially the Chevalier, however they don’t deliver the ultimate quality of DRC Montrachet, and we have seen with them both side by side several times.

The '99 Chevalier was very good (and looked bulletproof as far as premox goes), as was the '01 Criots (edited, prev. said '04), but the rest left me a bit unsatisfied. The '04 C/C still has tons of sulphur, but is slowly coming around, still it may never end up great. The sulphur for mine gets right into the palate, and does make them a bit hard to enjoy…

Again though, at the price level of these whites now, I’d have to say that I’d much rather buy other things…


As for pure ratings (points), I think they are still too highly rated for what I have seen.

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Lots of great wines there - living right for sure, Jeremy!

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Importing Domaine Leroy also means that you should take the Leroy négoce wines and heard that d’Auvenay current release prices are going up by 50% blush … all very difficult!

11

I remember reading an article where Madame Leroy said her D’Auvenay Chevy was 16%+ alcohol. Found it.

Jealous of that tasting nonetheless.

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Really, wow…they have already had some very big jumps in recent years!

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They are certainly big and rich, but a bit like the DRC Monty, generally seem to carry it well.

16% I would have thought though is certainly pretty high for a white!

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Found link above and inserted it.

15

Ah, ok thanks Kris.

Interesting…

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The d’Auvenay and Leroy wines are expensive and that tends to lead to high expectations. Stylistically the wines are super concentrated with enough flesh to allow them to be enjoyed in their youth. I quite like the sulphur aspect to the whites and they are indeed very ripe. I also enjoy the smoky/sappy stem signature to the reds but feel with these young wines that they look more ‘Leroy’ than specific terroir. I didn’t take stats but our group had a much better strike rate when identifying the vineyard from whence the whites came than they did the reds.

I suspect that the modern Leroy red wines will age for a very long time and we possibly won’t get the full run for our money with the wines until they spend a couple of decades in bottle.

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Well put mate, although at the end of the day I’d still much rather buy DRC’s (and some others instead).

Still, was a fantastic night, and a great experience.

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thanks for the notes, jeremy. to me, the d’auvenay whites are the the heights of white burgundy (although I can’t claim much experience with the various montrachets, so my ceiling for measuring the heights is necessarily off). I’m not good enough to pick a criots from a chevalier blind, but when I drink an Auvenay blind I generally tend to mistake the village wines for very good grand crus, the 1er crus for great grand crus and the grand crus for something altogether different from every other white I’ve had with the exception of some experiences with older leflaive chevalier. That being said, a recent '03 meursault narvaux was a little flabby (I’m holding the rest of my '03 auvenay whites for another 25 or 30 years) and I’ve found that the sulpher treatment of more recent vintages, particularly the '07 bourgogne, is so onerous as to make the wines virtually undrinkable at this point. An interesting note - it used to the be the case that, at least in NYC, you couldn’t move d’auvenay. various bottles lingered on the shelves of the large retailers for years until they were closed out at prices that weren’t by any means cheap, but were a fraction of their original price (and a pittance of their current price). So, for the '00, 01, 02 and '03 vintages, you can have a nice little collection of Auvenay wines that didn’t require a bank loan.
A

19

Alex,

We sometimes see them turn up here in auction at lower prices, but usually it’s the '99’s-'04’s.

From the '05’s on, when the prices really jumped, they never appear…

20

Had a '93 Leroy Les Beaux Monts tonight…reminds me of all the things I used to love about their wines and their older style.

Was truly great in all respects and GC quality without doubt…