Some bottles opened last night with dinner. We were hosting a small group and I was spending all night in the kitchen making multiple courses so I missed on some of the wines opened early on.
Lancelot-Pienne Perceval 2014
50% Chard, 50% PN
Dosage 6g/l, Disgorged 01-2021
My 5th and final cuvée of Lancelot-Pienne. I went through the whole range this year and I was really looking to try this one. Well, I had a small pour only as I was laboring in the kitchen so I don’t know if I liked it
. I got the impression that the profile was more Chard than PN. It seemed elegant. I’ll have to get another bottle to revisit.Pairing: Belon oysters with mignonette, duo of salmon tartare with guacamole on tortillas and St-Jacques ceviche in leche de tigre.
Louis Michel 1er Cru Forêts 2020
This was opened to bridge the gap between the first wave of courses and the following one.
Again, I had little and will need to revisit this but this seemed ready to go with plenty of fruit and a long iodine finish. Acidity was on point but not too forward. Another good one from this producer.
René Rutat BdB
I didn’t have any of this. Everyone else enjoyed it. Useless note, sorry.
Pairing: duck foie gras, pain d’épices, quince paste and fleur de sel.
Pierre Morey Pommard 1er Cru Grand Epenots 2009
My wife and I had a disagreement on whether or not this was corked. I agree it wasn’t overtly obvious but I thought the fruit too muted and the harshness of the tannins to be due to some TCA. I put the bottle aside and I’ll try it again today. Move on.
Machard de Gramont Pommard 1er Cru Clos Blanc 2016
Bretty! Sauvage and stable-y nose. I didn’t mind it because I have high tolerance but some friends were surprised. Double-decanted and it helped a bit to coax out the fruit: red fruited and some herbal savouriness. The palate is serious with a lot of structure and good acidity. The finish is a little short. My first Machard de Gramont and I found this very old school structure wise but also forgettable (other than the brett!).
Pairing: chinese inspired duck rolls, thai inspired duck salad. Actually went well with both dishes. Brett pairing!
Château Magdelaine 1986
Nasty corks on both bottles of this. The second bottle was even worse with the corked blackened as coal. But even though the were crumbly and a pain to get out, the seal still looked okay as the cork was stuck to the bottle neck.
Both of them showed very well with a decant and a short 15 minutes of air in the decanter. Deep garnet color. Fantastic nose of mature elegant St-Em. Red berries, plums, florals and assertive tertiary notes of worn leather, forest floor, tobacco. The palate is still lively due to the fine tanins that show up from mid-palate to finish. Medium acidity that carries the flavours to a meaty and mineral finish. Lip-smacking and serious at the same time. Both bottle showed the same.
Pairing: beef sliders à la Savoyarde leading to the sit-down course of prime rib, morel sauce au vin jaune and gratin dauphinois.
I was pretty happy with my meal. Nothing extravagant but everything was on point. We shared this with good friends and it was a terrific kick-start to the new year.
Happy new year to y’all berserkers!