In case you don’t gander over to the other board, on Sunday, a dozen of us convened at to enjoy cheeses, open magnums and most importantly discuss facebook . The group contained DC Beserkers such as myself, Darryl Priest and Elliot Levy. The affair was of the grand proportion as we endeavored to build a dinner around three Bordeaux style magnums (plus a mystery mag) and buttressed their flights with Champagne, French Chardonnay and Botrytized delights.
We started the evening standing and chatting with two champagnes with assorted cheeses and breads:
Taittinger “La Francaise” NV – Opens with a veryfloral nose highlighted by beautiful rose and raspberry. The nose is pitched high and shows young, but vividly clear. The acidity on the palate is cleansing and sharp, very focused. This wine cuts through fruit and cheeses very nice and should have plenty of potential evolution to develop secondary aromas and complexity. I would assume the nose would round out, loosing some of its angular allure but adding more supple and depth to its pitch. An excellent holiday choice if it is to be had at a decent fare. I would love to know its bottling age to help clue in its evolutionary potential.
**.5
100% Pinot Meunier NV – Hopefully Joe can chime in with what this was as I neglected to check the bottle carefully, but I believe it was an Egly-Ouriet NV? The nose is very eclectic, not showing as a typical blanc de noir, given the lack of pinot noir. It is a bit more brooding than the Francaise; a darker, more muscular champagne. Still not of the yeasty variety, Elliot eloquently quipped that the wine was like “flowers dancing on slate stone.” I think he got he minerality right on cue, as the wine was very rockfriendly. I wonder if it will shed its muscularity with age and become a refined and delicate wine. I would love to revist in 5 years side by side with the Taitt just as a fun comparison.
*.5
As we finished our bubblies, we moved over to the dinner table where we took to the task of pouring the four magnums into decanters and starting our flight of white wines over thin slivers of salmon with chives and hearty cheese:
2006 Domaine William Fevre Chablis “Bourgos” – The Fevre was poured along side the 99 Chassagne Montrachet and the contrast in color couldn’t be more apparent. A golden orange versus a pale straw yellow (the Fevre). The Fevre is a baby, which coaxes one to drink it in its youth, especially with the fear of premox leering like a rocky cliff near a siren’s beckon. The Fevre opens with serious mineral backbone and reticent fruit that began to really emerge after 25-35 minutes in the glass (if one was able to hang on that long!). The wetstone and limerock begins to integrate beautifully with a wonderful round tones of leechees, mandarin oranges, Spanish pear and zesty lime. It isn’t tropical in the sense of a warm climate vintage/appelation, but it has a bit of panache to it that its older companions probably had grown out of. An exuberant, if not precocious youth. I quipped that it needs 4 years in college to come out a complete man!
**.5+
1999 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vide Bourses Domaine Maerc Colin et Fils– This was a fantastic showing for this Chassagne Montrachet, courtesy of our hosts. An absolutely fantastic nose that screamed out of the bottle when I pulled the cork. It simply exuded a class that shows breed and age. Drinking in a perfect spot between primary fresh character and secondary complexity and depth, the wine has developed serious weight. The nose is deep, with hints of toffee, under ripe navel orange, light dollops of butter and soft mushed apple. It glides on the palate, without a haunting permanence of a Montrachet but with a coaxing supple quality that begs one to think about what he or she just drank. The finish is sweet but still structured. Drink now.
1998 Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru La Garenne Chateau de Puligny Montrachet – Upon first smell, I knew there was a chance for trouble as the wine was butterscotch with hints of oxidative notes. Luckily the palate wasn’t maderized, but it was close. Some thought it was undrinkable (Levy), some found it enjoyable (Vuckovich). I was somewhere inbetween. Not fair to evaluate.
NR
2006 La Chardonneraire Macon – Chardonnay Les Matfins – A refreshing take after the partially oxidized 98. This wine is effusive, bursting with simple albeit pure notes of lavender flowers, bright tropical fruits (lychees, mango) and a hint of rounded orange rind. The wine is very youthful on the palate, offering gushing tropical fruit on the mid and finishing quite round. It is in a very nice baby phase at the moment and while not structured for decades of growth, should show in a decade (barring premox) excellently, like the 99 CM. A surprise and I would be interested in buying this if it were priced favorably. Very nice.
**+
On to the magnum reds. We rinsed our stems and began working on a marinara flan that Liz whipped up for us. It was absolutely fantastic to say the least! The buzz around the room began to circle around the mystery magnum which was served alongside the 97 Dominus. Jace had a menacing grin on his face as he passed around the decanter. There were rumors floating around that the wine had been opened for 3 days (debunked), since 8am (debunked) and just recently popped (bingo). Accordingly, the gamut of guesses for the mystery wine ranged quite dramatically.
Mystery Wine – Dark on the core with some let up on the rim. Unevolved to say the least…far more primary and backward than the Dominus. Opens with a nose of dirt, green pepper and tobacco that Darryl (imo) aptly noted as Cab Franc esque. Our attentions floated to the old lands, as thoughts of Nebbiolo (due to the earthiness) were floated out but shot down due to the lack of mushroom and the pitch/color. Then Right Bank Bordeaux was dabbled with, but shot down due to the firmness/type of the tannins. Accordingly, I set my guess to 98 Left Bank St. Julien, due to the earthiness and structure, but without the refined Margaux feel from the vintage or the Pencil/Cassis combo of Pauillac. It could have been a reticent/shut down Montrose imo. Jace kept mum and others moved onto the new world; a often qualified guess when dealing with Jace’s cellar.
The wine was revealed as a 1989 Michel-Schumberger Reserve Sonoma Coast Cab Magnum that Jace had purchased at the domain for $12 earlier this year! Absolutely shocking to say the least! I remarked that they must have done some serious extraction. Kevin C and Darryl quipped that there must have been some root stock in that pressing!! The wine is a dead steal at that price, while not offering complexity or refined class, what more could you want at $6 a bottle with 20 years of age!!!
*.5
1997 Dominus Magnum – Slow Oxidized for 4 hours and then poured into a decanter for 45 minutes prior to serving. The wine is ruby to the rim with little bricking. It is evolved and regal on the nose, with a feral cherry note that reminded me instantly of a 1998 Pegau I drank in February. There was some debate as to how much life this wine had left. Several, led by Dr. Levy, thought the wine was falling apart and proceeded to dump their glasses an hour after pour. I felt that the wine was delicate and still had some rounding to do. As fragile as it was in the mouth, there was still some angular tannin that poked out and some, such as Darryl, found it to be slightly disjointed as a result. I understand his argument completely. I found the wine to be very symptomatic of aged claret, save for the nature of the tannin, which felt more new world in its tone. Everything else about the wine screamed 1980s Margaux to my palate. This wine was bought from a retail store who acquired it from a private cellar with (supposedly) high quality provenance, so if it is indicative of its life, one may pop these sooner than later.
After disposing of the new world wines, we served the main beef course with a delicious red wine reduction that Liz made and some phenomenal Brussel sprouts that Dinwidiee had brought. We moved on to our prized 2000 Bordeauxs which were both double decanted earlier in the afternoon (Pavie 8 hours prior, Malescot 6 hours prior). They were poured into decanters (half of the bottle) 90 minutes prior to serving.
2000 Malescot St Exupery Magnum – A phenomenally complex wine that was showing very well at the moment to my palate. A panoply of aromas, from cigar to grange, tobacco and pure mixed cassis (not a dark cassis symptomatic of a Pauillac). Truffled aromas developed with time in the glass. The palate still shows classic Bordeaux tannins but they are refined and really personify Margaux typicity. It is a wine that starkly contrasts, at this stage of its life, the 2005 Malescot which is a black hole monster to my palate, with little reference (again at this infantile stage of its existence) to a wine from Margaux. I would be curious to see how this wine was at release for those that have tried it as a reference to how the 2005, a widely revered wine, will evolve. In my opinion, the 2000 is in a hell of a drinking plateau at the moment to which it may steep down and reemerge in 6-8 years. For its price, it was the best value wine I’ve had in quite some time. Please don’t clean it out on my note. My palate is bollocks, remember!! ![[truce.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/d33e712b50d5efc2425bf219c404fbdb7ed0ba50.gif "truce"){kind=small}
2000 Pavie Magnum – The big boy and my first crack at a 2000 Pavie, having drank the 98, 01, 03, 04 and 05. Inky black, immediately recognizable as Right Bank, when one gazes at its texture/color and then picks up the wafting wall of plum from the glass. This wine needed perhaps an additional 4-6 hours of air as I saved a glass for when I drove back home (kids dont try this at home ![[whistle.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/87d24eb81ec6dc01d84f3d6c19fa9a357e90218e.gif "whistle"){kind=small}
) and had kept evaluating it until the wee hours of the morning. The best term to describe this wine is “monolithic beast with unlimited potential.” It opens with that serious blast of dark plum and drowned oak, with a mouthcoating palate that finishes extremely long. With serious swirling, a sea of dark cacao and Kenyan coffee emerges on the nose and the palate continues to dance, mercurially, showing signs of emerging dark and red fruits. This wine undoubtedly will need 10 years to show cracks of change. It is, right now in my opinion, in a phase removed from its glycerin loaded youthfulness but not at a balanced juncture of loosing its alpha elements (the plum, chocolate, oak) into primary elements (cab franc balance/earth, more red fruit and cassis) let alone secondary elements (truffled notes one can often find in the 98 or 01 at this juncture). Compared to the 05 I have drank recently, I find the 05 a touch more complete as the glycerin is balanced by firmer tannins than in the 00.
As balanced as this wine is (not an element out of place, even in its infancy, as Darryl astutely summated), my reservation is about the relatively round nature of the tannins. While not a bad thing ordinarily, this wine is so basically primary that it scares me while wondering whether it will develop into its potential before the tannins fall away leaving it little structural support to butress its evolution. I don’t have enough reference points with the wine to make that my firm opinion, but it is something that I often fret over with many right bank wines, esp some of the more controversial 05 Right Banks (ranging from Richelieu la Favorite all the way to Troplong). This wine has the potential to be legendary or to be a disappointment. One will have to gamble for the next 20 years over it imo. Needs revisiting.
******-- ****(?)
After we cleared the plates, we served Apple pie with vanilla ice cream, Barolo infused dates and cheeses with the desert wines.
2001 Suiduraut (75cL) – A generous donation by Kevin Klym. This wine has all the hallmarks of 2001 Sauternes: immense balance and structure in harmony with tropical, exotic fruit (pineapple, mango, bright lychee, exotic maple syrup, if there is such a thing!) with acidity to boot. It could likely age for generations. The 2001 shows less flashy and tropical than the 2003 Suiduirauts that I have drank this year, but it is far more seemless, pairing better with cheese and most likely being more food friendly with seafoods or foie gras. A fair amount of residual sugar is noticed on the palate, but it isn’t overbearing at all. The finish is wonderful, as it never feels cloying, dancing on one’s palate. I think one should sit on this wine for a decade and then begin to enjoy the marvels from this vintage.
***.5+
Uruguayan Botrytized Gewürztraminer – Far more overbearing than the Suiduraut, this wine had such overwhelming residual sugar, but still held it together admirably. Not a bad showing at all and could probably be worthy of purchasing if the cost weren’t prohibitive. Always a pleasure to drink the exotic!
Special thanks to Jace and Liz for hosting such a lovely evening.
Cheers,
Faryan