might be out of the country, but if not I’ll do my best to be there ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Re: My 2013 La Paulee experience - MASTER thread…
Post Number:#18 by dcornutt » Wed Mar 13, 2013 5:37 am
Great to see everybody at least for quick moment. Lots of fun for me. Thanks Jon for starting this thread. Great to see you.
We had several dinners and the Gala.
Dinner at NoMad with ATL guys
2004 Pierre Peters Champagne Les Chatillons - Crystalline. Focused. Very young and refreshing. This one needs a few years to flesh out but this is very good stuff.
2002 Bollinger Champagne Grand Annee - More brioche here and a huge generous palate. A great foil to the precise Blanc de Blancs. A hedonistic champagne.
2004 Leflaive Puligny Clavillon - This was one of those bottles. A nose that had the “raid” effect. The palate is beautiful. If it wasn’t for the nose this would have rocked.
1959 Leroy Echezeaux- A transcendental nose. A core of very intense fruit. Wrapped in a complex mixture of black truffle and some spice. The palate is huge and finishes forever. Special stuff.
1990 Meo Camuzet Vosne Romanee Brulees - A slightly darker nose. Intense. Youthful in many ways. The palate is huge and again this one finishes forever. Sexy in many ways.
1982 Pichon Lalande - This is so fantastic. Highly complex on the nose and in the mouth. Earthy. Feminine yet infinitely intense. The longest finish of any of the interlopers (we had two more).
Dinner with my ATL guys, Paul and Bill at Corton
NV Delamotte - This is a really nice non vintage champagne. Crystalline. It doesn’t have the focus or complexity of the Pierre Peters Chatillons above but nice.
1992 JN Gagnard Batard Montrachet - This is singing from the get go. Golden color and perfectly mature at this point. Big vintage. Long finish. I really liked it.
1986 JN Gagnard Batard Montrachet - This one is killing! It also has a golden color but with about 20 minutes of air this thing tightened up in to a real beauty. Power and complexity here. Long finish. Love 86 whites.
2000 Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet - I can’t really describe everything that is going on here. This is a precise wine that is in a beautiful teenage place. The symmetry of this wine is absolutely stunning. A special treat. Thanks Bill.
2004 Leflaive Bienvenue Batard Montrachet - This one is showing a little herbal nose and mild sulfur. On the palate it is gorgeous. Needs some time.
2000 JF Mugnier Musigny - Kaleidescopic nose. A special texture and palate. Powerful yet floral and feminine in many ways. Very special stuff.
2002 JF Mugnier Chambolle Les Fuees- Gorgeous nose. The palate here has that slight “Bonne Mares” type firmness compared with the Musigny. Very beautiful and interesting compared with the otherworldly Musigny
1990 Pousse d’Or Volnay Clos de la Bousse d’Or - Absolutely stunning nose once the funk wore off. The palate shows so much complexity. Coffee and black truffle notes. Floral. Lots of interesting things.
1988 Pousse d’Or Volnay Clos de la Bousse d’Or - Much more linear here. Red fruited and cooler character versus the wild 1990. Reserved.
La Paulee Gala (Wines we brought only)
2004 Leflaive Puligny Clavillon - This is a much better bottle but suffered due to the amount of sulfur at this point. Will be great if not premoxed.
1993 Ampeau Meursault Perrieres - This has a golden color. Amazing nose and such a nice surprise. A quality Perrieres and a real treat.
1993 Bruno Clavelier Chambolle Combe d’Orveaux - Gorgeous nose. This showed some of that 1993 structure still. We decanted it. So young and wonderful to me.
2002 Chezeaux Griottes Chambertin - A nice nose and generous palate. This is a great drinking 2002 with tons of complexity to be added.
1983 Rene Engel Clos Vougeot - Heavenly nose and a texture that only a Jayer disciple could muster. Great complexity and finish. In a perfect place and close to my wine of the night.
1996 Comte de Armand Pommard Clos des Epeneaux - A beautiful wine with lots of succulent fruit and so much power in reserve. Red type fruit. Delicious.
2000 Leroy Corton Renards - Beautiful dark fruited nose with lots of spice. The palate is intense and bursts with flavor. The finish is fabulous. Madame Leroy can make some good wine.
1996 Meo Camuzet Clos Vougeot out of magnum - Young and gorgeous. The texture of the Meo wines is special. Lots of spice here and a long finish.
2000 Drouhin Musigny - Beautiful nose. Somewhat primary compared to the JF Mugnier above. Silky texture and absolutely stunningly beautiful fruit on the palate. Long finish. A treat.
1993 Jean Gros Richebourg - This is so nice. Soy spice on the nose and palate. This is precise yet quite powerful. Darker fruit. I loved this.
Wow Don - tryly amazing notes !
Interesting to note that Eugenie took over the Rene Engel vineyards. Wouldn’t be surprised if his 2010 CV turned out as well as the 1993 you tasted. His wines were showing quite well at the vertical & Grand tastings.
Those two wines would have been totally lost if I hadn’t kept a bit for later… Soms for many decades will hate me for keeping multiple stems of white wines at the table - to see what happens ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
. Aren’t you close to a beach now ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
?
We’ll make this happen at some point - just wish I traveled to the right coast more often! Howard - you’re going to have to help me fill in the blanks when I eventually post my Grand tasting notes . Talk to ya soon.
Yes Sir - Mr. Kenney! 
. Will do!
Great notes Don. I personally love the '04 Leflaive wines and would have loved to have tasted that '90 Meo Brulees - Yum. All of those '80s “Gagnard” (all of the variations in hyphenated names…) have been lovely when tasted - that '86 sounds off the chart good! A mag of '85 Gagnard-Delagrange Montrached at the Gala Dinner was darn near the best white wine of the whole weekend for me now that I’m thinking about it… Another + vote for the '00 Leflavie wines - the Batard, BBM, and the Chevalier are all top notch.
P.S. - Don, I have some bottles of various sizes of the '00 Mugnier Musigny - let me know when you want to sample some…
Collectors Lunch this past Thursday afternoon at the FABULOUS Eleven Madison Park
The food at this lunch was the best yet – Daniel Humm was on point this day! Jacques and Eric were there to make this one of the most memorable collector’s lunches yet for me. This tasting will never happen for me again – loved it. This was a great table and everyone talked about the wines as we went…. All of these wines came straight from the winery!
NV Delamotte Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut: This was the champagne starter – quite nice with lovely bubbles – bright personality. Liked it – but – was saving for the stars 
. 89pts.
Sturgeon – Sabayon with Chive Oil = Nice starter
2011 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: Still so very young with bright acidity and touches of esters – bananas. Still tasted like a barrel sample. Judgment reserved till the next time I taste but I could sense a bright future….
2010 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: This was the star of the younger ½ of the wines for me. I got to taste this from barrel right before bottling in late 2011 – it was one of the white wines of the whole tasting trip back then forcing me to seek out some during my 2010 burg buying. I did! Lightest color of all the wines to follow and the 2011 – leaps out of the glass with floral aromatics and a poised structure – powerful still. Wait to sample this one after 10+years in the bottle. 98pts.
2009 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: Quite an impressive showing IMHO – several were commenting on how many ’09 white burgs just may turn into top notch wines as long as the richness is balanced with acidity. Crème brulee, touches of bright and airy banana cream, apple cream, medium+ acidity and structured tannins, rich cold pear fruit. This will be fascinating to taste again to see what happens. Liked it this day – 95pts.
2008 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: A nice ’08 that I’d love to own. Waft of fresh herbs, cold salted nuts, touches of honeysuckle is what I have written down. Light lemon cream – broad shoulders and medium+ finish. 96pts.
Then:
Foie Gras – Smoked with Potato and Black Truffle = Wow!
2006 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: Touch of mint on the nose – liked this. Roasted herbs which mellowed with time in the glass with touches of perfumed cotton candy is what I have written down. Soft palate presence – wanted more. 92pts.
2000 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: Pretty much everyone at the table agreed that this one had the brightest future from this flight of whites. Perfumed nose of cold orchard fruits, honeysuckle, limestone… An understated wine IMHO that has power in reserve – elegant. 95pts.
1998 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: A pour showing for me – just didn’t match well with the others in this flight. Nothing wrong – just not great. Touches of spearmint cream and custard – lacking the levels of minerality that this wine should have. 89pts.
1997 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: I have down that this may have been just a touch oxidized. Now – I’m not saying premox is at work here in a 15+ year old wine… Just didn’t pop in the glass and the color was just a tad darker than the other wines is what I have noted. 88pts.
Then:
Parsnip – Roasted with Sesame, Parsley, and Millet
1996 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: A wine that was quite shy – which stayed this way through the whole tasting as I kept a bit till the end. There was talk that this wine was maybe corked – I waited to let the TCA declare itself and it never did – to me at least. Pears, slight hints of citrus zest, sage, touches of fresh herbs… Average wine – 91pts.
1993 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: I have the following written down first: ++++ top notch ’93 – like many others I’ve sampled recently… Pear cream, chalky minerality and ample acidity. This one really added an extra dimension in the glass – mango and other zesty cold fruits – touch of honeysuckle. Lovely. 97pts and wine of the flight.
1992 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: ’92 whites can be average to good at best – this was in the good range. I got this distinct nose of baby aspirin and liquid amoxicillin (you know the pink stuff :op). Bright melons with maybe a touch of botrytis. Heady wine that perked up in the glass – liked it – drink now. 93pts.
1990 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: An average+ wine IMHO. Custard, apple cream, salted nuts – seemed young still but just didn’t grab me. Maybe another couple of years+?? 91pts.
Then:
Lobster – Poached with Baby Spinach and Chanterelle Mushrooms. This was the most tender Lobster I’ve every had – the sauce made this dish!
1985 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: Touch of dried herbs – mint? You really had to draw in a big nose of this wine to get the most out of it – deep cold orchard fruits, botrytis, limestone. A really savory wine which points to a nice level of balanced acidity. Tied for #1 in this flight with the ’82 for me – 96pts.
1984 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: An off vintage? For sure but this drank just fine but just wasn’t a great wine. 91pts.
1983 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: Dried apricots, touches of botrytis, herbs, light levels of minerality that does a nice job keeping it together. Lemon cream…. 92pts.
1982 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: Nice showing for this one – several ’82 whites over the weekend turned out nice. Touches of custard cream, citrus zest, honey spice still mixed with medium+ minerality. Showed well – 96pts.
Then:
Mushroom – Sauteed with Pine Nut, Barley, and Garlic.
1978 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: Touch of baby aspirin to start – started off with broad fruits, apple cream and really got better after about a ½ hour in the glass. Broadened in the glass with savory herbs and more subdued notes of flowers and peaches. Medium finish and tied for the second best in this flight with the ‘75. 93pts.
1975 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: This was a tad bit darker than the ’78 but was very much alive and creamy on both the nose and palate. Lots of natural oxidation notes of apples, honey, and other earthy things. 93pts.
1967 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: This was a revelation – looking at the color this was the lightest of the bunch – fresh! What can I say – Chevalier does not age like an older Montrachet. The linear aging of Chevalier did this wine well – well preserved touches of apple cream, pine nuts, peach cream – lingering aftertaste. Love it!! 97pts.
1929 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles: Well – the color certainly looked like there was 80+ years of NATURAL oxidation – dry wine and all. Touches of honey and other nice creamy fruits poked out. The palate was much much brighter and creamier than what the color of this wine would suggest. Brightened up a bit in the glass – what a pleasure to try and the oldest dry wine I’ve ever tasted! 93pts.
Then:
Duck - Roasted with Cabbage, Apple, and Quinoa.
1990 Louis Jadot Corton-Pougets from magnum: I have a couple bottles of this at home still - has always been great! Lovely scents of cherry cavendish, earth, sois bois, mushrooms. Dark personality with plenty of palate presence to burn. 94pts for me!
1978 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares: A wee bit disappointing - the '90 Pougets killed this IMHO. Yes, you can get some of the earthy balanced power that BM can throw at you - just not mind blowing. 91pts.
1993 Louis Jadot Corton-Pougets: An extra at the end - got a small pour from the great wine staff there at 11Mad. A nice '93 - more linear in nature is what I wrote down later that afternoon after thinking about this wine again. The '90 is good… 92pts.
More notes to come. I’m only through Thursday afternoon .
Fun weekend - it was great meeting up with you Shelly ! CHEERS
Thursday Night Dinner at Carbone + after party shares……
Mostly mag or larger this night – lots of sharing!
1964 Salon Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs from Magnum: What a pleasure to start the evening off with this beauty. There were some nice bubbles and it had a bright personality but I could tell it was a bit advanced – darker color with touches of sherry notes. 91pts just to be able to taste it….
1996 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil from Magnum: Clean entry – tight bubbles, limestone, chalk – touches of savory perfumed zest. 96+pts.
1981 Krug Champagne Brut Collection from Magnum: I liked this a bit more than the ’96 Mesnil due to it’s broader personality – seemed to please more due to it’s broad sensory attack. Yum stuff – 97pts.
1989 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet from Magnum: An average snowing for this wine - spiced apples, lavender, honeysuckle – really just seemed to lay flat on the palate. Wish I had tasted this a bit later… 92+pts.
1989 Gagnard-Delagrange Montrachet from Magnum: Liked this much more than the Leflaive – burley broad shouldered Montrachet. Touches of grilled pineapple, pear fruit, with perfumed honey cream. Medium + finish. 95-96+pts.
1999 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet from Magnum: I kept a wee bit of this one for later – boy did this blossom in the glass. Was shy at first with a light personality and touches of botrytis. More cold pear fruit, honey, and lovely minerality toward the end. 96+pts.
1964 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux from Magnum: This was another winner – DRC perfume with earth, dark cherry, sois bois – light color – medium+ personality that added spice at the end. A great wine but not the wine of the flight which went to the beautiful ’64 Clair-Dau BM mag. 95pts.
1966 Pierre Ponnelle Latricières-Chambertin from Magnum: I must say – I have a special appreciation for how some of these older Ponnelle wines can please – this was no exception. This has been a consistent performer for me with perfumed cherry and lavender, touches of bright herbs, sois bois, mushrooms – savory. 95pts.
1964 Domaine Clair-Daü Bonnes Mares from Magnum: This just had a bit more for me…. Powerful wine with a pretty nose – earth, sois bois, black tea, flowers, creamy cherry. Long in the mouth! 96-97pts.
1980 Domaine Dujac Clos St. Denis from Magnum: The wine of this flight for me – touches of pretty tobacco, cherry spice, earth+power – elegant wine for me that really showed a balanced personality. 97pts.
1985 Domaine Dujac Clos St. Denis from Magnum: Very much in the same style of the ’80 – but – the ’80 was just that much more savory at this stage. 95pts.
1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux from Magnum: Fabulous wine here and at the same level of quality as the ’85 Dujac – just didn’t quite add much as it sat in the glass and I kept a bit to see. 94pts.
1971 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti from Magnum: The legend! The second time I’ve been able to taste this wine – two years ago it was and is still the best wine I’ve ever tasted. This night – just not up to par but sill a great wine. 96pts.
1971 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche from Magnum: What can I say – the second best wine of the flight for me. Lovely spice – understated aromas that danced in you mouth – balanced and elegant – long in the mouth. 98pts.
1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti from Magnum: The best wine of the night and the whole Paulee 2013 weekend for me. What a pleasure to taste this – soft ginger spice, perfumed spices and dark fruits, mushrooms, earth, candied fruits intermixed with a spine of minerality that sewed the wine together tight – a complete wine. 100pts.
1985 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin from Magnum: The oldest Rousseau Chambertin for me thus far – from mag no less. Wow – this wine was fantastic and the best of the Rousseau flight for me. Power, rich, smoke, wafts of pepper, touches of subtle tobacco – really grabbed me! 98pts.
1990 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin from Magnum: I do understand that this can be better than the ’85 most nights – not this one. I did like it though – the ’90 has the vintage tag on it with richer fruit – needs more time. 96++pts.
1991 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin-Clos de Bèze from Magnum: Brighter red profile here – you could see the red tinges in the color. Allspice, clove, soft cherry, mushrooms, medium + minerality and a nice acid spine. 96pts.
1987 Henri Jayer Echezeaux from Magnum: I was so pleased to be able to taste this and really liked it – almost equally to the following ’90 but in a different way. This wine was about elegance – one needed the ability to really sniff this one out. There was a beautiful wine in there that sure was pretty! 96pts.
1990 Henri Jayer Echezeaux from Magnum: Darker wine – just had more “stuff" in there – flashes of integrated oak with balanced cherry and spice. Really washed over the palate with a lovely lingering presence. 97pts.
1993 Henri Jayer Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cros Parantoux from Magnum: Several around me agreed – damaged bottle or even slightly corked – muted…… Darn!
1990 Bollinger Champagne R.D. Extra Brut from Magnum: My last of this one - 2004 disgorgment. Lime, toast, tight bubbles - bright fresh dough, citrus zest. Nice showing… 96pts.
1988 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche from Jero: This sure was classy – this is what I wrote down toward the end of the night. Feminine personality – flashes of red cherries, black tea, lovely spice. 97pts.
1993 Remoissenet Père et Fils Montrachet: Corked!
1972 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti from Jero: A nice wine I really did try to appreciate this one towards the end of the night – just didn’t do it for me. This would have been the same evaluation if served at the earlier or at this time of night. Just an good to semi-good ’72 red burg. 92pts.
1962 Remoissenet Père et Fils Clos Vougeot from a BIG bottle: My god – this was a huge bottle… Straight from the winery and in pristine condition. A nice aged wine that really pleased – savory and soft. Elegant tannins. 94pts.
Now onto Friday – the Verticals Tasting is next…… CHEERS
I thought Rudy was in prison. This is probably the most ridiculous tasting I’ve seen posted.
Paul, more than a tasting as dinner was great. It was a pre opening for the restaurant out front…very good Italian fare. We had the private room in the back. I have to razz Jon, as he didn’t post on my 2 wines…90 DRC RSV and 96 Dujac CSD in mag. I’ll post my notes on those later.
Kricky Roger - you’ll need to post those . Paul - easily the best set of wines in one night for me! A great group of very real and passionate collectors that shared their good stuff - not a bad bottle in the bunch other than that off bottle of '93 CP that just couldn’t do anything…
nice notes ballas!
Thursday dinner. That’s probably the most off-the-hook large format line-up I’ve ever seen. The combined retail cost of the underperforming '72 Jero DRC RC, flawed '93 Jayer Parantoux and corked '93 Remoissenet Montrachet is just plain scary. Love those Ponnelles for value.
RT
Scary is right RT - didn’t know what to expect but the night exceeded by expectations! I have some fun 1/2 and full bottles of older Ponnelle bottles that you’ll try at some point - wonderful stuff from an old negoc… RT - can’t wait to see your notes from the verticals+grand - I know we discussed several!
Jon, besides being a Ponnelle fan, I just can’t wrap my head around most of those other bottles. Great to see the '64 Clair-Dau BM matching up head-to-head with the '64 DRC Ech. TNs to follow those of the Master (hugger). ![[worship.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/9/99a8907a1d5b3c023582052741dc72dc9823c044.gif "worship"){kind=small}
RT
Just amazing. I was just thinking about if Jon has ever given a wine a 100pts…now I know one for sure! Glad to see that 64 DRC Ech perform like it should…as the one I brought last year sucked. Loved those Jadot Chevy notes…think I will search out some of those 10’s!
That Clair-Dau was really nice!!! Some of these older negoc (Ponnelle and even Remoissenet, etc) can really be special. Heart you RT :0)!
Buy the '10 if you can Buzz - wait 10 years and watch the fireworks. June - sending you and Edson an e-mail soon :0).
jon, roger, et. all,
holy hell. awesome stuff gentlemen. ![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}
cheers yo