As I suspect many others have experienced, the popular wine forum, WineBerserkers, is not only a great place to share and learn about wine and even other unrelated subjects, but it serves to connect people who would have never met had it not been for this site.
You kind of get to know a little about some of the folks through their posts and how they present information and respond. You also discover people who have similar interests and preferences in wine and other areas, which for me in a few cases, has led to meeting in person as I have with a number of people in Orange County, Canada and other places, including Amsterdam.
One such person is Nick Christie who made a blind trust commitment to travel across the country with his lady and child to spend a week in Santa Barbara and celebrate his birthday as well.
Once Nick advised me of his plans and preferences to join 2 of our weekly tasting groups, I set it up and added a view other activities in hopes his/their visit would be extra special.
On his first night, our Wednesday night wine dinner group leader organized a wonderful dinner at our most prestigious venue, the Stonehouse, located on the lux San Ysidro Ranch resort property.
Additionally, we created a wine theme to include the usual request for champagne and white Burgundy and in this case, Nick’s fav, red Burgundy.
We had an exceptional night with 9 members of our group welcoming Nick and enjoying some of the excellent cuisine and top quality service from the restaurant on their classy outside garden patio. We tasted through 4 champagnes, 3 white Burgundy, 5 red Burgundy and 2 dessert wines.
To the credit and typical generosity of our group, the request to bring red Burgundy did not specify Grand Cru, but we had 7 bottles, all GC.
As per my MO, Nick, another friend and I arrived very early in order to set up positions at the table and unpack and align our stemware and open bottles.
We had an ace in the hole in that I had a magnum of chapamge and my friend had 2 750s; so, we were in champagne heaven and had a head start and prepared our palates and our minds righteously.
Here’s some notes;
2002 TAITTINGER COMTES de CHAMPAGNE BLANC de BLANC BRUT- I’ve been loving the 2002 vintage almost across the board for the past year or so and was delighted to find this was one of the 2 bottles my friend brought, especially since I brought the 2006 in magnum; it was superlative; the yellow gold color suggested a bit of maturity and there was some, but it only served to enhanced the wine; aromas of honeyed and ginger accented yellow apple were most prevalent and then joined by a really nice twist of lemon zest on the palate; it was delivered in a creamy, feel good texture which added to its allure along with it amazing richness and depth; it was nicely balanced and seemingly in a great place begging the question, how much better can it get?
In order to do the taste comparison, we poured the 2006 next and I was super surprised as to which one was the best:
2006 TAITTINGER COMTES de CHAMPAGNE BLANC de BLANC BRUT in magnum- I’ve had well over 150 bottles of this bubbly, but only a few in magnum and now I’m looking to get many more; this was maybe the best champagne I’ve had in the last few years and that includes many superlative bottles; I was shocked it even overshadowed the esteemed 2002; everything the ‘02 had, this had more; it was richer, creamier and tastier with greater acidity; even in the nose and beyond and unlike the ‘02, it had a perfect mild accent of toasty brioche and the lemon fruit was more like lemon oil extract, and yet it was still in balance with all of the other components. Once poured around the table and after a few minutes, it received raves upon raves with one claiming it was his best ever 2006 Comtes and some of us concluding magnums are by far the best way to go. I’m extremely motivated to hunt for more.
1996 KRUG BRUT- I’ve had many bottles of this vintage and early on was so enamored with them, but the last 3 of my 2nd 6 pack were oxidized beyond my level of appreciation as have been a few others from other sources; the gold color with a slight brown tinge suggested here we go again, but this one was nicely viable and easier to like; yes, it did have some advanced notes of maple, butterscotch, caramel and almonds, but they were mild and easily complimentary to the orange zest, yellow peach and apricot fruit; as a friend opined a few years ago when we were drinking a similar aged wine, “it’s oxidative, but not oxidized”; after the 2002 and 2006 Comtes, it did not compare as favorably; it’s a different animal; I did keep going back to it and enjoyed each sip.
2002 CHAMPANGE BOLLINGER R.D. EXTRA BRUT- 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay; I also have had quite a few of this wine and being a fan of the Bollie style, enjoyed this one; enhanced from the stellar vintage gifts, this was really good, gracing us with toasty and honeyed yellow apple from the nose through the tail; it was super rich and full bodied even possessing some weight and crescendoed on and upward for a grand finish.
What a start! Another friend had a bottle of champagne, but was discouraged from opening it in favor of moving on. I was not the one to discourage him nor do I ever want to be known as having denied anyone opening bubbly. As it is often said and so true IMHO; “you can never have too much champagne”.
Next up 3 white Burgundy:
2017 PIERRE-YVES COLIN-MOREY HOMMAGE a MARGUERITE SAINT-AUBIN 1er Cru- the nose was super stinky with flint and minerals times 10 and some underlying, barely detectable citrus fruit that was more pronounced once tasted; a piece of chalk and few drops of vanilla joined in with the lemon lime and it settled down after the initial confront from the skunky nose; it was nicely smooth and very pleasing. Swirling the glass a few hundred times was prudent and effective.
2013 PIERRE-YVES COLIN-MOREY EN REMILLY 1er Cru- as I have come to love and appreciate all 2013s from PYCM, this followed in line with the operative word being most applicable, elegance; it started with the nose, was confirmed by the taste and capped off by the finish; it was medium bodied and in weight and had a tasty ripe fruit profile with lemon, yellow apple and pear most evident expressed with elegance.
2017 DOMAINE de la VOUGERAIE la CLOS BLANC de VOUGEOT 1er Cru- at the first nose, I doubled checked to be sure I picked up the right glass as it emulated the 2017 PYCM with its stinky, skunky flint and minerals that actually was more pronounced in the taste; after some time, it settled down and dissipated just enough to allow for more appreciation of the other treasures that peeked through; honeysuckle, lemon, yellow peach and yellow apple made up a good portion of the fruit profile and its smooth and creme like texture softened the acids to allow for a pleasant finish albeit still with a lot of skunk.
And now for the red Burgundy:
2002 NICOLAS POTEL CHAMBERTIN GRAND CRU- medium red purple color; it gave aromas of smoke, mushroom, red raspberry and earth laden red plum and black currant which continued on to the back end; it finished a bit dry and I’m guessing it was not decanted, but could have benefitted from it. This is a fine wine best followed for hours over the course of an evening.
1985 JOSEPH DROUHIN CHAMBERTIN GRAND CRU- this had some aging color with a brown edge to the red purple; the nose followed suit with more age related character with mushroom, earth and sweaty leather accents to the dried black currant fruit; once tasted, there was more evidence that this bottle had passed its apogee as it also gave coffee and mocha vegetal notes and had a light weight mouthfeel; in a blind format, I would have guessed this to a 1966.
2012 LUCIEN LE MOINE CHARMES-CHAMBERTIN GRAND CRU- medium red purple color; the nose included tea leaf and spice laden red raspberry that was joined by some nice red cherry on the palate; I loved its silky smooth texture and its fresh raspberry dominated finish and was surprised by it being more charming, no pun intended, than big, rich and powerful.
2005 DOMAINE ARLAUD CHARMES-CHAMBERTIN GRAND CRU- following its dark red purple color came aromas of a lovely red fruit dominated wine that was graced with fresh red raspberry, red cherry and strawberry; the taste was more of the same plus a nice streak of spice came in as did some underlying earthy notes that gave it that Burgundy flare; it finished more balanced than it started out and held on for us to get a complete experience.
2008 DOMAINE MONGEARD-MUGNERET CLOS de VOUGEOT GRAND CRU- decanted 2 hours; I’d opened another bottle of this earlier in the year and it was so splendid, I pulled this in favor of some older choices and I was pleased with how it showed; in fact, it was my 2nd favorite of the reds; I’m a pepper and spice fan and this had enough to placate my preference and to provide the perfect accent to the red raspberry that was more prominent than the red cherry and red currant; it was full bodied with depth and had a long, satisfying finish that sealed the deal.
2010 DOMAINE DUJAC CLOS de la ROCHE GRAND CRU- this wine just reeked of royalty, class and sophistication from its vibrant red purple color, inviting nose, tastes of a bowl of fresh raspberries and its readiness and capability to give joy to all who partake; I believe I would have made the same remarks had this been poured blind; tea and spicy red and black raspberry was most prevalent throughout and its silky soft and smooth mouthfeel was the perfect medium to carry all of the goodies to the back end where it finished magnificently.
1998 DOMAINE de L’ARLOT ROMANEE-SAINT-VIVANT GRAND CRU in magnum- and if we had not had enough, this fabulous magnum came around and beautifully capped off the flights of reds; it was so tasty good, seemingly young and extremely sensorially pleasing; I got leather and earth laden red raspberry with a hint of tobacco before some black cherry came in past mid palate; it was full bodied with layered depth, super soft and smooth and finished impressively with the spicy raspberry tailing off.
Our prince of sweets was amongst on this night and in addition to bringing the Dujac, he graced us with the first of 2 sweeties:
1998 ALOIS KRACHER TBA #7 CHARDONNAY WELSCHRIESLING NOUVELLE VAGUE- 375 ml; 10% abv; 195,5 g/l; 50% Chardonnay, 50% Welschriesling; mahogany color which suggests significant oxidation as the original bottles are shown with a light yellow color; this was syrupy apricot nectar with a caramel topping; as I often state after tasting this and other like and kind dessert wines, serve them by the dropper full.
1997 FOREAU DOMAINE du CLOS NAUDIN VOUVRAY MOELLEUX RESERVE- 759 ml, Chenin Blanc; red mahogany color; this typically contains more than 50 grams of residual sugar per liter, but some contain over 200g; I do not know what the RS was for this one but the taste was really weird and squirrelly with some brown sugar and burnt caramel somewhere amidst all of it. This is a 1/3 dropper full serving.
We did it up right for our out of town guest who blended in perfectly and was immediately one of the gang. Starting with the champagnes, followed by the white and then red Burgundy, we drank exceptionally well.
The quantity seemed to be just enough as this group tends to pour many more wines than people which requires a process of pouring, tasting and dumping to make room for the next ones closely following.
For geeks like me taking notes and photos and preferring to follow a wine’s evolution over time, it’s almost an impossible task and as we ll know, 1 or 2 tastes of a wine is not representative of what its true character is. Thankfully, this fabulous evening had a nice flow to it as well as its welcoming purpose.
Cheers,
Blake
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