Recent Wines (dp, sauzet, courcel, cathiard, boudignon)

WINE TALK
1

Some recent holiday wines. As usual these are recollections rather than formal tasting notes.

2000 Dom Perignon Rose (Magnum)- My favorite recent vintage of dp for drinking right now. Both the regular and rose are great. This shows a nice freshness on the nose with sea spray, strawberries, and pastry. The palate just pops with layers of red fruit. Just enough acid. Great balance.

1973 Courcel Pommard-Epenots- I picked this up recently. The fill was pretty low, so it was place in the “drink soon” section of the cellar. This was a really nice surprise. Still a nice amount of fruit on the nose. The palate is mostly savory, but holding together really well. Lots of sous bois, light beef stock, red fruit. Really nice.

1983 Sauzet Puligny Montrachet Les Combettes- I served this to friends blind who guessed that is was coche from the 80’s. Pretty darn good guess based on how it was showing. Yellow fruits, butter roasted nuts, a hint of gunflint and dried honey. I really nice, fully mature white burg. I pray they get a handle of premox so we can have more wines like this.

2002 S. Cathiard NSG Aux Mergers- We were surprised by how great this was. Cool expression of blue and black fruit. Great density on the mid palate. Loads of dry extract. Super long.

2009 Thibaud Boudignon Anjou Blanc- I love the fresh and concise style of this wine. Apple, white pineapple, and almond notes. Gobs of laser sharp acid. Really fun wine.

2

Thanks for the note on 2002 Cathiard Murgers, love this particular site from Cathiard. Have a case of the '02 sitting somewhere, can’t wait to bring them out. '07 is drinking really well over the last 2 years, it would out-class a lot of Grand Crus in '07.

Happy holiday. [cheers.gif]

3

Nice work, Ryan. I have recently been wondering if I’ve overlooked 2000 champagnes in general, DP and DP Rose included. I’ve had the 2000 rose a few times, but maybe it’s time to revisit it. Are you generally high on 2000 for champagne? I think the prices are still pretty modest, so if the wines are good, they probably are a bargain. 2000 Taitinger CdC blanc is the only one i’ve had more than once or twice, and i think it’s certainly a nice wine. I recently had a 2000 PJ Fleur de Champagne which was better than i expected too.

Hope you’re well.

Patrick

4

Hey Patrick,

I don’t have have a lot of experience with other champagnes, but as far as Dom Perignon goes, I’m a big fan of the 00’s. I don’t think they will be legendary by any means, but they are very open and enjoyable. We had a mag of the 96 DP Rose yesterday. It is a killer wine, but will get much better. I say use the 00’s as a cellar saver while waiting on 95/96/02/04.

All is good here. I hope all is well on your end.

Ryan

5

Yeah that 96 DP Rose is absolutely killer. I’m hoping that will be really top class, legendary wine one day. I’ll try to get my hands on some 00s and give them a shot.

6

We had a Winston Churchill 2000 on Christmas and it was impressive. Not as ageworthy as the 96 but still on it’s way up and very good to drink. Good to hear that everything is fine Patrick. Happy New Year
Rainer

7

Very interesting - thanks.

No great surprise that the 02 Cathiard is fine … it´s a super vintage for him.

But the real surprise is the 1973 Courcel - my experience is that only 1974 (and maybe 1977) is worse a vintage in the 70ies … but I still had some fair bottles, e.g. Clos des Ruchottes Bassot 1973 …

8

Sauzet did really well in 1983, way before premox, as you point out. I had a memorable 1983 white during a visit in 2001…and realized they (and the vintage) turned out some great whites , too. (I love the reds from 1983).