It had been Paul Hanna’s desire to put together a Roumier Bonnes Mares dinner and last night 10 of us gathered at Restaurant Ezard to put it into fruition. I have always been surprised that Roumier has achieved such cult status. Not because their wines aren’t brilliant they are. It is just that the wines are not flashy, plump and sweet and they need several decades to show their best. Last night’s line-up confirmed that Roumier’s Bonnes Mares is indeed in the top echelon of Burgundy. The wines are dense and oaky but savoury and pure. They are chewy, built for the cellar and unfurl slowly in their own time. There are plenty of engaging floral perfumes but an underlying masculinity.
Paul kicked us off with a couple of Taittinger Comtes de Champagne where the 1998 just overshadowed the 1996. The 1998 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne had an engaging scent of citrus blossom, mineral and lemon. It was rich and powerful with a chalky base and plenty of finesse. There was a big lick of mineral on the finish and it was fresh and energetic. The 1996 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne had just a hint of toasty/mushroom development. It was fine and elegant with some mandarin peel notes and also the citrus blossom we saw in the ’98. It finished with excellent precision. Big G arrived a little late and had these two thrust under his nose. When asked if they were both from the same or different maker he went with different. When told they were the same he said that was his second choice.
Four Leflaive Chevalier made up the white bracket. They were served pretty close to room temperature and this showed up the exotic nature in the wines and was my excuse for guessing Batard. The 2002 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet was in sparkling form. It had a little spearmint cream to the aroma along with feijoa and paw paw notes. It was rich in the mouth yet compact with Chevalier shape and excellent length. The 2001 Domaine Leflaive Chevlaier-Montrachet has looked quite exotic regardless of temperature over the last few years and this bottle was no exception. It too had some feijoa and a hint of rockmelon. It was very powerful and dense, unfurling in the glass to show some mineral and decent detail. I thought the 2009 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet was the wine of the bracket. It was very dense and tight, exuding a faint whiff of vanilla and hazelnut cream. In the mouth it had dense, sappy orchard fruit, a sweet heart and terrific mineral line. It showed great definition and persistence. The 2008 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet hit the ground running and showed great detail. It was dense, tense, rich and powerful. Orchard fruits were tinged with aniseed and there were some toasty/spicy notes from the oak. After it spent a little time in glass there were some worrisome caramel flavours sneaking into the flavor profile. At the end of this excellent white bracket we spoke about next month’s old wine event. Michael asked if he could put on a few older spirits. Greg, one of the country’s top silks, made mention that he would prefer not to drink any spirits as he had to be in court the next day. Anthony, as quick as a flash, responded with ‘I think we’ll all be in court the next day if we drink spirits’. We will stick to wine for next month’s dinner.
The main event was split into two brackets, the first with six wines being older or from the so called weaker vintages. The 1993 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares was superb. It was very earthy, rich, full and powerful. It had a sweet floral perfume and finished with crunchy mineral cut. It is just starting to drink well and should age beautifully for several decades more. The 2004 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares is greener than Kermit the frog. It is all celery, tinned green bean and coriander leaf on the nose. There is some up front sweetness to the palate but then it clamps down hard leading to a shrill finish. I’m donating my last remaining bottle to Stuart Niemtzow, it will send him right over the edge! The 2000 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares was the most structured 2000 red Burg I tried on release and it still has good grip. There are pretty red and black fruits and a strong scent of violets. It is full and round and quite delicious and was one of the best drinks of the night, with plenty left to give mind you. The 1992 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares was marred by just a whiff of wet hessian tca. The wine poured out well looking immensely fresh in the glass. It had some meaty notes and a cool heart and some quite delicious fresh berry flavours. Sadly I just couldn’t get around the cork taint as there was an outstanding wine there. The 1982 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares was terrific. The nose had plenty of sweet meat, leather and black tea aromas. In the mouth it was sweet, full and vinous with an engaging savoury edge. There was still good grip to the finish and the wine was fresh and ethereal. I am not a huge fan of the 2003 vintage but last year I loved the 2003 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares. Tonight’s bottle reinforced that this is one of the very best wines of the vintage. It has plenty of sweet cedar, dried flowers, licorice and cherry fruit on the nose. It has a heart of liqueur cherry and some cooler mint things countering all of the ripeness. It is dense with chewy tannins that freshen up the back-end. This is a 50 year wine that should be superb when it eventually reaches its apogee.
The second bracket kicked off with the 2006 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares. It had just a touch of animale to the aroma along with some higher perfume notes of violets. In the mouth it was compact, dense and linear with chalky structure. I have had better bottles of the 2001 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares. There was a shot of espresso to the aroma profile that indicated slight oxidation. There were also compost, funky smells going on. It certainly was a powerful wine with loads of meaty flavor and good structure but detail was slightly blurred. The 1999 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares was the darkest coloured wine of the night and the most intense and deep, although it was quite bretty. There’s a lot of equine action with some sweaty saddle. It had remarkable depth of sweet cherry fruit and is still quite primary. It screams of a wine in need of plenty of more time although I hope the brett doesn’t take hold of the wine. The 2005 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares was actually sweet, perfumed and elegant. It has the beautiful balance of the vintage and the fruits have a paisley quality to them with loads of pomegranate, cranberry and cherry. Tannins are sweet, spherical and supportive and as delicious as this is today you just know it will be sublime in 20 or 30 years. I thought the 2008 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares may have just out-powered the 05, something I cannot remember ever saying about any other wine when I have seen a 2005 and 2008 side by side. It has a luminescent, bright feel with red and black fruits. There is a delicious floral spice weaving through the flavor profile and there is real depth of flavor. It finishes with bright, minerally crunch and length of flavor is outstanding. The 2002 G.Roumier Bonnes Mares was pretty close to wine of the night for mine. It had such a complex nose of cassis, sweet cedar, dried flowers, blood and earth. It was dense and layered in the mouth with great depth and a sensual velvety feel. It had such great proportion and poise and length was fabulous.
Chateau d’Yquem was our blind Sauternes and we were given 1988, 1989 and 1990 as the options. Big G told us that he was shipping quite a bit of Yquem into Australia in the early 90’s, bringing 768 cases of the 1990 in. It didn’t help him, nor most of the rest of the table identifying the 1990 as most of us plumped for the 1988. This was an outstanding bottle of 1990 Chateau d’Yquem. It had complex aromatics of honey, lavender, spiced pear and apricot. In the mouth it was rich and intense yet had good detail and great freshness. It really built through the palate and finished with great authority and vitality.
The rules of Monday Table have been amended and we no longer have to finish with a Nacional. Paul put up a pretty interesting V.P to close proceedings none the less. The 1927 Gould Campbell Vintage Port was bottled in Melbourne in October 1929 by Mathew Cluny and Co. It had some interesting tertiary earthy, seaweed notes. There were some raison and Christmas cake aromas and flavours and the spirit had a slightly raw, Armagnac like feel.
A big thanks to Paul for organizing such a terrific night.
Cheers
Jeremy