I was able to travel down to Atlanta for another wonderful edition of Supper Club. We had an exceptional evening. So many wines in great balance. And a table in great balance, too. It’s a special kind of relaxation to have 4 hours and not be rushed with wines & people of this quality 
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Champagnes
2017 Ulysse Collin Les Maillons Blanc de Noirs & 2014 Ulysse Collin Les Maillons Rose de Saignee
We had the unusual pleasure of a Ulysse Collin side-by-side. Different expressions of the same vineyard. Very enjoyable and also educational.
On the nose, I thought the wines had a real similarity in their pinot noir base. Both wines were very clean, aromatically. Elegant, not wild. The Rose lead with more light strawberry, of course.
In the mouth & palate, I think the 17 Maillons had more excitement & burst. Very composed mouthfeel. Some stonefruit, a touch of cream. The 2017 had a 90-minute pre-game open & re-close before arrival. I think it was fully releasing and showing a lot of fresh character.
The 14 Maillons Rose de Saignee was a little more reserved by comparison. Not as electric. Well composed in the mouth, and elegant. Some classy black currant. Unsure if different editions of this present as a little more wild or colorful. This was a very nice rose Champagne but perhaps missing some verve.
Les Montrachets
2014 Sauzet & 2014 Prieur
Once again, a legit Montrachet performance with the Atlanta crew. They have a touch. Both wines getting a 45-minute decant. The Sauzet got opened 2 hours in advance with some slox-ox. The Sauzet, in particular, kept getting stronger throughout the evening.
A beautiful contrast in style. The Prieur leapt from the glass as soon as it was poured. Very much in a rich, beautiful vein of luscious butter & seductive fruit. Very composed front to back. The lush style stays in balance. For me, this had a very Leflaive style & texture. Unabashedly rich & exciting, and just enough mineral expression through the mid-palate to keep the wine flowing through its progression and finish. A delight.
The Sauzet was my preferred, but I think that’s a style thing. Andrew’s got a way with Sauzet. This 2014 had so much structure, and its unwinding was a real thrill. Andrew was able to nurse his glass longer than the rest of us, so his notes can include a three-hour progression.
For me, a beautiful minerality lingers with this wine. So much structure and elegance. The white peach, gentle flowers & maybe a touch of honeycomb begins to flow from the glass as it warms up & relaxes. I think Andrew got a lot more honey by the end of the night. The minerality is top, top level. Gorgeously strong & gripping. But still a very smooth, easy to drink wine as it warms up.
We had a rich poached lobster with these two wines. A beautiful flight.
Intermezzo: 1959 Huet Molleux Le Haut-Lieu
A gorgeous course with a fun DIY Brioche, Jersey Girl melted cheese & baked apple accompaniment. A fantastic bring from Mike Evans. Listening to him present this wine & revel in its unique character was so much fun. This wine got a bit of a slow-ox to wake up.
I’ll keep my note short and let him expand. Very dark in color, a touch of candy in the nose along side the buttered nuts. The palate was less sweet than the nose, and with a deep complexity. The complexity stood out most to me. A delightful intermezzo opportunity, not opulent or exceptionally sweet, but rather a kaleidoscope of mature flavors and excellent texture.
Red Burgundies
First Flight: 2002 Vogue Musigny & 2002 Roty Charmes-Chambertin (+ a Blind)
Probably my favorite wine-oriented conversation on this flight. The Vogue was a pure stunner. Joyous, leaping from the glass with an easy intensity of juicy fruit. A touch of meat, but not as unctuously meaty as other vintages. There is a brightness to this wine and so much rounded fruit.
Mid-palate of utter pleasure. Silky texture but with a gentle electricity as it goes into the finish. This is a wine with so much energy and yet still manages to stay in balance on the finish. All that energy slides to the finish without any coarseness of bite. WOTN for some of us (but not all!). A joyous match with a really beautiful, thickly cut roast duck
Meanwhile, the Roty was stealing hearts across the table 
. A much more classic , restrained glass of Burgundy. Lush, lithe fruit on the nose (albeit with much lower volume than its tablemate), an excellent mid-palate texture, and more rustic, gripping finish. Very much a roast gamebird grand cru.
For my personal preference, I would put this a tier below the other Red Burgundy stars of the evening, but its classicism stole a few hearts.
For an interloper, Andrew brought the 2016 Roty CC to hang out with its grad student older brother. This wine showed magically! Very hard to guess this vintage (literally none of us did 
). Very lush & velvet texture. Even getting some Rousseau mentions. For me, not quite that level of aromatics or lighter balance, but certainly a very sexy showing of lush quality. Probably the most overperforming wine of the evening.
Final Flight: 2005 & 2008 Mugneret-Gibourg Clos Vougeot
I was worried about the 2005, and thankfully: I needn’t have been. What beautiful wines 
Funniest wine moment of the night for me was looking across the table and realizing I hadn’t heard from Mike Evans on these two yet. So I called out to him if he had any particularly discerning thoughts on the duo & the contrasts. He had this wry gleam on his face, a clear expression of These wines are really effing good. He spoke in complete sentences, because he’s a refined gentleman, but I’m going to stick with the expression. These wines are really effing good.
Both of these got a few hours of slow-ox. The 2005 showed well from the beginning, not closed or brooding. And, as you might expect, last sips were best sips. Wine is in a very good place and allows you to see it/approach it with different levels of roundedness the longer you let run through the evening. We had a lovely rare NY trip which was a perfect match.
Before the last sips, I’d have chosen the 2008 as my favorite, simply because it was a little more unusual, I think. More of a racier raspberry on the nose, a little more electric acid in the mid-palate, et al. But, by the end of the evening, the rounder, bigger cherry of the 2005 kept expanding and expanding into a richer experience. Hard to pick between these two. So gorgeous.
@Matthew_King started off this month by bringing the 2001 M-G Clos Vougeot to NY, and I’ve been benefiting from that karmic kickstart all March! A beautiful 2000 with @MChang and now these two Jewels. 4 for 4. Beautifully structured wines. Demanding attention but still approachable and with sufficient finesse to compliment their framing.
I’ve been a lucky man this month. I am generally a lucky man when amongst my wine friends, and I could not be more happy & grateful 
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. But I feel a lot better in my blind guessing now…