The BdB is consistently great and this bottle showed nicely, but could have probably benefitted from an extra year in the cellar.
The Keller is an absolute stunner. Second time with this wine, and it brings a white burg sensibility to Germany with a blend of Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay. A little reductive, tons of acidity (which was polarizing for the group, but I’m a fan), limestone minerality for days, and excellent concentration and dry extract. I have one more of these that I’ll age for a number of years to see how this wine evolves.
The Morgon lacked the depth and complexity I had hoped to see, but a perfectly reasonable wine that paired nicely with all the classic dishes. Not much structure here to age, unfortunately.
(We opened a brace of the Sauternes; only one photographed here)
The St Prefert white CNdP avoided the pitfalls of flabbiness that can beset Clairette. This was rich, almost decadent, while still having (just) enough acidity. Peach, fennel seed, lemon curd. This went great with the turkey.
The Molino Barbera was a standout Barbera, serious, with sour cherry, graphite, fig and mace. I often react badly to Barbera, but this was excellent.
Amazingly, both bottles of the ancient Sauternes were intact. I expected that they might be good as pancake syrup, but no! Dark brown in the glass, more apricot than honey, with fig, toasted sourdough and dried hay. Obviously not as multidimensional as, say, a mature Yquem but something different and unique.
Well the 2022 Caymus has joined a rare club. Aside from corked/flawed bottles, it joins a bourbon-barrel aged red blend as one of two wines I have poured out after only a sip or two. This is just deeply unpleasant.
My brother-in-law always pulls great bottles. We started off the festivities with a magnum of 100% Pinot Meunier Champagne from Christophe Baron and ended the night with a 2016 Chateau Des Tours Côtes du Rhône! Their were multiple bottles in between that I didn’t take pictures of from William Fevre, E.Guigal, and Pierre Usseglio.
