2003 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay “Clos des Ducs” - Opened based on some good experiences with 2003s recently. A nice wine, but very 2003, showing the vintage more strongly than other 2003s I’ve had from Volnay. A layer of red fruit overlies dark, even black fruit, with a faint anise note and mint; lots of drying tannin on the back palate but not bitter. Very savory - tastes like there’s MSG in it, but without the beef boullion flavor of an older wine. The fruit here is open and accessible - if dark and seeming curiously cab-like - and this is a delicious wine, but it’s opaque and perhaps a touch disjointed. No idea how this will age. Very good, maybe even excellent, but you can’t expect a typical burgundy experience.
Also, the day before:
1999 Renaissance Cabernet Sauvignon Fairfield Reserve - A recent Winebid purchase. Immaculate cork, color, etc. Opens with a ton of bottle funk, including some brettiness that’s syngeristically amplified by all the other funkiness, and there’s plenty of sediment, so into the decanter this goes. After 30 minutes of air, this is vastly improved; light-bodied, red-fruited, truffley, gently tannic, and tasting not entirely unlike a mature, traditionally made Nebbiolo. There’s still some brett, but tolerably so. Excellent, if not exactly characteristic of Cabernet.