TN: a mixed bag

“SIMPLE” MIDWEEK DINNER (PETER’S MINI-CELEBRATION) - Asia Grand, Odeon Towers (29/3/2012)

This was a rather impromptu SMD put together by Peter. We did not know it, but it turned out to be a mini-celebration for Peter’s birthday, which he generously crowned with a couple of nice wines. All BYO and blind as always. Not surprisingly, we ended up with quite a few nice Burgs. However, the 1975 Palmer was quite unanimously the WOTN.
THE WHITE

  • 1983 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
    Quite a start to the evening. Served blind, I thought this was a decently good Burg with a bit of age on it, but it certainly did not drink like a wine approaching its 30th year nor, more unfortunately, was it as good one would expect from a Ramonet Bâtard. It had a very rich, ripe nose, almost sweet with honeyed aromas wrapped around a core of apple flesh, rather more tropical pineapple notes and even a touch of banana, before some slightly smoky, earthy, minerally nuances floated out. With time in the glass, the bouquet took on an additional layer of buttery, creamy accents. Very pleasant in a sweet, ripe way. This still was led by its fruit aromas, and there was little by way of either caramelly notes or more tertiary mushroomy accents to suggest its age. The same thing could be said about the palate. There was plenty of that sweet fleshy fruit here, apples and pineapples again, especially on the wine’s very full, fleshy attack. These were met by some honeyed stone-fruit notes on the midpalate, peach and nectarine maybe, before all that fruit melded with a lovely stream of stony mineral and spice as the wine pulled away into a long, persistent finish. For something so fruity and fleshy, there was also a surprising amount of really zippy acidity underlining the whole structure of the wine, brightening it almost to the point of sharpness drank slightly too cold and without food. However, with some air and morsels of fried stuff to line the palate, the wine calmed down significantly to show as a pretty nicely balanced package. There was just a bit of alcohol heat at the edge of the back-palate that shook the overall poise of the wine slightly. Otherwise, this was a very enjoyable wine - balanced, vibrant and youthful. This drank like something at least a good decade younger. However, while it should hold very well in the bottle, I do not think there is all that much room for improvement going forward. (92 pts.)

RED BURGS

  • 1999 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune Aux Grands Liards - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune
    From a magnum, part of which was double-decanted and brought to dinner. This was impressive for an SLB village. It had an absolutely beautiful nose, bursting with complexity, with lots of earthy, meaty, mushroomy accents floating around deep aromas of damson plums, dark berries and black cherries, and then just a hint of smoke and roses wafting away in the background. Dropdead gorgeous - seductive, enchanting stuff, with a bit of the dirty thrown in. The palate was sadly rather less impressive than the nose, but still quite a delight to drink, with mouthfilling flavours of black berries and cherries soaked in wood spice and smoky notes, all streaked through with super-juicy, energetic acidity and fine-boned tannins still providing a lot of structure. It had a nice long finish too, drifting away in a touch of wood. This lacked some complexity and finesse and may need more time to come together and open up, but it was a very enjoyable expression of Savigny. A fine example of how good a village wine in 1999 can be. (90 pts.)
  • 2004 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Clos de La Bussière - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey St. Denis 1er Cru
    It seems as though we were drinking a different wine from the one that has been rather badly rated in the other tasting notes on CT. We actually enjoyed this quite a bit - a rare 2004 that showed barely a hint of green I thought. In fact, I really liked the nose here. It had lovely deep aromas of ripe dark cherries, blackberries and plums seasoned with a little dose of spice, some lovely florals and a nice bit of earth. Very nice. As it opened up, it took on more and more red fruited scents. It was hard to identify the vintage blind, because the bouquet hardly carried any of the stemminess one would expect with a 2004. The palate still had a little robe of powdery tannins and a touch of oak, but it was very nicely balanced and rather quite drinkable, with nice flavours of red cherries and a touch of darker blackcurrant flavours wrapped in juicy acidity. Very yummy. This stretched into a long finish, with more clean, clear black cherry fruit flavours running into mouthfilling reams of sweet spice and dark flowers. I really liked the clean, fresh feel of this wine. It is still very structured though, and deserves a good 4 to 5 more years in the cellar. Otherwise, really nice. (92 pts.)
  • 2001 Domaine Alain Michelot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Porêts Saint-Georges - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru
    I really like this wine - pity that this is the last bottle in the cellar. Still rather too closed after an hour or so in the decanter, it showed sweet vanillin notes on the nose on first pour, before opening up into classic NSG accents of metal, wet stone and mineral swimming alongside a good bit of undergrowth, some spice and an underlayer of very shy dark fruited aromas. Not giving all that much on the bouquet compared to some of the very expressive wines on the nights. The palate was lovely though. Superbly integrated, limpid, almost transparent in its pue dark cherry and blackberry notes, it had such an effortless depth to it that the table was divided as to whether this was a Gran Cru or a 1er Cru. The wine was still primary, still supported by fine but firm tannins, but even while too young, it had such a nice shape and structure to it, so that it always seemed solid from the attack all the way until it pulled away in a long, superly integrated finish sprinkled with with a touch of coffee grounds. This can easily last another decade or more. While giving quite a bit of pleasure on the night, it really should be kept aside for a few more years. Excellent. (93 pts.)

A PAIR FROM THE SOUTHERN RHONE

  • 1998 E. Guigal Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
    This took awhile to open up in the glass, but when it did, it showed as a solid, enjoyable if rather unspectacular CdP. It did have a lovely nose though, with deep-set aromas of red dates and preserved plums, riding on a bed of earthy, meaty scents, a whiff of exotic spice, and a little underscurrant of stony mineral. Very nice. The palate had a rich attack in it, with blackberries and plums at the fore. This thinned out a little into an earthy, mineral midpalate, and then lengthen quite surprisingly into a wood spice laden finish with an almost cedar-ish note to it. I thought it lacked a bit of power and substance, so that it was almost hollow at first, but the wine drifted all over the mouth in such a charming manner, with juicy dark berry fruit and floral violet notes floating away in the distance. However, with time, some classic CdP notes of meat, earth and garrigue emerged to fill up the empty spaces. Not perfect, but it had a quirky charm to it. Enjoyable - this was drinking well on the night. (91 pts.)
  • 1998 Château Rayas Côtes du Rhône Château de Fonsalette Reserve - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône
    Very nice indeed. It may not be fair to compare Château Rayas’ rather pricy Côtes du Rhône with a typical CdR, but it is testament to the quality of winemaking that this was unanimously preferred to a very decent 1998 Guigal Chateaneuf-du-Pape that was served blind alongside as part of a pair. This had another beautiful nose, wafting out of the glass in rich aromas of sour plums and dark cherry, moving into a beautiful stream of wood spice, from star anise into cardammon and then cloves, a bit of menthol, a slight floral lilt and just that hint of stony mineral at the edges. Beautiful, noble stuff. In true Rayas fashion, this could have been a Burgundy, a Vosne in particular, on that nose. The palate was really nice as well. It had a fine sense structure and balance, with slightly powdery tannins and sprightly acidity underlying a delicious mouthful of dark cherries and berries on the attack. These were met by more mature, supple notes of dried cherries with a touch of savoury sour plums on the velvety midpalate. There was less overt spiciness here than on the nose, but there was still a nice little sprinkle of it as the wine entered a fresh, lively back-end, touched with mineral and a slightly savoury meatiness. This was a really nice wine that is at a lovely place now. Yum. (92 pts.)

THE LONE BORDEAUX

  • 1975 Château Palmer - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
    This was another wine where we bucked the trend of the not too flattering notes in CT. This bottle was in fine form and quite clearly the wine of the night for us in the midst of pretty stern challenge. It had a dropdead gorgeous nose, with cedar wood and sous bois, capsicum and tobacco leaf, a waft of cassis - classic left-bank, with a little floral lift at the edges. I really loved the palate on the wine. The 1975 tannins had completely melted away, leaving behind an absolutely silky mouthful of black cherries, cassis and plums. On the midpalate, some lovely tobacco and spice notes floated out alongside the fruit in charming. A very complete, very full wine, yet elegant and noble at the same time, so that this could almost be a softer Pauillac (think Pichon-Lalande or GPL) except for a lush, flower and spice finish that just filled the back-palate with Margaux loveliness. Time to drink up, but boy this bottle was at a beautiful place now. (93 pts.)

THE SWEET

  • 1986 Château de Fargues - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
    Unfortunately flawed. A pity, I think this would have been quite nice otherwise. This was haunted on the nose with the metallic, iodine, fishy ring of TCA. There were some acetone notes as well, but those blew off slightly. Beyond that, there were still some rich scents of sweet apricots, mangoes, marmalade and honey. Still very nice actually. The palate showed a bit less of a flaw than on the nose as well, spreading across the palate with lovely, rich flavours of burnt sugar and coating the midpalate with rich flavours of pineapples, apricots and red apples. The finish had a nice golden, honeyed glow to it, with some spicy motes. Lovely, but this was just a little scalped at the back-end by TCA, so that it seemed like the mute button was pressed towards the end. A pity. This was otherwise very pleasurable. Given the flaw, it was quite difficult to place the wine blind, quite a few of us thought that it may have been a weak-vintage d’Yquem blighted by the TCA, perhaps a testament to the Lur Saluces’ influence in Château de Fargues. NR (flawed)

Posted from CellarTracker

Paul, thanks for the great notes, as always.

Nice notes. Good pick for the lone bordeaux.

A spate of happy 04 notes around the web in recent weeks.As ever it depends upon what you open, but I am pleased about this.

Thanks for the replies as always guys.

I too am getting constantly surprised by the 2004s. I have not had trouble with green meanies in the last 4 or 5 bottles I have tried. I am crossing my fingers and not touching whatever remaining 2004s that are in my cellar for a couple mroe years, hoping that everything will clear up by then.