TN: Belated holiday dinner - Mostly Burg and Bordeaux

WINE TALK
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BELATED HOLIDAY DINNER - MOSTLY BURG AND BORDEAUX - Ripple Restaurant in DC (1/9/2014)

Ken B emailed us in early December to organize his fourth annual holiday dinner. Due to the busy holiday season, we decided the 9th of January. Eight of us got together at Ripple in uptown. Everyone generously contributed the cellar treasures Bacchus blessed us with only one corked bottle. It was interesting to have three mini verticals of Bordeaux followed by a mini vertical of RSV.
Starters
The 96 Dom was exceptional as usual but the 85 Krug stole the show. The Saran was interesting as usual

  • 1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon - France, Champagne
    Another very good showing but not as good as the last two. Perhaps a bit more mature impression. Ripe yellow fruits, baked apple, candied lemon peel, honey and white pepper. Fully body, fine mousse, light caramel, mineral and good acidity. This is a full body opulent style of Dom. Lovely showing. (95 pts.)
  • 1985 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon - France, Champagne
    Mildly corked which is a same as it displayed exceptional concentration and sweetness. NR (flawed)
  • 1985 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut - France, Champagne
    Golden color, noticeably darker than the Dom as expected. Paul and Panos pointed very vinous nose and I agree. Although ripe and displaying classic Krug oxidative note, the overall nose impression is quite precise and delicate. Delicate ripe yellow fruits, based apple, a hint of orange, brioche, sweet baking spices and anise. Precise and refine palate with good energy, fine delicate mousse, bright acidity, noticeable structure and seamless long finish. This fully mature Krug is beguiling, showing ripe fruits yet almost airy, precise, delicate and refine. Exceptional! (97 pts.)
  • NV Moët & Chandon Coteaux Champenois Saran (Nature) Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne, Coteaux Champenois
    From the same batch as the last, at least 30+ years old if not 40. The color is incredibly light in lieu of the age. Ken mentioned a mature Burgundy. I am think Stoney Hill chardonnesque with the waxy note and delicate and decadent palate of Coulée-de-Serrant. Quite floral, light citrus fruits, mineral, smoke and honey. Dense palate, mineral, mouth puckering acidity and very dry finish. I almost get a hint of tannins. Perhaps this remained so fresh due to the piercing acidity. This is a very unique wine that needs a long time to develop. It also develops beautifully with air. I plan to drink a bottle at home to observe how it develops with air. Lovely showing. (95 pts.)

Mini vertial - Haut Brion
Both bottles seem to cellar at ideal condition. The 70 was the best example, very youthful, vibrant and expressive.

  • 1970 Château Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    This is absolutely pristine example. Expressive nose displaying intense sweet fresh dark fruits, cassis, blackberry jam, crackerjack, a hint of cedar and menthol. Ken mentioned pyrazine but for me menthol note that typically comes from a very ripe vintage. There is strong espresso note that is pleasing. For me, most of the 70 Bordeaux show a hint of Brett/ band aid and this is no exception and it is not bothersome. Excellent concentration, intense dark fruit palate impression, silky and fully integrated tannins. The best example of this wine that reminds me the importance us proper cellaring. (96 pts.)
  • 1971 Château Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    Very harmonious nose displaying red fruits, cherry, mint, caramel, lead pencil and earth. Soft round palate, subtle sweet fruits and fully integrated tannins. There is an obvious metallic note that is distracting. The 71 even at the top seems fully matured, very soft and warm. A classic claret, despite the metallic note, very enjoyable. This is a great example that proves that the wine doesn’t have to be big to age gracefully. I would love to drink from a Mag. (93 pts.)

Mini vertial - Montrose
A great bottle of the 90 Montrose is better than the 89 but the 89 is a lot more consistent, IMO.

  • 1989 Château Montrose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
    Expressive nose displaying intense sweet dark fruits, cassis, plum, lead pencil, cedar, a hint of leather and earth. Excellent concentration, silky palate, sweet dark fruit impression and nicely integrated tannins. Very complex overall expression and the structure to age. This is more focused, showing greater precision and structure than the 90. Although incredibly enjoyable, it will improve further if you like strong tertiary note. (97 pts.)
  • 1990 Château Montrose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
    The last bottle that I had was flirting with perfection. This seems a bit more mature and not as intense, that doesn’t mean it is not intense. Cassis, a hint of red fruits, plum, milk chocolate and cedar. Very good concentration but a bit less concentrated impression than the last bottle, warm round silky palate impression and nicely integrated tannins. A great example of the ripe hedonistic style of the 90 vintage, opulent fruits and round warm silky palate. The best examples of the 90 Montrose can be close to perfect but more like 97 pointer overall, minus very bretty bottles. Although the 89 and 90 are quite different, perhaps the 89 is a better buy in lieu of the current price and consistency. (96 pts.)

Mini vertial - Margaux
The 83 was the best example, the 89 was a big too simple for FG.

  • 1983 Château Margaux - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
    Very youthful nosed displaying intense sweet dark fruit, cassis, lead pencil, light caramel, ink, mineral and a hint of flower. Incredible concentration, unctuous, intense dark fruit driven palate impression and nicely integrated tannins. This particular bottle is ripe intense and hedonistic. Although pleasure to drink, it is still at best secondary and not showing much tertiary notes. A long life ahead. I may have to use Dan Kravitz decimal point system as I slightly prefer this to the 89 Montrose which to me is a clearly 97 point wine and I like this slightly less than the 02 Confuron RSV. Perhaps 97.759? (98 pts.)
  • 1989 Château Margaux - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
    Youthful nose displaying black and red fruits, a hint of blackberries, plum, lead pencil, flowers, cedar and earth. Medium concentration with noticeable tannins that is not bothersome. It has the structure to age but the flavor profile is not terribly complex and slightly lacks the fruit concentration. Quite enjoyable but not great. I would rather wait ten more years for more tertiary notes. (93 pts.)

Two Burgs
The 99 still needs alot of time. The 69 was muted but very intense palate.

  • 1969 Domaine Jaboulet-Vercherre Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru
    I am a firm believer of pop and pour for old Burgundies to preserve the nose. This was double decanted. Very muted nose, sweet dark dry fruits and tree bark but not much else. Excellent concentration and sweet fruit palate impression. Excellent palate and below average nose. (91 pts.)
  • 1999 Domaine Georges Mugneret/Mugneret-Gibourg Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
    Very youthful nose displaying red fruits, raspberry and cherry, cola, rhubarb tart, nutmeg and flowers. Excellent concentration and noticeable tannins. This is a big scale wine with noticeable structure that still needs minimum ten more years. Already quite impressive but need time. (96 pts.)

Mini vertical - RSV
Two incredible wines. The 02 Confuron RSV is drinking incredibly well.

  • 2002 Jean-Jacques Confuron Romanée St. Vivant - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru
    Explosive hedonistic nose of sweetest raspberries and cherries, a hint of sous bois and Vosne spice, sap, flowers and delicate perfume. Incredible GC palate, quite coiled, dense and sappy yet the overall impression is airy, fresh, precise and energetic. Thirst quenching in most intense, complex and hedonistic way. Wow! (98 pts.)
  • 2010 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Romanée St. Vivant - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru
    Panos nicely pointed out and I agree that this bottle displayed noticeable reduction. Nevertheless impressive nose displaying raspberry, raspberry jelly, sweet spices, sesame, sap, flowers and earth. This seems even sweeter than the last bottle but not as vibrant and energetic. Clean palate, intense red fruit palate impression, good acidity, mineral and silky sweet tannins. Impressive showing despite being reductive. (97 pts.)

Sauternes

  • 1988 Château Climens - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
    The 88 climen is a great wine. I love the idea of halves for Sauternes but perhaps not for long term cellaring. Served from a half bottle, very precise and air palate not unlike D’Yquem. The nose however is a bit more mature than from a full bottle. Apricot, dry apricot, cotton candy, burnt sugar, crème brulee and a hint of botrytis. Incredibly airy yet intense palate. Lovely wine. (93 pts.)
  • 1983 Château Raymond-Lafon - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
    Once again, I love the idea of halves for Sauternes but perhaps not for long term cellaring. Served from a half bottle, mostly tertiary, some red fruits, dry apricot, candied orange peel, burnt sugar, oyster shell and ginger. Good concentration but not delicate and decadent like Climen. Quite enjoyable. (91 pts.)

Ports
The 77 Taylor may be a 100 year wine.

  • 1977 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto
    I am not a big port guy but this is extremely impressive. Expressive, intense and complex nose displaying dry dark fruits, dry figs, fruitcake, chestnut puree, almond, bitter chocolate and coffee. Incredibly silky palate, great balance and long finish. A long time ago, I read that the top vintage ports will require minimum forty years to reach the pick. This may need to reach sixty so twenty more years as it is still young and intense. Nevertheless lovely showing and very enjoyable. (96 pts.)
  • 1970 Dow Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto
    From a half bottle, this is more tertiary but slightly lacks the fruit. For me who is sensitive to alcohol, seems to show a bit of heat. Prune, dry figs, anise and sweet spices. Good palate. Quite enjoyable. I would say this is fully matured but won’t decline anytime soon. (92 pts.)

Another great dinner at the nation’s capital!
Posted from CellarTracker

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Thanks for the TNs - Kevin. [cheers.gif]

I always prefer the 83 Margaux to the 82 whenever I matched them togather !


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The 99 still needs alot of time.
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I was planning to open one this year at the *What About Now - 15 years on ? * …now I have to wait …as I only get 2 left.

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Some much less formal notes I e-mailed to a couple of curious friends - they’re quite consistent with Kevin’s, which may lead him to reconsider.

So, among 8 people:

NV Moet & Chandon Saran Blanc. Apparently this is a flagship blanc de blancs to go with Dom. Never heard of it. The bottle was 40-50 years old, and the wine’s now still. Interesting, surprisingly not totally tired and oxidized, but old white wine isn’t really my thing.
85/96 Dom Perignon The 85 was corked (only bad bottle of the night), but the 96 was excellent. Really tastes like white Burgundy with bubbles; it has a lot more length than Champagne usually does. Good food wine.
85 Krug Even more than the Dom, this really tasted like wine first and Champagne second. Super complex and mouthfilling; still bubbly but the bubbles are soft now and not the first thing you notice. Really great wine.
70/71 Haut Brion 71 was ready to go and a very nice bottle, but the 70 was awesome. Probably the best HB I’ve ever had, lots of depth and balance.
83/89 Margaux 83 the clear winner. Both were very good, but the 83 managed to be both deeper and more elegant.
89/90 Montrose More of a split decision - 89 better structure and balance, 90 bigger and richer. I liked the 89.
02 JJ Confuron Romanee St Vivant Fabulous wine. Probably my favorite of the evening. It had the crazy amazing nose, delicious complex flavors, not too heavy thing that only Burgundy can do.
10 Hudelot Noellat Romanee St Vivant Way too young, no surprise, and not much on the nose, but this will be fantastic. The sense drinking it is “wait a minute, there’s something else going on that I didn’t get in the last sip,” and it’s going to take a lot of time to unfold.
69 Jaboulet-Vercherre Chambertin It survived, it was good, but it was out of its league. Still, people would have been talking about how good it was at any normal dinner.
99 Mugneret Gibourg Echezeaux Very pretty wine, not quite as magical as the Confuron but again this would have blown away the table at most dinners.
88 Climens/?? Raymond-Lafon Didn’t catch the year on the second one, mostly because it was totally housed by the Climens. Really damn close to perfect Sauternes, sweet, complex, and with enough acid not to just be syrupy. This is apples and oranges, but this and the 85 Krug were two of my favorites in a crazy strong lineup.
77 Dow/77 Taylor Fladgate. f*ck, man. They were port. That’s all I got at this point of the evening.

Amazingly, I was not really hung over this morning.

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Thanks for the notes, guys–it certainly was a great evening! Glad the JJ Confuron RSV showed so well–wish I’d bought more.

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Hi Kevin (and Randall),

Nice to hear about the '02 Confuron RSV. I tasted that wine and the rest of the '02 Confuron lineup when I was there in Burgundy in the Fall of 2003. The entire lineup was very good, but the RSV and the Clos Vougeot stood out to me as being really special!

I have been a bit surprised that the pro critics seem to like, but not love, this wonderful RSV.

Cheers,
Blair

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Blair, are you still in Vancouver? Hope all is well. Still remember our OL with Mishy quite fondly.

Anyway, have you had any experience with Confuron’s '02 NSG Boudots or '02 VR Beaux Monts? I’d forgotten I had them until I recently competed a cellar inventory. Burghound certainly wasn’t particularly impressed with them.

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Thanks for the notes indeed. A superlative experience.

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Hell of a dinner gents. Envious!

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Hi Randall,

Nice to hear from you! I’ll drop you a PM shortly.

In terms of the '02 Confurons you mentioned, sadly I have not tried them since they were in barrel. We used to get a small amount of those wines imported here, but I think the last vintage might have been 2001.

FWIW…not a lot I’d say…I just dug out my tasting notes book from that visit (Fall 2003)! Here are my recorded thoughts on those wines at that time:

“The standouts of the tasting of 2002s are NSG aux Boudots (92-94) a strong, beautiful, smoky NSG with roasted meats and black fruits, a V-R Beaux Monts with a silky texture and spicy cherry fruit (91-93)…”

Cheers,
Blair

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As I have said before, the pro critics seem to rate the wines per crus and producer hierarchy. People criticize bob but his track record is definitely better than the Burgundy critics. Completely missing the 04 reds and not stating the possibility of the similar taint in the 11 and loving the 06 whites are incomprehensible to me.