CORTON TASTING DINNER (RED AND WHITE) - Zibbibo Restaurant, Palo Alto, California (1/21/2010)
Craig Haserot organized this theme tasting, and it was a smart way to get some of his usual Peninsula drinking buddies and Sojourn customers to venture out in the cold and wet to taste through the new Sojourns at the same time. (See separate report about those.)
As I expected from the list of bottles that was circulated in advance, our whites thoroughly dominated the evening. The gorgeous '01 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne was my WOTN, closely followed by the huge '07 Bouchard C-C and the delicate '06 Bonneau du Martray C-C. For intermission, we had a couple blind bottles, and David Niederauer stumped us well with a '96 School House Pinot that one would be hard pressed to peg as California, let alone Napa grown. Our strongest red Corton was the '93 Maillard Corton-Renardes. All in all, a fun, casual evening with some lovely Burgundies, especially those exquisite Corton-Charlies. Thanks to Craig for organizing the wine, Mark for organizing the restaurant, and everyone else for the great bottles.
Champagne starter
-
2002 H. Billiot Champagne Millésimé Brut Grand Cru - France, Champagne, Ambonnay, Champagne
Light medium yellow color; cream, lime, mineral, ginger nose; focused tart lime, green fruit, tart pear, mineral palate with good acidity; medium finish (92 pts.)
-
2001 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Faintly cloudy, light lemon yellow color; intriguing, refined, mineral, floral, vanilla nose; gorgeous, refined, crystalline, mineral, floral, almond palate with a touch of green herb, impressive and delicious; medium-plus finish (96 pts.) -
2002 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Light canary yellow color; reticent tart green apple, mineral nose; youthful, tart green apple, mineral, oak palate with good acidity; medium-plus finish (93 pts.) -
2000 Domaine Bruno Clair Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Light golden yellow color; maturing, somewhat oxidized, lightly sherried nose; tart lemon, mineral, green apple palate with good acidity; medium finish 91+ pts. (on a fast track of maturity compared with our other Corton-Charlemagnes on this evening) (91 pts.)
-
2004 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Light canary yellow color; lovely mineral, lemon, green apple nose; very tasty green apple, mineral, chalk, green herb palate; medium-plus finish (93 pts.) -
2006 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Light yellow color; delicate, floral, green apple, tart green melon nose; delicate, appealing, green apple, mineral palate with good acidity; medium-plus finish 94+ pts. (94 pts.) -
2007 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Light yellow color; ripe apple, green apple, green melon nose; tasty, poised, apple, green apple, tart pear palate with breadth and impressive extract level; long finish 95+ pts. (a baby yet, lots of potential) (95 pts.)
-
2004 Rhys Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County
Very dark red violet color; brett, tart cherry, red fruit nose; tight, tart red fruit, mineral, brett, orange peel palate with firm tannins; medium finish (poured blind, and we initially guessed French, but once we narrowed down the location to California, south of the Golden Gate Bridge, the brett made a few of us guess this particular bottling) (88 pts.) -
1996 School House Pinot Noir - USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District
Bricking medium red color with pale meniscus; maturing, baked cherry, mushroom, lime, mineral nose; tart red fruit, strawberry, mineral, chlorine palate with great acidity, very Burgundian in profile; medium finish 92+ pts. (This was poured blind and really had us stumped, after we eliminated Burgundy, Oregon, and most of California as the source. That pretty much left Napa, which finally led to a good guess.) (92 pts.)
-
1976 Prince Florent de Merode Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru
Medium cherry red color with pale meniscus; mature, slightly maderized nose; tart red fruit, orange palate with medium acidity; medium finish 88+ pts. (88 pts.) -
1985 Louis Latour Corton-Grancey - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
Medium dark cherry red color with pale meniscus; nice cherry, dried cherry, raspberry, black cherry nose; charming, mature, black cherry, black raspberry, mineral, baked cherry, berry palate; medium finish 92+ pts. (92 pts.) -
1985 Bonneau du Martray Corton - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
Cloudy brown red color with pale meniscus; mercaptan, used motor oil, possible touch of TCA on nose; mature, mercaptan, seaweed, iodine palate; short-medium finish (69 pts.)
-
1993 P. Dubreuil-Fontaine Père & Fils Corton-Clos du Roi - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
Medium cherry red color with pale meniscus; nice sous bois, tart cherry nose; mature tart red fruit, mineral, rosehips palate with good acidity; medium finish (92 pts.) -
1993 Domaine Thomas-Moillard Corton-Clos du Roi - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
Lightly bricking medium garnet red color with clear meniscus; chlorine, tart red fruit, mineral nose; chlorine, tart red fruit palate; short-medium finish (84 pts.) -
1993 Domaine Maillard Père et Fils Corton-Renardes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
Bricking dark medium red color with pale meniscus; mature, dried cherry, mushroom, savory, tangerine nose; tasty, maturing, strawberry, mineral, tart red fruit palate with good acidity; medium-plus finish 93+ pts. (93 pts.) -
2001 Maison Bertrand Ambroise Corton-Rognet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
Medium dark garnet red color; tart red fruit, mineral, chlorine nose; tight, tart red fruit, iron, brett palate with medium acidity; medium finish (decanted for an hour or so before serving) (88 pts.)
-
**2002 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese ***** - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Light medium yellow color; petrol, herbal, lime, mineral nose; youthful, tart apple, lime, kiwi, mineral palate; medium-plus finish (93 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
