For the second weekend in a row there was a get-together with a few good friends in peace and quiet. 6 participants means that there isn’t too much wine, and that the wines get the time in the glass they deserve. A few very brief comments:
Vaillons 2012 from Dauvissat, completely by chance for the second weekend in a row. Needed plenty of time in the glass but became more and more precise and linear as the evening went on; missed the sea aromas, but a lovely wine. The same can be said of Vini Noüe Marinic Attico 2021, a very good and precise Slovenian Chardonnay from a producer with Leflaive connections. Aromas more in the green spectrum, but very long and elegant. More trditional Chablis in style than many Chablis wines, including the Vaillons, in today’s climate.
Prager’s GV Stockkultur 2011 needed a lot of time in the glass to blow off some strange aromas, but eventually appeared as a rich, spicy, and mature Grüner. Clouet V6 was clearly influenced by autolysis but light and fresh and very drinkable.
The red wines were a geat success, finally a mature Montille (Taillepieds 02), quite clearly a mature and complex Cote de Beaune, small hint of tannins still, but no more than necessary to retain some structure. Lots of delicious berries. Arlaud’s Roches 05 was very beautiful, mineral and nicely structured, but drank wonderfully with complex fruit, and Cathiard’s Clos des Ormes 10 delivered at a level above commune wine, I thought it drank wonderfully with clear and precise fruit and lovely balance.
To top it all off, a fresh Rinaldi (Cannubi San Lorenzo-Ravera 2001) from the beginning of the millennium, there have been some ups and downs at this address in the early 2000s. Perfectly ripe, darker fruit than the Burgundies and beautifully integrated tannins, a hint of blackcurrant made us wonder what this was, but over the evening, licorice and sweet-and-sour fruit emerged and it became increasingly clear what the grape was. Very stylish and elegant.
