TN: Four Seasons Wine Dinner - Burgs and Northern Rhones

WINE TALK
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FOUR SEASONS WINE DINNER - BURGS AND NORTHERN RHONES - Four Seasons, Beverly Hills (5/6/2009)

One of Yarom’s monthly wine dinners in L.A. Since it was at Four Seasons, people were instructed to bring wines of the Very Great to Excellent catagory. As usual, Ron and Yarom broke out Vouvray that was older than most of the female attendees, and Jose broke out some early 20th Century Madera.

  • 2006 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
    Reticent nose. A little iodine on the front palate, followed my big time minerals, short on the fruit right now. Nice acidity. Not one of my favorite Charlies of the vintage. (90 pts.)
  • 1971 Domaine de la Bergerie Coteaux du Layon Le Clos de la Bergerie - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon
    OK. First you have to be one of those people that likes oxidized Loires. But half of the group went ape-sh** over this, including me. Honey, iodine, minerals, great long finish. (92 pts.)


  • 1990 Château Mouton Rothschild - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
    I don’t mind iodine and astringency in some wines, but not in my Bordeaux! Thin but over-ripe fruit (bad combo). Would have been an even lower score if it wasn’t for the decent earth/leather (but short) finish. When is someone going to just admit it … MR screwed up '88, '89 AND '90. Cool label, tho. (90 pts.)
  • 2002 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
    Nice acidity and sweet sugar-covered minerality that acted like baby pop-rocks in the mid-palate. Pretty, slight toast on finish. (92 pts.)
  • 1999 Henri Perrot-Minot Charmes-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru
    Not super-feminine like many Charmes. Great blend of earth and smoke with dark fruit. Lovely and a nice long finish. (92 pts.)


  • 1999 Domaine Anne Gros Richebourg - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
    What a killer nose. Dark dark fruit, meat juice (typical of Richbourg) and sweet fruit. A little wet earth on finish. This is a big wine. (94 pts.)
  • 2003 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Sweet, dark berry fruits on nose. Rich, full, almost syruppy. Tannins are starting to velvetize. Leaves a delicious dark chocolate-covered berry finish. (93 pts.)
  • 1999 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Deep plum … I forgot how tarry and dark Chaves can be. Great smoky, cigar ash finish. Huge improvement after 2 hours in glass. (94 pts.)


  • 1904 Seppelt 100 Year Old Para Liqueur Vintage Tawny - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
    Having never tried anything like this, I can’t rate it, as I don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like. Left me with beautiful essence of maple and amazingly, a nice acidity. Finish lasted for minutes.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Nice report Robin. I’m glad to see that Ron and the Colonel (and company) are still drinking well. Sorry about the Mouton.

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Thanks, Richard! I have lots of TN’s to post, having just returned from a bike tour of Piedmonte. Will never be able to approach a 100th of your output, but for a couple of weeks it might look like it. That bubbly tasting looked amazing. Will try to make it next year.

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Interesting opportunity to taste the Seppelts! I tried an earlier version a few years ago:

1899 Seppelt “Para” Port
I actually went over to the Peninsula specifically to try this wine. Figured I would never own a bottle at the price of $600, but was willing to pay $40 to taste it. When I walked in, I was told that no one knew what it was supposed to taste like, and they weren’t sure it was a good bottle, so they were comping the pour. Fine with me! As it was poured into the glass, all I could think of was used motor oil. Motor oil that needed changing about 20,000 miles ago. The color was dark brown, and so viscous it just sheeted the glass a light brown as it slowly settle down the sides after swirling. You could smell it from 3 feet away. At first, a not very pleasant, almost rancid smell, but as it aired in the glass over the course of an hour it cleaned up nicely. I still can’t describe the aroma, but rancio comes closest. In the mouth it is the essence of everything; walnut/hazelnut, dates, black fig, toffee, coffee, mollasses. There is sweetness, but what must have at one time been sugars have seemingly turned into this melange of dark/fruity/nutty flavors, flavors that cling to and coat your mouth for a long time after the wine is gone. In many ways it is like a Pedro Ximenez sherry. A very interesting tasting experience. Not a wine I would consider collecting, as the experience was not earth-shattering, but impressive nevertheless. 98/100, a couple points thrown in for the thrill of tasting a 100+ year-old wine.

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Wow, your notes made me go back to CT and see what others had written. I may have to take up a new hobby … searching for the holy grail of 100+ year old Tawny. Some lucky guy named CWheeler seems to have tried them all. Sounds ethereal. Maybe I’ll buy one of those NV’s and see if their current NV Tawny at 1/50th the price has any of the same qualities!