TN: Full Monty Tasting Dinner (Montrachet & Le Montrachet only)

WINE TALK
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FULL MONTY TASTING DINNER (MONTRACHET & LE MONTRACHET ONLY) - Stephen Gold’s home, San Francisco, California (9/18/2009)


This was a remarkable tasting event. Not only was this a wine dinner devoted solely to white wines (a pretty rare occurrence in itself), but it was also devoted to the wines of one very special terroir–the most famous Chardonnay-producing vineyard in the world. What made it all the more unusual was that, with so many white Burgs involved, none were oxidized or prematurely oxidized. I fully expected at least a few of them to be, since white Burgs, especially from the second half of the 90s (which most of ours were), have had well publicized issues with “premox.” Maybe part of the “power” of Montrachet is the warding off of premox (or perhaps winemakers take extra care to avoid faults in their Montrachet bottlings, there being so little of that precious fruit available to begin with). Either that, or we just got incredibly lucky.

Many thanks go to Stephen, who proposed the tasting, offered his lovely home for it, generously provided extra bottles, and arranged for John, our caterer, who did a terrific job pairing food courses to our unusual all-white wine lineup. When Stephen proposed the tasting in late August, he indicated that he wanted to do it by mid or late September, which didn’t give a whole lot of time for those of us whose cellars were then bare of Montrachet–which was most of us–to source and obtain delivery of the requisite sample with some bottle age, “worthy of drinking now.” Stephen urged us on, however, and those of us on hand managed to score some lovely bottles in a relatively short amount of time, hence my thanks to everyone who attended as well.

Our dinner began with an opening Champagne and hors d’oeurves, followed by a flight of vintage Champagne and oysters. We then did two flights of Montrachets, randomly selected from our line up of 11 bottles (1 bottle from each of our ten participants, and an additional bottle contributed by Stephen), each flight poured blind. These were accompanied by the very appropriate food flights pictured below. We finished with two youngish but very tasty bottles of Yquem, contributed by Stephen and Keith, and a foie gras course, followed by a slice of cake.

In our Champagne flight, the two '96s were a great treat, with the Dom slightly edging out the Salon for me in terms of accessibility now. My Montrachet of the night was the '96 Remoissenet, closely followed by the '95 Remoissenet. What was most impressive, however, wasn’t one or two star wines but the great quality, power, depth and complexity of the wines in our Montrachet flights overall, with great showings by Sauzet, Marquis de Laguiche, Bouchard and Colin-Deleger as well. Our two youngest wines, an '01 and '02, were also, of course, the tightest and therefor hardest to evaluate in terms of their potential. Our oldest, the '89 Marquis de Laguiche, was showing beautifully, and seemingly now at its peak.

Everyone on hand enjoyed the tasting so much that we’re already talking about doing it again in a year, giving ourselves plenty of time this time to source additional stellar bottles worthy of current drinking.
Opening Wine

Appetizers: deviled eggs; crostini w/tomato, Bellwhether Farms ricotta and pounded basil; Belgian endive w/ herbed feta and goat cheese; dates w/ Gorgonzola and toasted almond

Vintage Champagne Flight

Beau Soleil, Point Reyes and Island Creek oysters with Champagne mignonette

  • 1996 Salon Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne, Le Mesnil Sur Oger, Champagne
    Light yellow color; nice apricot, citrus, mineral nose, with lift; tight, tart, chiseled citrus, mineral palate; medium-plus finish 93+ pts. (93 pts.)
  • 1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon - France, Champagne
    Light yellow color; yeasty, brioche nose; tart lemon, toast, tart orange, cream palate with roundness and elegance; medium-plus finish (94 pts.)
  • 2002 Serge Mathieu Champagne Brut Millésimé - France, Champagne
    Light peach yellow color with clarity and very fine bead; mineral, tart peach, nectarine and apricot nose; creamy, mineral, tart citrus, peach palate, very suave; medium-plus finish 92+ pts. (92 pts.)

1st Montrachet Blind Flight

Summer’s end corn soup w/ seared shrimp, shrimp glacee and chervil

  • 2002 Simon Bize Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Light golden yellow color; tight, light lemon, mineral, pear, apple cider nose; tight, tart lemon, mineral, biscuity palate; medium-plus finish 90+ pts. (90 pts.)
  • 1993 Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Light medium golden yellow color; mature, earthy nose with a little reduction for the first 30 minutes or so, and a touch of oxidation; tart lemon, mineral, crystallized lemon palate, with just a touch of oxidation; medium finish 92+ pts. (92 pts.)
  • 2001 Michel Colin-Deléger et Fils Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Medium golden yellow color; maple, vanilla, lemon gelee, sweet cream nose; elegant, youthful, rich lemon, yellow fruit, walnut oil palate with good acidity; medium-plus finish (93 pts.)
  • 1998 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Medium golden yellow color; lovely, bright lemon, Clementine, mineral, apricot compote nose; solid, rich, creamy textured, tight yet, lemon creme brulee palate; medium-plus finish (94 pts.)
  • 1996 Remoissenet Père et Fils Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Bright light medium golden yellow color; firm hazelnut, lemon peel, baked lemon and mineral nose; tasty, refined, silky textured, baked brie, baked lemon, mineral, almond palate with well-integrated oak; long finish (97 pts.)

2nd Montrachet Blind Flight

crab salad w/ tarragon aioli, Early Girl tomatoes, purslane salad and shaved fennel


Veal Scallopini w/ new potatoes and haricots verts

  • 1996 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Light medium golden yellow color; cream, apple, baked apple, lemon marmalade nose; tasty, rich, buttery, apple, baked lemon palate with good acidity; medium-plus finish (92 pts.)
  • 1999 Marché aux vins Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Bright light golden yellow color; tart lemon, mineral, lemon peel, butter nose; tight but rich, baked lemon, baked pear, butter, apple cream palate; medium-plus finish 91+ pts. (91 pts.)
  • 1999 Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Bright canary yellow color; mineral, tart lemon, apricot nose; tight, lovely, elegant, tart citrus, orange palate, with depth; medium-plus finish 93+ pts. (93 pts.)
  • 1989 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Light medium golden yellow color; hazelnut, mineral, creamy nose; toasty, ripe lemon, vanilla, mature and at peak; medium-plus finish (94 pts.)
  • 1995 Remoissenet Père et Fils Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Medium golden yellow color; reticent, baked clementine, kumquat, floral, tart lemon nose; sexy, complex, tasty, refined, tart lemon, mineral, vanilla palate; long finish (96 pts.)
  • 1998 Etienne Sauzet Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Light medium golden color; floral, orange honey, butter nose; rich, butter, pineapple, ripe lemon, floral, honeyed, mineral palate; long finish (94 pts.)

Yquem Finish

seared Sonoma foie gras w/crostini and roasted figs

  • 1997 Château d’Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
    From 375 ml -medium golden yellow color; coconut, lemon oil, vanilla nose; ripe lemon, vanilla, pineapple, tropical fruit, papaya palate with richness; long finish (94 pts.)
  • 2003 Château d’Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
    From 375 ml - light medium golden yellow color; honeyed, tart apricot, ripe grapefruit, vanilla nose; rich, honeyed, unctuous, apricot palate, with less acidity than typical for Yquem; long finish 92+ pts. (92 pts.)


Posted from CellarTracker

2

Wow…damn good night.

3

That Bize is a rare bird indeed. Had no idea he did a Monty.

4

Great notes and pictures, Richard, thanks!

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A fine night, indeed and quite a revelation for me. A revelation that will become very costly, I can see.
I was impressed with the Laguiches - tremendous refinement with multiple complex layers. I was struck by the power of the Remoissenets.
The younger wines showed the weakest.
Richard - how the heck do you produce these notes so promptly?

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Keith:

  1. Welcome to Wine Berserkers!
  2. Richard is a tasting AND posting machine
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We are not worthy. [thumbs-up.gif] [worship.gif]

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Should be:

  1. We are not worthy
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True dat!

10

Damn Richard.

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I’m a big believer in the spit/dump cup tasting thing, but I’m pretty sure I would have to have called a cab. I’ve never had a Monty, let alone 11 at once, I’d be all-in.

Well done y’all. [welldone.gif]

12

A belated Happy Birthday!

Sounds like a fine night - thanks for sharing it.

13

Great report and pics, Richard! Loved it that none were premox’d.

Happy Birthday!

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I didn’t even catch that, and it is indeed quite impressive/lucky!

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No Aubert? You were not really tasting Montrachet then!

Robert Parker on 2005 Aubert: This is a wine more Montrachet-like than most Montrachets.

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Now Dan, don’t [stirthepothal.gif]

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How does the oak treatment on Remoissenet compare to the oak treatments on some of the rest of these wines?

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I will help Richard celebrate his birthay tonight with 18 Greek wines.
I may just have enough time to get over the dozen Vosne Romanee I had with dinner last night!
The 1990 Arnoux Les Suchots and the 1990 Jean Gros Clos des Reas showed especially well. The 1991 Arnoux Les Suchots was just a small step behind the 1990.

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Really impressive tasting, thanks for sharing!

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wow and wow.