TN: High End Romanee St. Vivant in Los Angeles

WINE TALK
1

A couple of my friends from our Los Angeles burgundy group, called Burgonauts, reminded me that I’m very behind in posting notes on several of the tastings we’ve had since last fall. They were also encouraging me to post the notes on Wine Berserkers since the Squires Board seems to have lost traction. I decided to do so.

Below are some notes of a tasting of Romanee St. Vivant that was hosted by Michael Zadikian on December 9, 2009 at Melisse Restaurant in Santa Monica. For those of you not familiar with it, Melisse is Los Angeles’ best restaurant with the highest overall Zagat scores for several years running and two Michelin stars. As usual, the food was just superb.

Appetizer Flight
Kobacha Squash Ravioli
Bobo Farms Squab Melba
Seared Scallop, Avocado and Yuzu

1995 Krug Champagne
Peach and apricot aromas, not as yeasty as expected; on the palate, intense apricot fruit and very good acidity and a long minerally finish. I suspect slightly botrytised grapes here, but this was very nice in an unusual style. 93+

First Flight
Serrano wrapped Monkfish with Maitake Mushrooms, Celtuce, Mustard Sabayon

#1 1998 Hudelot-Noellat Romanee St. Vivant
Deep red with a yellow halo; earth tones in the aromas with some background cherry; very similar palate profile; earthy-spicy finish. Some of the guys liked this more than I did. I didn’t see much Vosne character here (more like Gevrey) and the advanced color profile was of some concern. 92

#2 2001 Hudelot-Noellat Romanee St. Vivant
Deep garnet red color; some torrefaction aromas-mocha and background cherry; flavors of cedar, earth tones and coffee with a little underlying cherry; this had a very long, charming finish. Again, no strong Vosne signature. Surprisingly secondary for a 2001. 94

#3 2001 DRC Romanee St. Vivant
Very deep red-violet color; blueberry and cherry fruit with some asian spice (finally, a classic RSV profile); this showed spice, some earth tones, underlying blue and red fruit and still had noticeable tannins in the finish. More primary and less evolved than the first two wines. My favorite of this flight. 94+

Second Flight
Wild Mushroom Risotto and Confit Pheasant Leg, Lardon, Marchand du Vin Sauce

#4 1993 Arnoux Romanee St. Vivant
Very deep red –violet color; aromas of cherry and some old spice; initially this had some modest charm and some asian spice, but it faded very fast. Ultimately, it would seem this bottle was advanced. After 30 minutes it was clearly tired and fading fast. This was really disappointing versus other bottles I’ve had that were much more youthful. 92 initially, later 89.

#5 1995 JJ Confuron Romanee St. Vivant
Deep violet color; aromas of plum and asian spice; plum and asian spice flavors with a strong signature; the longer this was open the more obvious its tannic finish became. Youthful, and a ways to go yet. 93

#6 1996 DRC Romanee St. Vivant
Deep violet color; blueberry and cherry and brown spice aromas – not classic Vosne aromas, but very nice; very round, velvety texture; Vosne Romanee plum and spice flavors; a really nice finish, but again here there are tannins in the finish too. My clear favorite of this flight. 95

Third Flight
Filet of Beef Wellington, Potato Mousseline, Petite Salad, Red Wine Sauce

#7 1988 DRC Romanee St. Vivant
Dark red with bricky edges; some spice and old wood scents, not much discernable fruit in the aromas; on the plate, this had some richness in texture, earth tones, almost dried plum fruit and asian spice; the finish was spice and tobacco. Different, but interesting 93

#8 1990 DRC Romanee St. Vivant
Very deep red-violet color; a hint of old whisky barrel, and some asian spice and rose petals aromas (didn’t get the rose petals in the other DRC’s); very rich, deep plum and asian spice aromas; the depth is impressive and this isn’t overripe; very long spicy finish. My favorite of this flight and tied for my wine of the night with the 96 DRC. 95

#9 1988 Leroy Romanee St. Vivant
Deep red color with an alcohol halo; modest cherry and spice aromas – not the usual Leroy bluefruit blockbuster; on the palate, some cherry, earth and background spice tones which are nicely balanced. The finish has nice fruit and spice tones but it comes off a little bit astringent. 94

Dessert course
Grilled and glazed pineapple, Dill, Clotted Cream Cheese Cake, Huckleberry Sorbet

2003 Zilliken Saarberger Rausch Long Gold Kapsule Auslese (Auction)
Very light yellow color; light lemon and botrytis scents; elegant, not a fruit blockbuster and this was long and subtle; the finish was elegant. 93

2

As opposed to low end Romanee St. Vivant!
Fascinating notes, which make me wonder again if this period was the high watermark of cork related bottle variation.

3

Yeah, Don, seriously…why “High End”…in the title? Isn’t that redundant-- given both the vineyard and the author of the notes? [cheers.gif]

4

RSV (like Griotte Chambertin) is one of the vineyards where just about everyone with holdings is a fine winemaker. DRC owns over half of the vineyard. There are duds in Charmes, Echezeaux and Clos Vougeot, but RSV almost always shines. So “High End” is indeed redundant!
alan

5

Yeah. I was wondering what low end Romanee St. Vivant was. Thanks for the notes.

6

Thanks for the notes Don. By coincidence, I’ve been thinking about doing a similar tasting, but some of my wines may not be “high end”! rolleyes For instance, I have a '64 from a negociant called Pedaque, who I’ve never heard of (and may not be in business anymore?). And a couple of Louis Latour wines that may actually show OK with sufficient “slow oxygenation”.

7

On the “high end” issue there are some producers out there who weren’t producing “high end” RSV – like Latour and, in that era, Hudelot-Noellat (great starting with Nawicki’s arrival in 95), L’Arlot (also now producing great RSV), as well as a lot of negociant wine that wasn’t very impressive (e.g. Jadot, Laurent, etc). But in the grand scheme of things, you’re right.

8

Don,

I have one bottle of the 2001 Hudelot-Noellat Romanee St. Vivant.
From this experience, when would you open it for optimum drinking?

TTT

9

Thanks for the notes. But…

Gonna have to disagree there. Urasawa is on a different level.

10

apples and oranges.

11

don - when do you think l’arlot started making great rsv then?
thanks for the notes.

12

Hi Don,
Thanks for the great notes, really interesting. Sorry to hear about that '93 Arnoux. The last bottle I had (which was with you I believe at a '93 dinner Joel hosted) was really stunning.

Cheers,
-Robert

13

Another producer making a very nice RSV is JJ Confuron. I just had the 07 tonight at a tasting. Nice nose of red fruits and spice. Beautiful texture,weight and mouth feel, yet still elegant. A whopper of a finish. A good wine to drink in a few years while waiting on the 05.

14

Paul:

I have had this wine twice (in 2006 and Dec 2009 at this tasting) and I still have three bottles of this in my cellar (and a full case of the 01 Richebourg). The fact that it exhibits a lot of secondary aromas and flavors makes me think that it is relatively close to its peak, but the torrefaction aromas and flavors give me some pause about projecting. That said, if I had one bottle only, I’d probably pop it in 2013.

15

Phillip:

L’Arlot seemed to get notably better starting with 2002. Then the 2005 came out of nowhere. Both the RSV and Suchots were awesome. I tasted one bottle of each and then scrambled to find all I could of both. The 2006 RSV was excellent and seemingly above anything else prior to 2005. In 2007, they made a mistake and picked too early. I don’t know much about the 2008 at this point.

16

Robert:

I think we actually may have had the 93 Arnoux RSV together three times. The first occassion was in June 2005 at Melisse, when we did a tasting of 1993’s and Arnoux RSV was the overwhelming winner that night. Then at the holiday dinner at Meson G in December 2005 (when I rated it a ‘mere’ 94), and finally the RSV tasting at Melisse in July 2006 at which I thought the Arnoux was second only to the 1993 Leroy RSV, and I rated the Arnoux at 95. The last night was the instance in which Josiah accidentally inlcuded onions in my food so I missed the 78 DRC RSV and 88 Leroy RSV that closed out the evening.

17

thanks don - i was offered a pretty good price on some 98’s which i was considering.

18

Thanks for the tip, Don… [cheers.gif]

TTT

19

I’m wondering if anyone has had the 89 DRC RSV recently? I plan to open one in a couple of weeks and wondering if I could safely decant prior to leaving to the restaurant. If I were home it wouldn’t be an issue. I would decant and serve immediately and let develop on the glass. I don’t trust most restaurant waitstaff to properly decant.

20

I suppose that there are some who would consider Thomas-Moillard RSV the “low end” stuff. Bill Nanson can put in his deux centimes on the topic…IIRC, he has found some bargains in the T-M RSV bin.