TN: Niellon, Chevillon, Leroy

Dinner at a local Italian restaurant:

1999 Domaine Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Something amiss here. Not oxidized, corked or cooked but this was not pleasant. Maybe microbial issues but it was sad as you could still see the bones on the palate which were quite nice.

1989 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-St.-Georges Les Cailles 1er Cru
All that kept coming to mind was pretty. Pretty aromatics, showing maturity, secondary and tertiary notes. Decayed leaf, damp earth, spice surrounded by pretty red fruits that were still fresh. Moderate body, alcohol with low tannin and moderate plus acidity. The palate, like other parts of this wine could only be described as pretty. A sensual wine that is definitely within the best part of its drinking window.

1966 Maison Leroy Corton Grand Cru
I have been fortunate enough to have had a lot of the older Leroy late releases from '64, '66 and '69. This was my first Corton from that older lots as the others had always been Echezeaux and Grands Echezeaux which were always pretty marvelous. Quite different here, being even at this age, more masculine then the Vosne wines. Still holding a just faded ruby core that had great clarity. The nose soared from the glass with secondary aromatics framed with pure red fruits, salumi, old leather, hard spices and turned earth. Moderate in body with moderate plus acidity and moderate tannin this really filled the mouth but in a soft, flowing way. Beautiful expression of an oft overlooked Grand Cru, it is time to start drinking up though.

Sarah, nice notes, as always. Glad to see that '89 Chevillon holding well, as I have '88 and '90 in some multiples.

Lewis,

Thank you. The Chevillion held up pretty well with air and was such a counterpoint to the Leroy.

Shame on the Niellon, but at the same time mildly uplifting that a problematic bottle wasn’t due to premox. The times we live in…

The price of admission on Leroy releases has gone tilt in the last six years and I missed the boat on these old ones. They sure sound like fun, especially the old La Romanee that came out in that tranche. It used to be the case that one could find Leroy for a reasonable price if you were willing to concede access to the trophy vintages/bottlings. I’m waiting for that bus to come around to my stop again.

Cheers,
fred