TN: Sketchy notes on a few last night

WINE TALK
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dinner at my house last night, most food from Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home, a great cookbook to me.

75 Dom Oenoteque makes me realize why Ray likes old champagne so much. Layers of flavor, golden creamy fruit, delicate bubbles, complex ever-changing flavors, truly a great champagne. The density was amazing, yet it was light on its feet. This was probably my favorite wine of the night, though the dessert wine came close.

93 Lafon Montrachet–caught at its peak and delivering archetypal Chardonnay flavors and power. No reason to hold any longer–the youthful acidity has regressed and it is a nicely balanced drink.

99 G/H Jayer Echezeaux–lovely, refined fruit with lovely “Chambolle” texture, not as Vosne-like as expected, but lovely density and finesse, quite young and pretty more than beautiful. Probably better than I give it credit, as I was getting a bit stressed with two main courses and side dishes about to be plated, couldn’t give it the attention it deserved.

80 Vogue Musigny–red wine of the night for me, underrated vintage from a famous producer during a less than stellar time, it had superb mature fruit with sous bois and uplifting acidity, really an excellent bottle–ullage about 1/4 inch from the cork bottom.

66 Pousse d’Or Volnay Cailleret–dry cork pushed into the wine when it was barely touched by the Ah-So. I didn’t try it during dinner because I was mad at the bottle and had had enough “other stuff,” but those at dinner liked it surprisingly well. After dinner, while cleaning up, I took a sip and it was over the hill with some off-putting acidity. Paul liked it more than I.

49 Seguin-Manuel Mazis Chambertin–not surprisingly, a mature red, still with complex fruit behind “old books” and lots of tertiary stuff, very good, but no epiphany.

98 Donnhoff Oberhauser Brucke Eiswein–not sure if this was Montag or one of the other bottlings, but sure delicious out of a 750. Jerry found an “acetone” note that the rest of us missed, petrol perhaps? I thought the refinement and acidity coupled with dense apricot flavors and a hint of cherry combined to make a fabulous drink.

Five of us (out of 7) drinking did pretty well for an evening.

alan

P.S. The Comté from Costco is outstanding. Keller’s rack of lamb with honey-mustard glaze is worth the minimal trouble to make; the Australian lamb racks from Costco are absurdly great. The potato pavé is excellent, but would have benefited from a little extra butter during construction.

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Alan,

You were doing so well until that last line.

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actually, as I drank the Dom last night, I repeatedly remembered what you told me when I informed you that I had bought only a few bottles out of the 25 available at a great price, “You idiot, you should have bought them all.”

alan

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Very nice, Alan. Thanks for the notes. Regarding de Vogue, is there a consensus as to when the “less than stellar time” began? Had a fabulous '62 at Brennan’s in New Orleans, nearly 20 years ago.

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70-88 is the time frame that I’ve considered Vogue underperforming. However, I’m reassessing based on a fabulous 78 and last night’s 80. Perhaps they need more time than we give them for the wines to bloom. Wines from the 40s-60s were fabulous and many like the wines from 90 on. (I’m not crazy about the 90.)
alan

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I’d include 1990 in the slump period. For sure.

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Gorgeous wine. One of the best sweeties I’ve had.

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Have you tasted that wine in Europe or anywhere outside of the US imported bottles?

http://www.clive-coates.com/tastings/vintage/1990-burgundy-twenty-years-on

^Coates tasting from last year, FWIW he gave the Drouhin Moose 20pts:

Musigny, Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé. 2015-2030 19.5
A bottle from my own celler in France. Full, still very youthful colour. The nose is quite splendid but still very young. Marvelous depth and concentration. It seems as if it will still improve. Full body. A little tannin to resolve. Great class. Does not have the voluptuous charm of the Drouhin today and I think it may always be a touch rigid, but quite splendid nevertheless.

Musigny, Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé. At best 16.0 Now-2014
A bottle from an American cellar. I am convinced something untoward happened to the shipment. Bottles in the USA have never sung. Full, rich colour. Still vigorous. Still a little dumb – or is ir just tight? - on the nose. Fullish body. Some evidence of unresolved tannin. Vigorous, rich a,d meaty, but rather four square. Did not hold up very well in the glass.

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extra Normandy butter!

JK seems to favor the original bottling of DP over the Oeno/RDs, judging by his notes.

You’ve had the '93 Lafon Monty b4 when the acidity was more prominent?

PS: when you get the chance visit the Cheesestore of BH, avoid all others except the owner Norbert…tell him I sent you. Prices are not much higher or sometimes less that the same high-end cheeses @Whole Foods, and they will invariably be in better condition which is important + you’ll find cheeses there that go well with wine that you usually won’t find anywhere else (though I’d not follow the advice of wine/cheese guy there for his attitude is that of another James Suckling in the guise of a ‘cheese expert’). Plus you can ask Norbert about the ripeness levels that which most @Whole Foods are ignorant about.

That rack of lamb @CostCo has so little meat on it, mostly fat :smiley:, almost like bacon, tastes greater if BBQ’d with mild mesquite charcoal, imho.

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Norbert knows me well, my cheese tastes and has for more than a decade; regardless, the Comté from Costco is superb. The racks of lamb had excellent amounts of meat, I frenched them to remove the fat, and there are half a dozen who can attest to the quality after last night. I haven’t had the 93 Lafon Monty before and was generalizing about the 93 vintage.

alan

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A great night at the Weinbergs last night. Good company, great food, and outstanding wines. I know how much effort it takes to put on a first rate meal like this. The Comte Costco cheese has been my standard house cheese for quite some time. The salmon was terrific with the wines and Cindy couldn’t stop talking about how good the lamb was. And I had a second helping on the potato pave which I loved.

75 Dom Oeno - a full bodied, complex wine. I think I prefer Champagne younger but if you gotta drink an old one, this would be the one to go to. A little livelier than the
one I open for Alan last year and they were from the same purchase.
93 Lafon Montrachet - started off looking oxidized but never hit that point - in fact got better throughout the night turning into the little more honey and caramel flavors of
Lafon style. Drink soon.
99 Jayer Echezeaux - beautiful dark color and I guessed 93 with the dark fruits of that vintage, but obviously I don’t know much about wine. Feminine style, and very
perfumed nose. Nobody came close to guessing this one - my WOTN.
80 de Vogue Musigny - a ruby red bright color; didn’t seem as open as I would think especially with Alan opening it earlier in the afternoon. A very nice wine.
66 Pousse Volnay - I thought it had seen better days with not much fruit; the cork fell into the bottle on opening so considering that, it showed better than I would have
expected. The last few 60’s-70’s Pousse wines I have had haven’t shown too well.
49 Seguin Manuel Mazi - again great color with hardly any bricking; a friend of mine calls the nose on wines like this "old books’ - fortunately it blew off after a while.
Nice but as Alan said not an epiphany wine like the 90 Leroy Musigny was for him.
98 Donhoff - I get why Alan likes these Germans - the acidity cuts right through after a meal like this, and the apricot flavors are great. But I always seem to get this
“acetone” or petrol nose that just doesn’t do it for me. But I did finish my glass so I guess I liked it better than I thought.

Another great night at the Weinbergs!!

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Alan, those aren’t sketchy notes whatsoever. I also appreciate that you gave us the context, as many here would understand trying to evaluate wines as well as you did while doing all of what you were doing. The Dom sounds damn delicious, and I enjoyed your self-effacing post regarding your blown opportunity. Jerry, I enjoyed hearing your assessment of the wine and food, as well. In the end, however, it was revealed that the two of you know little about wine and food, or probably anything for that matter, maybe even medicine and music.

By the way, did I miss a thread regarding Jerry’s DRC party from a few weeks back? Oh never mind, you guys don’t know anything about wine anyway. [rofl.gif]

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Marty

I didn’t post on the DRC night, but maybe I will…

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Jerry, if you are ever inclined to write them, I expect that I and many others would enjoy them.

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DRC night ? Please

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Like all the guests I found the food extraordinary; better even than many high-end restaurants can produce. A lot of skill and a lot of work went into that.

My hasty notes on the wines are:
’75 Dom Oenotheque: fabulous complex nose, good mousse, mature without oxidation, coats the mouth. Without the bubbles, it could be a premier cru white Burgundy. An eye-opener for me…
‘93 Montrachet, Lafon: mature, full-bodied, minerally, assertive, rich, even fat without being buttery. Long finish; excellent wine.
’99 Jayer Echezeaux: A real treat to have this producer. A wine of elegance and still mostly primary fruit. Delicious now, but will put on weight/complexity.
’80 Musigny Vogue: Best red wine in a line-up of great wines. Just beginning to gain the patina of aged, peacock-tail Burgundy. A joy to drink for its elegant power and persistence on the palate. It kept drawing you in to its perfume, minerals, complexity; it will develop further.
’66 Volnay Caillerets Pousse d’Or: Light in color, light on the palate yet the pinot character shines through. Some high-peaked acidity from early through mid-palate, but it finishes just fine. I think I liked it better than Jerry or Alan. But I tend like old wines on the edge because you know they have finally achieved their ultimate complexity and earthiness. Still, this wine was probably better 10 years ago.
’49 Seguin Manuel Mazis-Chambertin: Well, this pushed the limit for me as a card-carrying necrophiliac. I thought it had dropped much of its fruit and the piquant acid entry [a good thing] carried through the mid-palate and dominated the after taste [a bad thing]. But I could still drink it with a certain residual enjoyment, except that I had previous wines to go back to.
’98 Donnhof Oberhauser Brucke: I was not familiar with this village [an excellent site, but it is on the Nahe (where my meager knowledge drops off) and it is a small village]. Lovely Riesling racy acidy on the entry and the sweetness lingers long [with still that acid touch that avoids cloying]. Unlike, Jerry, I found the nose both correct and appealing, but then I began my drinking “career” with German late harvest wines.
A wonderful selection…
Paul