I posted my notes from last weekend here.
I had this bottle of 1994 Domaine Leroy Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes as a backup to the CdlR, but since that drank great, we kept it closed and I flew back home with the Charmes.
I got back home, took it out of the styrofoam and the top of the capsule was wet…I thought to myself I shouldn’t hold this bottle any longer. So I figured I’d open it with the Valentine’s Day dinner I was planning to make. That’s what I did.
I don’t have a Durand, so I reached out to someone I knew would have one and I agreed to meet him at the restaurant he works at to grab the Durand and I’d open it and give him a taste.
I put the corkscrew part in and immediately bubbles come out from the cork, it was a sponge, gently make a few twists and the cork pushes almost all the way in. I thought I lost it. Manage to pull it back up get the screw all the way in and then the ah-so. Cork comes out in one piece, then the bottom falls off. Job done.
I pour us both a small taste, woah. Meaty and bloody, desiccated rose, sour cherry. Another Leroy with a crap cork from a “bad” vintage that’s still kicking. On the palate in that moment it was sour fruit, some cured meat. Great acidity and no tannin. I put a topper on and brought it home.
After a couple hours it gained some body, the slightest touch of tannin and the gamey, bloody notes faded away. Fruit remained sour. A couple hours more and in my opinion it started to fall apart, it was all acid and it was overpowering the delicate fruit that was left. Still a wonderful experience and I’m spoiled that I was able to open great bottles of 30 yr old Leroy on back-to-back weekends. The CdlR was a clear winner between the two. It just had more left to give. A bit more power, more fruit and some more complexity.
I have to brag a little, I got my hands on both bottles from a restaurant/private club in my area that was auctioning off old inventory. I don’t think the current somm knew what he had because they were listed at $200 a piece. So I grabbed all they had. The fills were questionable label on CdlR was in bad shape, but the bottles were both excellent.
