VOSNE-ROMANEE: GRAND CRUS AND TOP 1ER CRUS - La Bracceria, Greendale Avenue (16/9/2012)
Sasi was back from one of his regular visits and the gang gathered for a welcome-back. He picked the theme this time - Vosne GC’s and marquee 1er Crus, and suitably graced the occasion with a lovely aged Rieslings and an equally matured DRC. It was a great dinner with good friends, and a good chance to taste through a range of tope Vosne wines. While very different and varied, you could see the family resemblance in the wines, with each showing a nice bit of dark fruit and a bursts of wood spice.
PROLOGUE
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1971 J.B. Becker Wallufer Walkenberg Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Rheingau
A testament to just how great the 1971 vintage is, this 40-year old Spatlese was not only alive and kicking, but also really delicious. It nosed somewhat like a very old Sauternes, with gentle honeyed tones, a touch of coconut and some metallic mineral notes on a backdrop of figs and ripe apple aromas. Very gently attractive. The palate started more muted, but slowly unfurled with time into a lovely drink. Indeed, it only really hit its stride some two hours or so after opening. At this age, any sweetness the wine may once have had had softened into a sleek, silky robe of honeyed accents layered over a brightly fresh body of green apples, sweeter pineapple hints and a citrusy lemon touch. It was absolutely mellow and completely integrated with aged, yet still amazingly structured and flavourful for such a mature wine. Nicely persistent finish too, lingering away with a nice kumquaty sweetness and perfumy florals underlined by just a tiny hint of minerality at the back-end. A real treat. (93 pts.)
THE MAIN EVENT
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1972 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
Solid stuff. Opened some 6 hours before serving, this still needed significant time in the glass before really showing. It had a very challenging bouquet on first pour. Completely full-on, it whooshed out of the glass in swirls of funky undergrowth and deep wafts of dark plummy aromas – almost a bit too much. If not for the fact that a theme had been set for the dinner, I might actually have guessed this as an old CdP on that nose. Thankfully, all those heady scents calmed down a lot with time, unfolding in more gentle dark-fruited scents, seasoned with wood spice, drifts of umami mushroom tones and little wreathes of smoked bacon. It was quite compelling by the fifteen-minute mark, and much more Vosne than Rhone. The palate, in contrast, could hardly have been from anywhere but Vosne-Romanee from the get-go. From the first sip, it showed reams of wood spice, dried herbs and black tea swirling around weighty, powerful flavours of plums and black cherries. It had a strong finish too with a sappy, plummy sweetness wed to slightly herbal, black tea underlayer. In true Richebourg fashion, this was still grippy and muscular after 40 years, couched in finely formed but clearly structured tannins and beautiful acidity that kept the wine lithe and transparent in spite of its obvious power. Strangely enough, the one criticism that we had about this was that it was almost a bit too clean, too polished, lacking the x-factor you would expect from a DRC Richebourg at this age. In fact, when blind, I ruled out DRC quite quickly on the basis that this barely seemed to show any stem influence at all. That said, it was a very good indeed. A fantastic pairing with porcini mushrooms too. Yummy stuff. Drinking well I would say, but it did start to fade after half an hour or so. (93 pts.) -
2000 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands-Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru
I had quite forgotten tasting this wine before. Excellent six months ago, I thought it was even better this time round - in fact, it was quite unanimously the wine of the night. It had a lovely nose, just amazing, with layers of damp forest floor, perfumed flowers, sweet wood spice and fragrant bursts of dark cherries and berries. Wow. The palate was at a lovely place too, and performing far better than one would expect from a 2000. It was absolutely delicious, with sweet, sappy dark cherries just melting across the palate, all wrapped in a robe of velvety tannins and bright acidity. Beautiful depth across the midpalate as well, just perhaps petering away a bit at the finish, where the pure fruit tones were kissed wood spice and dried flower accents. I would never have guessed this was a 2000 given its lovely definition and graceful poise. It was really yummy, almost chirpy in its bright expressiveness, and quite at a perfect place for drinking now. Lovely. (94 pts.) -
2002 Domaine Michel Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Clos des Réas - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Hand-carried back from Burgundy years ago after Michel Gros gifted us this bottle, this was a real pity - a perfectly good Vosne rather scarred by an inordinate amount of Brett. It was there from first sniff - a whole cloud of gamey, bloody, leathery, barnyardy aromas shading otherwise strongly masculine notes of black berries, cherries, meat and spice. You knew there were some nice Vosne characteristics under that, but they were just a bit hard to get to. Thankfully, the palate was actually much better. Unexpectedly high-toned after that funky nose, it opened with a bright crunch of sweet black cherries and berries seasoned with spice and supported by a nice savoury, meaty base. Masculine, and yet supremely elegant at the same time, with fresh but beautifully mellow acidity and silky tannins pulling the wine away into a hawthorne and vine stem inflected finish. This lacked some of the depth of the Grand Crus that preceded it, but was very nice indeed. Unfortunately, the same stinky funk that pervaded the nose was also woven in amongst the finer notes on the palate, rearing its ugly head ever so often. I rather marked this down for having too much Brett. A pity, because it was a nice wine that looked as though it was just entering a good place for drinking. (91 pts.) -
2001 Domaine René Engel Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Brulees - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Here we had a 1er Cru of the highest order. It had a rather reserved nose when first poured, slowly opening up in lovely little touches of dark fruited cherries and berries wed to sweet wood spice and dried flower scents. Really pretty. The palate was beautifully balanced, with deliciously juicy 2001 acidity streaming through its pure flavours of dark cherry with a bright twist of fresh mint at the rear. While not yet really complex, it was a very expressive, high-toned, attractive wine. A real pleasure to drink. Lovely finish too, with bright red cherries, fresh acidity and a lick of powdery tannins. I thought this was on the cusp of being ready to drink, but just not quite yet, with the tannins at the back sticking out a bit. Lovely though. This will be really nice in a short two to three years. (93 pts.) -
2000 Domaine Francois Lamarche La Grande Rue - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Grande Rue Grand Cru
Very solid, but needs a bit more time in the bottle. It had a very broad, very deep nose, with dark depths of plums, black cherry and dark berry aromas bedded down with a swath of smoky bacon accents, damp mossy earth and umami mushroom notes. With time, some typically Vosne-ish scents of wood spice - cloves and cinnamon I thought - started floating out, lending a nice touch of complexity. There was obviously some age on the palate, with its matured flavours of haw flakes and sappy black plums wed to touches of leather and meat and a burst of exotic spice, but it was still held up by a very firm structure of grippy tannins and fresh acidity. While the Grands-Echezeaux that came before was hardly recognizable as a 2000 in its elegance, this had the typically characteristics of the vintage on the palate – powerful, broad-shouldered and giving. While neither the most elegant nor precise of wines, it had tons of power and intense depth, with a tensile strength that stretched into a long, punchy finish filled with reams of wood spice. This was a very impressive wine. Huge, solid, it needs a few years more before it gets anywhere near peak. Try again in 2014. (93 pts.)
EPILOGUE
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2003 Franz Künstler Hochheimer Hölle Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel - Germany, Rheingau
From yet another 375ml, this has been one of the most consistently delicious wines I have had the privilege of following over the past few years. It had a beautiful nose, all lychees and pineapples, apples and sweet figs, honey and flowers – really pretty. The palate was wonderfully delicious, with its rich flavours of apples, peaches and figs. The sweetness seems to have gone down a bit, and in its place, the wine has started to develop a moreish depth that I did not remember in previous bottles. It seemed almost creamier, sappier, yummier, yet it was still wonderfully balanced for a 2003, with a lovely amount of acidity knit into its structure. So balanced indeed that no one could guess the vintage. A great finish rounded off the wine, with a drift of white flowers floating amongst the fruit. Wow. This was one of the best bottles so far, and I am sure glad I have a few more of these lying around. (94 pts.)
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- from the domaine 8 years ago - and while there is the typical smoked meat component of Michel present (his choice of oak) with lovely red and dark fruits and a touch of spices and sousbois , there is certainly no brett.