TN: Wellington NZ: Chez During...02 GC Burgs, and some other goodies

This past weekend, Kim and I had the great pleasure of meeting several of the Kiwi crowd. Mike During and Cathy Ferguson were gracious hosts and we ran through a great lineup of 2002 Burgs. Cathy prepared a great meal that paired well and enhanced the wines, pulling out flavors and at the same time never intruding. A fine feat. . A great group of folks, Merideth, Nick and Jill, Jeff, and Phil - on a respite from work in Piedmont. A great time and a warm welcome to a couple of out of towners. We felt immediately at home.

We started with parmesan crackers and salmon cracker amuse…


[]1996 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill Brut - France, Champagne (1/13/2012)
(Mag) Clean and pure and incredibly drinkable. Great tactile feel, clean and very pure with great balance. I lack vocabulary when it comes to bubbles, but I can tell you this is quite fine champers that I would love to drink again anytime. 95 pts (95 pts.)


White Burgs paired with a very fresh and clean fresh pea soup. Delish. Served with a couple of Clos…


[
]2002 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (1/13/2012)
The more supple and giving of the two stars here. Incredibly pure and clean chardonnay with great clarity and a purity to it. This is diamond cut clean and very while keeping not light on its feet was deft on its feet. Drinking at early peak, this was no clean and so pure, with jewel like clarity, a pure incredibly enjoyable wine. A wine that gives incredible pleasure and keeps your interest. 95 (95 pts.)

[*]2002 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (1/13/2012)
My first Raveneau les Clos. A little sulfur at first, with a far more backward start when contrasted with the Dauvissat. Tightly coiled and ready to spring. This opened up over time to show its potential… This is a tightly packed very powerful wine, punching with huge power but maintaining its focus and purity. This had more savory herbal things going on as opposed to the pure stony mineral great things in the Dauvissat. This was showing younger than the Dauvissat by quite a bit, and while I thought the Dauvissat was drinking closer to its peak, I suspect the Raveneau’s peaks will be higher than the Dauvissat’s. That said, an absolute joy to try both of these and even more so side by side. 95+ (95 pts.)


Served with A lovely cut of meat, fresh garden potatoes and avocados (coming form an Arizonan) that can compete at any level. Perfect texture and very deep flavor.

[*]2002 Domaine Jean et Jean-Louis Trapet Latricières-Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Latricières-Chambertin Grand Cru (1/13/2012)
Nice Gevrey earthiness, with some green stemmy cruch to the tannins. Over time this fleshed out nicely gaining depth and complexity. There was a nice redder fruited spectrum to this one. I kept coming back to this one and it grew in the glass. 91 (91 pts.)

[*]2002 Domaine Fourrier Griottes-Chambertin Vieille Vigne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Griottes-Chambertin Grand Cru (1/13/2012)
restrained and quite closed at first, coming off a bit thin. I kept coming back to this over several hours, as it seemed like there was something in reserve and you could get hints of it by the end of the night, and it certainly improved, but it is very, very young now. I suspect this will bloom in several years. 90+ (90 pts.)[/list]
Posted from CellarTracker

  • 2002 Domaine Denis Bachelet Charmes-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru (1/13/2012)
    right off the bat this was the easy to love wine. Darker fruited and with some beef broth savory stuff and great depth. There was the most fruit of any of the wines, and it was very inviting, pleasing both the brain and the palate. There was a great suppleness and midpalate sap that I flat out loved. At first it was so forward compared to the rest, but behind the beautiful veil was an even more beautiful wine that needs to make no apologies for its approachability. There was plenty of complexity and layers to this wine. This had a wealth of fruit, but was by no means fruity, with plenty of savory and earth going on. A great wine. 96 (96 pts.)
  • 2002 Domaine Perrot-Minot Mazoyères-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Mazoyères-Chambertin Grand Cru (1/13/2012)
    At first not quite stern, but more of a brooding wine. This was reserved in a dark stony sense in contrast to the introverted earthy- red and herbal mode of the Fourrier. This was a darker walled up wine at first that really began to shine. My first time with this wine and count me impressed. I found no heavy handedness that I had heard of, with this producer, but rather a complicated, layered, perfumed, well balanced and deep wine with great purity. It gained depth and had great clarity, poise, and focus that developed over time. This was a sleeper that really came on strong. 94 (94 pts.)
  • 2002 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru (1/13/2012)
    More red fruited and with a great savoriness to it. More earth and a dirty, almost mildly feral quality compared to the rest (in a good way). A bit wilder and quite enjoyable. 91 pts (91 pts.)


    A great bonus at the end, Mike knew of my love for Roumier, and this showed up on the table…
  • 2002 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru (1/13/2012)
    An incredibly generous late entry from Mr During. I have never had Roumier’s Bonnes Mares before and this was a rare treat. Even at first when tight as a drum, there was beautiful perfume that only grew with time. For me this had with a darker masculine deeper toned profile, and it took little time for the perfume to really explode. It gained a beautiful sap and weightless extraction of pure Pinot joy. Over time this blossomed into the most complex and beguiling wine of the night for me. The Bachelet came up to you and loved you and the Roumier was the coy one puling you in with just ridiculously beautiful perfume and with a mid palate sap and depth that was both very deep and simultaneously weightless, seeming to do everything effortlessly. A great wine and a privilege to taste it. 96 now and easily going up in several years (96 pts.)

We then had a nice switch of gears that flowed very nicely. Jeff, the cellarmaster at Marchesi di Gresy in Piedmont was in the house and brought a couple of lovely Barbareschi. It is always quite nice to see how well Nebbiolo, and for me even more so Barbaresco, can flow with Burgundy. A nice segue with no weirdness that often follows a varietal change of gears. I have not had many of this makers wines but count me impressed. A nice blend of the traditional and modern that finds excellent balance…

  • 2006 Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Grésy Barbaresco Martinenga Gaiun - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (1/14/2012)
    Sweet supple barbaresco fruit with nice perfume. The wood is present but not intrusive. More red fruited than the 04. Nice rose petals and perfumed red fruits, along with some spice. Elegant and very well put together with no rough edges. A very nice balanced wine with a bright future. Well done! 92 (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker


Darker and more inward at this time than the 06. Could be bottle prep, time from vintage, and vintage, so I won’t venture any causality here. A little less giving, but at the same time more structured and darker profiled. Still with a core of mid palate sweetness-suppleness and perfume that I like quite a bit. The wood is again noticeable but it integrates quite nicely, and certainly does not strip any character, but rather adds a bit of roundness and spice. There is plenty of body and structure here, but it is nicely wrapped in a soft around the edges (but my no means do I mean flab or lack of focus) very giving style that is very pleasureable both to the palate and the brain. Lovely. 92+ (92 pts.)


Fresh ice cream and fruit with…

A forced last minute entry due to a shipping error from my source, my planned wine did not arrive in time for my trip, so a last minute cellar search and scramble occurred. While I thought it would show a little too young, I really had no idea it would be this backward. An inwardly focused, brooding witch’s cauldron of a wine with an almost nuclear powered level of botrytis, a pungent mix of very concentrated and hugely deep flavors that seemed stuck in suspended animation hoping to break free… Very layered, and with time developing a very nice perfumed, floral mix of honey and spice, framed with excellent acidity, and huge structure . I bet this will be riveting if the bottle sat opened another week, or in a cellar for another 2 decades, and I will absolutely not touch another one of these until I am much, much older. A very complicated wine that I feel I needed a PhD to dissect at this point in time, and for me an exercise in potential development and academic more so than sensual pleasure. Still, I am splitting hairs, and it was outstanding, but I was hoping against hope for magic. Lesson learned. 92 now with a huge upside in 20 years. (92 pts.)

Overall it was a great night and a great beginning to a wonderful trip to NZ. We met a wonderful group of wine people, and people in general. We can;t wait until our next visit, hopefully longer next time.

Thanks for reading

Todd,
Nice report on a lovely brace of wines - the locals certainly rolled out the red carpet for you.
What was your impression of the maturity of the 2002 reds?
I trust that you enjoyed your time in the windy city .
Cheers,
Kent

Great line-up Todd.

That 02 sounds like young Roumier Bonnes-Mares, always so much latent power but so not ready.

Best Regards
Jeremy

Hi Todd,

We all very much enjoyed having you and Kim around and hope to see you back soon, the 5 year plan to stay we hope. Thought the Raveneau brilliant and all the 02 reds showed well. All interesting with individual merits.

Kent, still young, the only one to drink being the Dauvissat.

Cheers Mike

Thanks for reading Kent. Sitting here in LAX fondly remembering the trip and got some extra online time thanks to: the inevitibale death, taxes, and the LAX-Tucson flight delay.

Wellington is a great city. Very cool vibe, interesting people, easily walkable. Loved it. And the wind was quite impressive. There were 120kph gusts the day we arrived, bouncing around an Airbus like a toy. The 15 seater we flew across the sound the next day was even more exciting.

Regarding the Burgs…I thought all of these wines were young, but some approachable and very enjoyable, a couple wonderful. I think all will be better in 5+ years. That said, the Bachelet was absolutely singing in a youthful exuberance kind of way, and the Perrot Minot came on strong in the glass. The Fourrier I felt was shut tight, similarly the Rousseau was tight, but I feel the Fourrier has more upside than the Rousseau. I am one who is regularly accused of necro-tendencies, so take all this with a grain of salt. I will save mine for a few more years then start sampling. That said the Bachelet was if I am using the term right a “Cracker”. The Roumier was heavenly and Mike said the next day the little left in the glass was even better.


Cheers

Yes, a wee bit left on day two showed some nice savoury complexity.

Must be the Southern hemisphere crowd on tonight. Everyone else may be asleep.

Yes Jeremy, well said. I would love to see this again in a decade.

Thanks for reading.

Hi Todd,
I love going back to my home town, altough living there only a distant memory as I departed when I was 6.
The wind and associated flights can be impressive - last time I was there was blowing at 100km/h plus, but the pilot did a pretty good job. On a fine day it is a very beautiful city though.
The restaurant and bar scene is excellent and for a small city really does have a cool cosmopolitan feel.
Thanks again for your impressions on the wines - I am really enjoying the 2002s that i have opened, but haven’t busted any of my Grand Crus yet, so your impressions (and Mike’s) are appreciated.
Cheers,
Kent

Hi Kent, Next time you are over and have time please make contact, having Todd just reminded me how small the fine wine group is and the pleasure of sharing a bottle or two should not be missed, looking forward to Brodie coming over in a few months, another Wellingtonian. Cheers Mike

We were in Queenstown over NYE, a fabulous place…

Nice wines guys, well done indeed…

Hi Todd
I’d like to echo Mike’s comments. Thanks for the great notes, very comprehensive and took me back to the night. A real pleasure to meet you and Kim, do come back so we can do it all again. Glad you enjoyed the light gentle breezes we get here in Wellington, hardly a breath of wind really!

I’d also back your thanks to Cathy and Mike for a superb meal with a stunning wine lineup, as it always is, we never turn down an invitation to eat and drink at this chez!

To all ex-pat Kiwis especially Kent and Brodie, do get in touch if you are coming down under, we get the odd good wine or two and love to share.

Kind regards
Nick Greenhill

Paul, I am off to Queenstown on Thursday for the Pinot Noir Celebration. A great event and typically load of Burgundy is drunk at the Gala Dinner. BTW if you are ever heading this way please let us know. Cheers Mike

Nick, the 02 Raveneau Clos was a treat, thank you. Thinking what we have drunk from your cellar over the last couple of months is mind boggling… Cheers Mike

First, I say well-done on a great event…sounds fantastic!

However, I have to say I’m surprised to see people drinking these great GC wines at this juncture. My own experience with GC 2002s (red) is that they are not in particularly good place right now (and haven’t been for some time). My personal vow is to stay away from my bottles for a good many more years.

Cheers,
Blair

Will do. [thumbs-up.gif]

We were discussing times, and the end of January/early Feb seems like it would be the perfect time to be there (as opposed to the craziness of NYE!), especially for a Burgundy Gala…

Hi Mike, yes me too!

cheers Brodie

PS - took the plunge on the some of the 2010 Taupenot-Maume GCs from FWDC.

Hi Nick, welcome to the wonderful world of Wineberserkers. Good to up the kiwi count! I have mentioned to Mike that I will likely need to visit my Mum at end of March time frame, so hope to catch up…

Brodie

Todd, thank you for the fantastic write-up. I love the line about… “An inwardly focused, brooding witch’s cauldron”. That During clan, they do lay it on, don’t they.

Nick, welcome to the board, hope you stick around.

Blair, good on you for drinking your wines when you want to. I believe that is exactly what Mike was doing, too. I pretty much doubt that he popped his last '02 grand cru on this night.

Thanks Lew, you would be right.
Blair, agree these wines will be special in 20+ years but it is good to see them now, not as closed as one would think with the complexity on all showing through. What wines did you have in mind? Cheers Mike