TN's: Clive Coates in ATL

WINE TALK
1

Last night Clive Coates came into town to visit our Tastevin. He regaled us with stories and information about Burgundy. A wonderful night.

The night began with a tasting of 1990’s. A 20 year retrospective.



Whites



1990 Domaine d’Auvenay Auxey-Duresses Blanc La Boutonnière



A really light color. The nose is almost all minerals. The fruit is white and very subtle. The structure is firm with excellent integration of the acidity. A wonderful finish. For the appellation, this is extraordinary to me.



1990 Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet Les Referts



All bottles were hopelessly oxidized. DNPIM.



1990 Jadot Meursault Perrieres



A golden color. An absolutely exotic nose of golden fruit, minerals and some spice that is like cloves. The palate is so wonderfully loaded with fruit and minerals. A profound finish with a shower of freshness despite being 20 years old. Profound.



1990 Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne



Riper golden fruit. Lots of tropical notes here. The palate is a yin and yang of ripe fruit and a wonderful supporting acidity. Richer here than the Jadot. Very long finish.





Reds



1990 Michel Julliot Corton Perrieres en Magnum



Firm dark fruit on the nose and palate. Austere. There is a compelling earthiness with aeration. This needs food.



1990 Louis Latour Corton Grancey



This is loaded with bacon fat on the nose. Red fruit, meat and bacon fat. Glorious. The palate is not well focused but quite satisfying. Ripe red meaty fruit persists on the finish. A little diffuse on finish. Still I like it.



1990 Chateau de la Tour Clos Vougeot



A dark fruit nose with some earthiness. There is a symmetry here that is compelling. Not a lot of complexity. This does provide quite a bit of pleasure as the tannins are silky.





1990 DRC Echezeaux



A nose that is heaven in a bottle. A panoply of complex aromas. Soy notes. Bacon fat. The fruit is sexy. Some spice. The palate is “a pointe”. Fabulous length. Profound. It won’t get any better.



1990 Comte de Vogue Bonne Mares



When first opened. I disliked this. Ripe “cotton candy” type notes. Very firm on the palate. With time this morphed into a fantastic wine of darker fruits. More integration of the fruit and acid. Great focus. Extraordinarily long and silky. Clive mixed it up with Roumier. I can understand that.



1990 Jadot Chambertin Clos de Beze



A nose of darker fruits and earth. To me this is Chambertin Clos de Beze. Finesse. The palate is all about dark fruit and minerals. Some earthy notes. Only near the end of the tasting did this unwind. Profound and the best Clos de Beze I have ever tasted from Jadot. Wow!





Dinner



We then proceeded to a wonderful dinner at the Four Seasons where we had the following wines.





1992 Domaine Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches Blanc



A wonderful nose of ripe white fruit. Sexy. Huge in the mouth. Refreshing on the finish. The harmony here with all the ripeness is just stunning. Profound.



1998 J Boillot Puligny-Montrachet Clos de la Mouchere ( Monopole)



Rich golden fruit on the nose. The palate is so wonderfully wound up with golden fruit/acid and a mineral spine. This would be profound if the finish wasn’t slightly short.

Wonderful stuff.



1995 Toillot-Beaut Corton-Bressandes



Dark meaty fruit. Spicy. The palate shows good fruit and adequate length. Some complexity emerges when tasted with a wonderful duck breast/duck fois gras combination.





1996 Anne Gros Richebourg



Young focused darker fruit. A finesse that to me is very rare in Richebourg. Some element of soy and bacon fat that is in the background. The palate is seamless. Long. Complex. A perfect example of Richebourg. The best I have ever tasted. Profound.



A great night. An educational night.



Thanks Clive for visiting.

2

Bravo!

3

Don,
Wonderfully expressive notes. Thank you!

4

Awesome awesome awesome! I’m SO jealous!

5

Another night that does not suck.

Doug

6

Here are some pics from Chas Johnson and a video from Matt Richardson.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cjohnsonmd2/Coates#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- YouTube" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cheers!

7

Was the Chateau de la Tour an Accad wine?

8

he will be here in rochester at the end of the month. nowhere near the level of wines you guys drank.

9

I believe it was Keith.

We had a lengthy discussion about the techniques he used including cold soaking to increase density without extracting lots of rough tannin.
The unfortunate part of his technique is that I think the wines are quite one dimensional for a very long time. Same is true for some of the Grivot wines when he was helping Etienne.
This one really showed that. Silky structure now but the palate just didn’t have the complexity to me.
I have had some older bottles before Accad and the wines were quite good. Complex and robust. Not sure if he helped in 1985 but that one is quite good.


Jordan,

I know you guys will have a great time.
We tried to get him primed for his long haul.

Cheers to you both.

10

Appreciate your insights on the Accadian effects 20 years later… perhaps a cause for concern - hasn’t the cold soak become a fairly common practice now?

11

Don - I always enjoy reading about your your Tastevin group exploits. I actually have had the 1990 Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne (I think about five years ago.) It was indeed a pleasure. And for this cretin, using your words, it was, “PROFOUND.” Best, John

12

It is pretty common Keith but I don’t think they soak for the amount of time that Accad was suggesting to these guys.
He routinely used a 10 day cold soak even if the vintage was generous. Now most won’t go past 7 days it seems because of the fear of overextracting.
I think they are much more discriminating too as to the context. Just my understanding.

13

Thanks John.
I hope we get a chance to have a glass soon.

14

1996 Anne Gros Richebourg? That mush have been a real treat.