TN's: DP, Krug, Dujac, Ponsot, Chave, Guigal, Giacosa.....

WINE TALK
1

I am still trying to catch up with some notes from the past few days, so I will keep my comments for last night’s wines brief. A group of us met at the Evictor’s place for some Champagne and then we went out to a local old school Italian place Grissini’s which serves excellent classic fare. The wines started off slow, but then we had a good string of luck.

’66 Dom Perignon - DOA

’64 Dom Perignon - initially I was disappointed with this bottle. A touch skunky and the fruit a bit muted. some effervescence. However, as it sat in the glass the skunkiness left and more fruit emerged. Still, never became a great '64 DP. Excellent minus

’62 Dom Perignon - DOA

’59 Krug - Another barely alive bottle. Drinkable, but not what it can be. Good plus

’75 Bollinger - DOA

’85 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - youth has its advantages. Loaded with red fruit and acid. Drank very well initially and then didn’t budge in the glass. A very structured '85. Staggering minus

’83 Ramonet Montrachet - I am not a white burg guy so I will give this the highest compliment I can - it reminded me of '75 DP Oeno without the bubbles. Staggering

’16 Chateau Cantemerle - from a full case purchased from Zachys Graham Lyons sale, I am now down to only a couple of bottles. Incredibly consistent for a 95 year old wine, this was slightly better than the bottle I had last week. Classic old Bordeaux aromas and flavors. I left this in the glass for around three hours and it still had life. Staggering minus

’85 Dujac Clos de la Roche - beautiful clean fruit. While immensely enjoyable now, I look forward to drinking this in another decade. If you don’t like this wine, you don’t like red Burgundy. Staggering plus

’71 Biondi-Santi Brunello Riserva - in perfect shape. Ripe red fruit with a Pomerol-like palate. Very lush. Not what I usually encounter when I drink Brunello. and that is a good thing. Excellent plus

’78 Chave - best bottle of this I have had. Great fruit with a touch of Rhone funk. However, after a couple of hours it reminded me of most other '78 Chaves in that the fruit was fading and it lacked charm. Excellent

’78 Vieux Telegraph Corked

’89 Giacosa Falleto Riserva - drunk side by side with the Sandrone, my preference is for the Giacosa. More elegance to it. Excellent plus

’90 Soldera Riserva - loaded with spicy fruit and very dense. While very enjoyable to drink now, this needs more bottle age and will surely be better in another ten years. Excellent plus

’90 Sandrone Cannubi Boschis - some oak on the nose and I know the knock on this wine from purists is that it is not traditional. However, along with the oak it does have the classic Barolo profile of tar and roses. A lot of power to this wine. Definitely needs food. Excellent

’89 Guigal La Turque - I don’t consider '89 Guigals to be their best vintage, but after a stunning bottle of '89 Mouline last week and now this bottle, I may have to re-evaluate my position. One thing that is consistent for me is liking this vintage of La Turque better than Mouline which is not the norm for most vintages. Tremendous aromatics. Masculine and sexy, two words I rarely use together. Staggering plus

’86 Chateau Mouton Rothschild - this is one wine which suffered from the fast and furious pace. Needed more time in the glass to really show its best. Looking forward to the day this wine re-emerges and shows as well as it did twelve years ago. A lot of brute force to this wine right now. Staggering minus

’90 Ponsot Clos St Denis - Great nose of elegant fruit and a touch of confectioner’s sugar. Plenty of fruit. I went back and forth with this wine and the '85 Dujac and had a slight preference for the Dujac, but no need to twist my arm to drink this. Staggering

’96 Leroy Chambertin - I don’t care whether I taste Leroy or whether I taste the vineyard, as long as it tastes good. And this tastes great in a very Leroy way. Dense and concentrated red fruit. Staggering plus

’69 Dom Perignon Oenotheque disgorged in '06. This is consistently my favorite commercially released Oenotheque, slightly edging out the '75. A perfect harmonious blend of mature Champagne flavors with the vim and vigor from being disgorged only a few years ago. Layers of fruit are enhanced by coffee, toffee and caramel. Ambrosia too. Killer minus

’67 Chateau Suiduiraut - I am not a big dessert wine fan, but regardless of that this needed more acidity to balance out the sugar. Good minus

Thanks to everyone for bringing such an eclectic mix of great wines.

2

Sometimes there are revolutions, and sometimes change comes slow.

3

WOW, but only one killer minus, things seem to be slipping. [tease.gif]

4

Amazing lineup. I had the 86 Mouton once in a small tasting group about two years ago, and the wine definitely suffered from not having had an extended aeration first. It only started to emerge from its tannic shell a bit near the end of the tasting.

5

Great night once we got past those initial bubbling (or, as it happened, not so bubbling) disappointments Ray mentioned. Yes Brad, it’s conceivable there could be trouble brewing in Reims when a White Burg is compared favorably by KA to a great vintage of DP Oeno. On the other hand, Bruce stepped into the breach to protect the franchise, dismissing the 83 Ramonet Montrachet as a “nice wine” not worth the price of admission. In fact, it was the best bottle so far from the lot I purchased last year, better than the excellent bottle we drank at your place next to the 82 Ramonet Montrachet. What this bottle may have lacked in exoticism it made up for in cut and precision, yet had plenty of Montrachet material and ultimately, with time in the glass, a fine, mature, multidimensional nose. For me–not surprisingly–the WOTN. Other highlights for me included a wonderful 90 Soldera Ris, the best example I’ve ever had; a good bottle of 85 Dujac CLR, which is always going to be a highlight; the 85 Winston Churchill and 69 DP Oeno, the former presenting young and fresh, particularly in the context of some of its dead brethren, the latter startlingly (for me) just as young and fresh as its late disgorgement should lead one to expect, but somehow I continue to be surprised every time. There were three wines that others at the table, including Ray, liked more than I did. I thought the 90 Ponsot was sort of blocky and one dimensional, and hope that’s attributable to youth; there was a slight dirty note in the 78 Chave that I found distracting; and the sediment stirred into the 89 Giacosa Falleto undermined for me what I know from many experiences to be a wonderful bottle of Barolo.

Company was delightful, got to meet some new folks, and Bruce was a very generous host. Many thanks to all involved.