Some notes from tonights tasting with the “Sonoma Burg Team”. This was a great night of tasting with many bottles generously shared.
Ive listed the notes in the order tasted.
White Burgs
1983 Hospices de Beaune (Leroy) Meursault Charmes Cuvée Albert Grivault - A bit past it’s prime with some oxidized flavors but I enjoyed the nutty notes and long finish.
1988 Pierre Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru- Very well perserved and quite young tasting relative to its age. A first some teriary elements with aged honey and fruit favors. With some air it gains quite a bit of viscosity and rich fruit flavor. A really nice wine.
2005 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles - Somewhat reticent in both aromatics and flavor when first opened. It was very classy with fun popcorn and mineral notes. I didnt remember to go back to it but I’d be surprised if it didnt blossom with air.
2004 Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Perrières - never got a chance to go back to this one either but as a pop-and-pour it was quite nice. Sublte but very sophiscated and complex.
2002 Bouchard Corton Charlemagne - I wasn’t too excited with the pop-and-poor state of this wine but a revisit showed that it really picked up richness and flavor with air. In general I am never as impressed with corton charlies compared to the Montrachets and this was no exception. It was still an exciting wine to drink though.
2001 Georges Deleger et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru - Just a beautiful wine with precision and refinement. At first it featured aromatics of minerals, white truffle and anise and and flavors of sexy truffle and lemon. With some air it adds voluptuous almost-tropical flavors. A great wine.
First Red Flight
1989 Camille Giroud Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Chaignots - I’d say this wine is fully mature (if not past its prime) and probablly plateaued. At first a bit of mustiness made some question if it was corked but this mustiness turned into mushrooms and then disapated completly. It didn’t have tons of depth but the dried fruit and teriary flavors are quite complex and compelling. I think I may have liked this more than some others.
2002 Gouges NSG 1er Cru Les Saint Georges - 100% primary but very elegant and sublte. Started to clamp down with some air. would have needed alot of slowox to really show at its best at this point. You could tell it had tons of dry extract and kenetic energy.
1996 Prieur Chambertin Grand Cru - Still quite primary but it does have some development going on. Perhaps mostly the forest floor on the high-toned nose. The aromatics showed a bit of oak at first but this quickly melted away for me. Overall a powerful and impressive wine that needs alot more time to gain complexity and elegance. This tasted great, but you could see it had alot more to offer.
1991 Rossignal Trapet Chappelle-Chambertin Grand Cru - This was one of my favorite wines of the night. In my mind this represents the platonic ideal of perfect red burgundy. It still had powerful primary fruit attributes but these were equal partners with the highly complex teriary characteristics that had developed. A great wine in a great place.
2000 Potel Horizontal Flight
All three of the following wines seemed at the apex of their developmental trajectory. A nice showing for 2000. The flavors were in general in the darker fruit side of the spectrum all all three definetly showed their producer denomenator. A good flight but overshadowed by the next two flights.
2000 Potel Chappelle-Chambertin Grand Cru - My least favorite of the flight but still interesting to me. It lacked both the depth of flavor and sexy aromatics that the other too had yet offered medium weight and medium intensity flavors.
2000 Potel Latricières-Chambertin Grand Cru - This had beautiful and captivating mature aromatics and had complex amd detailed flavors. Of the three Potels with was my favorite on the nose
2000 Potel Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru - Of the three Potels I thought this one had the deepest, ripest and powerful flavors. It wasn’t a blockbuster though and had good balance and an elegant body weight.
Third Red Flight
1995 Ponsot Clos de la Roche Grand Cru - A medium weight wine with good teriary development going on. It had quite impressive flavor/weight ratio and sublte and elegant complexity. Outclassed by the next two wines but still very good.
1998 Leroy Vosne Romanee Beauxmonts 1er - This was a great wine. Easily grand cru quality to me. It’s multifaceted aromatics were very captivating. The flavors were impressively deep and powerful with significant complexity. This wine had a very long and energetic finish. Definetly one of the better wines of the evening.
2001 Giroud Vosne Romanee Malconsorts 1er - Another excellelent wine. I could have done without the coffee-like char on the nose but the aromatics were still very good. Where this wine really shines is on the palate with incredible depth of flavor. The Leroy in this flight had even more depth and power but I’d say that this perhaps was a touch more sophisticated and elegant.
Forth Red Flight
My favorite flight of the night.
1997 Hudelot-Noellat Vosne RSV Grand Cru - By far the best 1997 Ive had. This is a killer wine. Powerful and tangy this was one of the more elegant wines of the evening and more than anything had incredible aromatics. One of those wines you want to keep smelling.
1998 Meo-Camuzet Vosne Chaumes 1er - A great premier cru and a brilliant showing for this vineyard. Incredible vibrancy, detail and complexity. I’ll admit to never fully getting the excitment over Meo, but having one with some maturity makes me understand. This wine kicks ass. Not the most elegant of the night but it makes up for it with its energy and power.
1999 Drouhin Vosne Petites Monts - Because of its lack of teriary development and overall closed-ness this was a bit overshadowed by its flight-mates but I followed a for a while and it kept improving. It didnt speak loudly but had textbook elegance and harmony. This should be quite good when it is at its apogee (which isnt likely to be any time soon).
Last Three wines opened
2001 Dujac MSD 1er - This really needed some slowox, but I really liked this. Lots of complexity with a clear vein of minerality. Quite elehant and complex already this should become even better with more bottle age. A “pretty” Dujac.
2005 Donnhoff Bruke Auslese Riesling - IMO this held its own with the burgs (I am a riesling and donnhoff freak though, dont know if others agreed). We had some thai food takeout to wind up the evening so these were broken out. They were served room temperature but still showed well. Like most 2005s I wish it had some more acid but it was still a powerful and concentrated wine. Despite having a very high RS level it showed more fruity than sweet and was not cloying at all.
??? Maison Leroy Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champ-Gain - Forgot to write down the vintage but perhaps 2001? This was generously opened for dessert and it was excellent. Very powerful, it had flavor depth in spades.
