TNs--Mike on Tour, East Coast Edition, Nov 24 in DC--Burgs, Chablis, Champagne, Rhones

WINE TALK
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They came. With wine. Amazing chance to reunite and meet with so many people, we descended upon Peter Chang’s Q Restaurant in Bethesda. Huge thanks to Dave Ehrlich for taking the organizing reins. I know I’m missing at least one person, hate that! (group, please add so that I fill out the full roster :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :blush: )

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Dave Ehrlich
Chris Bublitz
Maureen Nelson
Paul Marquardt
Nick Christie
Jayson Cohen
Yon Stupefied Stenographer
Roland Varesko
George Wang
Peter Lowet
Brian Moulton
Noah Raizman
Charles Stewart
Joel Davidson
Austin Fulk
David McIntire

There was no way to get to everything, though I wish I could have. I deeply appreciate everyone’s brings

2007 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rose

Very pretty as it interacts with me. Tasty wild strawberry, catches of rhubarb. It’s Comtes, it’s rose–enough said.

2008 Goutorre Special Club Brut

First time with this producer. Nice stuff, though quiet nose. Hints of yeasty around lemon. To taste, it grabs your cheeks quite well, crisp and engaging.

2002 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche

To me, this still showed quite young. Some nice/enjoyable whiffs of barnyard here to buttress dark fruit, unripe black cherry underneath. Palate continues strict, with loam surrounding cherry fruit. Tannins, though, are nicely velvety—just feels like it still has some more run to reach apogee. Tasted it early in the night, so will be interested in others’ views.

1994 Z-H Clos St. Urbain Rangen den Thann Ries

Subtle apricot and very light petrol waft up the glass. This has some acidic verve and slice still, but I’m finding it a trifle sherried. May have just tipped over.

2015 Mongeard-Mugneret Vosne Suchots

This was my bring—gave it 4 hours of slow ox–and while I’ve had a bit of an up-and-down experience with this producer, for me this was one of the ups. Aroma brims with roses and other flowers around cherry and strawberry. Palate is smooth and not at all overalcoholic, everything seems in proportion to express this vintage. Replays with light chestnut add. It caresses the back of my throat. Extremely enjoyable for me, probably my #3 tonight. Again, look forward to other impressions

2006 Ponsot Clos de la Roche

Also out of mag, rich earthy tones with black cherry and some damson plum. Just a hint of nutmeg for me. Could still stand a few years, but coming into its own. Tangy berry fruit is framed by dark chocolate and soil notes. Very good here.

2014 Bollinger Grand Annee

Awfully good–eventually. Right now, it’s saying to me “why are you drinking me?” :smile: In-tense drive here with lemon and saline side to the wine. I feel sure of the excellent potential here.

2003 JJ Christoffel Erdener Treppchen Ries Auslese

I think Nick brought this one. It was licklicous. Real juicy fruit, almost to sugar candy but effortless, lifted expression at the same time. Should last forever. A joy to drink

2001 Robert Weil Kiedrich Grafenberg Ries Spat

Joel brought this at my request. I’m so glad he did. This is heavenly. Sweet lilting fruit mixes with glances of lilac and honeysuckle and the conversation between nose and palate is non-stop. The harmony combined with vividness of expression here are breathtaking. My WOTN

2006 Lignier-Michelot Clos de la Roche

Out of mag. Fine, fine bouquet, streak of mineral actually, behind raspberry and bing cherry. On the tongue, this is truly yummy, has a velvet feel to go with expressive cherry and crabapple. Bracing earthy tones underneath. A very complete wine, I think my #2.

2010 Rollin Pernand Vergelesses Ile de Vergelesses

Also from mag, with thanks to Maureen for the bring—hadn’t had this before. It does have a certain ceiling, but that ceiling is not low to the ground. There’s depth of purity to this, with red berries taking the front and a shave of roasted chestnut underneath. Bit of rhubarb too. Glad to taste and enjoy.

2010 Ponsot Chambolle Les Hauts Doix

Only managed a quick taste of this 1er cru. Very composed, with tart red cherry and raspberry leading the way. Good length and good wine, would have liked more time with it.

I also managed the quickest taste of a 2023 Haart Goldtropfchen Ries Kabinett which was young but easy to swallow and refreshing, and a 2013 Pichler Durnsteiner Kellenberg Ries Smaragd which felt in the zone, with lemon, some white pepper and mineral/steel notes.

There were a lot of wines I didn’t get to, including the 76 Riesling, the 00 Trimbach and all the Rhones, so I hope we’ll get input from others on how those showed.

Thanks to Dave’s organizing, I had a float seat at both tables and I was able to shuttle back and forth. While there were many old friends here tonight, I also met many new people that I hope to see again.

A wonderful night full of joy and good cheer

Salud

Mike

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Thank you Mike for bringing us together and shout out to the cult of Maryland. What’s with DC in the title?

I also missed many wines but generally agree with your notes. For me, he 2002 Lignier CdlR was at an early peak and delicious. I also liked the 2001 Weil, 2007 Taittinger Rose, and 2010 Chambolle. Unfortunately, your wine seemed grumpy and closed to me but I do like the producer.

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Very fun night of food (too much), wine (too much) and camaraderie (just right).

A couple of comments about the champagnes:
I enjoyed the Bollinger 2014 La Grand Annee more than Mike did. It was young but already showing well. For me, it was the Grand Siecle #26 that was closed tight as ____. Needs to be buried for a few years? Taittinger 2007 Comtes Rose was my bubbly of the night.

Among the burgs, the Lignier 2002 Clos de la Roche was the clear WOTN. Sophisticated nose and caressing palate. I also enjoyed the Lignier Michelot 2006 CdlR and didn’t pick up any 2006 hardness. By contrast, the Ponsot 2006 CdlR did suffer a bit from the vintage, although a few years may be quite beneficial since there’s plenty of stuffing. On this night, I preferred the Ponsot (Domaine & Selection) 2010 Chambolle Les Hauts Doix (magnum) which was rich and complete. The Mongeard-Mugneret Vosne Suchots (too young) and my first Rollin Pernand-Verg were also enjoyable.

Agree with Mike’s take on the Rieslings. Yum.

The Rhones looked good, but I was satiated. :crazy_face:

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LOL—DC area, right? Long live Bethesda!

Missing name hopefully corrected. Look forward to any other notes and impressions from everyone. And we’ll hopefully do it again on my next trip down here.

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Fascinating that ppl liked the 06 LM; I opened the 2010 version a couple years ago and to say that I was underwhelmed would be being quite nice.

I emailed with nick about the 02 Lignier cdlr and the comparison with the 96 we had last month; my only question was winemaking; iirc 02 was made by Romain and 96 was made by Hubert but correct me if I’m wrong on this.

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Yes, Michael—good timing, as Nick was discussing this conversation with me as we visit together this evening. Thanks as always for chiming in, your thoughts always valuable.

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We had a lot of fun up with this lineup of Maryland Mayhem…

I’ve been thinking of a Riesling observation between the Weil '01 Spatlese and the '03 Christoffel Auslese **. Both showed very well. The '01 Spatlese was the richer wine, though, which I found quite curious.

Like Burgundy, producer matters a ton, even between these dramatically different vintages. I think Christoffel (along with Willi Schafer) did a fantastic job in '03, i.e hottest year on record in the Mosel. The levels of acidity and the degree of balance is just superb. I think if you declared these two wines but then served them blind, the Weil would have been thought of as the '03 Auslese by a large chunk of folks. So that was my most memorable dichotomy or deep thought of wine exploration.

The '02 Lignier Cdlr was clear red wine of the night. I have more Lignier thoughts, actually but I may move them to the ‘Burg recent vintages’ thread as I want to compare the 1er Cru VV. too in regards to these two eras of winemaking between Hubert & Romain. Chatting with Michael off board was very inspiring & helpful.

I think my 2nd red of the evening was the '10 Ponsot Chambolle Hauts Doix. The evening went by pretty quickly, so we didn’t get a super long time with wines and comparisons. But my glass of the '10 had good texture along with the aromatics. I think I lot of these Burgs this evening struggled for that balance.

Very glad to see close friends again, and see some new folks as well :saluting_face:.

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I agree the night went by in a flash. Next time we need to start at 5:00 to get an extra hour with our friends and the wines.

I don’t generally like 2006 but the Lignier Michelot out of Magnum is an outlier. It has a sweet core of fruit and is a giving and fun wine. It’s not terribly detailed or complex but shows grand cru depth and texture. I didn’t get to taste the Ponsot version of the wine so I can’t offer a comparison there. Romain made excellent wine and the 2002 was classic CdlR perhaps showing a bit a warmth from the vintage.

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