Recently a trove of Burgs showed up on the doorstep of my favorite wine shop. A distributor we had thought was long gone turned out to still be around and had back stocks of older wines, all from negociants that nobody gives a second look. I posted in the Nuits-St-Georges thread about a lovely magnum of '85 Lupé-Cholet Château Gris - which turned out to be the only bottle. Last night, the shop put on a tasting of likely quality wines of which there were reasonable quantity to sell.
Openers :
1996 Roux Père & Fils Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseignères : Light color, nice waxiness and melted citrus. A little mineral at the edges. Not complex or special, but nice.
1986 Pierre André Côte de Nuits Villages : (I had a bottle of this a few weeks ago as a bellweather for the storage conditions of the wines. It showed much better.) Tired and drawn, though not abused. Slight oxidative notes and tart. Drinkable as generic aged red wine.
Whites :
1989 Pierre André Corton-Charlemagne : Slightly funky oxidative / madeira nose - some speculation as to corked. Really, really light on color. Disjointed, odd textures. After a couple of hours, it reformed and was a pleasant albeit extremely weak wine. Decent enough after the air, but not really Corton-Charlemagne at all. (This is probably the one wine that is not negoc.)
1988 Lupé-Cholet Bâtard-Montrachet : Somewhat gold in color. Lots of gunsmoke on the nose which did not ever leave even after some hours. Nice middle with fruits and acid-based light structure. Watery finish. Evolved the structure with time into something quite pretty, almost lacey. Minerally notes weave in and out. Very good.
1988 Lupé-Cholet Montrachet : Definitely the most enigmatic and compelling wine of the tasting. Started off with a blowsy caramel and honey nose. Gold color. Peaches. Some mineral, but beeswax and sweetness. Way too light in structure to carry such flavors. Then a couple of hours had it completely shed all of the dross and reveal an incredible amalgam of tropical fruits, mineral and a real punch (not a slug, but a surgical strike.) Long finish which wove into the tongue and then emerged elsewhere. Beautiful.
Reds :
1979 Antonin Rodet Griottes-Chambertin : Light nose and color. Nice body with a tautness to it. Crisp and clear on the edges. Some tart fruit and a slightly woody finish. Quickly lost the story, found it for a brief window and then fully lost it. Not awful, not very Griottes at all either.
1979 Antonin Rodet Chambertin-Clos-de-Bèze : (first bottle had insectcide-y nose and we pitched) Slightly old nose and like texture to start. Good light color. Prune and power - not integrating. Then a nice tenderness with better fruit, iron and soil. Oscillated back and forth between those places for the rest of the evening. At peaks, very solid, even Bèze-y with a good power and some sweetness. Certainly a fascinating wine and overall good experience.
1981 Antonin Rodet Le Musigny : Darker than the other two, though not really dark. Gorgeous sweet nose like mincemeat pie with meat, spice, dried fruits. Suave and silky with a great push. Balanced. Not a lot power, but the most complete wine of the tasting and the best dry-down with harmonies. Lovely stuff.
A.
