Jason Hagen was in town the other night and a few of us ATL wine do-good-ers decided to meet up with him at local haunt Holeman and Finch. We mostly played around with 2003 Burgundy (my idea for some reason) and a few outliers. My mind is not completely clear this afternoon so I can’t remember both of the whites that we started with (I know they were Jadot and Martray)- sorry had to go with my mother this morning to put down a fifteen year old family pet. But here are some impressions of the wines:
Sine Qua Non Papa 2003:
I think the reason I threw this is in was because Jason was from SoCal and I thought for sure he had to dig Cali wines, right? Of course he really digs Oregon Pinot best! This was totally out of place and, for me anyway, really showed as poorly as it ever has. It was a nice wine, certainly pack with all kinds of goodies, but just overwhelming in a lot of respects. No matter what food I tried it with- pork belly, burger, rabbit liver, hot dog, Johny cake with Foie, maple syrup and bacon- it just didn’t really jive. Probably would have been better to have just left it out. 89 points
L’Eglise Clinet 1995:
This was a rock star and my favorite wine of the evening, even though I wasn’t intentionally trying to sabotage a Burgunday tasting by bringing a Bordeaux! Black cherries with a little chocolate and smoke on the nose, but still somewhat reserved. There are some herbaceous, almost rustic notes that hide under the immense, truly identifiable Pomerol fruits. These fruits, to me, are red currants, cranberry and black plums, all surrounded by leather and wood. Really a fantastic wine. Should be great for a long time. 96 points
Comte de Vogue Bonnes Mares 2003:
The nose was almost ripe and candied in the beginning, but calmed down, became almost elegant later. All in all it was still rather brooding by the end of the night. To me this is mouth-coating, very textural wine- one that wants to come off big and bossy, but manages to come off suave and sexy. I am glad I own more of this and am interested to see how this progresses over the course of time. 92 points
Domaine Alain Hudelot-Noellat Richebourg 2003:
I really liked this wine. I think it was my favorite of the '03s. There appeared to be a lot more pure black fruits and some smoked meat characteristics with only a slight touch of candy. This, to me, was the most classy of the wines and one I would certainly like to own. 93 points
Maison Lucien le Moine Chambolle Musigny les Amoureuses 2003:
Well this wine has a lot of oak. It seems like the most unbalanced of all the wines (SQN included). It is still a “good” wine in the sense that you can tell the raw materials are good and that there are a lot of pleasing parts, however this certainly not my style. This is one of those '03s that gets talked about- it will probably not last, and if it does I would surmise the oak will always be present and worse when it fades the fruit will have long faded too. 87 points
Perhaps Bowden, Cornutt or Hagen can chime too. Fun night guys.