2022 Dragonette Sta Rita Hills Pinot - maybe a bit young, but still drinking nicely.
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2005 Grand Puy Lacoste.
Itâs a lot of fun now, but might just be sensational in 5 more years. Enjoyed it immensely but kept thinking about its (and my) future.
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Bucklin Mixed Blacks 2019.
Never had a Bucklin that was anything but great drinking, and this keeps the streak alive. Rich but fresh, nice match with beef with Vietnamese flavors.
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2021 Oresmis Furmint Dry MandolĂĄs - lovely dry expression of Furmint (the grape used in Tokaji wines), refeshing green apple acidity, but then softens and a nice long slightly creamy finish.
2012 Hubert Lignier Bourgogne rouge - really good, still plenty of live left in this yet with good fruit and acidity and only subtle tertiary flavours.
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2002 Dun Howell Mountain - slightly more modern than older Dunn, surprisingly ready to drink, yummy and still balanced for a Napa cab.
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2021 Palisades Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon
It was every bit as good as folks are saying. I followed Graemeâs recommendation and gave it a 12-hr double decant and it was showing very well. Really beautiful in a classic Napa style. Canât wait to see how these develop with time in the cellar.
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Big cookout to celebrate the long weekend.
2014 Marquis de Mons
Started with this as I had half a bottle open from last night. Classic Margaux character of violets, cedar, and ripe cassis, with some tertiary leather / tobacco notes too. Very smooth finish. IMO overall great QPR.
2020 Marques de Murrieta
Last Murrieta I had was the 2010, and was very surprised with this wine. Very primary, with abundant ripe red fruits and berries, some sweet tobacco, with a very subtle vanilla. Not at all like I remembered the wine - maybe they have gone softer on the oak treatment?
2017 Protos Reserva
Protos definitely was a different animal. Black cherry, plum, vanilla extract, and tannins galore. After a good 2 hrs. in the decanter it started showing a bit softer, with some lighter red fruit notes. If Murrieta felt more modern, this definitely felt classic Rioja.
2020 Sabelli-Frisch âMarinaâ
Where to start⊠Beautiful light and bright color, very aromatic nose of red fruits, pepper, some salinity. Very fresh but nonetheless structured palate. WOTN overall, and reinforces my growing obsession with Adamâs wines.
2023 Chateau Coudray Montpesier Chinon
Nice if simple cab franc to round out the evening. Fresh, plenty of ripe red berries, green pepper, and some earthy notes. Refreshing and crushable.
On to the meats!
Started the day with some sweet & spicy BBQ glazed chicken thighs, followed by the sausage and the hanger steak. From there on to the main event: showdown between Double R Ranch Dry Aged Ribeye and Snake River Farms Wagyu Ribeye. A quick vote was inconclusive: dry aged wins on flavor, wagyu on texture⊠probably surprising nobody.
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Another weird day around hereâŠ
A friend came over for apĂ©ritif and she loves Chablis. I donât think I had checked in on the 2022 vintage of this:
Louis Michel 1er Cru FĂŽrets 2022
Still tight but good underpinning. Mostly peach and rocks with a faint smoky undertone that would have thrown me off Louis Michel. It might be me though. Weâll see when I hit the next one.
And then, one of the weirdest meal and pairing Iâve had: Hot-dogs with crappy commercial sausages, cheap buns and home made aligot made with Tomme des PyrĂ©nĂ©es:
Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2012
The pairing made the sweetness more present in the Comtes and didnât help it show well. It also brought out ginger notes. I wouldnât do that pairing again but the bottle is empty so eh, tâwas okay I guess!
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In the spirit of this thread:
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Deep thoughts
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2022 Vietti Derthona Timorasso
Our first Timorasso I think (unreliable memory). I have wanted to try since reading some tasting notes by Otto on various examples. Surprised by how fruit driven it was. Peaches, apricot, lemon. Nice mouthfeel. Some herbal minerality. Tame acidity. A very subtle wine I thought. All of these impressions were probably influenced by pairing it with pasta cacio e pepe. We enjoyed the wine, but i want to revisit whatâs left in the bottle by itself, to see my impressions.
2012 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année
I'm liking this house more and more, and this bottle reinforces that impression. Dense and energetic, with the Pinot Noir taking the lead over the Chardonnay. Fresh dark berries, stone fruit, and a touch of almond. Long, luscious finish. I loved this bottle. It feels early in what should be a long and rewarding drinking window.
65% Pinot Noir and 35% Chardonnay from 21 crus, with the Pinot sourced primarily from AĂż and Verzenay, and the Chardonnay from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oiry. Fermentation in 228-liter barrels and 400-liter casks, some up to 40 years old, where the wine undergoes both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. It's bottled under cork, not crown cap, and is hand disgorged.
The 2012 vintage spent over 7 years on the lees and was finished with a dosage of 8 g/L.
2020 Leonetti Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla Valley
What a pleasant surprise. I dropped off the Leonetti list decades ago, back when I moved away from heavily extracted, oak-driven wines. A friend opened this during a steak dinner, and I started with just a small pourâcautious but curious. Things have clearly changed. Theyâve dramatically dialed everything back. The wine showed moderate density and excellent balance, with vibrant fruit, fresh acidity, and fine-grained tannins. Cassis, blackberry, cacao, tobacco. Oak was judged perfectly. I found myself coming back for additional pours.
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Late to the party-Memorial Day edition
Perfect sun-ripened blackberry and black cherry fruit, balanced by Med+ tannins and med acid, nice woodsy/soil bois thing going on, touch of reduction. Just delicious.
Milady wife, she of the Oregonian palate opined, âTastes great! Not like a Burgundy at all!â High praise indeed.
I was scarred early in my wine journey by a tomato-y 99 H. Lignier MSD Chaffots and avoided it after that. More fool me.
Calling @Matthew_King and other Burg mavens - how does Hubert Lignierâs MSD 1er stand up to Dujacâs MSD 1er?
Lemon, stones, barest hint of lychee. Light on itsâ feet and all in balance; a tasty pirouette of a wine.
In Maine they have a saying, âIt ainât bragging if you can do it.â Thierry Pillot can do it. Everything I want in a white Burg.
Now, letâs just get online and do a little recreational shopping to see if anyone else has discovered these gemsâŠ(keyboard tapping soundsâŠ)
!
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Good to see your note on the Leonetti. I havenât had any of the more recent vintages - nothing past the early teens, or maybe even earlier - so appreciate your take on the shift in style. Iâll have to check out some more recent vintages based on your note.
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I donât think anybody will ever have this bottle but just to for posterityâs sake, I had the end of the Clavelin tonight with ComtĂ© cheese and it showed better. The wine had added some nuttiness and some body giving it more persistence and finish. That being said, I wouldnât buy this again.
Iâm not planning on buying any, and definitely wonât be re-activating my account with them, but Iâd gladly accept a glass or two with a hearty meal. If you buy some, circle back and let me know what you thought of it.
Cheers,
Warren
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Will do.
Matthew can answer the Dujac question, and Iâll be very keen to hear what his favorite editions of older Dujac MSD 1cru have been. Or what his general preference for age/year is on a Dujac MSD 1st.
I will tell you that I have never had a Dujac MSD as shining as the 2000 Lignier MSD 1st VV that @MChang opened for a few of us in spring 2024. So, that is my top reference point.
That said a 1998 Lignier MSD VV in 2023 was good but not very exciting. So they will be very vintage dependent. And then there were the winemaker changes due to Romanâs death in 2004. I donât know what people would say has been Laurentâs very best MSD from the last 15 years. I thought the 2020 MSD VV had good raw materials, but seemed destined for needing 15+ more years of rest.
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I think Lignier MSD 1er VV is one of the best 1er in burgundy, and with age itâs absolutely phenomenal, only a step behind the CDLR
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The 19 is killer
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