December 2016 Leo's Blind Wine dinner

It was my turn to host again this month, a long time coming.

I’ll post the wines with a few notes, hopefully other people can chime in as well.


A special shout out to the wonderful people at North End Grill whose exemplary service made the evening go like clockwork. Food was great too.


2010 Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs - everyone guessed Champagne and honestly I would have also. My first English sparkling wine this had bright fruit, a touch of lemon citrus, a lovely chalky finish and a smooth mousse. Hand carried back from London I’d buy again if it was a little easier to source. Easily competes with NV Champagnes at the same price point (app. $45)

Next up was a flight of Loire whites from the superb 2014 vintage.

2014 M. Ollivier Clos des Briords Muscadet - minerally, intense, delicious. A surprisingly bad match with the oysters. At least half the table guessed Muscadet.
2014 Tue Boeuf Brin de Chevre - surprisingly, no one guessed menu pineau . Delicious wine with an intense exotic nose.
2014 Francois Pinon Vouvray ‘Trois Argiles’ - even after a 2 hour decant this showed noticeable sulphur on the nose which gradually lifted in the glass displaying the usual off dry delightful fruit. Showed a bit sweeter than I remember the last bottle and I think it’s starting to shut down a bit. Still a favorite for several people.

I can now take credit for being the first person to serve a still rose flight at one of these dinners. I had tried to source a Valentini for this but no luck.

2014 Clos Roche Blanche Rose - I loved this wine (as I always do) though I think I was almost alone in this adoration. No one guessed pineau d’aunis
2012 Brooks Rose - Tasty wine but it isn’t developing in the direction I had hoped when I first bought it. It’s lost its initial firm minerality and is displaying softer fruit. Time to drink up.
2010 Francois Cotat Rose - decanted for 3 hours it was still opening in the glass over the course of the evening. Universal favorite of the flight and for several of us one of the top wines of the night.

1998 Chevillon NSG ‘Vaucrains’ - corked. One of many 1998s that I picked up for a song when the 1999s were released. Which means I paid for storage on this corked bottle for about 15 years. While most of us felt there was something off about the bottle it wasn’t until the end of the evening that the TCA became really apparent.
1997 Gouges NSG ‘Vaucrains’ - still tannic but still one of those rare Gouges which is ready to drink
1991 Lucien Boillot NSG ‘Pruliers’ - delicious, complex, layered, fully mature Nuits.

1999 Texier Cote Rotie - beautiful floral aromatics, delicious sweetish fruit. Suffered by being followed by the
1999 Verset Cornas - Wonderful, complex, amazing wine. WOTN for most
1999 Allemand Cornas ‘Chaillots’ - following closely behind this was more tightly knit and pure.

1988 Chateau Climens - showing remarkably youthful, it’s was an archetype of the Climens style of elegant sweetness. Half hour decant had it in a perfect place.
2000 Trimbach Gewurtztraminer SGN “Hors Choix” - this has lost the gewurtz typicity that it had in its youth but had the most remarkable tropical fruit nose and a flamboyant palate that was a rich delight.

Sounds like a great night, Jay. Thanks.

Interesting that you had good luck with the '99 Chaillot. A bottle I opened a few months ago was marred to excessive reduction that didn’t blow off. I gather from the responses to my posting on it that there is a lot of bottle variation.

Way to throw a blind wine dinner, Jay!

Agree 100% with your comment on the superb 2014 Loire. I’ve started drinking a few 2015’s and the 2014’s are still a class ahead.

Briords a bad match with oysters, who would have thought this possible?
What kind of oysters?

I have a bottle of the 99 Texier CR left, sounds like it’s ready to drink.
Thanks for the notes.

Great dinner, Jay. I’ve been putting in notes on CT throughout the day when I have a few mins here and there so I will post my notes as I get to them. Here are a few. I swear I’m not like the CT spammer who scores everything he likes with 95 points! These were just that good and thus the first ones I wanted to get notes down for, and among my highest scores for the year.

The Verset:
I WROTE:
(95 points)
December 6, 2016 - Great traditional Northern Rhone typicity here, with green herb and olive aromas here with an interesting bitter tobacco smoke note that distinguished this from the Allemand Chaillot poured next to it. Palate is quite resolved with ample acidity, which made me come back again and again for another sip. While I preferred the Allemand by a bit in the beginning, both wines evolved over the course of an hour plus and this might have been showing better than the Allemand by the dinner’s end. Lighter and less powerful style than the Allemand but really a lovely wine and given its rarity I’m very grateful to our host for this wonderful first glimpse at Noel Verset’s wines.

The Allemand:

December 6, 2016 - Tasted blind, the recognizably clear impression of herbs, garrigue and black olive led me to guess that this was an Allemand Cornas. On the palate, this had intensity to the fruit and nervy, even pungent acid. Great wine out of the gates, though by evening’s end the Verset poured next to it was showing more harmoniously, I believe this wine will show more improvement in the coming years. 94+ with room on the upside.

The Climens:
I WROTE:
(95 points)
December 6, 2016 - Served blind from a remarkably well-preserved bottle, this hardly showed any of its age. Lovely nose of honeysuckle and other florals, mixed with marzipan and sweet fruits, giving an overall light impression. On the palate, subtle for a sweet wine with just the right generosity of sweetness. Captivating.

The Trimbach

Just a lovely nose of Earl Grey tea with honey. Complex and delicious on the palate. Full-flavored on the palate to be sure, but not cloying. Wonderful stuff.

The Texier is in a wonderful place right now. Beautiful wine, just suffered a little in comparison.

Jay, I have a couple of bottles of the Trimbach. While I assumed it would benefit from more age, it sounds like it is ready, or close to ready now.

that was my impression, yes. Though certainly no danger in keeping it longer.

This was my last of 3 or 4 bottles I bought on release.

It turns out that the old Puffeney Poulsard "M"s drop all their color [phenols?] after five or ten years, and they drink great when served as powerful chilled roses with beef dishes for outdoor meals.

For anyone who still has Puffeney Poulsard "M"s in the cave.

Thanks for the Hors Choix note. I have been wondering when to open mine, and might do it soon!