DINNER WITH THE ST. LOUIS CROWD ET AL. - St. Louis, MO (11/10/2017)
So nice to finally put some faces to names. Thank you so much to the St. Louis crowd for having us over and setting up a great dinner at Vicia!
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1986 Maison Leroy Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
Some of these older Leroy whites are amazing. This was one of them. The nose showed a little bit of aniseed and other dried green spices, as well as some sweetness that didn’t strike me as from fruit. The palate was very similar, with a rich texture but cut with some good acidity as well. Fully mature and good to go now. (93 pts.) -
1988 Alain Robert Champagne Blanc de Blancs Reserve Le Mesnil - France, Champagne
From magnum. This was a little lacking in fizz but more than made up for it with its lean, mineral profile. The acidity was incredibly fresh, and if it weren’t for some mushroom and secondary characteristics, I would have guessed this to be a fair bit younger (1996?). At the end of the day, this tasted a bit more like a medium-aged white Burgundy with a splash of bubbles. (93 pts.) -
1992 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
This has got to be one of the best low-acid white wines I’ve ever had. On opening, this was heavy and rich and laden with botrytis and honeyed notes, but somehow there was enough extract and raw material to hold everything together (to the point that this seemed bitter, though it certainly was not). There were some elements here that also reminded me of a sauternes. It picked up a bit of acidity with air, but over the course of the dinner, became more and more caramelly. (93 pts.) -
2010 Jean-Marc Roulot Meursault 1er Cru - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
A fairly good wine in its own right, this doesn’t have the steely power of the domaine wines (this was in barrels by the time the domaine bought the Bouchères vineyard and the 2010 juice). A little more oak than I’m accustomed to in a Roulot wine, but this is certainly aided by the vintage, giving this a nice ripeness and really good acidic freshness. The minerality (or is it just plain reduction) that I’ve had in the Bouchères isn’t as present here, either. (93 pts.) -
2011 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Rougeots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault
Yay, Coche! I’m not really sure what the point of tasting notes on young Coche are anymore. Coche tastes like Coche. I suppose the differentiation comes from how much extraction and Coche-ness you can pack into a single 750 ml bottle. Here, the answer is quite a bit. From what I remember versus the 2011 Meursault, this is a much more concentrated and dense wine, and shows more focus and linearity. (93 pts.) -
2009 Weingut Keller Riesling G-Max - Germany, Rheinhessen
Yeah, “dry” riesling doesn’t get better than this. It’s impossible in my mind to see how this wine could be improved upon. The nose shows a complex mix of green herbs and fruits, in a kaleidoscopic array. Clean and pure, with immense concentration and extract, but light and elegant from the acidity and minerality, all of this is amped up like crazy but somehow still in perfect balance. The fruit here is hardly delicate, rather, it is rich and generous. The finish, persistent and long. (93 pts.) -
2002 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru
#00513. There’s a nice bit of crunchy red fruit on the nose here, as well as a really intoxicating bit of brown spice on the nose. At least on the nose, the red fruit is uncharacteristically (for my conception of the vintage) lean. The palate however, is nowhere as good. This is a bit muddled and stewy, and shows a little more age on it than it should. Fairly good power and concentration, as would be expected, but this lacks any freshness for such a (relatively) young wine. (93 pts.) -
1988 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
#02407. The nose shows a bit of funky earthiness, but again, this is primarily a red-fruited wine. There is a bit of a sappiness or confected quality to the fruit here, which seems more odd once you have to couple it with the relatively thin palate. There seems to be a bit too much acidity here and not enough fruit concentration to round it out. A bit lean and structural, this is very much in line with my other experiences of the 1988 vintage. (93 pts.) -
2001 Thierry Allemand Cornas Sans Soufre - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
The nose here is all smoke and smoked meat but at the same time there is a sweetness from the black raspberries. Very clean, this doesn’t have any barnyard or funky aromas. This actually feels a little younger than 2001 as well, what with its primary fruit and all. The palate is stereotypical Cornas, weighty and black, with just enough ferocity to keep you from thinking this is any other region. And yet somehow this still maintains a dignified elegance about it. I’d love to revisit this with more age on it (though it’s definitely sitting comfortably in rule-of-15 range). (93 pts.) -
1988 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
I don’t think that this wine truly escaped the vintage, but it is certainly a great wine anyway. The nose shows lots of spice and almost a little bit of coffee, as well as some light dried fruit aromas. The palate comes off a little rustic – this is clearly a different hand than the young Dujac wines I’ve had. Fairly restrained, there is a touch of sweet fruit here that is very nice. However, this is again a very structured wine, with tons of acidity and tannin (!) still. Better integrated than the 88 DRC Echézeaux. (93 pts.) -
1983 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
At this point, this is a fairly brown wine, in terms of its flavour profile. Autumnal, with plenty of decaying leaves and mushrooms and that sort of stuff. The palate is fairly thin, and while there is still some sweetness in the fruit, there is a slightly chemical taste on the back end that I associate with slightly rotting fruit, which I found slightly off-putting. In the context of a very weak vintage, this was a solid wine, but that’s all I’m prepared to offer. (93 pts.) -
2005 Raymond Trollat St. Joseph - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
A really surprising syrah – this shows so ridiculously young and fresh, I would have guessed this to have been a fair bit younger. Inky dark and concentrated, and unlike any St. Joseph I’ve ever had (with the exception of, surprise, surprise, the Gonon VV). The amount of raw power here is insane. Air brought out some more feral notes, as well as a bit of briny olive character. This needs a lot of time. (93 pts.) -
2006 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
This is the Clos de la Roche equivalent of a shrug emoji (to steal a phrase I read somewhere recently) that reinforces my impressions that Ponsot is an inordinately inconsistent producer (I really do like his 2008s, for what it’s worth). Really ripe but thin at the same time, with an astringency that I’ve never noticed to the best of my recollection in any other 2006 red burgundy. Certainly this suffered in comparison to much more esteemed wines at the table tonight, but I’m not sure by itself this holds much interest to me. An unexciting Burgundy that trades at an inflated price. (93 pts.) -
1998 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
I love this wine. This is very much in the mold of what I think of when I think of great Côte-Rôtie (none of that Guigal nonsense for me, thanks). Ripe and fleshy, with an incredible amount of smoke and meatiness on the nose. The palate is dark-fruited, concentrated, and has many of the same notes from the nose. I love that the smokiness pervades through the finish, and how the silky tannins seem to reinforce the smoke as well. (93 pts.) -
2002 Nicolas Potel Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Gaudichots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
This is a very spicy wine – it seems to show spice from Vosne and from the oak, the treatment with which seems to be a little heavy-handed. A lot more fresh and fruity than the 2002 DRC GE, but not as complex or interesting. A fairly solid wine that seems a bit of a bruiser right now. (93 pts.) -
2013 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
This is easily one of the best young Barolos I’ve ever had. It is cast in a different mold than the 2011 Cappellano (another one of those top wines) in that it is a very light and elegant wine, with an insane amount of floral aromas. The perfume here is maddening. The palate, too, is silky and beguiling, with so many beautiful red fruits. Yes, there are tannins, but they are not too ornery, at least at this stage. I’ll probably have to kill a few more of these young because they’re simply just that good. (93 pts.)
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