08`Legras & Haas BdB, Girardin Corton,Dublere Volnay, lots of Guigals incl Hermitage, Vieux Telegraphe,St. Joseph

A good friend and his wife co-hosted a presentation for a local charity organisation at their home recently and in addition to serving some good appetisers and home made pizzas, opened some nice wines along with a few that were bought by some of us attending.

My friend is the recently anointed rep for E. Guigal in the US although he has informally occupied that portion for a few years. So, he opened a plethora of goodies from his stash which includes cases of La Las as well which he has graciously shared on numerous previous occasions. We drank some good wines that included:

2008 LEGRAS & HAAS BLANC de BLANC BRUT- Magnum; made from Grand Cru Chardonnay from Chouilly; this luscious wine was rich and full bodied with lots of depth and complexity to provide a complete sensory, mouth filing experience; its very robust and yet has some tameness that adds a degree of elegance; a creamy lemon orange prevails along with a streak of lively acidity; although quite young, it’s drinking extremely well now and can be counted on for holding up for a few decades especially in magnum format.

2013 OTTELLA LA CREETE {VINEYARD} LUGANA LOMBARDY- 100% Turbiano AKA Trebbiano in this case, Trebbiano di Lugana; straw yellow color; lots of tropical fruit in the nose along with grapefruit and minerals; everything continues on to the back end while being delivered in a smooth medium with the minerality being most prominent; its fairly dry, mild and was very refreshing with a good chill on it on a warm, sunny day such as we had.

2017 E. GUIGAL CHATEAU de NALYS BLANC CHATEAUNEUF du PAPE- Magnum; lovely nose of white flowers and fresh citrus fruit early on backed up by more specific tangerine, minerals and pear notes; from mid palate on, the most prominent taste was the tangerine notes; it was served with a good chill and as such was very crisp and refreshing as was the Ottella before it.

2002 VINCENT GIRARDIN CORTON-RENARDES GRAND CRU- although this was brought by another friend, I’ve had numerous wines from this producer from the early 2000s on as their whites and reds have provided such an incredible QPR almost across the board; this shined ever so brightly with mature dark fruit in the nose and more specifically, red and black cherry and black raspberry in the taste profile along with a perfectly intertwined spicy accent; it was soft and easy on the palate and nicely balanced; I loved it and kept going back for another taste until I discovered the next wine had just been opened.

2009 DOMAINE DUBLERE les PITURES 1er Cru VOLNAY- Magnum; violets and red rose petals are first noticed in the aromatics, then ripe red plum and red cherry breaks through and a nice streak of spice and cinnamon blends in; it had wonderful feel, was seamless and had a long, satisfying finish that begged for more tastes and I obliged until the next wine was opened.

2006 DOMAINE du VIEUX TELEGRAPHE “LA CRAU” CHATEAUNEUF du PAPE- 65% Grenache, 15% Mourvèdre, 15% Syrah, 5% Cinsault, all La Crau sourced; great wine here with such an inviting nose of spice, white pepper, fennel and smoke accents to the black currant, black raspberry and blueberry fruit; this is full bodied and yet very easy on the palate; the flavor profile kept on changing and each phase was more delightful than the last one.

2003 E. GUIGAL HERMITAGE- this had lightly spiced peppery violets, plums, blueberries and and a hint of licorice which provided lots of taste treat pleasures; the fruit was mature and in balance in this full bodied beauty that showcased how well this producer can make good wine in difficult vintages.

2008 E. GUIGAL VIGNES de L`HOSPICE SAINT-JOSEPH- this was loaded with white pepper, thanks to 20% stem inclusion accompanied by violets and a bit of spice all the way through and being a big fan of that pronounced pepper note, I loved it; some lead pencil infused black currant also joined in and we have another winner coming from the Guigal house from a difficult vintage; the fruit for this wine comes from a vineyard directly across from Hermitage and planted on the same rock formation, located just above the town of Tournon.

There were more treasures opened, but I decided to just enjoy the pepper and spice taste in my mouth and leave it at that.

Cheers,
Blake

Do you think the 2006 DOMAINE du VIEUX TELEGRAPHE “LA CRAU” CHATEAUNEUF du PAPE is past it’s peak? Cellartracker TN seem to indicate this, but they’re also all over the map in the last 10 months. FWI Avg. score is a 91. I just bought a Magnum of this wine and hoping I didn’t make a mistake.

Dave, this wine has many years to go before reaching its apogee IMHO especially in magnum format. I`d decant it for a a few hours and allow it to evolve even moreso based upon this experience. I think you’ll be happy with your purchase.

Thanks Blake, I appreciate the response. That was quite the flight, thank you for your TN’s.

If you’re a fan of CdP’s, I recently opened a magnum of 2016 Janasse and even though it’s very young, I was surprised at how well it was drinking. Very complex and well balanced. I will rest the remainder of my stash and look forward to even brighter days with that wine.

and right back at you for the 16` Janasse CdP rec- I’m looking for it.

I am a big fan of Blair’s wines, but have generally liked his Taillipieds more than his Pitures. Thanks for the note.

FWIW (just to calm you) I had the 1986 VT a few weeks ago - not an excellent vintage, certainly weaker than 2006 - and the wine was still fine and singing (not great - which is not to be exspect from this rather lighter vintage, but still really enjoyable).