A recent dinner out with friends visiting from LA included the following wines:
2006 CHAMPAGNE de VENOGE LOUIS XV BRUT ROSE- I’ve seen this very unusual shaped bottle on shelves in wine shops a few times and often wondered what was in the bottle and could it merit the high price tag affixed to it? A rare opportunity came up for me to purchase a couple of bottles of this rose plus a 95 and 96 Brut and i did so; this was the second of the 2 roses and I was happy to find it had consistent notes with the first one which was stupendous; in an effort to please, the nose was initially pretty serious being full on, bold and flamboyant, but in short time, it mellowed out and gave generous but not overwhelming spicy bright red fruit which on the palate translated into strawberry and red cherry with some noticeable apricot blending in; it had a creamy mousse and was in amazing balance from the nose through the tail; later on, it was even better with more richness and more body, thus providing even more pleasure. The contents deserved the remarkable bottle shape.
2014 FERNAND & LAURENT PILLOT VIDE BOURSE 1er Cru CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET- from the father and son team comes this lovely effort that offered lots of splendid attributes throughout; the nose had inviting spicy citrus fruit with a hint of oak and minerals; the predominate flavors included lemon, lime, apple and pear all with a spicy undertone; it had an oily like texture, layered depth and a welcomed long finish; it just got better and better in the glass; I understand this is quite reasonably priced and therefore it does not live up to one of the translations of the vineyard name, Vide Bourse, which can mean either ‘empty purse’ or ‘purse-emptier’, depending on which version of its history is being referred to.
1997 WILLIAMS SELYEM ALLEN VINEYARD RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY PINOT NOIR- just had to pull another one of these gems off the rack especially since our extremely wine knowledgable guest had not had one; as expected, it shined ever so brightly; the fill was almost to the cork as was Burt`s MO to do so; the color was a cinnamon red and lo and behold a hit of cinnamon joins in with some spice to provide accents to the strawberry and red cherry fruit in the nose and taste; it was medium bodied and as with so many other of these stellar Pinots, has lots of pleasure to offer now with promises to do so for many more years to come.
Cheers,
Blake