August 12th saw a number of Boston wine and poker enthusiasts gathered in Scituate, where Tom Bu showed us all how to use the power of the big stack. His prize is the opportunity to have us all descend upon his place next month to take our stab at revenge.
Wines were served entirely blind in flights of two. We broke for food and enjoyed another flight of two wines, which were not served blind.
2000 La Pousse d’Or Volnay En Caillerets Clos de 60 Ouvrees 1er Cru . The nose leaves little doubt in my mind that this is a Burgundy. The enticing nose gains depth with each swirl, offering crushed raspberries, pine bark, mulling spices and a soft hint of autumn leaves. In the mouth, it has decent weight and a softly knit but appealingly solid texture. Flavors of darker red berries and spices yield to pillowy tannins that come in on the warming finish. This is drinking quite well right now.
2000 Frederic Magnien Chapelle Chambertin Grand Cru. The nose here is darker and more masculine than the first wine. It sports some animal fur, red currant, black cherry and persimmon notes. On the palate, it is finer-grained and more tightly woven all around than the first wine. It is nicely mouth-filling and generous despite this. The fruit is still a tad primary and serious, and there is a spicy, woody finish with a fair amount of tannin, suggesting that this is perhaps a younger wine or one meant for longer aging.
2004 Mendel Malbec Mendoza. Whoa, what a change of pace this flight is! And I have absolutely no idea what we are tasting here. To begin, both of the wines in this flight are dark purple colored. In the case of this particular offering, the nose reminds me of bike tires, motor oil, smoke, nettles and some black cherry. Not really my cup of tea at all. In the mouth, it is big and fruity with a big hit of alcoholic warmth and notes of bitter chocolate and cherry syrup. It is actually pretty nicely textured without overly ponderous weight, but it is a bit jumbled and showing just too much heat for me right now.
2004 Catena Zepata Malbec Catena Alta Mendoza. This wine has a decidedly nicer bouquet than its flight-mate, offering up a sexy nose of eucalyptus, incense, spice rack and rich plum. In the mouth, there is a shot of oak and a ton of spices and then some molten chocolate and mixed dark fruit—all showing very good persistence on a very big, broad frame. It is not chunky or blousy, but I would still label it as approaching the extreme side in terms of extract and body. It finishes with yet more spice and a hint of warming alcohol.
We then broke for some food and enjoyed another duo of 2000 Burgundies (not blind).
2000 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Volnay Santenots du Milieu 1er Cru. There is a nice sappy quality to this fine offering, both on the nose and on the palate. The nose features cherry and red berry fruits and notes of foresty greens. In the mouth, it has excellent delineation, outstanding balance and a sense of masculine refinement. There are some flavors of fresh cherry and currants to go along with milk chocolate. The finish is finely textured, moderately long and quite clean.
2000 Albert Morot Savigny les Beaune La Bataillere aux Vergelesses 1er Cru. All 4 of the 2000 Burgs we sampled this day had very appealing bouquets, and this one featured velvety crushed red berries, framboise and earthy moss aromas. It is mid-weight on the palate, with sappy red fruit and a good dose of spices. The tannins are refined and the package overall is nicely balanced.
Back to the blind wines:
2005 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape. Now we are back to the dark purple-colored wines. This one has a very powerful, penetrating nose of deep blue fruit, but also a distracting note of industrialized rubber. It is absolutely intense in the mouth, with sweet, almost port-like fruit. It just paints the tongue, and while full-bodied, it does not come across as too heavy. It shows great length in the mid-palate before huge tannins and a shot of heat come in to mar the finish. Whatever this is, it has a lot of potential and needs time, but is drinking too young for me right now.
2005 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Mon Aieul. Aromas of sweet plums, milk chocolate, coffee, deep incense, herbs and lavendar make for a complex, rich and appealing nose. This is much more to my liking than the previous bouquet. In the mouth, there are sweet blue fruits and some brambly berry elements that mesh together with fine grained, but slightly drying oak. The tannins are definitely there, but are rather fine. Some alcohol is evident but is not too distracting—indeed this feels pretty well balanced. Again, though, like the previous wine, this needs some serious time and should be awesome down the line. A number of us were pretty surprised when these were revealed—I don’t think anybody had suspected Chateauneufs du Pape, though in retrospect perhaps that lavender note should have given me more of a clue.
2001 Sportoletti Umbria Rosso Villa Fidelia. The last flight was really excellent. This first wine of the flight immediately says Bordeaux blend to me, with blackcurrant, caramel, coffee bean, sweet smoke, cassis and a hint of evergreen on the nose. It is luscious but classically structured in the mouth, with full body and an excellent sense of balance. Still, it is quite approachable, giving me a warm, fuzzy feeling. There is a nice layering to the fruit and a spicy, long-lasting finish sporting chalky tannins suggesting a good long life ahead. I am not thinking Bordeaux, but I still am thinking Cab/Merlot.
2001 Chateau Troplong Mondot Saint Emilion. Mixed berries, a very strong mocha/coffee note, black pepper and peppermint combine for a very cool and serious nose with a sense of fine breeding. It is dark fruited and somewhat chewy in the mouth, displaying very good depth to go with big plush tannins. It displays nice juiciness and good length, but those tannins are a bit drying right now. This needs some time to settle down, but the potential seems obvious.
Final tallies for wines of the afternoon:
2000 La Pousse d’Or Volnay: 13 points (3 first, 1 second, 2 third place votes)
2000 Comtes Lafon Volnay: 13 points (3 firsts, 2 second place votes)
2001 Troplong Mondot: 8 points (2 first, 2 second place votes)
2001 Sportoletti: 4 points (1 second, 2 third place votes)
2004 Catena Alta: 4 points (2 second place votes)
2005 Usseglio Mon Aieul: 2 points (2 third place votes)
2005 Clos des Papes: 1 point (1 third place vote)
Overall, it was another great Sunday afternoon of poker and wine. If Gagne had not been so brutally awful in relief for the Sox, it would have been a perfect day.
-Michael