We had a nice tasting with a very loose theme of (bio)dynamic ladies and their wines:
Lemaire Fournier Vouvray Sec "L'Oreille" 2002 was a great starter: a nose full of hay and wax and minerals; elegant mousse, full bodied yet acidic and mineral palate.
Francoise Bedel "Entre Ciel et Terre" Champagne Brut NV is apparently Pinot Meunier for the most part (or wholly in some other sources). It has a very sweet nose, very floral and starter out rather oaky. The palate is ripe and earthy, nicely rustic. But I did prefer the Vouvray.
Domaine d'Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Auxey-Duresses 2004 started out full of pop-corn, but gladly soon calmed down into a bright, lemon-curd like, full bodied yet refreshing wine. There is much oak in it, yet oddly enough it didn't annoy me very much. A very impressive wine, but not my style.
Domaine d'Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Meursault Les Narvaux 2004 had bitter oak and nuts on the nose. The palate was enoromous, supremely intense, very oaky, very weighty and full bodied. Impressive, but too much for me.
Domaine Leroy Nuits-St-Georges "Les Boudots" 2000 (bottle 11 of 3508 - three cheers for geeky little details) was quite a lovable wine in some respects: it had lots of iron and mineral scents, lovely pinosity, rather masculine and brooding despite being open aromatically. The palate was full bodied and had much sweet fruit which wasn't quite as elegant or red toned as I would have hoped. If served blind, I would have said Oregon rather than Burgundy. Nice wine, though.
Domaine Leroy Nuits-St-Georges "Les Boudots" 2001 (bottle 79 of 2103) was a really lovely wine with elegant, red toned fruit, not only with great pinosity but truly Burgundian. The palate was well delineated, elegant yet full bodied, acidic and the aftertaste was like the cliché of the peacock's tail. Lovely.
Domaine Leroy Nuits-St-Georges "Les Boudots" 2002 (bottle 51 of 2121) was concentrated, sugary-sweet in its fruit, darker toned. The palate was also full bodied and sugary, but with plentiful Pinosity. It seemed perhaps more like a great NZ pinot than Burgundy. Nice wine, though.
These were my first tastes of Leroy and though they were really good wines, apart from the 2001, I didn't find them really to speak of Burgundy to me. This is probably more my inexperience than anything else. The noses of the wines didn't seem to have the nervosity and refreshing qualities I hope to see in Burgundy and perhaps lacked a bit of vivacity. I did like them, but even if I had the money to buy these, I would spend my money with other producers in Burgundy. I do wonder what Burgundy lovers think of this property?
And then we had a few fully blind wines while "cleaning-up"
Kurni 2003 (Marche, Montepulciano) was absolutely vile - banana bread nose, massive oak, extraordinary concentration and extraction. Impressive, but for all the wrong reasons. I can understand the appeal of this for some people: in a perverted way this was balanced in that nothing sticked out (not alcohol, not structure) but the whole was just something that made me gag. Most others at the table enjoyed it.
Michel Niellon Chassagne-Montrachet 2005 was quite a charming wine for my funny tastes: brett (it was like Musar Blanc or Cantillon's Gueuze - yum!), nuts, citrus, chalk - a bit Chablis-like except more oak influence and an animal character also. Full bodied palate, but nice acidity - much more so than I expected to find in an '05 -, long and refreshing and with true personality. I liked this quite a bit.
Domaine Richaud Terre d'Aigues Côtes du Rhône Rouge 2006 was sweet, red toned, berried - it was bright and seemed very natural and unforced. The palate was sweet and though simple, it was pleasantly structured and again seemed very unforced. I rarely enjoy S. Rhones because of their sweetness, but this did charm me to some extent. I wouldn't mind coming across this wine again.
-Otto-