I had some wines to pick up from Zachys (it’s kind of cold where we live to get them mailed by UPS) and on noting that their free tasting this last Saturday was including wines I’m never likely to purchase because of their price, I decided to kill the two birds with one stone.
This tasting was being hosted by Don Zacharia himself and at one point he came down to his staff to instruct them (a little too loudly) to “be careful with the pours.” Given the cost of the wines (those that I’ve listed were the day’s sale price), I can understand his reluctance to let us all have more than a mere snifter, but without a decent amount in the glass, it can be almost impossible to get a true aroma, let alone much of an impression on the palate. As a result, the following notes are as short as the pours.
Domaine Leflaive Macon Verze 2007, $32.
Apparently a new property for Leflaive, an opportunity to make a more accessible wine, I found this a little tart and green. Disappointing.
Domaine Dujac Morey St. Denis Blanc 2007, $64,
This is more like it. Some flint and wet stone on the nose, with a lovely creamy apple aroma leading into a perfectly pure texture. Delicate and delicious, refined with just a gentle hint of wood.
Domaine Dujac Chambolle Musigny 2007, $60
Very pale color, a little cherry and smoke, very bright fruit on palate
Domaine Dujac Morey St. Denis 2007, $64
Again, light color. A little more going on on the nose. I prefer this to the Chambolle, it’s rounder, more spicy.
Domaine Dujac Clos St. Denis 2007, $180
And again, extremely light color. Cherry, spice, fine length, mineral, purity, long finish, wonderful wine.
Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino 2004, $80
A clear purple. Get earth, leather, mushroom, truffles on nose and initial palate. A little bitter, but the tannins are soft and the finish in bright. A gorgeous wine only just coming into its own.
Conterno Fantino Barolo Vigna del Gris 2004, $95
Clearer color, almost a Burgundian red with brick already apparent. More of a bitter orange note w/cherry in there too. Very forward. Much more evolved than the Brunello. Quite hard to believe they’re from same vintage. (Albeit from different areas of Italy.)
Sette Ponti Crognolo. 2007, $27.
75% Sangiovese, 25% Cab Sauv & Merlot. Very dark. Lots of wood here. Much bigger than used to from a Sangiovese.
Sette Ponti Oreno, 2007, $88.
75% Cab Sauv, 25% Merlot and Sangiovese. Rich purple color but completely closed. The pourer agreed; this one needed a big glass and a lot of time to reveal itself.
Tenuta san Guido Le Difese 2007, $25.
70%CabS, 30% San. Exlusive to Zachys. A lighter purple, much more going on here than in the Oreno right now. I liked this. One of the more forward wines on display and good value too.
Sassicaia 2006, $180.
85% CS, 15% CF. Deep red purple, ripe black fruits. Deep dark blackcurrant with lots of cedar and vanilla from wood. Very smooth on attack, mid-palate and finish, w/ cedar tannins showing through. I wrote that “I don’t get Italy” from the wine.
Querciabella Camartina 2006, $90.
75% CS, 25% others. Again, getting that vanilla note along with the dark ripe fruit, But there’s a certain Bordeaux-like austerity and complexity to this wine that I didn’t get from the Sassicaia.
Napanook by Dominus 2006, $44
75% CS, 25% CF and Petit Verdot. Very succulent. Nothing to complain about here if you like ‘em big and ripe.
Dominus 2006, $136.
VERY dark, and the fruit is SHOUTING, goes down smoothly, with the wood kept in balance
Dominus 2005, $136.
Fruit a little more muted on this one, but again it goes down well. If this is your style, it’s an excellent wine.
Clos du Marquis St. Julien 2005, $60
(Leoville las-Cases second wine)
Cab dominated of course, quite bright red, very forward, succulent even. Solid attractive Bordeaux
Leoville las Case 2005 $380
Gorgeous purple. Get cedar but also lots of blackcurrant, feels open and inviting. On the palate the fruit is softer, with multiple layers of texture, fruit and tannin. The structure is incredible and the finish is long and alive, positively vibrant. This is already very forward but there is just so much going on in so many ways that I would love to revisit it in decades to come. Of all the wines I tasted today, this is the one that stopped me in its tracks. (I was able to get a second taste, hence the longer note.)
Leoville las Case 2006 $205
Lighter in color than the 05, more forward and fruity. Very appealing right now – probably more so than the 05 - but there appears to be somewhat less in ways of texture and structure. By any other standards, a gorgeous, even exceptional wine.
Lafite-Rothschild 2006, $900.
Deep purple color. The nose was initially muted on this, and it took a hefty amount of swirling (a couple of minutes worth, I wasn’t going to rush it) to get it to open up and deliver some brambly blackcurrant and cherry. It entered very pure, with a light vanilla coating leading to a lovely long though somewhat short finish. My sense was that this needed considerable decanting and a decent pour to truly appreciate it, and that it was wasted in this setting.
A couple of overall comments. I might have been pre-disposed to think as much, but I was sure I saw the greatest concentration of people around the Super Tuscans and Dominus wines, which had very similar concentration and ripeness. I’m always waiting to be wowed by a Cab-dominated Super Tuscan and it’s still yet to happen, though I am sure I would appreciate a Sassicaia at the dinner table the same way I would a Dominus, as long as I wasn’t buying! Why more people weren’t making a bee-line for the Bordeaux surprised me, especially as I correctly guessed that these wines would not continue to be poured through to the announced 4pm closing time.
My other comment is on price. At a time when some of you are giving up your most treasured wines for Haitian fund-raising, at a time when many of us are suffering from the long-term effects of the depression/recession, the thought of spending $100, regularly, on a bottle of wine, let alone $900, is beyond my comprehension (and bank balance), and yet I have to assume that Zachys wouldn’t be opening these bottles unless they assumed their Scarsdale customers could afford them. I love the world of wine, dearly, and I recognize that hand-crafted wines made in limited numbers merit high prices, indeed whatever the market can bear… But too many of the wines on show here were trophy wines. (Though I recognize that Lafite-Rothschild has the history and pedigree, I still believe that the price it charges, considering the considerable quantity available, renders it a “trophy.”) The one exception was the Leoville las Cases 2005 which hinted at the reason that the great Bordeaux wines remain venerated (and expensive).
Otherwise, I have to say that while waiting for my previously ordered sale items to come upstairs at the end of the afternoon, I saw much better reasons to splash out $100-$300 on a bottle of wine here and there, per the upcoming Zachys auction at Daniel. There are some incredible Vouvrays and Moulins wines in the catalogue,
http://www.zachys.com/auctions/Search.aspx?AuctionId=73
wines dating back over 80 years of which there must be precious few left in the world. Buying such a wine would feel like buying a piece of history, a work of art, and hopefully, a once-in-a-liftetime drink. Buying a Sassicaia or a Dominus at $180 (or, to be honest, a Lafite-Rothschild at $900) seems more like a statement of excess wealth.
Cheers!