Last week our 6 person tasting group began our second rotation of monthly wine dinners with yours truly providing all the wine for the occasion (as is our normal practice). I decided to revisit the restaurant, one of our group’s members, Lyndsay, likes so much and chose for her wine night last month. I’m glad we did, at the last minute, given access to one of Courgette’s private dining rooms (in this case, their cellar) which offered extremely good ambiance and the convenience such an arrangement allows. The food was universally very, very good indeed.
The Wines
1997 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Spätlese - apple skin and kaffir leaf on the nose with nectarine and redcurrant fleshing out the palate. Acid not as well-defined & slatey as the last bottle I opened (very recently) but still a nice start to the night. 90
1996 Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs - stunning example. From the magnificent complexity of the bouquet to a simply awesome palate, this is the best bottle I’ve opened over many years of cellaring. The power, balance, line and length of this wine was nothing short of exceptional. 95
2000 Louis Carillon Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Les Perrieres” - my concerns aout this wine being premoxed were unfounded. Beautiful bright light yellow gold colour, superb aromatics of stone fruit surrounded with elegant and ethereal barrel ferment complexity of butter, struck match and butterscotch followed by a lively palate of similarly great substance, expansive mouth feel and wonderful carry. A truly memorable chardonnay of the first order. 94
1999 Dugat-Py Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes - this heavily wooded village wine revealed bucket loads of extractive meaty/sappy fruit to counter some serious, masculine structure. I very much enjoyed it, especially the voluptuous oak spice and sap on the nose. Will last for another decade or more. A big style of pinot, especially for a village. 90
1999 Frederic Esmonin “Ruchottes-Chambertin” Grand Cru 1999 - displayed a more feminine, elegant persona with the most sexy raspberry fruit at first which gave way, after quite a long time sitting in the glass, to first class aromas and flavours of truffle and ripe black fruit with subtle but authoritative spicy oak backing. This wine glided through the mouth with such aplomb and was blessed with perfectly matched lacy tannins, bright but complimentary acidity and a silky smooth finish of some considerable duration. A clear step up in class from the four-squareness of the Dugat- Py. 93
1983 J.L. Chave Hermitage Rouge - although drinking much “older” and not as mind-blowing as my last bottle opened some 18 months ago, this wine excelled for its ability to continue to grow and evolve in the glass. Although almost totally devoid of primary fruit, this cracker of a wine displayed terrific mature tertiary characters of leather, sweet earth and cherry liqueur with a whole host of other touches of nuance to keep you interested and guessing as to what would show next. Extremely smooth and long in the mouth with resolved acidity but still some grip from a robust tannin regime. Ever so slightly starting to dry out but I thought it excellent/outstanding all the same. 91
Chamber’s Rosewood Vineyards Special Liqueur Tokay - an amazing ancient colour with dark mahogany and khaki telltaling this fortified’s considerable age. Almost antique aromas, urgently in need of freshening but still otherworldly, reeking of old books, creme brule’ and toffee with traces of VA, old dusty wood, creosote and old tea chests. Thick and creamy palate of remarkable richness and thick syrupy texture with lashings of alcohol on a quite astringent finish. 91