Last month, our regular poker game was at Peter’s house, with the wines supplied by him. We knew going in to expect a fair dose of Champagne and Burgundy, but all wines were served blind, so you never know!
Starters (not blind):
2007 Schramsberg Vineyards Blanc de Blancs Brut California. Our first starter wine of the day smells of flint, toasted lemon peel, herbs and toasted bread. In the mouth, it is fresh and gently-lifted, with tangy citrus, green and red apple flavors that have solid definition and length. It is a little rounded out through the middle, but otherwise I find it direct and refreshing.
2009 Weingut Josef Leitz Rudesheimer Klosterlay Riesling Kabinett. This bouquet is fairly rich but classy—with plenty of chalk, slate, apple and white peach aromas playing out against a containing backdrop of stainless steel. In the mouth, it is sweeter than the aromas might suggest, but still well within expectations for this producer. It is a bit thick in weight and youthful in its fleshy intensity but full of very nice peach juice, nectarine, baked apple and brown spice flavors that just need a bit of time to take on more nuances, I think.
2007 Domaine Jean-Marc Morey Santenay 1er Cru Grand Clos Rousseau. This is rather expressive on the nose for such a young red Burgundy—full of slightly candied but open and giving aromas of bright raspberry and cherry fruit, along with notes of licorice rope and sous bois foresty scents. In the mouth, it is much the same—kind of on the candied side but full of promising licorice rope, strawberry and raspberry flavors with bright acidity and lifted freshness. It isn’t the deepest wine, but it ought to be a nice medium-term drinker, for sure.
Champagnes (blind):
2002 Bernard Hatte Champagne Special Club. I find the nose of this first wine to be sort of nutty in nature, coming across as perhaps more aged than it is. It features aromas of almond slivers, graham crackers, ginger ale, baking spices, baked apples and toasted citrus peels. In the mouth, it is full of ginger ale, nougat, crushed nut and peach pit flavors that are full and vivacious, with good energy and intensity and a dry finishing kick. It is an interesting mix of youthful drive and a more aged flavor profile.
2000 Pierre Gimonnet Champagne Special Club 1er Cru Brut. This is a much more elegant wine, with lots of graphite, chalk, citrus and tree fruit aromas that are rather pretty, fresh and airy-fine. In the mouth, it has a lacy, frothy elegance and a fresh, driven undercurrent that gives it a cool, taut feel. Lots of mineral, smoke, citrus, apple and pear flavors are dry, focused and fine. I like this a lot and would be happy to stash some away, too.
Red wines (blind):
2002 Louis Jadot Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode. Aromas of old cracked leather, persimmon, baked cherry, cassis, pencil shavings and exotic spices get better and better the longer one stays with the very appealing bouquet of this wine. In the mouth, it delivers plenty of sappy red cherry and cassis flavors surrounded by aged leather and earth notes. It has a plump and giving core but also a taut, acidic streak all the way through it that lends the finish a rather dry character. It is young and strident but already showing some fine secondary nuances that I find quite appealing. It is really well done.
2009 Jean-Marc Burgaud Morgon Cote du Py. This is something quite different—smelling kind of simple and grapey—with tutti frutti, granite, chocolate paste and wood shop aromas that don’t do much for me. In the mouth, it is very smooth and actually has a nicely-woven textured feel to it. And after the nose, I’m also surprised to find a surprisingly strong bolt of acidity in there to help carry along the pasty blueberry and plum fruit flavors. It definitely projects a very young profile, aided also by the raw oak and woody tannins hanging around on the finish. There isn’t a whole lot of nuance here and I suspect it will take a few years before I’d be ready to give it another whirl.
2006 Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg Vosne Romanee. This wine has a much lighter color to it and features an autumnal bouquet redolent of dried leaves, light mulling spices, chalk dust and pure red cherry aromas that are light, fresh and airy. In the mouth, it is on the light and slightly crunchy side, but has no shortage of red berry and bright cherry fruit to it. Some chalk and soft oak notes add a bit of sweetness running beneath but otherwise this is a lighter-bodied, pure and fresh bottle of pinot that can be enjoyed over the short to medium-term, I suspect.
2003 Louis Jadot Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. Boy, I really like this wine right from the start, beginning with its full and characterful aromatics of horse stable, leather, tobacco leaf, tilled earth, bacon fat, toasted stem, brick dust, chocolate and exotic spices galore. In the mouth, it is fairly full-blown, slinky and sexified. It is kind of thick-legged but not fudgy or over-done at all. It seems sort of internationally-styled but still has a wonderful sense of leathery earthen quality below the spiced up blast of blackberry and black cherry fruit. When all was said and done, this was my favorite wine of the day purely for current drinking pleasure.
1999 Nicolas Potel Clos Vougeot Grand Cru. There is a very nice density of aroma here, with a serious yet finely-honed quality to the thick red cherry, chocolate paste, leather, tobacco and dry earth aromas that lift up out of the glass. It is rather striking on the palate—with an intense spiciness allied to lovely dark cherry and purple berry fruit. It seems wiry and ropy in texture, with serious dark earth undertones and an awesome sense of inner strength. There is a bit of oak and some tannin in play, too, so I would definitely be happy to cellar this, but I also really enjoy it right now. I had it as my second-favorite wine of the day.
1999 Bouchard Pere et Fils Corton Le Corton Grand Cru. Quite sadly, this bottle was CORKED.
2000 Nicolas Potel Latricieres-Chambertin Grand Cru. There’s a lot going on with the bouquet of this wine, though a lot of it seems to play out at a surface level—as aromas of sweaty funk, toasted grape stems, campfire embers, birch beer, sassafras, pencil shavings and leather battle with brambly berry and maraschino cherry fruit scents. In the mouth, it is bigger and certainly deeper than the nose would seem to suggest—with a rich and fleshy cranberry and cherry profile that is impressive in its degree of presence and drive. There’s also solid structure and a pretty inner mouth perfume of dried red flowers that nicely round out this fine wine.
2001 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques. This bouquet is serious and lithe, with a beautiful core of sweet sexy fruit allied to fine notes of lead pencil, dying campfire embers, menthol, jalapeno pepper and dry earth. In the mouth, it is impressively-structured and finely-bred, with a driven character that makes one take note. It is slinky and wiry with a fine cut of acidity—seemingly without a single note out of place. Red berries, red cherry, light chocolate, meat, earth and citric tang flavors are definitely young but already showing some very enjoyable but adolescent complexity. I think this might need about 5-7 years to really shine, but there is outstanding presence and character here already.
2002 Jones Family Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. Now it seems we’ve moved into a Cabernet flight, as this wine is quite dark in color and giving off heavy aromas of blackcurrants, plums, scorched earth and lead pencil. In the mouth, it is rather thick-textured and dense—with date, blackcurrant and blackberry fruit leading the way and accented by toasted oak barrel spices. Slivers of alcohol poke through here and there and the tannins are rather chewy in nature, so I would definitely hold off on this.
2004 Clos l’Eglise Pomerol. This is a very dense-smelling wine full of jammy blue and black fruits, toasted stems, spicy oak and a rubber note I don’t care for at all. In the mouth, it is brutally young, almost undrinkably so. It is pasty, dense and primary—with overwhelming tannins and raw oak splinters. I have some of this in the cellar for my kids’ birth year and was worried it wouldn’t hold until they’re able to drink it, but I’m no longer concerned. And it will be easy to keep my hands off it until then, I suspect.
After hours:
1989 Chateau Soucherie Coteaux du Layon Chaume. This is a beautiful golden color and projects a very nice bouquet of lemon peel, paraffin, wool, peach pit and caramel aromas. It isn’t too thick or heavy on the palate, though there is an oily feel to the texture. It flows quite nicely and the flavors of poached pear, peach, apricot, wool and lemon peel are drinking very well right now.
-Michael