Tom and Sandy were our gracious hosts for our group’s End of Year tasting and they went crazy preparing all kinds of home-made shumai, maki rolls and shrimp and vegetable tempura galore. Andy supplied a wonderful cheese course and we had delicious desserts, as well. To pair with this bounty, it was determined that we should drink Champagne and Red Burgundies, which turned out to be a perfect choice.
Flight One:
NV Bollinger Champagne Special Cuvee Brut. There are lots of toasty notes on the nose of this wine, with a solid aromatic dose of chopped nuts, toasted bread, baked apple, dark citrus and plum aromas flanked by scents of chalk and pencil shavings. It is muscled, dark and toasty on the palate—with good intensity and a good push from the tree fruit flavors. It lets up a bit in the mid-palate and has some bitter tinges on the finish, but otherwise offers the usual fine Bollinger drinking.
NV H. Billiot Fils Champagne Brut Reserve. The bouquet of this wine is airier and more elegantly-framed, with fine notes of chalk, white pepper, grapefruit, lemon pith and orchard fruit aromas in play. In the mouth, it is fluffy and foamy, with a soft touch but also demonstrating plenty of fresh acidity and lift. And the citrus, chalk, apple, pear and toast flavors have solid concentration throughout the palate journey—finishing with a nice little tickle of spice.
NV Krug Champagne Grande Cuvee Brut. The Krug presents a beautiful nose redolent of toasted bread, dark yeast, ginger ale, flint, lemon peel, pistachio nut and copper pots that hit on a wide range of aroma sensors. In the mouth, it has a fine earthy streak to go with lovely flavors of lemon peel, stones, mushrooms, yeast, apple and darker fruits. It shows off a sort of muscular acidity to go with a taut structure and comes across as having plenty left in the tank. It delivers outstanding drinking right now and was a consensus favorite in this flight.
Flight Two:
1996 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Grand Cuvee. This wine offers up some initial pretty notes of citrus, chalk and copper minerality on the nose, but as it sits in the glass it takes on some additional sherried, caramel-tinged scents that make it seem a bit overly advanced. In the mouth, though, it is airy and clean, with a fine sense of even-knit texture and a welcoming mousse. It somehow doesn’t have the presence or pure elegance of some others, though—almost getting lost a bit in the wash for me. It is pleasant, certainly, but I guess I was hoping for a bit more at this stage of its evolution.
1996 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvee Nicolas-Francois Billecart. On the other hand, this wine really delivers the goods. The nose is absolutely immediate and full of character—coming across as powerful and regal and classy all the way. Aromas of lemon, fine wood, baking spices, yeast and buttery brioche are absolutely lovely and lead to a beautifully vinous wine on the palate that is rather yielding and gently sweet with pliant yellow fruit. It turns increasingly creamy over time and shows classy lift and airy elegance from start to finish. It was my favorite of all the 1996 Champagnes.
Flight Three:
1996 Pol Roger Champagne Extra Cuvee de Reserve Brut. This is another gorgeous Champagne drinking really well at the moment. It has a lovely flinty character on the nose that quickly leads to additional layering in of dark toast, ginger, toasted citrus peel, white peach and graphite aromas that combine into a very appealing package for me. In the mouth, it is quite similar—featuring fine and building flavors of yellow citrus, white peach, kiwi and schist that show outstanding volume and breadth without any sense of ponderous weightiness. It feels quite driven, extremely fresh and just mouthwateringly good all around. It was my second-favorite Champagne and I’m quite glad to have some in the cellar.
1996 Henriot Champagne Brut Millesime. This Champagne is full of vanilla, meringue, lemon peel, yellow apple and lead pencil sorts of aromas that are open and airy and gently lilting. In the mouth, it is fresh and finely-balanced, with solid tree fruit flesh flavors that have good richness and depth and flavor. It is certainly enjoyable and delivers a good dose pleasure, though it just doesn’t seem to set itself apart as much as several of the others in this line-up.
1996 A.R. Lenoble Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut. In a bit of a surprise, I’d have to say that this Champagne has the tightest aromatic profile of all the 1996s, though it slowly unfolds to reveal quite lovely scents of chalk, white flowers, lime zest and graphite over time. In the mouth, it comes across as one of the lightest and airiest of the wines, showing a decided fluffy and puffy kind of profile from start to finish. The fine chalk and citrus flavors dance on the tongue and leave a lovely sense of freshness on the finish. I think just about everyone was surprised at just how well this showed tonight. I don’t know how much longer I’d hold it, but it seems to be at peak right now.
Flight Four:
2003 Bouchard Pere et Fils Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets Ancienne Cuvee Carnot. This rises out of the glass with rich and exotic aromas of incense, fruitcake, warm baked earth, balsa wood, sweet cassis, sweet raspberry and earthy pomegranate fruit. I could see some being put off by the exuberance and richness of this warm vintage profile, but I just give myself up to it and let it envelop my senses. In the mouth, it may be even more overtly sexy and exotic—with all kinds of gently sweet black cherry and black raspberry fruit, dark chocolate, smoke and toasted spice flavors rolling across the tongue. There are definitely some toothsome tannins in play and the finish is still a bit oaky, so all in all I’d say it would be beneficial to age this another 4-5 years and check back in on it then.
2001 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru Grèves Vigne de L'Enfant Jesus. Although a bit tight out of the gate, this wine grows and grows in the glass over time, eventually yielding to aromas of sour cherry, soy, caramel, roasted nuts, toasted orange peel and dried red flowers. In the mouth, it comes across as quite sappy in texture, with a fair bit of gripping tannin supporting plenty of black raspberry and wild cherry fruit flavors and earthy, woodsy, elements that become more apparent the longer you sit with the wine. The acidity can be a bit aggressive at times and the wine certainly isn’t showing all of its glories yet, but there seems to be very solid promise here and an opportunity to enjoy it now if one gives it sufficient air time.
1995 Dominique Laurent Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Champeaux. I really love the nose of this wine—with its musky-sweet scents of dense berry and plum fruit, funky earth and toasted herb that show wonderful aromatic depth and texture but also a sense of cool and balanced control to them. On the palate, it is finely-structured, coolly acidic and surprisingly transparent in nature. It does have a sneaky richness to it, but seems more directly defined by its cool river rock, mineral, smoke, plum, and dark berry purity of flavor and its absolutely seamless texture that persists all the way through the smooth palate journey. There are no tannins to worry about and the whole thing just drinks effortlessly right now. This was definitely in my top 3 wines of the night.
1998 Joseph Roty Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Les Fontenys. This earthy and woodsy bouquet of tree bark, tea leaves, cedar, mulling spices, dark berry fruit and fine incense comes across as a bit more blocky than the previous or following wine—suffering a bit by its placement here, I suspect. In the mouth, it shows off a lot of lovely baking spices to go with black cherry, plum and other dark fruit and iron flavors. It gets a bit funky at times, but is otherwise quite pleasant with its savory edging and grippy texture.
2000 Pierre Amiot Clos St Denis Grand Cru. This wine has a fantastic bouquet to it—with wonderful old-world aromas of worn leather, tobacco, fine earth, orange peel and cedar shingle supporting a deep core of spiced fig, cranberry and dark berry fruit. It is the kind of wine I could sit and sniff all night, really. In the mouth, it is classy and fine-toned--with an elegant texture and excellent balancing acidity. The sense of precision allied to the distinctive layering of smoldering dark fruit works really well here and I find myself thinking that this is drinking great right now but is in no real danger of dropping off anytime soon, either. Another of my top wines of the night, to be sure.
With dessert:
2001 Alfred Merkelbach Riesling Urziger Wurzgarten Auslese. The nose here is full of fleshy but fresh aromas of white peach, apple, sweet pea, white flowers and blue slate. In the mouth, it is a very well-balanced wine that isn’t all that sweet, really, still coming across as fairly youthful and intricately coiled. It is certainly nicely done, but will be even better in a few years, in my opinion.
-Michael