2004 Domaine Truchot-Martin Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru (1/23/2014)
This was my last bottle of 2004 Truchot Clos de la Roche, and a beautiful way for it to go out. It's only a mid-weight (at most) wine, but with great persistence on the palate, silken mouthfeel, and red fruits accented with earth and something not unlike mirepoix. It's not an aggressive, unruly element, but a subtle, fresh scent that doesn't even really register on the palate. Over the course of 2 hours or more the wine just contined to shine, staying in a lovely balance the entire time.
1995 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (1/23/2014)
Well this is certainly an impressive wine. Right on opening there was a lot of dark black fruit, roasted meat and bacon. As it sat in the decanter a more bass note earthiness kicked in, and the wine became less stern, more lyical, but still in a Wagnerian, large-scaled way. The sheer quantity of stuffing in the wine, as well as its strong structure certainly suggests that years, and likely decades of cellaring will only be to its benefit. If I owned any I would wait at least 10 years before going after another bottle.
We also had a 2012 Weingut Spreitzer Hattenheimer Wisselbrunnen Riesling Großes Gewächs. While I only had a small pour, it showed great promise, just barely off-dry, with excellent depth and persistence.
