Got together to watch some videos (and to rewatch Sideways) the other night and to sip some wine.
2008 Dominique Laurent Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes – a very nice earth and cherry nose, tasty wine with nice flash of terminal acidity.
1998 Dom. de Marcoux CNduP – I’ve had this wine quite a few times before and was disappointed in this bottle as the nose was quite ripe, although it showed decently on palate. I opened another bottle a couple of days later to gauge whether it was in decline (I didn’t think it should be) and it was far better – still a hint of ripeness in the nose, a sign of the vintage, but with the fruit and slight earthiness more to the forefront, and lots of secondary notes on palate, as well as soft tannin. I’d say it is definitely time to drink up, but don’t worry about general decline.
1998 Dom. Clos du Caillou CNduP – figured I’d open another mature CNduP. This one showed very well, with classic plum and berry notes, again, fully mature, with good weight and some nice spice and herbal notes at the end. Drink now.
2001 Eric Texier Cote Rotie Vielles Vignes – it seems that we arrived at an Eastern French theme without prearrangement. I loved the nose on this, not as floral as some CRs can be, more a blood/iron and red fruit with undertones of tapenade. Smooth, long and elegant in the mouth. Drinks very well now. Maybe I should make the next movie night a Cote Rotie night – I think I have this vintage in Jasmin and Jamet Cote Roties.
2004 Ysios Rioja Reserva Edicion Limitada – they made 5,000 bottles of this reserve wine, and the presentation was a bit jarring, coming from the Rhones and the Burg. Big time oak, seemingly American, although they say they use mostly French (maybe some one dropped a bag of dill in the fermenter!). Seemed a bit charred as well. Big fruit – a Rioja tailored to Parker acolytes, not to tradition and a medium length finish. A decent wine that would appeal to many, just not so much my style. Looked it up later and the winery is impressive (Jenise said it looked like it had been made from Lego blocks!)
This wine was also remarkable for the weight of the empty bottle - 1200 grams. Anyone beat that?