Wine Focus: Open that Bottle MONTH ... EXTENDED!

[David M. Bueker]

Ah Vosne.

Oui!

[Jenise]

2006 Abiouness Pinot Noir Stanly Ranch Carneros
Cellar orphan whose time had come: Rich garnet color. Very California with iodine (a bit of a surprise in a vintage like '06) along with cherries (expected) and black pepper (nice!). Full on the palate with a classic Carneros cherry cola finish. Holding up VERY well--good to the last drop.

[David M. Bueker]

Same Stanley Ranch where Beringer gets their Pinot?

[Jenise]

David, yes.

[David M. Bueker]

Anything from Pierre Péters is always “that bottle.”

• NV Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (6/27/2020)
  Disgorged 2/2011
  
  I had no idea that this bottle was still in the cellar, but found it during a search for something else. Initially opened for a Zoom call with Rodolphe Péters, it was an immediate revelation. There was no indication that it was almost ten years post-disgorgement, as it was still bright and fresh as a new release, and full of citrus and fresh apple fruit. We only drank half the bottle, and then tonight, 48 hours after opening it, we finished the bottle. It was still fresh, but had added rich bread/yeast notes, and indicated at least some reasonable time in the cellar. Still a fabulous drink, with great precision, and sustain. Alas for the days when I could get this for under $40.

Jenise reported on Stanley Ranch Pinot Noir from Abiouness and Beringer. I used to like Saintsbury Stanly Ranch Pinot Noir.

Opened last night:

Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis Sainte Claire, 2014. Very crisp; I now get the term "flinty". Apples, pears, maybe a hint of peach. On the palate, at first I thought dust, but it's chalk. Definitely chalk. Most pleasant with more assessment needed. Seems to be typical of the region. At <$20 with tax, not too shabby.

We had the 2012 so when I saw this at the same LWS I pounced. One for us, one for a gift.

Other ideas on <$25 Chablis always welcome.

I've had good luck in the past with Brocard and I like my Chablis to be flinty. Domaine Gueguen basic Chablis is around $20-$24 and some of the 1er Cru are available for around $35 which is a bargain. I would be careful about aging them for very long as some become oxidized before they should.

[David M. Bueker]

Other ideas on <$25 Chablis always welcome.

I think the Louis Michel Chablis is around that price. Excellent producer.

Will put Louis Michel on my search list. Thanks!

This is not a trophy wine but it reminds me of the excellent merchant from whom I bought it about 20 years ago in Belgium. In the first part of the 20th century Belgian, especially Walloon, merchants had an inside track in Burgundy with many of the best cuvées being reserved for them. Pierre Vandenplas may have been the last of that kind. He ran his business from his home with cellars which ran under the whole length of his house. Most years he held a tasting there with many superb vignerons in attendance. He was a personal friend of great growers like Coche and Rousseau but also had a portfolio of excellent but lesser known growers. Soon after the millenium he sold his business and retired.

Domaine Maume was one of his recommendations; indeed he said that it was the favourite of many Belgian connoisseurs of Gevrey-Chambertin for its robust, structured style combined with sensible prices. The Maume family sold out around 2012 but from reports in the RVF some of its vintages from around the millenium were no longer as fine as before. Quail was on the menu and Burgundy beckoned. This 1996 was firing on all cylinders -

1996 Domaine Maume Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru (29/06/2020)
This is the best of the three bottles I have had over the last five years. It combines the freshness of a much younger wine with the complexity and secondary aromas of a mature one. It showed quite deep colour with a little bricking at the rim, medium/full body, linear shape, bright savoury fruit, ivy touches, slightly earthy minerals, beginnings of forest floor and old book, lively but non-astringent acidity, silkier texture than before and the remains of tannic firmness on the long finish. Excellent.
Posted from CellarTracker

Quite a gem Tim, thanks for the post.

[Jenise]

Great description, Tim. Your efficient summation "It combines the freshness of a much younger wine with the complexity and secondary aromas of a mature one" is something I often spend a whole paragraph trying to say.

1996 Domaine Maume Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru (29/06/2020)
This is the best of the three bottles I have had over the last five years. It combines the freshness of a much younger wine with the complexity and secondary aromas of a mature one. It showed quite deep colour with a little bricking at the rim, medium/full body, linear shape, bright savoury fruit, ivy touches, slightly earthy minerals, beginnings of forest floor and old book, lively but non-astringent acidity, silkier texture than before and the remains of tannic firmness on the long finish. Excellent.
Posted from CellarTracker

Sounds lovely and worth the effort to cellar. Maume was one of my early Burgundy favorites, in the early 00s, and I enjoyed some mid-late 90s vintages (with nothing like the evolution of your bottle). Alas I never had a Grand Cru and I guess recent vintages are not as promising chez Maume.

[Robin Garr]

Open that Bottle MONTH: NOW EXTENDED! June is over, but the pandemic is not, so we're leaving this topic stuck for the duration. Open those bottles and enjoy!

Carpe Corkscrew!

[David M. Bueker]

1996 Domaine Maume Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru (29/06/2020)
This is the best of the three bottles I have had over the last five years. It combines the freshness of a much younger wine with the complexity and secondary aromas of a mature one. It showed quite deep colour with a little bricking at the rim, medium/full body, linear shape, bright savoury fruit, ivy touches, slightly earthy minerals, beginnings of forest floor and old book, lively but non-astringent acidity, silkier texture than before and the remains of tannic firmness on the long finish. Excellent.
Posted from CellarTracker

Sounds lovely and worth the effort to cellar. Maume was one of my early Burgundy favorites, in the early 00s, and I enjoyed some mid-late 90s vintages (with nothing like the evolution of your bottle). Alas I never had a Grand Cru and I guess recent vintages are not as promising chez Maume.

Not a fan of the new owners at Maume? I have not had much, but I have liked what I have tried.

1996 Domaine Maume Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru (29/06/2020)
This is the best of the three bottles I have had over the last five years. It combines the freshness of a much younger wine with the complexity and secondary aromas of a mature one. It showed quite deep colour with a little bricking at the rim, medium/full body, linear shape, bright savoury fruit, ivy touches, slightly earthy minerals, beginnings of forest floor and old book, lively but non-astringent acidity, silkier texture than before and the remains of tannic firmness on the long finish. Excellent.
Posted from CellarTracker

Sounds lovely and worth the effort to cellar. Maume was one of my early Burgundy favorites, in the early 00s, and I enjoyed some mid-late 90s vintages (with nothing like the evolution of your bottle). Alas I never had a Grand Cru and I guess recent vintages are not as promising chez Maume.

Not a fan of the new owners at Maume? I have not had much, but I have liked what I have tried.

I wouldn't know. I haven't had any. Just heard mixed reports, including from Tim earlier in this thread.

[David M. Bueker]

A couple of years ago, but loved it
2014 Domaine Maume-Marchand-Tawse Mazoyères-Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Mazoyères-Chambertin Grand Cru (4/2/2017)
Very early days, but I wanted something top shelf, and this was the first thing at hand. Right up front, I will say that this is most certainly grand cru. It has the depth and persistence I look for in top Burgundies, and only falls a bit short for being a bit rustic. That of course could be the extreme youth of the wine, but it's where it is right now. My favorite part of the wine is the haunting persistence on the palate. After I swallow a sip the aromas and flavors just hover over my palate like a ghost. It's captivating! I feel bad for opening a bottle of this at such a young age, but my last taste from the Maume domaine was the 1995 vintage, and I had to check in to see what was going on.

I have had the Bourgogne as well, and also liked that a lot.

Good to know. I don't see the wines at my usual retailers and I guess the new iteration is not with KLWM anymore. But would love to try some one of these days.

I opened a 2001 Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon last night. This one is a lot further along in its development than the 2004 was. It's opening up and seems to be coasting onto a plateau of maturity. No hurry at all to drink it up, of course, but you won't be committing infanticide if you do crack a bottle open. It is, of course, a stunning Napa cab.

-Paul W.

In the early 2000s we visited my sister-in-law. She served a Montelena Cab Sauv and I still remember that wine. And this was long before I became a geek.

Have written down in my wine references the famous vintners from the Judgment of Paris, May 1976. For Chardonnay, Chateau Montelena 1973. For Cabernet, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973. Not to be confused with Stag's Leap Winery. Although the latter could be good; just haven't tried either Cab on my own dime. Or, on my own many many many dimes.

Highly recommend the movie Bottle Shock for geeks.

That was Stag's Leap Cask 23 cabernet sauvignon, their top of the line, that won the Judgment of Paris. And Montelena's 1973 Napa chardonnay. I subscribe to Montelena's wine club in order to get access to the Estate cabernet (which isn't widely available in retail outlets anymore), and the Napa chardonnay is one of the annual offerings. It's a consistently stunning wine, year in and year out.

-Paul W.

2009 Rafanelli Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley,..tasted blind,wd have said cru classe Bordeaux, glorious wine, rewarded cellaring,legs running down the bowl, nose redolent of shoe polish aroma, served with Bison steak, baked potato and creamed spinach..reminded me of dinners at Sparks, when they were still a small, local"under the radar" steakhouse with a great wine list, in the Grammercy Park area of NYC, before they moved uptown to a cavernous location that felt like you were dining in Madison Square Garden,,Steaks and wine list still great, prices sucked and it just wasn't the same..I missed the ambience of the downtown location where I first discovered Heitz cabs..In any event, this wine is a candidate for my wine of the year..regrettably this was my last bottle of wonderful wine.