Ah, I remember when it was easy (financially!) to buy wines like these…
Quite a nice selection this weekend. I also like the fact that you never ‘know’ beforehand (with any certainty) what the result will be – who would have called that the Cathiard would be the support-show for the other two…
1995 Sylvain Cathiard, Vosne-Romanée 1er Malconsorts
Quite a deep colour. The nose alternates between pretty, older tones of dark roast fruit and something more of beef-broth – alternately nice/less nice. Good concentration of flavour still with a weight of tannin structure – plenty of shape to the tannin but they are not unlikeable. The flavour is good and quite long. This was a case that I bought through Sotheby’s about 2000 for £150 – that’s probably the price of a bottle now – but this vintage is a good drink, but not a great drink.
Rebuy – Maybe
1996 Guy Castagnier, Clos de Vougeot
Medium, medium-plus colour. Round and open nose with sweet plum and faint spice – this is very inviting. Sleek, smooth and with a little fat plus beautiful acidity and a very fine line of flavour. I’d say this is very ready and very, very tasty. Super wine – with a haunting finish. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes
1999 Gilles Remoriquet, Vosne-Romanée 1er Au-dessus des Malconsorts
Medium-plus colour. The nose is an absolute joy of pure red fruit and some padded, faintly spicy support – easily the most attractive of these three wines. Here is both the joy of consuming and the sadness that only 7 more bottles lie in my case! As a package, this is still a little behind the Clos de Vougeot – though it does smell even nicer. The structure is a little firmer and younger – indeed clearly adolescent – but it remains a wine of velvet tannin and remarkable mid-palate width of flavour. A beauty.
Rebuy – Yes
There is one response to “something for the weekend…”
I sold my case of the Cathiard for a silly sum. A bottle of Suchots 96 a few weeks ago made me wonder if I’d done the right thing, it was simply stellar, truly great burgundy.
Not got very much Suchots from them – just a few André Cathiard late 80s wines. Would love to try the 96 sometime – have to say the Malconsorts, the 97 is a slightly better wine than the 95…