“Just!”
Of-course it was something of a week of spoiling ourselves – almost exclusively in the company of Marko de Morey and his wife, celebrating his 60th birthday. I’m not the biggest fan of conspicuous ‘trophy bottle’ pictures, but they are made to be drunk – and drunk they were 🙂
Just a quick run-down:
The 1990 Veuve-Cliquot was a much more oxidised style than is my preference, but was fresh and certainly complex, though for me personally, I stop short of saying ‘yum!’ The 2002 Albert Grivault Meursault Clos des Perrières followed, and that was a wine in great shape – a hint fat but layered complexity and super length. A really excellent bottle, and – yum! Then there was the 1993 Domaine Faiveley, Mazis-Chambertin, A surprisingly supple and easy wine – considering that it was a) 1993, b) Mazis-Chambertin and c) Faiveley that we were drinking, it was amazingly unstructured grand cru wine. The cork was almost completely soaked through with wine – perhaps this was the reason. Nice wine, but nothing of a), b) and c)…
Our second sitting began with the Taittinger, already a few years from release, and this was very tasty wine indeed. There followed our major disappointment – dark brown and totally oxidised 2001 Lafon, Meursault-Perrières – totally undrinkable – and before anyone asks, it was bought on release and removed from professional storage only 2 weeks before opening. The 2003 René Engel, Echézeaux was, however, very drinkable indeed – full, warm, not much tannin to speak of – a lush, ripe, opulent wine that shows the vintage far more than the domaine’s Grands Echézeaux of the same vintage. Lunch the next day allowed also the 2011 Clos Frantin, Vosne-Romanée Malconsorts – rather modest of nose but it rolls over the palate with ever-wider flavour and fine interest – a really good wine.
Our last sitting, and our ‘piece de resistance‘ began with 2001 Pierre Morey, Bâtard-Montrachet. If Marko had any trepidation following the performance of our last 2001, he didn’t show it – and neither did the wine! It’s still a very toasty-oaked nose and still with a trace of reduction – presumably the oak contributing to the dark colour, but there was clearly no oxidative aromas or flavours. The palate started great and just kept getting better – despite the oak, Super wine. and I’d say still a youngster. the 2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Mory, Puligny-Champs Gains was light coloured, super fresh and beautifully penetrating. Perfect, young 2007 – I love 2007s when they are like this! PYCM was followed by the 1998 Roumier, Bonnes-Mares – simply a magical wine and probably the best I have drunk this year. The nose was dark-fruited, precise and with more than a hint of graphite-style minerality. In the mouth it was fresh, darkly-fruited wine of rare clarity and energy – simply fabulous. It was almost embarrassing how quickly the 4 of us drained the bottle! To finish, Jean-Nicolas’s 1998 Méo-Camuzet, Vosne-Cros Parantoux was a super drink, but one that struggled to hold its head high after the Bonnes-Mares; the nose was faintly lactic/bretty. The palate was much redder-fruited, riper-fruited, and whilst it had a very nice complexity in isolation, when paired with the BM, it seemed broad-brush and couldn’t begin to compare to the thrilling clarity of that wine. Probably we should have taken them in the reverse order – and yes, it was also bought on release and kept in storage like the Meursault-Perrières and Bonnes-Mares – but hey! I’m still not complaining 🙂
There are 3 responses to “just a few bottles from last week/end – week 46”
Nice to be a guest who shares great wines. I love to share older bottles as wine is meant to be consumed with friends and share the experience. Great way to start the holiday season.
Hi Bill, you are a lucky man to taste this kind of wine. To refill your cellar at current day prices, you will have to rob the bank in Beaune, I fear. Or win the lottery.
Hi Roeloff. Well if you look at the vintages, it wasn’t really so hard for enthusiasts to get hold of wines such as these on release – 2-3 bottles as part of a wider order were almost always honoured – it was really 2003 onwards where the prices began to escalate and wines such as these became fodder only for those spending 10s of thousands…
I and my friend are lucky that we started buying from the earliest en-primeur offers – largely giving up by 2012!
Hey Bill, rolled the dice last evening on the second bottle of the Lafon 01 Perrieres – immediately clear we chose the wrong one to take to Beaune 🙁 !
Wouldn’t say last night’s bottle was ‘wow’ or, to borrow a word, ‘yum’ (!) but, whilst advanced in colouring (no surprise I guess), it was quite drinkable without ‘offence’, although not very ‘Perrieres. Quite pear and spice agrumey, could have done with more citrus, and quite a bit more of the generally gone AWOL acidity. What to do with the 3 bottles left in storage ? Answers on a e-postcard pls !
Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick then 🙂