weekend wines, week 32 2020, & my best 1996…

10.8.2020billn

week 32 2020 - weekend wines

All robust corks. The first three wines were from dinner on Friday, the RSV I opened on Saturday – as usual, the PX in the image was very good, but not great:

2012 Dampt Frères, Chablis Les Preuses
Magnum.
A strong but young-looking yellow colour. The first sniff of the first pour and there’s something a little herbed in the flavour but not the aroma which is chalky, nicely defined and very attractively citrus. I would have guessed a well-concentrated classic Chablis even if it hadn’t been my wine! Delicious, layered, a little fat but with the classically cristal-clean, citrus-edged, flavours of my favourite vintage – 2012. We were lucky it was a magnum! In fine vintages, this is a very useful address!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Vaudoisey-Creusefond, Pommard 1er Les Epenots
Served blind – a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! Apparently a wine made with relatively young vines – about 13-14 at the time of this.
The nose starts with a lot of creamy oak, but it’s fortunately quite transient/volatile – slowly it’s a floral perfume that comes centre-stage – violets – very attractive. The palate largely mirrors the nose with lots of creamy oak, but also with a clarity of good fruit too – becoming ever-more perfumed. I like the structure here – all is decently concentrated but properly structured too. A young wine, I guess 2016 as it was quite a concentrated wine, the structure and perfume sending me to Chambolle-Musigny – oh well! At least I was close on the vintage 🙂
Rebuy – Yes

1996 Grivot Richebourg1996 Jean Grivot, Richebourg
In my cellar for exactly 20 years and cost the princely sum of 80 Swiss francs – the 1999 cost nearly 250! And wow – this was singing! Something of a baby for sure, but it was open and delicious, properly ‘grand’ wine. Not a drop was left in the bottle. I last tasted in 99 when it was all tannin and acid intensity, today it is wonderfully balanced. By far my ‘greatest’ 1996. There was a certain clarity of flavour to this wine that I’ve not experienced with other Grivot cuvées of the ‘era’ – it really makes me wonder if the winemaking was the same as for the other wines – I remember the 1995 also having great clarity of fruit which is so rarely my impression with the wines from this estate in the 1990s.
A nose of depth and complexity – the first pour showing a suggestion of balsamic – it must have been associated with the cork/headspace of the wine (it had been standing for a week) as all the subsequent pours were perfect. Deep, deep, flavoured, complex, powerful, far from a mature wine but absolutely ready. The finish shimmered with flavour long after swallowing. The balance is wonderful here, the forward acidity of its youth wrapped with quite enough depth of flavour. Bravo – clearly a great wine – drink now or wait another 20 years, I hardly think it matters!
Rebuy – Yes A case at the old price!

2002 Charles Thomas, Romanée Saint Vivant
A wide nose, complex and more classically ‘Vosne’ than the Grivot – day 2 (despite a night in the fridge) brought some balsamic-style oxidation. Wide and rather silky for this estate – though keep the wine in your mouth long enough and the tannin does start to make its presence felt. A good finish here. This is very good wine and would be a rebuy at the old price – I suspect that it’s somewhat more expensive chez Dujac today though 🙂 As noted above the wine is more diffuse and shows a modestly oxidative element in the mix on day 2 – so you know what to do – drink it all on the first night, as it’s very tasty.
Rebuy – Yes

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