I may have taken a couple of days out of my Burgundy tasting schedule but as you might see, not all of Burgundy was taken out of my days 😉
On Friday, the only place in Switzerland that wasn’t rainy was Ticino – so we took a trip to Lugano and Morcote – pizza for lunch! We returned via Luzern’s Wilden Mann restaurant. Saturday with family, starting with an impeccable Montrachet – so young with firework reduction and still some creme brulee. Then followed the 1962 Nuits 1er Clos des Forêts St.Georges. This dates from the time, before l’Arlot, of Domaine Belin. When Axa bought Belin, the old cellar of Belin wasn’t included in the sale. For some time the cellar, containing many wines from the 1960s, resided with Domaine Louis Max in Nuits – where a name change appeared during covid times. I have an appointment to get a bit more info on what’s afoot with Louis Max (by another name…)
Anyway, about 10 years ago I asked, chez Louis Max, if I could buy some 1962 Clos des Forêts and they said they would get back to me. It turned out that not all the old bottles were in the best shape, but they decided to put two (and a bit!) good ones together, with a dab of sulfur, and make a magnum – well, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity! And you know what? 10 years later it was brilliant. All the concentration and sweet depth of flavour that I’ve found characterises the 1962 vintage – only the first couple of sips suggested a faint oxidation – and then it was gone. It’s a simple measure of whether a wine is good or not – it was drunk to the last few millilitres of its earthy sediment – and only 3 of us were drinking! Brilliant – simply a joy!
There is one response to “birthday weekend”
Fascinating. Like you a 1962 product I bought a case of the Clos Des Forets with the Belin label at Bonhams about 20 years ago for the pittance that such things then fetched. Half were really as lovely as you describe, half knackered, a pretty good result at the time.