Pin It
I was a party crasher tonight. A friend of mine was invited to Le Palais des Grands Crus, jointly hosted by Ficofi and Duxton. Duxton is Ed Peter's new firm, in which Deutsche apparently has a stake. So tonight is just a continuation of the long-running Deutsche/Ficofi tasting. Anyway, I went along with my friend and crashed even though I was nowhere on the original invite list.
Tonight's guest of honor was Pierre Lurton, Bernard Arnault's main man in Bordeaux. He brought with him 4 jeroboams of Cheval Blanc as well as 8 jeroboams of Yquem and some Krug.
2003 Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses en Jeroboam - nice fruit and minerals.
1966 Bouchard Le Corton - very nice nose, with ripe, sweet fruit and candy notes. A little light on the palate.
2005 Denis Mortet Clos de Vougeot - smoky, farmy nose with bacon. Good concentration. A very nice and elegant wine.
2005 Méo-Camuzet Clos de Vougeot - more upfront and powerful than the Mortet, with lots of sweet fruit and smoke.
2005 Faiveley Clos de Vougeot - by far the poorest of the three. Tart on the palate and still tannic. Not ready to drink at all.
1998 Faiveley Latricières-Chambertin - cooked fruit and smoky nose.
1988 DRC La Tâche en Jeroboam - once again this wine disappointed me. The nose was fairly nice, with lots of bacon fat, sweet fruit, smoky, farmy and forest notes. But the wine was acidic on the palate. I guess it's an improvement over what I tasted 3 years ago.
1989 DRC Romanée-Saint-Vivant - much nicer than the '88 Tâche... very fruity, more concentrated and vibrant on the palate.
2007 Guigal La Doriane - very floral and ripe, with marmalade and paraffin in the nose. I think the recent vintages of this wine have all been very ripe, robbing it of some of that freshness I expect from Viognier. Body was light, with a little spicy and long finish.
2006 Guigal Hermitage Blanc Ex-Voto - fresh, light with nice acidity balance. Perfumed nose with Asian spices. Long finish.
2005 Chapoutier l'Orée Blanc - ripe nose of honey, toasty oak and minerals.
1990 Chapoutier La Mordorée - nose of spices, sweet fruit and mint. Medium bodied...palate was only so-so.
1994 Chapoutier Le Pavillon en Magnum - nose of cotton candy and a hint of floral notes. A little alcoholic, but in general a lot younger and fresher than the '90 La Mordorée.
2003 Chapoutier Le Pavillon - definitely the new style Chapoutier...heavy and sharp metallic nose on top of the fruit. Lots of earth and iron. Very masculine.
2005 Guigal La Mouline - freshly opened bottle. Nice nose of vanilla, fruit, floral and smoke. Actually somewhat drinkable.
2005 Guigal La Landonne - literally the last few drops of the bottle. Muted nose (too much aeration?), slightly gamey, with pretty firm tannins.
2003 Guigal Château d'Ampuis - floral notes showing the Viognier, with some toffee notes. Nose was a little sharp.
1996 Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Clavoillon - nose of sweet grass, minerals, ripe and sweet corn, sugar cane. Slightly acidic on palate.
2007 Joseph Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche - I always say that a Montrachet's nose is unmistakable, and that there is never a bad Montrachet...whether you drink a bottle from an off-vintage or an unknown producer. The terroir of the wine always comes through. Huge nose of flint, toasty oak, sweet corn, vanilla and banana. Absolutely lovely.
1997 Yquem - lots of plastic and polyurethane, sharp... very sweet on the palate at first, but the finish was pretty bitter like bitter orange marmalade.
1988 Yquem - plastic, polyurethane, honey and orange. Much smoother on the palate, a little more viscous...almost a joy to roll it around your tongue.
1989 Yquem - honey, walnut nose. Very sweet but with better acidity balance. Thinner and not as viscous as the '88.
1990 Yquem - plastic, botrytis, honey, orange and apricot notes.
2006 Y de Yquem - a very nice dry white. Minerals, a little lemon, muscat grapes, green apple and flint in the nose. Nice acidity.
1972 Bouchard Chambolle-Musigny- a beautiful nose with farmy and bacon notes, lots of smoked meats, fruit and mint. Unfortunately it was totally dead on the palate.
2005 Bouchard Beaune-Grèves Vigne de l'Enfant Jésus - nose was kinda sharp with lots of minerality.
2006 Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - very nice with lots of minerals.
2005 Les Amis de l'Abbaye de Saint-Vivant Réserve Ficofi - very interesting wine. I think it's made from Aligoté, and this was bottled by DRC. Very light and fresh, with floral and some green apple notes.
I chose to skip the entire Bordeaux, Aussie and Italy/Spain/US sections. The only wine that I really wanted to taste and could not was the 2006 Coche-Dury Meursault Rougeot.
Pretty happy evening, overall...saw a few old friends so that is always good.
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