Killing baby Burgundies at the Playground

Playground , Santa Ana, CA
Tasted Friday, April 26, 2013 by clayfu with 562 views

Introduction

This was a night organized for three reasons.

1) J. Wei's birthday. Turning 22 I think. Congrats. ;P
2) Taylor was moving out of sunny So. Cal to Washington D.C. to head Total Wines BD side of things. (Washington D.C. drinkers cool guy to hang out and drink with!) so we wanted a little good bye dinner.
3) I just need an excuse to organize a burgundy dinner ;D.

Once again we went to the Playground in Orange County. Great food, great service and zero corkage!

We did a series of blind wines for fun then got into the baby killin. The oldest burg we had was the 95 Leroy and the next older was 2001. We did have a 1978 La Mission Haut Brion to make us appreciate all the fruit in the burgundy ;).

Flight 1 - Blind wines (4 Notes)

The Selosse wasn't blinded, but included it in this flight.

Out of the blind ones, the Rhys was INSTANTLY picked out as CA by everyone. A pity, I keep trying to trick people but no one ever tells me it's burgundy. The Rivers-Marie I guess oregon pinot, someone guessed burgundy and one person guessed CA.. the rest abstained. Finally the Ramonet was very obviously Ramonet because of the mint. All were a good drink. ALways fun to guess among good wines.

Flight 2 - Getting into the babies (8 Notes)

It was really fun to taste the 01 Vogue and Roumier BM side by side. The contrast of styles were so different but both very enjoyable. In the efforts of baby killing, you unfortunately end up with bottles that have so much potential but just need time. The 07 Dujac Chambertin and 04 PYCM Monty were the most obvious examples of them. The 95 Leroy got snuck in and wasn't a baby, that extra 7-12 years it had on everyone else was so apparent (and delicious!). Also a bordeaux made its way in! I'm never going to say no to LMHB, my favorite chateau in Bordeaux.

WOTNs for me:
1) 1995 Leroy Beauxmont
2) 01 Roumier Bonnes Mares
3) 07 Dujac Chambertin

  • 2004 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Montrachet

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

    Big boy wine. Wow this wine is massive. There is such density in thick white peach fruit with this monstrous structure that frames all the flavors in the mouth. Very deep long finish with nice acidity. The only thing is that currently it's almost too big but you can taste how much potential is in this wine as it continues to grow and integrate. Such a young young wine.

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  • 1995 Domaine Leroy Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

    This wine is so complete and balanced right now after a hour or two opened. It throws off copious amounts of red fruit, black tea leaves, earth with cooling acidity uplifting all the flavors as it just expanded across the palate. Big contrast to the 92 I had the week before that had that same beautiful leroy BM acidity but without that fruit to back it up.

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  • 2007 Domaine Dujac Chambertin

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru

    I really wish I decanted this wine but at the same time I'm glad I didn't. From the pop and pour the nose on this wine was a beautiful bouquet of bright fruit, spice, violets and just hint of meat. The nose just kept picking up and becoming more and more expressive as the night went on. But the palate needed a lot of time to really come out of its shell. The acidity level is ultra high and at the pop and pour it was almost astringent. It really needed to settle and integrate as that powerful acidity was ever present. As the night went on, it picked up this level of red berries that lifted up the palate and energized it, but it still wasn't as vibrant as the other 07 Dujacs Grand Crus I've had. An infant, built for the long haul.

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  • 2007 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru

    Light and elegant pure red fruit running down the mid palate with great minerality. There is this sappiness to the wine that runs on the back end but due to its youth hasn't really brought out the power on the palate. Needs time to pick up that typical Vogue Musigny power.

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  • 2001 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

    Big, brooding, tannic in the beginning. Dense dark fruit that really started to open up after two hours in the bottle. As the fruit started to open up it gave the palate such a big punch. That brooding dark fruit just became more expansive and masculine. Still needs lots of time but it's definitely heading in a great direction.

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  • 2001 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

    This wine was killing it on the palate on the pop and pour. Bright red fruit and very primary, but the energy on the wine was so bright and pure that results in such a joy to drink. The nose wasn't giving up much to me but that palate was so pretty. Really interesting drinking it side by side with the 01 Vogue BM. This was like the kid running around skipping and playing in the sun while the Vogue was the kid in the corner brooding and actin all emo.

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  • 2006 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

    Definitely tasted like the youngest wine of the night among a night of baby killin. Tart fruit and a touch of oak but didn't have the punch or vibrancy of the 01 we had next to it. Had a nice nose of fresh flowers and strawberry fruit but the palate was still pretty shut down.

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  • 1978 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    popped and poured into a decanter. Initially the wine was throwing off all kinds of leather, meat, tobacco on the palate and there was that fruit just lurking at the bottom waiting to come out. I had a lot of hope for the wine as we put it into the decanter as I knew it just needed time for that fruit to come in and integrate with everything else. Unfortunately it never did over the course of the four hour dinner, it was always lurking there but never popped up. Definitely wasn't "tired", much potential in this wine.

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