La Paulee Gala
San Francisco CA
Tasted Saturday, March 13, 2010 by Burgundy Al with 1,087 views
Introduction
You have three small glasses at the La Paulee gala. Wines keep getting passed around, brought over, etc. So it is challenging to give any wine the attention it really deserves, but here is my best effort.
Flight 1 (27 Notes)
Closing
There were many other wines I either just wrote down that I tried, or my note was just a word or two or gibberish. These include:
Bachelet-Ramonet 1964 Batard Montrachet
Dugat-Py 1997 Charmes Chambertin
Mortet 2002 Lavaux St.-Jacques
Michel Gros 1999 Vosne Romanee Clos de Reas
Mugnier 1991 Musigny
Leroy 1969 Echezeaux
Rousseau 1986 Chambertin
Remoissenet 1978 Chambertin Clos de Beze
Camille Giroud 1988 Vosne Romanee Suchots
Mugneret-Gibourg 2007 Ruchottes-Chambertin
2000 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Ripe stone fruit on the nose with flowers and telltale mint. Fruit very fresh on palate with really great acidity and minerality. Long intense fruit and spice on the finish
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1998 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Fresh fruit on the nose, same on the palate. Seems to show a bit of sweetness, wondering if that's from oak(?). Moderate length.
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1992 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Still interesting floral start with white fruit starting to show secondary traits. Flavors are somewhat more earthy but fruit isn't faded. Good power and acidity on finish.
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1989 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet Flawed
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Corked
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1989 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Ruchottes 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
La Paulee gala. Nose still incredibly fresh with fruit, spice and mint. White stone fruit on palate with some herb and spice. Combination of rich and buttery texture and great acidity gives this wine wonderful mouth feel. Powerful, dense, great length.
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1934 Maison Albert Bichot Montrachet 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Lovely aromatics, still showing fragments of fruit with spice. Still interesting on palate, not quite as good as the nose.
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2004 Domaine d'Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Chevalier-Montrachet 97 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
La Paulee Gala. Soaring aromatics show ripe peach and great floral character. I haven't had many bottles of d'Auvenay whites (this is my first ever d'Auvenay Chevalier), but for me this is the first that fully brings that amazing perfumed Leroy quality to a white Burgundy. Palate also shows great concentrated stone fruit flavors, with minerality coiled all around it in perfect Chevalier-Montrachet style. Long staggering finish.
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1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet 98 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
La Paulee Gala. Starts with lovely white flowers and apple, perhaps slightly candied apple on nose and palate, then shows lots of silky texture, and then (wham!) power along with finesse on the long finish. That's what i wrote, even if I don't fully understand it in hindsight. This was the first DRC Montrachet I have ever had the good fortune to try. Where do I go from here? Of course I had the chance to try two more vintages (78 and 73) in the next 15 minutes, so really...where do I go from here? The 1985 is the finest white wine I have ever had.
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1978 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
La Paulee Gala. Big powerful fruit with lots of spice and fat. Emerging hint of secondary character adds charm. I would have been completely stunned by this wine's harmony and greatness if not for the 1985 DRC Montrachet poured 5 minutes earlier into one of my other glasses.
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1973 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet 97 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
La Paulee Gala. Apparently a late release bottle from the Leroy cellar. Bright fresh flavors of apple and pear with lots of acidity and energy. Great spice and incredible balance as flavors unfold in the glass. Stunning, great length. After this was poured I had three glasses in front of me - DRC Montrachet 1985, 1978 and 1973, all of which were certainly in the top 10 white wines I have ever had. while you often have to abandon wines too hastily at Paulee (e.g., the Latour 92 Montrachet that had to make way for the DRC 1973), I stayed with these three wines for what seemed like forever.
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1959 Bouchard Père et Fils Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru
La Paulee gala. Shows great ripeness out of the gate. Fruit, spice and earthiness all balance on the nose. Palate a little more sous bois driven, with spice coming out on finish. Really an elegant, charming wine.
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1986 Maison Leroy Chambertin 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Lighter red fruit and floral to start. Shows great density and darker fruit in the middle, then picks up more spice on finish.
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1992 Louis Latour Montrachet 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Ripe fruit, moderate intensity. Good, but didn't seem very Montrachet.
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2003 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Paulee gala. tropical, lush, easy to enjoy. Big start, moderate length, not the most finessed vintage for this wine.
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1988 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares 86 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Rather pretty for the 1988 vintage. Nice fruit still left, tannins mostly integrated, but this didn't come out of the 1988 cocoon as an interesting butterfly. Short and simple, without much real Bonnes Mares character for me.
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1988 Christophe Roumier Ruchottes-Chambertin 91 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Ruchottes-Chambertin Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Deep and dense fruit on nose and palate, from start to finish. Not as interesting as when tasted last time, but this time it has five minutes to shine at La Paulee vs. an hour+ at our Roumier dinner last year.
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1985 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. More densely structured than I expected. Good fruit and spice but hidden now. Give more time in a decanter, and it would be interesting to see how this unfolds over an evening.
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1993 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Musigny 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Intense, primary and backward, this showed great spice and lots of energy. Really silky, exotic and powerful finish. More than most wines, this was tough to assess in the La Paulee context because it is still so primary and would likely be evolving for hours if given the time in glass. I'm thankful for the opportunity to try this wine, just wish it was in a different setting.
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1993 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin 97 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Aromas seemed big and brooding at first, then just exploded with black fruit and braised meat. Intense powerful fruit on palate just starting to hint at secondary development. Much like the nose, the flavors seemed to start somewhat monolithically, then just burst with energy, spice and nuance. Long and powerful.
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1991 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes 91 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Much like the bottle from 2 nights ago, perhaps just a little more tired. Or was I more tired?
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1988 Domaine Dujac Bonnes Mares
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. From magnum. Perfumed and spice-driven with nicely mature red fruit. Charming.
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1993 Domaine Ponsot Clos St. Denis Vieilles Vignes
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos St. Denis Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Really dense, largely inaccessible. I tried to coax more fruit or spice from this wine despite the time limitation that LaPaulee imposes, but I was unable to get anything particularly interesting out of my glass. I would give this at least another decade in the cellar if I owned this. Not inconsistent with (but more extreme than) my last experience with the "renowned" Ponsot 1993 Clos de la Roche.
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1991 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche 97 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Amazing nose of rose, allspice, clove, licorice and pepper - and that's just the spice. Also charming red fruit and emerging forest floor. Spice dominated palate with really gorgeous red fruit as well. Long silky finish. This is the 2nd opportunity I've had to try this wine in the past year, and it seems to get better and better.
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1979 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru
La Paulee gala. Aromatics shows lots of spice and roses along with plenty of forest floor. Still some lingering delicate red fruit, but the very interesting component is the excellent spice. Wine is a bit tired and musty, so I'd be drinking this up soon.
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1990 Emmanuel Rouget Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cros Parantoux 96 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
La Paulee gala. Shows lush, ripe fruit immediately on the nose with sexy, exotic spice. Palate also follows with black fruit that is completely inviting. Still a bit tannic but the fruit is just just gorgeous and powerful. This wine will continue to improve, and will probably be great for another 20+ years.
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1971 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche 99 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru
La Paulee Gala. From Jeroboam. Unlike other wines passed and poured, then quickly tasted at Paulee, I lingered over this wine and had the good fortune to go back for a second taste. Monumental in every way - fruit, spice, elegant development, layers of flavor and texture, intensity, length. Best wine I have ever had.
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1937 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée-Conti Grand Cru
Post La Paulee gala. Amazing toasted spice aromatics, with the same on the palate. Lingering hints of red fruit surround earthy flavors that are also spice-dominated. Great texture. Thank you for sharing, JK, I took getting the opportunity to try this wine as a sign it was time to end the evening on a very high note.
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