Acker BYO - Chicago
Sepia - Chicago, IL
Tasted Thursday, June 7, 2012 by tooch with 977 views
Introduction
Acker was in town, so a big group met up at Sepia for their pre-auction BYO. Many great wines, a couple disappointments, and a great collection of people.
2002 Perrier-Jouët Champagne Cuvée Fleur de Champagne 85 Points
France, Champagne
Very fleshy and dense on the nose with melon and florals. Palate didn't have the precise flavor and tones that most 2002s have had - was expecting a more mineral driven wine. Not overly impressed.
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1990 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Rosé 93 Points
France, Champagne
Very nice nose of cream, roses, and graham cracker. Loved the rosey, floral tones on the palate with great cut and finesse - add to that some serious depth. It's a great wine that came across young and almost shy. Think this has a lot of life ahead of it - maybe another 15 years before it begins to decline from its apogee. Great stuff.
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2009 Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle Riesling Großes Gewächs
Germany, Nahe
Interesting showing tonight. The acid was really front and center and the tropical fruit seemed to take a back seat. If I'm being honest, it was hard to get a read on this wine tonight. Great material, but it was incredibly shy.
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2006 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
Seriously awesome stuff. Wonderfully deep nose of lemon, flint, seashell, and smoke. To me, just classic Meursault. The palate was rich, acidic, and incredibly deep. After you cruise past the obvious citrus component on the palate, you reach a series of incredible subtle tones of herbs, truffle, and floral notes. So glad this showed well - it's my favorite parcel in Meursault, but have come across many examples lately with premox.
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2007 DuMOL Chardonnay Russian River Valley 91 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
From magnum. Lots of gunflint on the nose with dense lemon, herb and butter. It has nice characteristics you expect to find from Meursault or Puligny's but the brightness of the butter gives it away as a Californian chard. The palate was balanced and featured great orchard fruit, subtle butter and herbs. Was far better than I expected.
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1999 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
From magnum. Just incredible chardonnay. Super concentrated flavors of flint, citrus, and smoke give way to lithe white floral and seashell tones on the palate. While it's weighty (in a sense) it never comes across heavy or overly dense...just pure Chardonnay how it's meant to be tasted. Loved this.
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1990 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru
Was only able to taste the bottom dregs of the bottle. Had some plum and burnt rubber tones, so I (along with some fellow table-mates) began thinking this was potentially cooked. The palate had plum, ruby red cranberry fruit tones and underbrush. At times this was awfully flawed, at other times it was quite nice.
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1999 Domaine Ponsot Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes 91 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
From magnum. This was decanted for about 6 hours prior to service. The floral notes really began to take off about midway through dinner. No question this could use another 10-15 years to mature, but its elegance was apparent already. Showed great cranberry and underbrush. Just lovely stuff.
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2001 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
Killer wine. Had great herbal notes on the nose that combined with the dense cherry and cranberry tones. The palate was still a bit rocky, but had great, complex red fruit notes that combined well with dried florals and earthy notes. The palate density was hitting the mark and while it may have been a bit denser than some of the other pinots, this had a weightlessness that I just love.
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2009 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
Very dark and very sweet. The fruit is just an 11 in terms of purity and sweetness. Luckily, it has great balance and a nice undertone of soil or sous bois that grounds the sweet fruit a bit. Should be a fantastic wine in 5 or so years...right now the sweetness of the fruit overwhelms the underlying complexities.
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1983 Château Margaux Flawed
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
The string of flawed Margaux began with this one!
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1986 Château Margaux Flawed
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Another corked Margaux.
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1989 Château Lynch-Bages 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
A serious Pauillac from beginning to end. Great graphite, earth, mineral, dark fruit and cedar on the nose. Its palate was remarkable dense and elegant featuring great dark fruit, tobacco, roasted herbs, and cedar. Could have drank this all night...just great great stuff.
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2005 Domaine Ponsot Chapelle-Chambertin 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru
From magnum. Incredibly airy and fragrant palate with just top rate fruit. The palate had soaring tones of cherry, roses, pomegranate, tobacco and earth. This will obviously need time for its tertiary tones to emerge, but its showing surprisingly well for a 2005. Wow.
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1993 Louis Jadot Musigny 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru
Oh yeah...wonderful nose of spices, graham cracker, dried cranberry and subtle earth. Its palate is deep with florals, layered red fruit - thinking cranberry, cherry and pomegranate. Loved the silkiness of the palate...seemed so airy, yet powerful. Great, great stuff.
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2000 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sorì San Lorenzo 95 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC
From 3L. I really liked this wine. The nose was earthy, rustic and reserved. It had this dirtiness to it that reminds me of aged nebbiolo - yet I found this quality in a wine that's only 12 years old. Despite the beauty of the nose, the palate was a showstopper. So elegant, yet so powerful. The cherry and floral notes were just off the charts - both were powerful, but seemed almost nonexistent from a textural perspective.
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2002 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru
Beautiful aromatics of cherry, tilled soil, forestal tones, and cranberry. The palate was typical Rousseau - just elegant, nuanced and deep. Lots of berry tones, subtle tobacco and earth. Still needs a lot of time to develop those tertiary characteristics, but it's already a beauty.
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1989 Château Rausan-Ségla 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
So elegant, refined and silky. Seemed perfectly mature with beautiful cedar, truffle, dark fruit and tobacco. Wasn't a showstopper, but damn, this was tasty.
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1990 Château Léoville Las Cases Flawed
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
From magnum. Corked.
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1998 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Agree with Brad that 1998's are underrated. This had beautiful notes of cherry, underbrush, mushroom and beef. Its palate was just out of this world - subtle beefiness, dense rose, cherry and cranberry tones comprise the palate. Wish I had hours to drink this...so so good.
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1998 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
Drank alongside the Roumier Amoureuses and this was darker, meatier and a bit more serious. For the beauty of the Amoureuses, this seemed to go in a completely different direction - lots of smoked meat on the palate with denser undergrowth and earth tones. A great pinot noir.
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1995 Domaine Joseph Roty Mazy-Chambertin 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru
Roty's wines are always so dark and meaty to me...and this was no exception. This is a masculine wine - on the level of Bonnes Mares and Musigny. Lots of dark fruit, dark florals and meat. Meat for days. Loved it. Is Roty the greatest, least known producer in Burgundy???
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1993 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Château des Ducs 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru
From magnum. Out of all the wines tonight, this was probably drinking closest to its apogee. Incredibly silky, refined and elegant I kept finding myself coming back for more of this. Lovely cherry, dried floral notes and subtle earth characterized the palate. Seemed to be drinking in a GREAT place. Seriously great stuff.
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2000 Château Mouton Rothschild 96 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Off the charts. Nose soared with tobacco, cedar, dark fruit and smokey earth notes. Its palate was youthful with dark , spicy fruit yet it had an adolescent elegance to it that I wasn't prepared for. The body of the wine was massive...its flavors were perfectly in balance and it seemed the purest expression of Pauillac I could have imagined. Wow...this will be (more of a) legend in 10-15 years.
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2001 Château Mouton Rothschild 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Was a touch darker than the 2000, but didn't have the body that the 2000 had. Its palate was elegant, earthy and floral - loved its darker profile - seemed more rooted in blackberries compared to the cranberry and cherry character of the 2000. Really great wine.
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2002 Château Mouton Rothschild 88 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
A step down from the 2001 and a major step down from the 2000. The acidity on the wine seemed to outpace the fruit and it came across a little too shrill for me. There was still some great material behind the acid - have to wonder what will wine out? Acid or fruit?
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1983 Château Margaux 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Found another bottle at dinner...hope it's better...oh good, it is. Great nose of tar, herbs, red fruit, earth, and florals. It's palate was beautifully composed and had this lovely feminine profile - lots of florals, dried cranberry and tilled soil. Great length to the body this seemed to have a lot of life left.
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1990 Château Margaux 97 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Legit juice. Has the nose of potpourri, dark spices, shredded tobacco, tilled earth and red fruit. Incredibly complex and layered, it's a nose that you could easily enjoy on its own for hours. Luckily, I drank it. Wow. All I could have asked for from a Margaux. Beautiful dried floral notes, rich red fruit and great minerality. Loved this.
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1969 Faiveley Chambertin-Clos de Bèze 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru
I only had a small taste of this, but it left a large impression. Despite its age, the nose was still powerful and dark with spices, dark fruit and earth. You halfway expect a wine like this to be tired, dead or just boring, but this was incredible nuanced, layered and complex. Beautifully meaty, and floral this just blew me away. Loved it.
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2005 Sine Qua Non Syrah Atlantis Fe2O3~1a, b & c 91 Points
USA, California, Central Coast
A real change of pace from the rest of the wines. Talk about drinking a meat stick...wow, this was pure pepperoni. Sure, the weight and body was a bit big for me, but the flavors were quite nice. Certainly exotic, and certainly young...I'd like to revisit this in 10 years. I could see this being really something special.
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2004 Château Montrose 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
From magnum. Only had a small taste of this, but found it far more accessible and enjoyable than I expected. Typically, Montrose is a wine I only appreciate with age on it, but this already had some secondary characteristics showing. Nice tobacco, earth and mint on the palate seemed to hint at the wines exciting future. Glad I own some.
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2001 Château Rieussec 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
Brilliant stuff. Great tropical fruit with ripping acidity and balance. Doesn't have the raw power of the '01 d'Yquem, but I think the Rieussec's floral and spice profile are more interesting and appealing to me right now. 2001 was a hard year to screw things up in Sauternes.
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