Dinner with He Who Must Not Be Named

Jim Clary's
Tasted Friday, November 3, 2006 by winefool with 1,426 views

Introduction

This was the bi-Annual meeting of the Chris Freemott tasting group. Scott Manlin generously hosted the evening at Jim and Shiela Clary's absolutely stunning home in Lincoln Park. Scott started out with a very specific vision for flights and we all did our best to fill them in. Of course in true Hedonist fashion, the food was carefully chosen and overseen by Scott in his 'Executive Chef' role overseeing the efforts of Matt, our more or less adopted 'house chef' from Knightsbridge. Rare and delicous Salumi from Mario Batali's fathers place, Dover Sole flown in fresh from England, and custom dry aged prime beef from Gepparths, and a point cheeses sourced directly from Tekla were the highlights.

I did my best to capture notes on as many wines as I could, but as you can see, it went down hill pretty fast about two thirds of the way through. I have included points for my own reference in CT, but they will not really be relevant to anyone else except to highlight which wines I enjoyed relative to the others. I'm sure most would have scored some of these wines (especially the bordeaux) higher than I do . Caveat Emptor!

Flight 1 - Salumi, sweetbread tartlets, beef carpaccio rolls, and qual eggs with Osetra caviar (1 Note)

Flight 2 - Roasted Dover sole with melted leeks and chardonnay beurre blanc (3 Notes)

  • 1999 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet 93 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

    Huge oaky yellow fruit nose with good underlying minerality. big tight, almost tannic?, oaky yellow fruit. This wine has clear breed and an almost crystalliine focus, but like many Leflaives it's just too oaky for me young. Opened up a bit more with time, but this bottle really needs 10+ years to shine. Others in the group like this better as it was group WOTF.

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  • 1999 Chartron et Trébuchet Montrachet 94 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

    This wine was a bit more controversial as it was my favorite of the flight because I think it was showing the best young, but last place in the flight for the group. Full yellow color. rich lush sweet tropical fruit nose. really nice round sweet mineral fruit on the palate. I know this is a very backward comparison (we're supposed to compare upstart California chards to the great wines of burgundy!), but I thought this wine was reminiscint of an Aubert Reuling Chardonnay.

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  • 1999 Château de Puligny-Montrachet Chevalier-Montrachet 93 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

    Full yellow color. Medium honeyed yellow fruit on the nose. Big spicy sweet yellow fruit on the palate with a nice long finish.

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Flight 3 - Duck ragout with bacon and pearl onions (4 Notes)

  • 2001 Domaine Robert Groffier Chambertin-Clos de Bèze 93 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru

    Full red color. Lovely rich red cherry fruit nose - lifted. big concentrated black fruit with earth hints and good acidity. Very nice and should mature very gracefully.

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  • 2001 Hospices de Beaune Mazis-Chambertin Cuvée Madeleine Collignon Henri Boillot 92 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru

    Deep purple red color. Plae aroma of purple fruit. Nice black cherry concentrated fruit on the palate. This wine was a bit lost in the company, but I think it will be a very respectable burg in 5-6 more years. Interesting in that it represents one of the top red HdB vineyards in the hands of a wine maker known for whites.

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  • 2001 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin 95 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru

    Full ruby red color. Rich forward briar black cherry nose. Really nice rich briary spicy sweet red cherry with good round tannins and acidity. Lovely balance. I was surprised by how well this wine was showing so young. This is rare and expensive for good reason!

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  • 1996 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche 97 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru

    Jim Clary went beyond generosity when this wine came up in conversation and he went down to the cellar for the impromptu pull! Even popped and poured, it showed and absolutely stunning nose of asian spice, soy, and a hint of brown sugar. Delicious ripe rich spicy black cherry fruit on the palate with great underlying acidity. Just waves of different impressions as it sat in the glass. I personally thought this was going to be way too young based on a recent disappointing experience with a 93 that was shut down tight, but while it certainly has a long life of improvement ahead, it was a joy to drink on Friday. Easily my WOTN.

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Flight 4 (4 Notes)

  • 1990 Château Léoville Poyferré 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

    The surprise of the flight for me was how well this Poyferre showed. Opaque black/red color. Forward bold balck fruit with some acidity. Big bright red fruit with blood and iron notes, almost reminiscint of a good La Mish. Very nice. 2nd place WOTF for both me and the group.

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  • 1990 Château Léoville Las Cases 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

    Full crimson red color. Big forward black fruit with some green pepper notes. Big tight black fruit with firm tannins and a long coffee finish. Both my and the group's WOTF.

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  • 1990 Château Lynch-Bages 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Full coffee black/red color. Full black fruit aroma. big bold black tannic fruit with some earthy blood hints. I think this wine still needs some more time, personally.

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  • 1990 Château Margaux 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Major disappointment for the evening. No obvious flaws with this bottle, it just didn't taste or show like a 1990 Margaux. full opaque coffee red. Spicy green notes with black fruit and chocolate hints on the nose. Round and flabby black fruit on the palate with a sour note on the finish. Group and my last place for the flight.

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Flight 5 - Braised leg of lamb with polenta and brussel sprouts (4 Notes)

  • 1990 Château Cheval Blanc 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Full coffee red color. Big briar red fruit, cedar, and pencil lead on the nose (didn't we just LEAVE Paulliac here?!?). Tight black coffee fruit on the palate. Group and my WOTF.

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  • 1989 Château La Conseillante 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

    Oops, SOMEONE pulled the wrong bottle and brought the 89 instead of the 90. Oh well, drink up! Full crimson garnet color. Full red fruit with spice on the nose. Nice round red fruit, but with a bit of bitterness on the finish.

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  • 1990 Château L'Evangile 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

    Full coffee red color. Full pencil lead black fruit nose. Nice rich black fruit and tannin. Rich coffee finish.

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  • 1990 Tertre Rôteboeuf 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Full deep red color. Bright spicy acidic red fruit on the nose. Full black fruit on the palate with a long coffee finish. Nice, but all that much complexity or nuance.

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Flight 6 - 28 day dry aged prime strip with demi-glace and potato gratin (4 Notes)

In this flight, my ability to take detail notes really fell off and all I have is general impressions from here on out!

Flight 7 (3 Notes)

Flight 8 - Chapoutier Hermitage La Meal flight with Epoisses, Livarot, St. Marcellin, and Pave d'Affinois

The three La Meals showed pretty well as I recall, but I don't have detailed notes on any of them. Perhaps someone else can fill in?
1998 Chapoutier La Meal
1999 Chapoutier La Meal
2000 Chapoutier La Meal

Flight 9 - Sweet Dessert flight with Creme Brulee

In this flight we had:
1967 Caillou
1997 d'Yquem

Closing

At the end of the day, we all managed to soldier through the jungle of great wines and food, with only one minor casualty at the end... As always, a good time was had by all. A special thanks to Shiela for putting up with all of us hooligans in her home with aplomb!

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