Leo's Blind Tasting Group - Oct '15 edition

Ben's
Tasted Monday, October 5, 2015 by salil with 649 views

Flight 1 (2 Notes)

  • 2004 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 95 Points

    France, Champagne

    Stunning wine. Super precise, a faint herbal/green verdant character in the nose amidst bright green apple and pear fruit, chalky and stony mineral notes, and more savoury doughy and yeasty flavours that develop with air. Power matched with tremendous focus and acidity on the palate, and incredible length. Wow.

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  • 2004 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année 91 Points

    France, Champagne

    Liked this a lot, but it was outclassed by the Taittinger CDC. It's a bigger, rounder wine than the Comtes - the doughy and yeasty flavours are more prominent here, though there's again a faint herbal/green apple skin aspect to the nose. The fruit again comes across with a remarkable sense of freshness on the palate, and there's a vein of stony mineral flavours beneath. Really nice.

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Flight 2 (2 Notes)

  • 2004 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année Rosé 93 Points

    France, Champagne

    I'm normally not the biggest fan of rosé Champagne, but this was on point. Bright strawberry and raspberry fruit framed by mineral, yeasty, and vanilla cream notes, very focused and precise on the palate with a full body lifted by powerful acidity, finishing long.

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  • 2004 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut 92 Points

    France, Champagne

    Comes across a touch creamy and soft in contrast to both the regular Comtes and the Bollinger GA rosé, but there's serious depth here. Layers of red berried fruit, biscuit and yeasty notes, a gentle chalky mineral undercurrent, and a faint herbal accent on the nose all come together very seamlessly. There's plenty of acidity here, though the palate feels a bit more rounded than in the other Champagnes, not showing the same incredible focus and clarity that the regular Comtes did. That's nitpicking though - this is an awesome wine.

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Flight 3 (3 Notes)

  • 1970 Travaglini Gattinara 87 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Gattinara

    Very pretty old Nebbiolo nose, with dried rose petals and herbs, old wood, leather, and other savoury earthy and tarry notes framing gentle red fruited notes. The palate gives the impression that it's on the downslope - there's some dusty red fruit in the background beneath the array of mature, savoury flavours, though it feels a bit thin on the back end and the fruit feels a bit dried.

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  • 1973 Travaglini Gattinara 90 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Gattinara

    Better than the last bottle I had - served blind, I was wondering if this might be an older Rioja. Really pretty aromatics, very floral and red fruited with other cedary and tarry accents that keep evolving with air. Still very fresh and lively on the palate with bright acids beneath, really enjoyable.

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  • 1978 Travaglini Gattinara 88 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Gattinara

    This has that old Nebbiolo character in spades - layers of savoury tarry, earthy, and smoky notes framing red berried fruit and dried rose petals. Very pretty to smell, but it comes across a bit austere on the palate, with the fruit a bit thin and the acidity rather sharp. Really interesting, though somewhat charmless.

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Flight 4 (3 Notes)

Flight 5 (3 Notes)

  • 1998 Louis Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Domaine Louis Jadot 95 Points

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

    One of my wines of the night. Absolutely spectacular showing. The fruit here is more youthful and primary than in the other two wines, but there's still a ton of complexity here. Rich, sappy red berried fruit and cherries augmented by more savoury earthy, meaty, spicy, and faintly leathery notes, and conveyed with an incredibly polished, elegant palate presence. There's plenty of structure here still, but the tannin feels so graceful and fine grained, and the bright acids give it tremendous lift. Amazing length on the finish. A real wow wine.

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  • 1993 Louis Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Domaine Louis Jadot 94 Points

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

    What a great fragrance - an array of spices, high toned floral notes, some meaty funk, and more savoury earthiness framing a core of bright red fruited flavours. The palate presence is very polished, though not showing quite the same degrees of intensity, persistence, and sense of power that the '98 did. The aromatics are a real wow though, and only keep getting better as this sits in the glass. I could have kept smelling this all evening.

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  • 1997 Louis Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Domaine Louis Jadot 94 Points

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

    Wasn't such a big fan of this when I had it in 2011. This bottle's an entirely different story. A powerhouse of a wine, with an intense, dark fruited aroma that keeps expanding and evolving with air as more savoury earthy, smoky, spicy, and faintly meaty and furry notes develop on the nose. It doesn't show quite the same aromatic complexity as the '93 or '98, but the palate presence here is also remarkable - so silky, polished, and incredibly long.

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Flight 6 (3 Notes)

Flight 7 (1 Note)

  • 1986 Château Rieussec 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Second experience with this wine, again served blind by Ben, and my impressions are again very similar. A lighter, fresher expression of Sauternes with the usual tropical fruit/apricot marmalade/honeyed flavour profile, but the botrytis is dialed back a bit more here, and there's plenty of acidity cutting through the sweetness. Very nice.

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