May 2, 2024 - Quite pale garnet. Very light touch of woodsmoke and mushroom/old cellar. Hint of truffle. Brioche/pastry notes. Oddly, a tiny hint of eucalyptus or a medicinal note. Exquisite balance - silky/feathery texture. Acidity so fine, tannins light and powdery. Quite extraordinary, breathtaking, near sublime. The balance between savoury, umami and sweetness is unforgettable.
March 1, 2024 - La Paulée de Los Angeles - The Verticals (Maybourne Hotel - Beverly Hills CA): Walkaround vertical tasting. Black and red cherry, still backward with a firm middle. Not yet harmonious, but large scaled enough to handle that awkwardness some day (?) in the future.
March 1, 2024 - Wines Tasted at the La Paulée Verticals Session (The Maybourne, Beverly Hills): Light ruby. Medium to light weight, very elegant feel. Classic soil/black fruit blend, excellent acidity, and tannins that reach the gums and stay there. Still needs at least 5 years. This too was excellent.
May 5, 2023 - Jabot vs Faiveley (Bellyhappy Chef): Blind. Touch of cola, new oak not well integrated, good structure and body, red cherry, strawberry, high acid, high alcohol with full body. Still have way to go. Definitely a grand cru but needs more time for the oak to integrate.
May 5, 2023 - Negoce face-off at Bellyhappychef: Guessed the maker from the ridiculously heavy bottles that Jadot uses for their grand crus. Thought it was from a warm vintage like ‘09 or ‘15 because of its tightly coiled, vibrant red fruit. Impressively built and so supple that it couldn’t be a Gevrey GC, so I went for an Ech or a Clos Vougeot. Quite chewy at the moment, needs another 10 years before everything comes together.
January 2, 2023 - Just coming into stride. Polished and pure. Decant 1 hour. Great way to bring in the new year!
June 24, 2021 - This is an exceptional young Grand Cru only just starting its evolution. Clear, medium ruby in the glass.
Aromas are perfumed and quite primary with a strawberry and plum core. Oak requires more time to integrate as notes of cracked leather and chocolate are quite overt.
Palate shows a wine with firm, chalky tannins and pronounced acidity. Quite hot as well.
Aromas match the flavours well. Sweet black plum and strawberry, chocolate, leather, earth and spice.
Tremendous length.
Still very young. Drink 2026-2060(?)
May 13, 2021 - Clos Vougeot - Clos Center Tasting (Chicago, IL): 09/10 single blind. Unlike most 09/10 pairings, these were more difficult to distinguish though I ultimately correctly guessed this as the 2009 as it was just slightly more dark fruited and brooding. Aromatically tight and very well structured to match the ripe, concentrated fruit. Just not all that forthcoming. Some said it was '2005 like', which made sense to me. Hold for 5-10+ years.
May 13, 2021 - Clos Vougeot (The Center) Tasting (House of Nanda - Chicago IL): Single blind alongside 2010. Dense and meaty with lots of fruit, but at least as much tannic structure. Much less harmonious vs 2010, this needs plenty of cellar time to show its full potential. Both open 2+ hours before tasting.
January 19, 2021 - Appearance: Bright and clear, the wine is of light ruby colour, with fading garnet rims and legs.
Nose: Clean, with medium (+) intensity aromas of red fruit of strawberry, raspberry and cherries, floral notes of violet, mineral notes of earth, kernel notes of walnut, oak notes of toast, animal notes of leather, dairy notes of butter, maturity notes of savoury. The wine is developing.
Palate: Dry with medium acidity, the wine has high tannin of ripe and silky texture, medium alcohol, with medium (-) body and medium intensity flavours of red fruit of raspberry and cherries, oak notes of toast, kernel notes of walnut, mineral notes of earth. The wine has a medium finish.
Conclusion: Very good quality Clos Vougeot with an intense nose showing nice complexity, with a wide range of red fruit aromas, and underlying notes of buttery, toasty and earthy characters. On the palate it is in good balance, with a high level of tannin but smooth on texture. The flavours are reasonably concentrated with a decent length on the finish. It is ready to drink now and can further develop for another 4-6 years.