Grand Crus > 20 years CT gathering at IT-SPDP. Tasted blind. Drank in Grassl Cru. Appearance is clear, pale intensity, ruby colour. Legs. Nose is clean, medium+ intensity, with aromas of charming fragrant earth, red plums, darker red cherries. Developed. On the palate, dry, high acidity, medium alcohol (13.5%), integrated medium- tannins, medium+ body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of licking wet stones minerality, dark red cherries, focused red plums, other piercing red fruits, charming integrated oak spices. Juicy long finish. Very good quality. Was guessing 90s Charmes-Chambertin, drinking in a great spot already. Elegant style. I like.
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Grand Crus > 20 years: Superb nose with fully integrated oak, was guessing the cellar of the person who brought it and asked if this was a Rousseau haha. Clearly from a strong vintage but with high acidity so was thinking 95/96/99, and guessed Charmes because of its elegance. Straddled between red and black fruit that would appeal to a wide audience. In a perfect spot of maturity now.
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Another good showing tonight. Clean and floral nose with vibrant acidity. Tannins pretty much all resolved. Elegant and good balance, acidity will keep this alive for a long time.
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1996 Dinner...Top Champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux (Park Ridge Country Club): In '96 Grand Cru flight. Opened approx 30 minutes before serving, more air would have helped. This started slightly musty and awkward. This certainly put on weight in glass, as well as cleaned up nicely. Still never got to the full harmony I hoped for, but it is still young for this producer in this kind of vintage.
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Dinner at the Papies (The Papies, Elizabeth St, London): A very pretty wine once again ( our last bottle of the wine that launched our serious wine journey and albeit not as exciting as the one we had 9 month sago ( Papies 96) still a magnificent and effortlessly elegant wine. Well evolve, nice soft dark fruit undertone to the red fruit nose, light earth, silky and delicious. Thank you for the 15yr journey old friend. 94 this time.
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PnP. ABV 13.5%. Happy Diwali 2021. Unlike previous bottle, this bottle has enticing nose, clean with mostly flowers and just a smidgen of dark soils. Bright acidity and tannins mostly resolved. Showing brilliantly from get go, reached plateau and should continue to cruise along for a while.
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The wine ( Along with La Mouline 1998) that sparked our journey into serious wine strikes one more time. The nose on this wine is utterly mesmerizing and this is indeed what great burgundy is all about. 25yrs young, well evolved, earthy but still with bright red fruits, lots of energy , and full round and silky tannin. But that nose is what will stay with us much as it did all these years back one night in Athens. This would give DRC a run for its money. 96+
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Extensive Social Distancing Drink #5. Not very attractive nose, all muds and dungeons without any flower notes. Tannins mostly resolved, vibrant but not excessive acidity so typical of this vintage. Good length and complexity, slight oaks at finish. No trace of alcohol. Decent but not a great bottle, a bit rustic, nowhere near the last bottle few months ago.
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Friday, Grand Cru day? Still fairly dark in color, just a little bit of bricking. Mainly wet earth and flowers on the nose. Velvet tannins and sweet fruits. Not showing the excessive acidity of the vintage, wonderful. Mainly black fruits, still some tannins hanging around. Good length and complexity. No hint of alcohol at backend, excellent balance. Drinking now but no hurry to consume this. Splendid.
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The case came in few weeks before Christmas, finally got a chance to open this after weeks of traveling. Slight bricking at the edge. Clean floral nose. Racy on the palate, showing the vintage characteristics. Tannins mostly resolved. ABV 13.5% without any trace of alcohol. Will last for years with its vibrant acidity. Surging acidity an hour later...hmmm...
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This was an epic wine. It will haunt me. It opened up about an 45 minutes into a decant and evolved 2 more hours. The nose was leather, cigar box, earthy barnyard. The palate was delicious sour cherry, a little green pepper.
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Served double blind and decanted prior. This was very different from the previous flight. A bit darker and more earth and even some barnyard character on the nose. Very impressive length and depth. I guessed 93 or 95 Echezeaux. I don't have much experience with Serafin and this was a wonderful way to start.
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Along with La Mouline 88 this is the wine that got us into wine and were very happy to see it still going strong and full of energy. Framed next to the DRC Grands Echezeaux 2003 ( Papies 95-97) this wine showed it still has the depth and the quality that awoke our serious wine side 10yrs ago. Very bright still, very energetic and seems that it has another 10yrs of life. Nicol who tried this blind though it was a cote rotie, with its light spicy, light smoky side and nice dark fruited side. Full of energy and life and a mates tic wine. 95-97 and we must buy more as this was our last bottle ...
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Dark garnet with substantial clear rim; deep, rich red fruit with superb texture and balance. Gobs of fruit! Showing very well. I guessed it as a '96 or '98, assuming the latter as there was no intrusive acidity characteristic of the '96s. Excellent bottle.
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Did not take notes, but this wine was enthralling and gorgeous tonight. We had a fun time drinking it from the Riedel Oregon Pinot Noir Glass, the Riedel Burgundy Grand Cru glass, and the Zalto Burgundy glass... each time we were stunned by the improvement in the glassware, with the wine tasting the best and most complete out of the Zalto. This wine has textural elegance in spades. A wonderful and fascinatingly complete wine. This wine begins to hint at how someone can fall in love with the upper wrung Burgundies. 94 points out of the Zalto, 93 out of the Riedel Burgundy Grand Cru, and 91 out of the misplaced Oregon Pinot stem. Amazing.
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Popped and poured. Much like the last bottle I tasted a few years back. Mostly black fruit with some red cherry hints, this was long and persistent over the course of the hour+ open and in glass. Kept getting better, longer and deeper with more air.
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Magic Number 6 - 2006,1996,1986,1976,1966 (The Papies, Elizabeth St, London): WOTN against very difficult competition.Opened and left to settle but no decanting. Wine was singing from the start! Still dark in colour true to Serafin style. Meaty dense on the nose with dark fruits complementing the pinot aromatics, still some oak, sweet fruit notes, light floral. Kept on going back and back. Wonderful aromatics! On the palate it has the density of fruit, good exraction and with silky round tannins. Such palate presence and depth! This is true to form amazing Charmes-Chambertin worthy of Grand Cru status. 97+
Another Saturday at Knightsbridge - mostly blind (Northbrook, IL): Tasted double blind. Great black and red cherry fruit on nose and palate, lots of baking spice front-and-center. Great fruit density really shows its Grand Cru pedigree, but surprisingly accessible already for the vintage. Tannins and acid beautifully integrated to provide great textures and nuance. apparently Serafin harvested late in 1996, leading to acidity more proportional to the fruit than many other 1996s. Seemd to have reached its peak, but still having a good long plateau. Probably the finest Serafin Charmes-Chambertin I recall ever tasting.
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Popped and poured and drank over an hour or so. It starts with a lot of dusty book aromas, but as this sits in the glass this dissipates revealing a lot of cranberry fruits, sweet dirty beats, and raspberries; quite spicy and floral as well, graphite and pencil shavings come in later. Really beautiful, elegant and graceful. There's definitely some size to the nose. As it sits on the tongue it just grows and grows in complexity but never gets tired or tannic. There's plenty of Christmas spice building, but not any alcohol related spice. The finish really explodes with an earthy, spicy, gravelly seduction. I get the notion of licking volcanic rock slathered in raspberry fruit. There's definitely still some dusty books and on the finish this is still a little tight with heavy tannins and acid. The window on this is open, but I don't think it's yet peaking. There was a bunch of discussion at the table about the window on this one. While I agree the high tones that are making this so gorgeous today may slightly fade with time, I also feel that with the tightness of the tannins on the finish that this still has some positive evolution ahead of it.
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Needs 1 hour to open so please decant.. We have written a lot about this wine. It is truly an experience. Great nose, smooth and velvety tannins and complex like no other.
Tried side by side with Cos 90. Flor de Pingus 04 and stood out like the true gem it is.
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Stunning bottle of burgundy. Tannins were silky, but wine was still very youthful. Crimson hue with no browning at the edge. Glorious aromas of red raspberry, wild cherry and spice box. Vibrant acidity and juicy flavors of red raspberry. Lots of complexity and nuance, but lots of power.
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This is a spectacular wine. Had the joy of trying 4 so far in different tastings and all were amazing. The nose is open and attacks you straight from the glass. Smelling this wine's aroma its a treat in it self. And then you drink and simply spectacular. Tried it in a tasting along a Mouton 86 and it blew the Mouton away. Very Complex wine and one to remember.
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Sweet cakey scents here too but much more powerful and augmented with a meatiness that seems very Gevrey. This tastes a whole generation younger than the 1993s. The fruit is thicker, almost sticky. It worked out well that we poured this as the steaks came.
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Henri Boillot 2004s and a few other Burgs at Bobby's (Washington, DC): Served following the 1990 Meo-Camuzet NSG 1er Cru Murgers and the 1990 Leroy VR Les Beaux Monts, the 1996 Serafin showed very well tonight. I've had this wine a half dozen or so times now, and this was one of the best showings, with gorgeously pure aromatics of dried spices, cherry and early stage mature elements. This is an excellent wine in it middle age sweet spot - where it has nice elements of earth and game that have started to develop in the bottle, yet it's still holding on to hauntingly pure fruit. Excellent.
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Much better than the last two bottles I opened, but still less impressive than a drop-dead gorgeous bottle I had about three years ago. Anyway, this time it showed and intriguing nose of red fruit, dried flowers and spice. On the palate it's softer and earthier than was the case with the last couple bottles. Nicely balanced. Very nice wine. A '96 AOC Gevrey from Dugat (see TN) opened along side the Charmes showed lusher, darker fruit but less in the way of complexity / high notes.
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Again, not a great showing, but better than the last bottle... I still wish I had drunk these up a couple years ago when the wine was just screaming...
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Not nearly as good a showing as previous bottles??? A bottle a year ago was absolutely stunning, with gorgeous/seductive cherry aromas roaring from the glass. This bottle was a big disappointment. Hopefully, this was just an off bottle...
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7/7/2023 - Derek Darth Taster Likes this wine: 94 Points
Grand Crus > 20 years CT gathering at IT-SPDP. Tasted blind. Drank in Grassl Cru.
Appearance is clear, pale intensity, ruby colour. Legs.
Nose is clean, medium+ intensity, with aromas of charming fragrant earth, red plums, darker red cherries. Developed.
On the palate, dry, high acidity, medium alcohol (13.5%), integrated medium- tannins, medium+ body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of licking wet stones minerality, dark red cherries, focused red plums, other piercing red fruits, charming integrated oak spices. Juicy long finish.
Very good quality. Was guessing 90s Charmes-Chambertin, drinking in a great spot already. Elegant style. I like.
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7/7/2023 - melvinyeowq wrote: 94 Points
Grand Crus > 20 years: Superb nose with fully integrated oak, was guessing the cellar of the person who brought it and asked if this was a Rousseau haha. Clearly from a strong vintage but with high acidity so was thinking 95/96/99, and guessed Charmes because of its elegance. Straddled between red and black fruit that would appeal to a wide audience. In a perfect spot of maturity now.
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7/7/2023 - pclin wrote: 94 Points
Another good showing tonight. Clean and floral nose with vibrant acidity. Tannins pretty much all resolved. Elegant and good balance, acidity will keep this alive for a long time.
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9/8/2022 - Burgundy Al wrote: 92 Points
1996 Dinner...Top Champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux (Park Ridge Country Club): In '96 Grand Cru flight. Opened approx 30 minutes before serving, more air would have helped. This started slightly musty and awkward. This certainly put on weight in glass, as well as cleaned up nicely. Still never got to the full harmony I hoped for, but it is still young for this producer in this kind of vintage.
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4/2/2022 - Papies wrote: 94 Points
Dinner at the Papies (The Papies, Elizabeth St, London): A very pretty wine once again ( our last bottle of the wine that launched our serious wine journey and albeit not as exciting as the one we had 9 month sago ( Papies 96) still a magnificent and effortlessly elegant wine. Well evolve, nice soft dark fruit undertone to the red fruit nose, light earth, silky and delicious. Thank you for the 15yr journey old friend. 94 this time.
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11/4/2021 - pclin wrote: 95 Points
PnP. ABV 13.5%. Happy Diwali 2021.
Unlike previous bottle, this bottle has enticing nose, clean with mostly flowers and just a smidgen of dark soils. Bright acidity and tannins mostly resolved. Showing brilliantly from get go, reached plateau and should continue to cruise along for a while.
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8/5/2021 - Papies wrote: 96 Points
The wine ( Along with La Mouline 1998) that sparked our journey into serious wine strikes one more time.
The nose on this wine is utterly mesmerizing and this is indeed what great burgundy is all about. 25yrs young, well evolved, earthy but still with bright red fruits, lots of energy , and full round and silky tannin. But that nose is what will stay with us much as it did all these years back one night in Athens. This would give DRC a run for its money. 96+
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3/27/2020 - pclin wrote: 91 Points
Extensive Social Distancing Drink #5. Not very attractive nose, all muds and dungeons without any flower notes. Tannins mostly resolved, vibrant but not excessive acidity so typical of this vintage. Good length and complexity, slight oaks at finish. No trace of alcohol. Decent but not a great bottle, a bit rustic, nowhere near the last bottle few months ago.
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11/1/2019 - pclin wrote: 95 Points
Friday, Grand Cru day? Still fairly dark in color, just a little bit of bricking. Mainly wet earth and flowers on the nose. Velvet tannins and sweet fruits. Not showing the excessive acidity of the vintage, wonderful. Mainly black fruits, still some tannins hanging around. Good length and complexity. No hint of alcohol at backend, excellent balance. Drinking now but no hurry to consume this. Splendid.
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12/27/2018 - pclin wrote: 92 Points
The case came in few weeks before Christmas, finally got a chance to open this after weeks of traveling. Slight bricking at the edge. Clean floral nose. Racy on the palate, showing the vintage characteristics. Tannins mostly resolved. ABV 13.5% without any trace of alcohol. Will last for years with its vibrant acidity. Surging acidity an hour later...hmmm...
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10/20/2018 - matthewearl wrote: 98 Points
This was an epic wine. It will haunt me. It opened up about an 45 minutes into a decant and evolved 2 more hours. The nose was leather, cigar box, earthy barnyard. The palate was delicious sour cherry, a little green pepper.
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3/18/2018 - ovenmitt wrote: 96 Points
What Burgundy is all about.... No formal notes - so in balance and drinking fantastically right now. Wish I had more.
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11/22/2017 - FYC wrote:
Served double blind and decanted prior. This was very different from the previous flight. A bit darker and more earth and even some barnyard character on the nose. Very impressive length and depth. I guessed 93 or 95 Echezeaux. I don't have much experience with Serafin and this was a wonderful way to start.
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9/8/2017 - Papies wrote: 96 Points
Along with La Mouline 88 this is the wine that got us into wine and were very happy to see it still going strong and full of energy. Framed next to the DRC Grands Echezeaux 2003 ( Papies 95-97) this wine showed it still has the depth and the quality that awoke our serious wine side 10yrs ago.
Very bright still, very energetic and seems that it has another 10yrs of life. Nicol who tried this blind though it was a cote rotie, with its light spicy, light smoky side and nice dark fruited side. Full of energy and life and a mates tic wine. 95-97 and we must buy more as this was our last bottle ...
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5/31/2016 - jmoore431 wrote: 92 Points
Dark garnet with substantial clear rim; deep, rich red fruit with superb texture and balance. Gobs of fruit! Showing very well. I guessed it as a '96 or '98, assuming the latter as there was no intrusive acidity characteristic of the '96s. Excellent bottle.
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12/28/2015 - David Paris (dbp) wrote: 94 Points
Did not take notes, but this wine was enthralling and gorgeous tonight. We had a fun time drinking it from the Riedel Oregon Pinot Noir Glass, the Riedel Burgundy Grand Cru glass, and the Zalto Burgundy glass... each time we were stunned by the improvement in the glassware, with the wine tasting the best and most complete out of the Zalto. This wine has textural elegance in spades. A wonderful and fascinatingly complete wine. This wine begins to hint at how someone can fall in love with the upper wrung Burgundies. 94 points out of the Zalto, 93 out of the Riedel Burgundy Grand Cru, and 91 out of the misplaced Oregon Pinot stem. Amazing.
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7/26/2015 - the godfather wrote:
The most mineral driven of the burgs tonight, lots of earth on this
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7/21/2014 - Burgundy Al wrote: 93 Points
Popped and poured. Much like the last bottle I tasted a few years back. Mostly black fruit with some red cherry hints, this was long and persistent over the course of the hour+ open and in glass. Kept getting better, longer and deeper with more air.
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9/29/2012 - Papies wrote: 97 Points
Magic Number 6 - 2006,1996,1986,1976,1966 (The Papies, Elizabeth St, London): WOTN against very difficult competition.Opened and left to settle but no decanting.
Wine was singing from the start! Still dark in colour true to Serafin style. Meaty dense on the nose with dark fruits complementing the pinot aromatics, still some oak, sweet fruit notes, light floral. Kept on going back and back. Wonderful aromatics! On the palate it has the density of fruit, good exraction and with silky round tannins. Such palate presence and depth! This is true to form amazing Charmes-Chambertin worthy of Grand Cru status. 97+
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10/1/2011 - Burgundy Al wrote: 93 Points
Another Saturday at Knightsbridge - mostly blind (Northbrook, IL): Tasted double blind. Great black and red cherry fruit on nose and palate, lots of baking spice front-and-center. Great fruit density really shows its Grand Cru pedigree, but surprisingly accessible already for the vintage. Tannins and acid beautifully integrated to provide great textures and nuance. apparently Serafin harvested late in 1996, leading to acidity more proportional to the fruit than many other 1996s. Seemd to have reached its peak, but still having a good long plateau. Probably the finest Serafin Charmes-Chambertin I recall ever tasting.
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4/9/2011 - David Paris (dbp) wrote: 93 Points
Popped and poured and drank over an hour or so. It starts with a lot of dusty book aromas, but as this sits in the glass this dissipates revealing a lot of cranberry fruits, sweet dirty beats, and raspberries; quite spicy and floral as well, graphite and pencil shavings come in later. Really beautiful, elegant and graceful. There's definitely some size to the nose. As it sits on the tongue it just grows and grows in complexity but never gets tired or tannic. There's plenty of Christmas spice building, but not any alcohol related spice. The finish really explodes with an earthy, spicy, gravelly seduction. I get the notion of licking volcanic rock slathered in raspberry fruit. There's definitely still some dusty books and on the finish this is still a little tight with heavy tannins and acid. The window on this is open, but I don't think it's yet peaking. There was a bunch of discussion at the table about the window on this one. While I agree the high tones that are making this so gorgeous today may slightly fade with time, I also feel that with the tightness of the tannins on the finish that this still has some positive evolution ahead of it.
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11/5/2010 - Papies wrote: 95 Points
Lanessan Re-United at Chez Papies, London: The wine that started it all for us still hold strong and a spectacular showing once again. Simple excellent.
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12/5/2009 - Papies wrote: 95 Points
Needs 1 hour to open so please decant.. We have written a lot about this wine. It is truly an experience. Great nose, smooth and velvety tannins and complex like no other.
Tried side by side with Cos 90. Flor de Pingus 04 and stood out like the true gem it is.
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11/13/2009 - Papies wrote: 95 Points
Time to drink these i believe. Needed like 40mins of decanting to open up and then its a beautiful wine. Heavenly nose!
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5/29/2009 - stocksandbondage wrote: 96 Points
Stunning bottle of burgundy. Tannins were silky, but wine was still very youthful. Crimson hue with no browning at the edge. Glorious aromas of red raspberry, wild cherry and spice box. Vibrant acidity and juicy flavors of red raspberry. Lots of complexity and nuance, but lots of power.
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12/10/2008 - Papies wrote: 98 Points
This is a spectacular wine. Had the joy of trying 4 so far in different tastings and all were amazing. The nose is open and attacks you straight from the glass. Smelling this wine's aroma its a treat in it self. And then you drink and simply spectacular. Tried it in a tasting along a Mouton 86 and it blew the Mouton away. Very Complex wine and one to remember.
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1/27/2008 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 89 Points
Sweet cakey scents here too but much more powerful and augmented with a meatiness that seems very Gevrey. This tastes a whole generation younger than the 1993s. The fruit is thicker, almost sticky. It worked out well that we poured this as the steaks came.
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4/24/2006 - Ben Andersen wrote:
Henri Boillot 2004s and a few other Burgs at Bobby's (Washington, DC): Served following the 1990 Meo-Camuzet NSG 1er Cru Murgers and the 1990 Leroy VR Les Beaux Monts, the 1996 Serafin showed very well tonight. I've had this wine a half dozen or so times now, and this was one of the best showings, with gorgeously pure aromatics of dried spices, cherry and early stage mature elements. This is an excellent wine in it middle age sweet spot - where it has nice elements of earth and game that have started to develop in the bottle, yet it's still holding on to hauntingly pure fruit. Excellent.
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2/17/2005 - Ben Andersen wrote:
Much better than the last two bottles I opened, but still less impressive than a drop-dead gorgeous bottle I had about three years ago. Anyway, this time it showed and intriguing nose of red fruit, dried flowers and spice. On the palate it's softer and earthier than was the case with the last couple bottles. Nicely balanced. Very nice wine. A '96 AOC Gevrey from Dugat (see TN) opened along side the Charmes showed lusher, darker fruit but less in the way of complexity / high notes.
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8/13/2004 - Ben Andersen wrote:
Again, not a great showing, but better than the last bottle... I still wish I had drunk these up a couple years ago when the wine was just screaming...
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2/1/2004 - Ben Andersen wrote:
Not nearly as good a showing as previous bottles??? A bottle a year ago was absolutely stunning, with gorgeous/seductive cherry aromas roaring from the glass. This bottle was a big disappointment. Hopefully, this was just an off bottle...
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