Domaine Leflaive Dinner with Brice de La Morandière (Oriole - Chicago IL): Late night pop-and-pour, this has a completely enchanting aromatic start with so much Asian five spice with bold red cherry and berry. Flavors match up, but there is so much firm structure in the foreground right now, making me think this needs a decade+ in the cellar, but with brilliant potential.
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This was so incredibly approachable with a very light but ethereal freahness. A gorgeous floral nose that keeps developing with more air. We drank this over 7 hours and it held up beautifully with great structure and poise. Delicious at this stage but will also likely age well and get even better. Best RSV around by far…
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Complete DRC Vintage Horizontals 2017 vs 2018: Since Covid didn’t allow for a proper arrivage tasting last year, we tasted the 2017s in direct taste-offs vs their 2018 counterparts this year. All bottles were opened a few hours earlier, not decanted but we got enough time to follow each wine over 45+ minutes in the glass which allowed for proper aeration and analysis. A few observations: 1) The 2017s are disarmingly easy to drink, charming, soft and open. 2) The 2018 show more depth but will need more time to flesh out, open up and become rounder. 3) Best ever Cortons. Slowly but surely they grow into their allocation (not market) price. 4) The showstopping RSVs edge out the Richebourgs with the purest fruit expression vs raw and today a bit unintegrated power. 5) The La Taches and RCs are playing in their own category in terms of complexity but the RCs are a bit closed. 6) The Montrachets are fabulous with a sharp, complex and complete 2017 as a consensus WOTN and a 2018 which is a bit broader but still amazing.
TN: Slightly reductive and powerful nose with lots of dark and red fruit. Seductive sweetness and high precision. An explosion of the purest, freshest fruit with a potpurrinof strawberries, raspberries, red currant, blueberries, blackberries, along lots of herbs, stems and crushed rocks. Lots of power and substance but the wine carries it well and remains on the pure, fresh, elegant and light side of things with an ultra fine structure, good freshness, light and creamy structure, superb balance and good length. Both RSVs where outstanding, cementing their status as No 3 red wine in the DRC stable ahead of the Richebourg. The 2018 was a touch ahead for me due to a bit more substance, even though the 2017 is the slightly more open and elegant wine today.
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2018 red Burgundy tasting (Freiheit Vinothek, Ulm, Germany): *** all wines decanted 1-2h before and tasted double blind *** Glass: Zalto Burgundy Clear, deep ruby color. Clean nose, lots of fine ripe fruit, floral notes, herbaceous. Dense, deep and complex. Now we are talking! Dry, medium+ acidity, high, velvet tannin. Lots of extract. Very dense and deep. Wonderful pressure and tension! Very firm and tight structure, also very clean, fine and precise. Beautiful fruit. Very long! Drinks beautifully already, but there is a huge upscale potential IMHO. 93-94++ Wow! A clear step up from the Echezaux!
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Domaine de la Romanee conti 2018 Tasting and Dinner; 4/29/2021-4/30/2021 (Le Bernardin): This is a different level of complexity from the Corton, Ech, and GE. The RSV floral character is there with a bit more structure and a little spice. I found the mix led to a two-staged flavor crescendo that was quite pleasing. The increased power of this wine does lead me to want to put it in a different weight class which, in a way, detracts from the classic elegance this was has come to settle into over the past 10 or so years.
Some people have asked for ratings of the 2018s. Here are my thoughts (today / potential). Corton (93 / 94-95) Ech (92 / 94) GE (94 / 95) RSV (93 / 94) Rich (97 / 97) La Tache (95 / 98) Romanee Conti (?? / 99?) Montrachet (93 / ??)
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10/13/2022 - Burgundy Al wrote: 95 Points
Domaine Leflaive Dinner with Brice de La Morandière (Oriole - Chicago IL): Late night pop-and-pour, this has a completely enchanting aromatic start with so much Asian five spice with bold red cherry and berry. Flavors match up, but there is so much firm structure in the foreground right now, making me think this needs a decade+ in the cellar, but with brilliant potential.
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5/5/2022 - LB88 wrote: 96 Points
This was so incredibly approachable with a very light but ethereal freahness. A gorgeous floral nose that keeps developing with more air. We drank this over 7 hours and it held up beautifully with great structure and poise. Delicious at this stage but will also likely age well and get even better. Best RSV around by far…
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3/31/2022 - fcxj wrote: 96 Points
Wow that's shockingly good. Strong violet aromatics. Palate is completely seamless and effortlessly integrated. Pure velvet texture. (10162/12709)
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10/24/2021 - Cailles wrote: 97 Points
Complete DRC Vintage Horizontals 2017 vs 2018: Since Covid didn’t allow for a proper arrivage tasting last year, we tasted the 2017s in direct taste-offs vs their 2018 counterparts this year. All bottles were opened a few hours earlier, not decanted but we got enough time to follow each wine over 45+ minutes in the glass which allowed for proper aeration and analysis. A few observations: 1) The 2017s are disarmingly easy to drink, charming, soft and open. 2) The 2018 show more depth but will need more time to flesh out, open up and become rounder. 3) Best ever Cortons. Slowly but surely they grow into their allocation (not market) price. 4) The showstopping RSVs edge out the Richebourgs with the purest fruit expression vs raw and today a bit unintegrated power. 5) The La Taches and RCs are playing in their own category in terms of complexity but the RCs are a bit closed. 6) The Montrachets are fabulous with a sharp, complex and complete 2017 as a consensus WOTN and a 2018 which is a bit broader but still amazing.
TN: Slightly reductive and powerful nose with lots of dark and red fruit. Seductive sweetness and high precision. An explosion of the purest, freshest fruit with a potpurrinof strawberries, raspberries, red currant, blueberries, blackberries, along lots of herbs, stems and crushed rocks. Lots of power and substance but the wine carries it well and remains on the pure, fresh, elegant and light side of things with an ultra fine structure, good freshness, light and creamy structure, superb balance and good length. Both RSVs where outstanding, cementing their status as No 3 red wine in the DRC stable ahead of the Richebourg. The 2018 was a touch ahead for me due to a bit more substance, even though the 2017 is the slightly more open and elegant wine today.
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7/9/2021 - NoTrollingerPlease Likes this wine:
2018 red Burgundy tasting (Freiheit Vinothek, Ulm, Germany): *** all wines decanted 1-2h before and tasted double blind ***
Glass: Zalto Burgundy
Clear, deep ruby color. Clean nose, lots of fine ripe fruit, floral notes, herbaceous. Dense, deep and complex.
Now we are talking! Dry, medium+ acidity, high, velvet tannin. Lots of extract. Very dense and deep. Wonderful pressure and tension! Very firm and tight structure, also very clean, fine and precise. Beautiful fruit. Very long! Drinks beautifully already, but there is a huge upscale potential IMHO. 93-94++
Wow! A clear step up from the Echezaux!
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4/29/2021 - AValdes Likes this wine: 93 Points
Domaine de la Romanee conti 2018 Tasting and Dinner; 4/29/2021-4/30/2021 (Le Bernardin): This is a different level of complexity from the Corton, Ech, and GE. The RSV floral character is there with a bit more structure and a little spice. I found the mix led to a two-staged flavor crescendo that was quite pleasing. The increased power of this wine does lead me to want to put it in a different weight class which, in a way, detracts from the classic elegance this was has come to settle into over the past 10 or so years.
Some people have asked for ratings of the 2018s. Here are my thoughts (today / potential).
Corton (93 / 94-95)
Ech (92 / 94)
GE (94 / 95)
RSV (93 / 94)
Rich (97 / 97)
La Tache (95 / 98)
Romanee Conti (?? / 99?)
Montrachet (93 / ??)
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