| | A great evening to watch the Cubs take on the Nationals in game 3 of the playoffs and the Bears first game with new QB Trubisky. Keith opened his home to us and Mike prepared a real feast, no set theme turned into another wonderful night. The Cubs won a nail biter and while the Bears lost, an impressive showing overall for our new QB. KJ HL DF MD KM GW and me. - 2015 Domaine Laroche Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
Nice core of hard apple fruits and silky texture showing good weight. Less nuanced or complex than expected, but likely a big closed at this point. A bit hard to assess perhaps? (90 pts.)
- 2008 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Surprisingly delicate aromas of light lemon citrus oil. Nice depth of richness on the palate with good brightness and a bit of earth. No premox, although seems ripe for a Chevy and perhaps showing a tad older than I imagined. Regal in style and highly nuanced. Flavor profile was solid yet seemed a bit closed. (92 pts.)
- 2013 Pierre Damoy Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Reserve - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru
After an hour or so decant, this was drinking surprisingly great. Wonderfully deep dark fruit with a beautifully sensual texture. Nice dark spices integrated so well already and a lovely structured frame. A superb effort here from what I am told is the oldest vines in Burgundy. I assume this will gain more complexity and nuance, but already truly quite grand. (94 pts.)
- 1999 Claude Dugat Griotte-Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru
A truly killer Burgundy if you don't like your wines shy. Quite intense in character, yet everything in complete harmony. A hedonistic and sublime wine. Tremendously fragrant ripe black cherry aromas with overwhelming sense of sweet baking spices. Quite creamy and dense on the palate yet great balance and a wonderful mineral streak that was both dark and long. Yum. Truly a great wine no and still miles to go. One of the best wines of my year. Spicy, ripe and powerful yet so well balanced. Very special stuff. (97 pts.)
- 1996 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru
I really enjoyed this wine and while still likely ascending even higher, I like where its at. A dark extracted profile with a wonderful silky texture. Deep black fruits framed by beautiful spicy nuances and very well balanced. Some floral elements add serious complexity and each sip brought new discoveries. Thanks DF. (95 pts.)
- 1947 Château Mouton-d'Armailhacq - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
A real treat to try. Mature earthy aromas of a dusty autumn walk through a forest. Dry dark flavors with some nice elements of sweet dark cherry. Finishes a bit lean and dry, yet offers nice pleasure. Based on this bottle, which had nice dark color, although quite opaque, best days behind. By no means dead or void of interest. Thanks GW. (90 pts.)
- 1989 Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
I have been blessed to have this wine in this vintage 3-4 times this year. This was the toughest showing from what I recall. While the bottle seemed fine form all appearances, the wine showed a bit hard and lean with a tart edge overwhelming the dry cherry flavor. Other bottles recently as I recall were considerably better, although I do remember enjoying the 1990 when compared side by side for a deeper fruit profile. (91 pts.)
- 1991 Penfolds Grange - Australia, South Australia
Good showing for this wine. Aromas of strawberry-rubarb with vanilla. Moderately weighty with good bright red fruitiness and tart finish. Showing some early signs of maturity. (93 pts.)
- 1993 Gaja Barbaresco Costa Russi - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Lovely wine showing dark aromas of black fruit and rose petal. Good concentration and nice black spices complement the bright acid structure. Very good sour cherry flavors through. Drink or hold. (93 pts.)
- 1997 Pétrus - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
This was popped and poured. Initially, seemed good, but lighter in style and a bit herbaceous. However, this gained serous weight in short order and blackberry/black cherry really developed well. Quite impressive and special with more time. In the end, this turned out to be very good with the last glass simply delicious showing nice complexity and little to no herbaceous qualities. A wild ride. (94 pts.)
- 2005 Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT - Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT
Big dark extracted and intense sweet cocoa dusted blackberries in a smooth rich velvety style that only got better taste after taste. A bit on the young side now, but offering up lots of pure pleasure. Tremendous balance with a nicely structured frame. While quite showy now it also displays great breed. Will most likely get even better, but awesome now. (95 pts.)
- 2004 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Rich ripe blackberries in a creamy dense style with loads of dark exotic spices. Wonderful extracted pure fruits and an underling minerality. Still comes across on the younger side. Maybe it can even get better, but if not still a real treat and worth seeking out. (96 pts.)
Really all the wines showed great and Mike's food was spectacular. The Burgundies were my favs overall, bu the Petrus didn't suck.
Note: I did not include notes on the 2008 d'Eugenie Brulees, 1997 Mascarello Monprivato which while fine, were not truly memorable on this evening. |
