Birthday with Vosne Romanee

Boka - Chicago IL
Tasted Friday, October 23, 2009 by Burgundy Al with 761 views

Introduction

Some friends and I were supposed to be at another Burgundy dinner hosted by a Chicago auction house, but they uninvited one of my guests without telling me, so we went off on our own to drink even better Burgundy. Kudos to our great friends at Boka who accommodated us on a Friday night with just a few days notice when they were already full. First course - sturgeon with lobster ragout was just amazing, amazing, amazing. Everything else was also amazing. Evening was Vosne oriented, so "amazing" goes without saying.

Flight 1 - Champagne (1 Note)

  • 1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 95 Points

    France, Champagne

    Nose is all lemon and lime followed by a hint of apple. Great Start to the night! This is exactly where I like my Champagne, before the stale toast and yeast take over. Same citrus flavors with amazing texture, mouth feel and acidity. Long and powerful, I really like where this is today; I know others will want to see how it develops, blah blah blah.

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Flight 2 - White Burgundy (3 Notes)

  • 1994 Louis Jadot Le Montrachet 92 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

    Surprisingly fresh on both nose and palate. Lemon on nose with some delicate floral touches. Same on palate but really mineral-driven. What a pleasant surprise from a tough vintage. Thank you, Jacques.

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  • 1994 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet Flawed

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

    Oxidized. Probably should have known by the brown color before opening, but it took 2 seconds from when the cork was removed for everybody within 5 feet to know this was oxidized.

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  • 2003 Louis Jadot Montrachet 94 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

    Rich and buttery nose with some traces of floral charm. Incredible citrus fruit on palate with lots of baby fat. Just the faintest hint of tropical fruit on the nose and palate, but the acidity and minerality smack any thoughts of saying this is overripe Chardonnay right out of your mouth. Intense fruit and power on finish. Needs another 3-5+ years.

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Flight 3 - A Little Beaux Monts to Start (3 Notes)

  • 1993 Domaine Leroy Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts 95 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

    Red cherry and some black cherry on the nose with the trademark Leroy perfume. Started with mostly red fruit on the palate and very good baking spice, then over the course of the evening more and more flavors started to emerge from behind the wine's big structure - many showed richer, darker fruit, some even seemed more Rhone-like with bacon and pepper, but this wine just got better and better all night.

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  • 1993 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts 90 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

    Black cherry and blackberry on the nose along with mushrooms. Great spice on both nose and palate to start, and probably through the first hour in glass. Good black fruit as well, but a bit lost behind the wine's big tannins. Wine started falling apart after about an hour and was uninteresting by 90 minutes. I think I have one more bottle- pop, pour for a group of people and enjoy.

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  • 1995 Louis Jadot Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts 92 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

    If Vosne is all about the spice, then this wine personified Vosne! Red and black cherry with great spice from fruit and oak. Same moderate fruit on palate but with really great Asian spice from start to finish. This was a really fun wine.

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Flight 4 - DRC RSV (4 Notes)

  • 1973 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

    Musty to start, then some red fruit, some spice on the nose. Palate showed sweet fruit with that caramelized brown sugar aspect to it. Still had some red fruit so that was a bonus, but not much spice on palate. Enjoyable.

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  • 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant 95 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

    Open perhaps 3 hours before serving, about of that time was spent in a decanter, then double decanted back. I only give that much detail because we spent so much of the evening comparing this wine and its next glass neighbor, the DRC 93 RSV, which spent the full 3 hours in decanter. The 1990 was incredibly vibrant and charming. Mostly red berries and cherry with a kitchen full of baking spice on the nose. Fruit and spice opened up with 30+ minutes in glass. Great silky tannins, great acidity, this is a very pretty wine. I think it was most people's WOTN. I was wavering, am still wavering but leaning towards the next glass, next note.

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  • 1993 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant 95 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

    Opened and decanted about 3 hours before serving. Red cherry and black cherry on the nose with intense cooked spices and some oak and cocoa. Same type of fruit on palate, but very intense and brooding, then turning a bit powerful towards the finish as spice opened up more. Served alongside the DRC 90 RSV, we kept debated the relative merits of these two (plus the flight had the also excellent 95 and interesting 73). It kept evolving in glass, not necessarily in a linear manner (vs. the 90 which just kept getting better). But I think there is more substance, dry extract and spice to the 93 so think it a nose ahead of its wonderful 1990 counterpart, forgive the pun.

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  • 1995 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant 92 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

    I feel sorry for this wine. It got a bit hidden served alongside its 1990 and 1993 counterparts. We spent hours and hours (or so it seemed) arguing the merits of the 1990 vs. the 1993, while this wine stood by silently and was under-appreciated. But my notes tell me it was more accessible than those two, beautifully balanced with an elegant finish.

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Flight 5 - Who Makes the Greatest RSV? (2 Notes)

You might be able to surmise that I ilike Romanee St.-Vivant. Who are usually my two favorite producers? Can we serve them both from the same vintage in a showdown for my birthday? Indeed we can...indeed we did...and the results are...inconclusive...because they were both great. Or even better...it depends (that's personal favorite since I'm a consultant).

  • 2000 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant 92 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

    Really wonderful spice on the nose -showing the entire cabinet of savory and baking spices, from soy to cinnamon and anise (in reverse alphabetical order of course). Somewhat less spice on the palate. Excellent structure, acidity and texture. Dark cherry and berry on nose and palate, this wine has a great future but isn't quite as forthcoming today. It actually didn't seem particularly like most 2000 Burgundies in that regard. Big upside potential vs. my score, which is based on tonight's performance.

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  • 2000 Domaine Leroy Romanée St. Vivant 93 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

    Very similar to a bottle from earlier this year, see that note for specifics. This wine just comes over and sits on your lap.

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Flight 6 - La Romanee + (3 Notes)

  • 1993 Bouchard Père et Fils La Romanée

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Romanée Grand Cru

    I really think I will love this wine.Despite perhaps 4 hours in a decanter, this massive beast couldn't be coaxed out of its cave. Lots of Asian spice, more on the soy and hoisin savory side, with more and more black fruit. Lots of tannins still completely dominate this wine but there is so much underlying fruit and extract that this might well come out of the cave in 2020 as a really exciting wine. Just so hard to tell.

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  • 1998 Bouchard Père et Fils La Romanée 92 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Romanée Grand Cru

    Lovely and accessible, especially in contrast to its 1993 counterpart in the next glass. Lots of red fruit and baking spice from start to finish. Nice acidity and minerality. Still some oak and structure that need a few more years to fully integrate but this is just a couple of years away from its peak.

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  • 2004 Domaine Leroy Vosne-Romanée 91 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée

    Really excellent spice and perfume on the nose, but the palate seemed a bit simple and lacking in substance. Hard to explain. Perhaps an off bottle, perhaps another example of the bottle variation I've experienced on some of the other Leroy 2004s, perhaps it was the 15th bottle of the night, perhaps it was lost in a flight of Bouchard La Romanee behemoths. I don't know.

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Flight 7 - Sweeties (2 Notes)

Closing

Happy birthday to me.

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