1970 DRC Horizontal...and Friends

Inovasi - Lake Bluff IL
Tasted Monday, April 4, 2011 by Burgundy Al with 1,155 views

Flight 1 - Some old Montrachet to start (3 Notes)

  • 1976 Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet 81 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

    Bottle was in good condition with a good fill. On its last legs, this wine mostly showed earthy and mature notes. It was interesting but paled in comparison to the Drouhin 76 Marquis Laguiche in the next glass.

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  • 1976 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet 92 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

    Gorgeous nose lasted for hours. Lots of power to start along with great fruit intensity. On the richer, more powerful side of an older white Burg, with nice signs of butter and caramel. 1976 whites typically didn't have such great acidity, so this wine's power was exciting.

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  • 1991 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet 93 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

    Lots of fresh fruit with some very nice caramel, creme brulee flavors. Probably my favorite aspect was a nice trace of mint on the nose that started showing after 5-10 minutes in glass, even if it didn't last long. This also showed some of the same structural characteristics of the 76 Laguiche in the next glass.

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Flight 2 - Starting the reds (2 Notes)

  • 1969 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux 92 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

    Bottle was in good condition, with ullage around 4cm. Classic old Vosne character, with lots of spice for a wine its age. Nice fruit, surprisingly vibrant for a 40+ year old wine. Really impressive balance and length. A very enjoyable and sophisticated wine. Maintained its flavor for at least one hour.

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  • 1970 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux 86 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru

    Nose was all secondary with a slightly odd vegetal element as well. Palate didn't have much fruit either, but na interesting earthy mushroom series of flavors. That same vegetal component cam through as well on the palate, I'm wondering if it is a remnant of stems that didn't work out so great in a challenging vintage.

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Flight 3 - The spicy wines (2 Notes)

Flight 4 - Drumroll please.... (3 Notes)

  • 1970 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche 93 Points

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

    Delicate and perfumed nose was charming from the start. Palate started with lots of spice, earth and some long braised meats. Over time the spice intensified and some red fruit started emerging as well. After 15-20 minutes, this started showing some good intensity on the finish.

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  • 1974 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Flawed

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

    Rotten vegetables.

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  • 1970 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti 94 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée-Conti Grand Cru

    Lots of spice and red fruit on the nose. Palate still showed fruit with surprising power and structure. Of tonight's 1970s, this had the most interesting spice combination, as it kept evolving in glass from something sweet and exotic into something powerful and savory. Most people preferred the 1970 LaTache tonight...they are close, but they are also wrong. I don't often get to taste old LT and RC side-by-side (counting tonight, I've done that once), but I understand the Burgundian wisdom that RC starts to show better after 30+ years.

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Flight 5 - But wait, there's more (3 Notes)

  • 1966 Moillard Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts 86 Points

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

    Popped and poured. Very nice nose to start, good Vosne spice - somewhat on the side of baking spice - along with the earthiness you'd expect from a wine of this age. Flavors were slightly less interesting, perhaps a bit too earthy. Mustiness blew off after a few minutes, but the spice and intensity also disappeared after about 20-25 minutes.

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  • 1966 Domaine Masson Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Au-dessus des Malconsorts Flawed

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

    Corked, and we waited 45 years to find out.

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  • 1995 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux 91 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

    Black fruit with good spice and perfume on the nose. Palate doesn't follow through as well with the same fruit quality, although it shows good spice. Dense and structure for right now, I'd hold onto this for another decade before trying again. Unlike many 1995s, I wasn't really fearful of the fruit disappearing waiting for structure to balance, but this is still more "structured" than "fun" for now.

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Flight 6 - Something sweet for dessert (2 Notes)

  • 1976 Château d'Yquem 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Nose shows mango and pineapple with lots of vanilla and some petrol richness. Similar tropical fruit on palate, then evolving to less tropical peach flavors in the middle. Sweet but balanced, with great acidity. Will last and last.

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  • 1955 Château d'Yquem Flawed

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    So sad. It's not unusual to see old Sauternes appear dark, and this could have been mistaken for an old red wine if just seen in a glass. Interesting for what it was, but mostly just simple sweet wine flavors of brown sugar and vanilla. Perhaps victim of poor storage, but around 84 points if rated fairly tonight.

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Flight 7 - But wait again, there's even more and those bottles aren't shaped like Burgundy (2 Notes)

  • 1905 Château Latour Grand Vin 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    What a great thrill to try this wine. Really sensational nose shows classically what you'd want - graphite and crushed stone with great florals. While not as interesting on the palate, the aromatics remained interesting for longer than expected and were simply thrilling. Assessed on both being interesting as well as fun.

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  • 1970 Château Lafite Rothschild 88 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    From magnum. Earthy nose with some cedar and stone, not much floral charm. Some dark fruit still seemed to be loitering around but was hard to find, and when found it wasn't providing much charm or pleasure. Still, good balance and texture. If I owned any, I'd drink them up. Actually, I'd sell them in Hong Kong.

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