Acker Merrall BYO
Sepia - Chicago IL
Tasted Thursday, October 20, 2011 by Burgundy Al with 1,000 views
Introduction
As Acker Merrall comes to town for their first Chicago auction, they are hosting a series of great dinners. This wonderful BYO let us share great wine with 50 of our closest friends. A really sensational event.
Flight 1 (29 Notes)
Closing
There were at least another 5 or 10 wines I tried and didn't take notes and don't recall the wines with enough precision to try.
1988 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 93 Points
France, Champagne
From double magnum. Aromas of roasted nuts and orchard fruit. Lean and crisp on the palate, long finish with lots and lots of energy.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1990 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 93 Points
France, Champagne
Still incredibly fresh and vibrant. Big fruit on nose and palate with aromas and tastes of lemon and lemon zest. Great acidity and textures with power unfolding on finish.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1988 Jacquesson & Fils Champagne Signature Brut 89 Points
France, Champagne
From magnum. Lean and direct in the style of good 1988s, just a little short on the end.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1999 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Ripe and opulent fruit, showing peach as well as apple on nose and palate. Slightly less mint and spice than i recall from when tasted last, but again this wine has great textures, acidity and minerality. Lots of energy and power going into its long finish.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1999 Domaine Thenard Montrachet 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
Incredibly ripe fruit on nose and palate, still showing a trace of new oak not fully integrated. This continues to show as a lush and opulent wine. Good spice all the way through from start-to-finish.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2000 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chevalier-Montrachet 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
From magnum. Rich and ripe fruit with good aromas and flavors of apple and peach, complemented well by spice, even if slightly too oak driven. Not quite the acid level and energy from middle to finish I would expect for the vintage.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1997 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet La Cabotte 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Lush fruit-forward wine with great concentration. tasting blind, nobody would have ever guessed 1997 given its great density and freshness. Flavors of peach and apricot, with wonderful perfumed elements to start on the nose. Really impressive for the vintage.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2004 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot Flawed
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Not undrinkable, but clearly prematurely oxidized.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1985 Pétrus 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
From double magnum. Big sweet black cherry and plum flavors with good earthiness and some tobacco on nose. Very nicely textured and rounded with some really nice rustic quality coming out on the finish.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1961 Francesco Rinaldi e Figli Barolo 92 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Very charming wine with lots of spice and elegant character of fresh mushroom. I didn't quite get as much of the rose petal character as others found in this wine, which is most likely why others liked this more than I did tonight.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1997 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Floral with sensational spice from underlying raw material as well as oak. Rich and lush apple and pear flavors. Long, powerful finish. A top notch 1997.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1982 Château Trotanoy 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
Black cherry, plum and cherry liqueur on the nose, similar on palate, with plenty of fresh and reduced mushroom character as well. Lots of power at start and middle, with spice coming through from middle to end.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1978 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru
This is the 4th or 5th time I have had this wine in the past year, and while enchanting, tonight's bottle was its worst showing. Aromas were spicy and intricately mushroomy and earthy, but they didn't show any remaining primary fruit. Flavors on the palate were balanced and interesting, but all secondary, even bordering tertiary, starting to lose its energy and vibrancy. Still despite all those negatives (only identified because I've grown to adore this wine so much) , this Vogue 1978 Musigny was still charming and majestic.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1999 Domaine Denis Bachelet Charmes-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru
Dense black cherry and lots of spice on the nose. Concentrated black fruit as well on the palate, slightly hidden today behind fairly robust tannins. I think this is slightly shut down right now and has serious upside potential from here.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1999 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin-Clos de Bèze 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru
Intense spice, red cherry, espresso and dark chocolate on the nose. Palate is slightly more dark fruit, also with incredible intensity, power and sensational textures, everything in complete balance. Really sensational already, with great upside potential from here. Thanks, Nick!
Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue
1990 Harlan Estate 90 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Big, dense and fat fruit on the palate, with some good fruit and wood spice. Seems slightly rounder than I remember younger vintages of Harlan, but this is still a very big, ripe wine, perhaps a slight flabby on the finish, overall not really my preferred style.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1999 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares 97 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
From magnum. Great perfume to start, with black cherry and huge spice cabinet on the nose. Explosive black fruit on the palate with incredible spice, acidity, minerality and textures. Really sensational in every way possible.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2002 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cuvée Duvault-Blochet 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Started out with great spice on the nose, classically Vosne but shut down on the palate. Some red fruit came through with more air and lots of coaxing, but this never showed at nearly the level of previous bottles I've had the opportunity to enjoy. At an awkward phase?
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2001 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru
Started out with slightly backward aromatics and good red fruit and spice on the palate. Over the course of several hours, this wine kept getting better and better, smelling and tasting like a different, improved wine each time I'd revisit this, approximately every 30 minutes. This ended up incredibly perfumed on the nose with allspice, anise and some soy elements on the nose and palate, along with incredibly charming red cherry. Great structure and balance already. Either hold to 2018 or later or decant for a couple of hours. Thanks, Dan!
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1991 Domaine Leroy Clos Vougeot 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru
Great nose starts floral with intense baking spice. Red and black fruit with just hints of emerging earthiness. Great density and concentration, this wine tasted incredibly young and fresh, with enough acid and tannin to keep it fresh for years or decades to come.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2006 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
My notes were getting sparse. Ripe fruit, lots of spice, great textures, density comes through on finish.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1990 Château Latour Grand Vin 97 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Starts off rich, extravagant and opulent on the nose. Starts on the palate a bit more subdued, then layers upon layers of power and flavor unfold from middle to finish. Lots of structure, but everything in really sensational balance for now, with a incredibly long life ahead, with probably another couple of decades of potential improvement.
Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue
1961 Château Léoville Las Cases 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
My notes were getting sparse. Very elegant combination of secondary character with some black fruit still lurking in the background. a wine we should have sat and enjoyed over a longer period of time.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1982 Château Margaux 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
My notes were getting sparse. Lush fruit still vibrant with some tobacco and graphite notes. Rich and exciting.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1998 Château Haut-Brion
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Completely shut down tonight, impossible to reasonably assess.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1999 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru
Spice-filled and floral nose with black cherry aromas. Somewhat shut down today on the palate, but spice re-emerging on the finish, which makes me confident this will come back out of its shell as good as when it was completely primary.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1989 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 94 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
My notes were getting sparse and illegible. Black cherry on nose and palate. Black pepper and some licorice. Powerful with great structure, long life ahead.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2000 Sine Qua Non Syrah In Flagrante 92 Points
USA, California, Central Coast
My notes were getting sparse and illegible. Although somewhat out of place tonight, this wine showed great fruit concentration accompanied by chocolate and robust spice. Long,powerful finish.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2001 Château d'Yquem 97 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
Just a tiny sip. Magical. Thank you, David.
Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue