A Clos St Jacques kind of night.

Elite Seafood Restaurant
Tasted Saturday, June 8, 2013 by clayfu with 779 views

Introduction

We've been trying to plan a mini Clos St Jacques dinner to try the Rousseau/Fourrier versions for some time. We finally got down to it and put together a decent showing, especially of Fourrier. I've had the Rousseau CSJ quite a few times and the 99 was what really got me into Burgundy. I've only had the Fourrier CSJ once so I was pretty excited to try these. We ended up tossing in a few Bruno Clairs so we could do a small blind tasting.

We did it at Elite Restaurant in Monterey Park. Got a delicious suckling pig, Flounder two ways, 3lbs of Spot Prawns, Peking Duck, Dry Scallop fried rice, Pork knuckles with lotus root, Pea Sprouts and Lobster with rice cakes. Service there is excellent. Easily the standard for Chinese seafood in Los Angeles. They always have something special cooking in their minds for dishes.

Some notes
1) Fourrier is awesome. Just flat out awesome. I was very impressed by all of them and they were all in different phases of their lives.
2) I've had a decent amount of recent vintage Bruno Clair now, from CSJ to the Clos de Beze and none of them have impressed me yet, almost everyone is shut down.

Flight 1 - Wines to start off (2 Notes)

Started off with the Selosse and Carillon to get us refreshed from all the traffic getting to the restaurant. Friday dinners in LA, something truly to behold traffic wise ;).

The Selosse was magnificent as the note indicates. Also the Carillon was really good in the beginning and then became a honey bomb. Weird. That bottle went downhill fast.

  • NV Jacques Selosse Initial

    France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

    Brightest and most exciting Initiale I've had in awhile. Disgorged in 2007 with copious amounts of lemon tart, apple and saline with this ultra bright acidity that just screamed youthfulness, but the palate was such a nice blend of flavors that you almost salivate on the finish. Really good.

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  • 1998 Louis Carillon Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

    opened up with a whiff of sulfur and bright fruit. On the palate it was textured and a nice mixture of white fruit and light citrus, had a feminine quality to it, not as brutish and big as the bbm's typically are.

    What was interesting is that tow hours later, it just turned into a honey bomb. Honey on the nose, honey on the palate. Chalk it up to the vintage I guess

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Flight 2 - A couple of wines not blinded (3 Notes)

We had a few extra Fourrier CSJ which both were drinking lovely and just better as the night went on. The Bertheau was blinded and quite delicious.

Flight 3 - 2007 Clos St Jacques (3 Notes)

The 07 Fourrier was an unanimous WOTF. To me the Rousseau was RIGHT behind it. The Bruno Clair was so far behind it wasn't in the race.

  • 2007 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques Vieille Vigne

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru

    tasted blind.
    Such a well layered wine, just waves and waves of deep red fruit that was so cool and crunchy. The spice on the backend integrated perfectly with that minerality and just really "spiced" up the palate. There was this softness to the texture as the wine drank like silk on the palate. So elegant and beautiful. This was as well balanced of a wine as you could expect from an 07.

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  • 2007 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru

    tasted blind
    Really wonderful on the nose, lots of different hints of earth, meat, spice that I didn't get as much on the other CSJs on the night. The palate was drinking well with a sappy red fruit that was really concentrated. It hadn't developed the texture component on it like the Fourrier as this had a bit more of a prickly palate sensation as the acidity was very bright. Very close 2nd to the Fourrier.

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  • 2007 Domaine Bruno Clair Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru

    Tasted blind
    Second time I've had this wine in the past two years. Both times tasted shut down and tight. Gave up nothing on the nose and nothing on the palate. I'm not sure how it's going to develop with time or if it even does.

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Flight 4 - 2008 Clos St Jacques (3 Notes)

The Fourrier was WOTF with 4 votes. Rousseau had 2 votes. I had Rousseau was my least favorite. I wasn't as excited about any of the 08's as I was the 07s but the Fourrier had the most potential to me.

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