Pre-Paulée Warm-up Dinner

A slowly paced and thoughtful evening of great wine, food and friends.

• 1999 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 95 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  In 99/00/02/04 vertical. Rich and unctuous, this starts out floral and ripe, perhaps not classically Chablis, but minerality and acidity emerge middle to (very long) finish. Excellent all evening, still rockstar 4 hours after it was opened.

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• 2000 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  In 99/00/02/04 vertical. Bigger vs 1999, even if not as complex. Apple, lemonand candied lemon peel. Really great now, with upside.

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• 2002 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  In 99/00/02/04 vertical. Rich and nicely floral with excellent concentration. Close to fully mature, which was slightly surprising. Very good.

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• 2004 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot Flawed

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  Corked

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• 1997 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

  Dense and bold, even slightly brooding, a rarity for 1997. Starts mostly with black fruit, then more red fruit emerged over the next 30 minutes. Savory spice throughout. Kept getting bigger and longer with more air.

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• 1997 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 95 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Simply stunning immediately when poured into the glass. In fact you could tell it was going to be great from the pouring process itself, without even lifting the glass! Floral, savory spice, sweet spice all surrounding ripe red fruit. This shorted softened get and losing steam after 30 minutes in glass, so was much less interesting. I own one bottle and will pop-and pour.

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• 2000 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Very reticent to start, particularly in contrast with the 1997s served alongside. Slowly but steadily this opened up, starting with black fruit, followed by savory spice 20 minutes later, then red fruits after that. A little frustrating when first poured, but very enjoyable by the end of the evening.

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• 2006 Salon Champagne 'Nature'

  France, Champagne

  Small glass, brief note. An early opportunity to taste a glass, courtesy of the insiders' table alongside us at dinner. Brilliant Chardonnay character with chiseled minerality. Powerful throughout, these seemed like a great and ripe Grand Cru Burgundy to me. Something seemed fascinatingly different here for Salon...and lo and behold...the future has arrived early at Salon. This is a no dosage experiment, even though the Salon 06 we will all taste, buy and love will be the traditional style. I adore this wine already, and I typically want to cellar Salon for a decade+.

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• 1987 Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon Cold Creek Vineyard

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  A fun treat courtesy of Colin. Still nicely fresh and impeccably balanced. I would have thought from Bordeaux if served blind.

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• 1998 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Open hour+ before serving. Wonderfully elegant and beautifully weightless, this came across slightly lighter vs some previous bottles, but with plenty of maturing red cherry and berry aromas and flavors with background spice, alongside some earth hints. Stayed consistently night.

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• 1998 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares 97 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

  A wine I almost always adore, and tonight's bottle may have been its best showing yet. Rich and very concentrated, but fully accessible. Lots of structure, but clearly playing its supporting role with an Oscar-worthy performance. Perfect harmony here. This was open an hour + before serving, was simply wonderful to start, and then kept getting better over the next two hours.

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• 2002 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

  Open almost 2 hours before serving with some decanter time. Not very flashy or even fun to start, but massive concentration and lots of fruit, but somewhat brooding and moody. Air was this wine's great friend tonight, and I found it powerful and head-turning after an hour in glass. Others didn't quite enjoy it as much, but I am happy with my three bottles sleeping soundly in a dark, quiet corner of my cellar.

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• 2002 Louis Jadot Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Tasty, but a shadow of the bottle of this same wine opened a month ago.

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• NV Jean-Marc Roulot Liqueur d'Abricot du Roulot

  France

  A wonderful end to the meal. Ripe and rich and sweet and bitter, all in one tasty sip. Made by one of my Burgundy favorites, I'm now told the apricots come from one of my Rhone favorites as well.

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