A negociant bottling lunch

We tasted 6 negociant bottlings over an extended lunch, so we could follow the wines. From most we knew that they came from perfect and reliable sources, still we were a bit nervous.

The stars aligned and all of the 6 wines performed brilliantly. A lunch of happy campers!

• 1947 Vandermeulen Chambertin 99 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru

  Based on the all-knowing wineterminator's recommendation, we decanted this for 4 hours and it was absolutely the right thing to do. Malt, Caramel, bacon, smoked bacon, porcini, espresso, butter. What an absolutely amazing wine!

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• 1955 Vandermeulen Clos de Tart 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de Tart Grand Cru

  Forest Honey, orange, tea, with the orange and bitter notes this kind of had a "Negroni touch", good acidity medium bodied and gained weight with some air. We didn't decant this, but probably should have.

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• 1949 Pétrus 99 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  From a Cornet Demanet bottling (another Belgian negociant). This needed a bit of time to develop. It started out incredibly young and fresh but lacked a bit of depth. With time it gained weight and became a stunning wine. Still really young and fresh with red berries, vanilla and a great mouthfell. Wow!

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• 1949 Château Cheval Blanc 100 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  From an impeccably stored Fourcaud Laussac bottling. Fourcaud Laussac were a Bordeaux based negociant and at the time the owners (or at least related to the owners) of Cheval Blanc. It is incredible how this wine can appear so young, yet have the complexity of a fully mature wine. Red berries, some floral notes, dense, fresh but still opulent. A stunner!

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• 1947 Pétrus 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  This had the iconic '47 opulence and ripeness on steroids. Huge wine with so many layers. Bitter orange, medicial, malt, moccha, red berries, incredible minerality, gets even better with air and further develops the malty and caramel notes I love so much. When you open bottles like this the nervousness accompanies you, but then when you open that bottle and it shows like this: pure bliss!

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• 1947 Château Lafleur 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Beef stock, some malt, good acidity, herbal liqueur. This was delicious and had that typical 1947 ripeness, but was showing quite mature with a hint of oxidative notes.

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• 1994 Pétrus 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Surpisingly strong showing for the challenging year. Quite fresh, nice fruit with some cassis and redcurrant a hint of red bell pepper. Good tannin structure. Still quite a bit of life ahead.

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• 1994 Château Lafleur 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Warm nose, red berries, redcurrant, good balance and nice mouthfeel. Personally I enjoyed this even a tad more than the petrus in the next glass.

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