Highlights from Mike and Cathy’s 2024 Christmas lunch
Wellington, NZ
Tasted Tuesday, December 31, 2024 by HowardNZ with 151 views
Introduction
Mike and Cathy’s annual Christmas party is a great event on the Wellington wine tasting social calendar. Everyone brings a bottle or three and it’s only possible to sample a limited selection of the wine on offer.
The 2024 event began (for me) with Rauno and Brendan who had coordinated six related Chablis to compare (served double blind, as were most wines at the lunch).
Thanks very much to Cathy and Mike for hosting.
2015 Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
Served double blind, small pour. Clearly showing the fruit weight and power a Grand Cru Chablis. Although it also exhibited true Chablis typicity, I found it a little too broad, full-bodied and diffuse. I thought it might be a 2016 but was kicking myself on the reveal as 2015 was the obvious vintage. A quality Grand Cru Chablis but I doubt this wine has the acid profile to make really old bones. I’d be drinking by say 2030.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2017 Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
Served double blind, small pour. I preferred the 2017 (a Chablis vintage I very much like) for its greater minerality and better acid backbone. Green-fruited and citric with a touch of salinity. Still a little young to be broaching but will drink later than the 2015, I’m sure. Classic Grand Cru Chablis. 93+.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2015 Patrick Piuze Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
Served double blind, small pour. I picked this wine as a quality, classical 1er Chablis from, I guessed 2014. I liked the bright acidity and the grippy, greengage phenolics and oyster shell minerality, framing the ripe, unctuous fruit. I mistook the elevated, cooler Butteaux site for a cooler vintage. 92+.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2017 Patrick Piuze Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux 91 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
Served double blind, small pour. Attractive, precise acidity and minerality and those green fruited phenolics I saw in the 2015. Confounding what would have been my expectation from the labels, I preferred the balance of fruit and acids of the 2015 Butteaux.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2010 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 97 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
My wine, served double blind after the four Piuze Chablis. A beautiful Grand Cru Chablis in perfect balance and à point on its maturity curve. “Resolved complexity”, commented Rauno. No overt fruit richness. Concentrated yet elegant and finessed. Fragrant with white florals, citrus and stone fruit nuances and salt and chalky elements. Layered and detailed on the palate with notes of lemon oil, nectarines, oyster shell and sea spray salinity on the long finish. I expect the wine to drink like this out to 2035+.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2010 Escarpment Pinot Noir Kiwa 93 Points
New Zealand, North Island, Wairarapa, Martinborough
My wine brought for Larry who sadly could not make the lunch. Served double blind. When made by Larry, I considered this one of the best NZ pinot noirs in most vintages. I rate 2010 Kiwa pretty highly. Tawny colour. Compelling bouquet of dried and fresh herbs, Martinborough bramble and preserved red fruit. Similar flavour profile with savoury, earthy, herby and meaty elements. Most tasters I served this wine to had it as red Burgundy, perhaps Gevrey-Chambertin or Morey-St-Denis. No hurry to drink under its diam closure.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2013 Bell Hill Pinot Noir 93 Points
New Zealand, South Island, Canterbury
Served double blind by Con, small pour. A special pinot noir. Lovely aromatics with some biscuity oak-derived elements. Old World savouriness and earthiness meets New World oak handling although several tasters had the Bell Hill as Côte de Nuits. An excellent vintage of Bell Hill currently drinking in its prime. 93+.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2000 Château Lascombes 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Served double blind by Graham, small pour. A black fruited, attractive, primary Bordeaux. An inky, primary colour too. Due to its ripe and dense yet relatively unresolved and tannic character I had it as a 2000 Left Bank Bordeaux. It is approachable and drinkable today but – as with many 2000s – ideally it could use another 8-10 years in the cellar.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2009 Esk Valley The Terraces 92 Points
New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay
Served double blind by John T, small pour. Like John, I consider the Terraces to be one of NZ’s leading Bordeau varieties wines, perhaps the leading. Ripe dark berries, vanillin oak, cigar box, black plums, liquorice, dark chocolate and crushed herbs. Under its screw cap it’ll drink in this style out to 2035 +. 92+.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2007 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato 95 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Served double blind by John C in a pair with the Conterno, small pour. Garnet, lighter colour. Intriguing nose of dried herbs, raspberries, red cherries and some strawberries, straw and earthy, savoury and chalky nuances. On palate, fresh and bright – with crisp acidity – very red berried. Chalky minerality. At a nice stage of development, the primary fruit resolved but not yet really secondary. On the reveal, 2007 Monprivato was not a surprise. One of my favourite Barolo vineyards known, as here, for its finesse and balance. Ready for drinking now.
Post a Comment / 2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
2007 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia 96 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Served double blind by John C in a pair with the Monprivato, small pour. A richer, more exuberant nose than the Monprivato. Darker, sour cherry with black pepper, liquorice, tar and menthol. Also richer and more concentrated on palate. Black cherries and blackberries, liquorice and hoisin. Suave tannins, silky and well-integrated put me in mind of Chambolle-Musigny, albeit obviously with greater fruit weight and tannic structure. More primary than the Monprivato. Excellent. A Cascina Francia from a non-Monfortino year.
Post a Comment / 2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
2014 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso PrePhylloxera La Vigna di Don Peppino 94 Points
Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC
My wine, served double blind. I brought the 2011 and 2014 Don Peppinos home from my cellar and chose the 2014 due to its better CellarTracker reviews. That was probably a mistake as the 2014 is still pretty, intense, primary and tannic. The wine confused tasters with its Barolo-like bouquet and spicy Pinot-like body, fine grained tannins and persistent acidity. Still, it’s a quality Don Peppino. Ideally, hold until 2030+.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
1999 Domaine Jean Grivot Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Served double blind by Wayne, small pour. Red fruited and spicy on bouquet, with herbs, minerals and some funky, feral aspects (meant as positive descriptors). Real fruit weight and drive, seriously structured and long. Elegant with precise acidity. Showing attractive secondary elements but it’s a wine to drink soon.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2002 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Château des Ducs 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru
Served double blind, small pour. On bouquet, red and some dark cherries, warm earth and orange rind, showing some development. Ripe and bright fruit on palate, reflecting the vintage. Red cherries, berries and some plums, warm earth and brush. Dense and structured with acceptable structure. No sign of falling over, will drink out to at least 2030, I would think.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2005 Lucien Le Moine Pommard 1er Cru Les Grands Épenots 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru
Served double blind, small pour. On the nose, red and black cherries, earth and vanillin oak. Fresh, vibrant and concentrated but still some unresolved, coiled aspects that call for additional cellar time. More Volnay in style than stereotypical Pommard but a classic, structured, long-lived 2005. Ideally hold until 2030+.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2002 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Musigny 97 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru
Served double blind very generously by Mike, small pour. A ruby core with garnet inflexions. A memorable bouquet, a mélange of spices, floral perfumes and largely red berry and cherry fragrances. Perhaps a more compelling bouquet than a palate. In the mouth, satiny, with rounded, ultra-refined tannins. Showing beautiful, opulent, ripe – but not over-ripe – 2002 fruit. A core of sweet red cherries, berries and plums with spices and a stony, mineral underpinning. Seemingly in its prime drinking window.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No