19 Leroy Burgundies: 1985 - 2004
Martin Weiner's home in Westwood, Los Angeles, California
Tasted Friday, October 19, 2007 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 1,149 views
Introduction
Martin describing our next flight:
This was a terrific overview of Bize Leroy’s concentrated, minimally manipulated Burgs, from the complex white Corton-Charlemagnes, through exemplars of the reds, with selected Villages, 1er Cru, and several of the powerful Grand Crus. Martin had done a tasting of Leroys about five years ago that I attended, and while the wines then were concentrated and impressive, they lacked the bottle age that many of these had, which made a great difference in seeing how well Mme. Leroy’s Burgs represent their specific terroirs. We also had strong representation from the ’98 vintage—5 bottlings—which is a vintage I’ve found has been showing remarkably (and sometimes surprisingly) well all year, and our Leroy ‘98s were further evidence of the strength of that Burgundy vintage in experienced and capable hands.
All of our 19 Leroys were in good shape, and the fill on even our oldest bottles was remarkably high. While these were all well made and impressive wines, the standouts for me were the ’04 Corton-Charlemagne (already showing incredible complexity), the ’98 Bonnes-Mares, the ’98 Latricières-Chambertin, the ’97 Chambertin, the ’98 Richebourg, and my WOTN, the ’90 Vosne-Romanee “Aux Réas.”
One of our participants brought an impressive bottle for comparison which, had its prior owners stored it better, might have been a show stopper—the 1967 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti. Unfortunately, as Martin quickly noticed, the fill was quite low, and, after decanting, the wine proved to have already passed on to grand cru heaven. It was a murky, medium brown color with clear meniscus; a gravy and shitake mushroom nose; and quite over the hill on the palate (although I think it would have served as an admirable base for a shitake mushroom and sage gravy had anyone had the prescience to use it that way, instead of trying to drink it).
Flight 2 - Flight 2 - Aloxe-Corton and Pommard (3 Notes)
Dinner was served with this flight: Weiner’s Boeuf Borgogne à la mode James Peterson, with a gratin of golden potatoes and Maui onions in Savoyarde style, and spinach Florentine. As usual, we also had some delicious cheeses.
Flight 3 - Flight 3 - 1er Crus (3 Notes)
Flight 4 - Flight 4 - Cortons (2 Notes)
Flight 5 - Flight 5 - Clos Vougeots (2 Notes)
Flight 6 - Flight 6 - Clos de la Roche (2 Notes)
Flight 7 - Flight 7 - Grand Crus (3 Notes)
Closing
Ronny and Richard:
Large table gang:
1992 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
slightly darker golden yellow color (than the '04); tighter, sweet oaty, oak nose; solid, remarkably youthful, tangy citrus, mineral palate with vivacious acidity; long tangy finish
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2004 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
(550-700 bottles per year) medium lemon gold color; smoky, tangy, oily nose; tasty, tangy, tart citrus, with complexity, oyster and oyster jus; long finish 95+ pts.
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