Uncorked DK BYO - Dom P, Clos de Tart, Vogue, Masseto, Diamond Creek, Dunn, Gaja, Guigal, SQN...

Aarø & Co
Tasted Thursday, September 10, 2009 by gorm with 944 views

Introduction

Last Thursday 6 members of Uncorked DK once again enjoyed the hospitality of Christian Aarø for a little BYO to "kick off the season" after an extended summer break. We got to enjoy great wines as well as great and inventive food and good company. Well, on with the wines...

Flight 1 - Opening champagne (1 Note)

This seemed like a very young champagne and not at the moment easy for us to identify as a Dom Perignon.

  • 1995 Dom Pérignon Champagne Oenothèque 94 Points

    France, Champagne

    Light yellow with a very intense, almost explosive, mousse! On the nose this is very smoked and sporting big amounts of licorice. The mouth is dominated by apple acid. It is very intense yet with an elegant and pure structure. At present it does not seem fully integrated as nose and body seems to go in opposite directions. In 10-15 years when this comes together I think it will be great champagne.

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Flight 2 - 1995 and 1996 Clos de Tart (2 Notes)

A very interesting flight as these two vintages marks a shift in winemaking practices at Clos de Tart.

  • 1996 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart 95 Points

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

    Dark red core with a light rim. Deliciously sweet cherrynose, nail polish remover and some floral spice. Nice concentration and intense flavors of cherries, herbs, dried flowers. Nice finegrained tannins, good balance and a long aftertaste makes this a very complete pinot.

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  • 1995 Mommessin Clos de Tart 94 Points

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

    Dark core with a slightly brown rim. Mature and deep nose with tobacco, mint, brown sugar, earth and surmature cherries. In the mouth this is much drier and more tannic than the 1996. Still it is both intense and long. Clearly more traditional in style, but still showing greatness. Also 1995 is a drier vintage.

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Flight 3 - 2002 and 2003 Vogüé Amoureuses (2 Notes)

Two seducing ladies. The 2003 typically had pretty much everybody thinking of California.

  • 2002 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 95 Points

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

    Dark red. Very pure and intense cherry nose, almost like cherry essence together with a bit of fresh flowers. Big end dense cherryfruit with a nice sweetness. Also there is herbal notes and a little bread. This is a very seducing (sexy!) wine which also has great finesse. It is young, but already a pleaser...

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  • 2003 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 96 Points

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

    Dark red - the darkest pinot of the night. Very herbal, slightly medicinal nose with sweet black cherries, mint, black tea and dried flowers. In the mouth this is big, almost opulent, and sweet, yet still balanced and with finesse. The vintage shows, but only in the most positive sense. This is actually a notch better than the 2002 and also drinks a bit better today.

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Flight 4 - A couple of misfits (2 Notes)

Well, maybe that a little harsh, but one was corked and the other "burned".

  • 2002 Domaine Méo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Brûlées 93 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

    Nice red core. The nose is absolutely intriguing and perhaps a little off-putting: burned popcorn and gunpowder and not much else at first. Then after a while some cherryfruit, licorice and mint. In the mouth it seems quite closed, but gradually reveals some dark fruit and becomes more vibrant. It was hard recognizing this as either Meo or 2002 as both typically seems to be more forthcoming and seducing. I however believe that these burned and brooding characteristics are typical of the Brulees terroir which I am personally not to fond of.

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  • 2003 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Romanée St. Vivant Flawed

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

    Corked. What a shame. You could sense some dense dark fruit, soy and spices underneath which just made for an even worse experience as it made us bemoan the loss even more.

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Flight 5 - You take a couple of grape varieties from Bordeaux... (3 Notes)

...and make 3 extremely different wines that fooled us all. We went for Napa, Rhône and Bordeaux... and couldn't be more wrong.

  • 2004 Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT 97 Points

    Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

    Very dark and dense red which really sticks to the glass. A very densely packed and sweet nose with christmas spices, mint, chocolate and a massive note of herbs behind it all. In the mouth this is very dense as well as sweet. It is long. At first I dismissed this as being too sweet and dense almost like a bad example of Napa Syrah or an Amarone, but I kept going back to it as it also seemed pretty vibrant and in the end it just seduced me with its completeness and spicyness. A phenomenal example of Merlot.

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  • 2006 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow 97 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain

    Very dark. At first the nose seems pretty shy with primarily sour berries. The herbal notes, lemon peel, honey and deep dark berries starts to appear. In the mouth there is plenty of cool fruit, dry tannins and a long aftertaste with plenty of dried herbs. It is best described as deep as well as elegant and the amazing build as well as the complexity made me think of a (great) Northern Rhône. Stylewise it could not be much more different from the Masseto 2004 that it had been paired with. As a matter of preference they were equal competitors.

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  • 1993 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 94 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Dark red with a mature berry nose with coconut, leather, sweet tobacco and loads of herbal notes. Very nice taste with clackcurrant and cedre as well as loads of juice cool herbs. Very bordeaux... or so it would seem.

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Flight 6 - 2004 Gaja (1 Note)

This one took a lot of hard work to get familiar with.

  • 2004 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sorì San Lorenzo 96 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC

    Dark red. Shy nose of popcorn, marzipane, sweet fruit and glue. In the mouth it was very tight and tannic, yet revealed finesse with dry herbs and loads of light red berries. Very intense with a long aftertaste of ocean, salt and licorice. While this is both young and shy at the moment it did not seem quite typical for neither the 2004 vintage nor the Gaja style. There is little doubt however that it will involve into something very interesting.

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Flight 7 - Yowza! (2 Notes)

Let me just say that again: Yowza!

  • 2003 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne 96 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Very dark, almost black with a slightly lighter rim. Very intense nose of black cherries, blackberries, lava rock, bacon and stables. In the mouth it is very intense with a dense core of black fruit and plenty of licorice. Nice balance. Aftertaste seemed just a bit clipsed and the wine a bit too dry with hints of lemonpeel. It was probably a bit closed and the nose was amazing.

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  • 2004 Sine Qua Non Syrah Ode to E 99 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast

    Dense dark color, almost black to the rim! Very sweet and dense nose with ultra deep and cool cherries, forrest fruit, cinnamon and rosemary. In the mouth there is big bad fruit, and a wine which seems to occupy each and every corner of the mouth. Good acidity and balance as well as an extremely long and sticky aftertaste of licorice and pine needle makes this an extraordinary experience. It takes a SQN to nail a Lalala to the wall!

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Flight 8 - A couple of stickies (2 Notes)

Thank you and good night.

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