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Leaving DC Dinner
Ripple - Cleveland Park, Washington, D.C.
Tasted October 28, 2011 by tooch with 1,265 views
Introduction
I'm leaving DC at the end of November so I wanted to assemble a group of friends together to share wine and have one last (major) dinner. We drank and ate well at Ripple. Logan prepared some incredible dishes, and service was beautifully orchestrated by Mo. Ripple continues to impress!
It was a bittersweet dinner for me as I'll miss all these people tremendously - not sure what I'll do without all of these great people! Thanks to everyone for coming along and bringing such a wonderful selection of wines.
Flight 1 - Champagnes (4 notes)
We started off with a large selections of champagnes. I only got to try 4 of them, but there must have been 3-5 others floating around that I didn't get to try.
White - Sparkling
N.V. Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru Tradition Brut
90 points
Nice energy on the palate with good citrus, mineral and mousse tones. Had a nice density while still remaining taut with sizzling acidity and florals. Great bottle.
Rosé - Sparkling
N.V. Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Premier Cru Rosé de Saignée Extra Brut
89 points
Had a slightly sweeter profile than the Soutiran Rose we had. Strawberry, yeast, brioche and lemon combined nicely on the palate.
White - Sparkling
2004 Champagne Fleury Champagne Cepages Blancs Brut
91 points
Had dense mousse on the nose with yeast and citrus as well. The palate was firm and complex with great acidity and weight. This was my favorite Champagne of the night - thought it was elegant and taut with a great life ahead of it.
Rosé - Sparkling
N.V. Soutiran Champagne Grand Cru Brut Rosé
90 points
This was outstanding with wild strawberry, minerals, and brioche tones on the nose. I was impressed by its energy and complexity with layers of florals and minerals on the palate.
Flight 2 - "Oddball" Whites (3 notes)
We had some oddball whites show up...but all were stunning! The rieslings were beautiful and elegant and the Chevalier showcased how exotic Bordeaux Blancs can be.
White - Off-dry
1996 S.A. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese
91 points
I enjoyed the vivid tones of tropical fruit, crushed rocks and lanolin on the nose. While the palate isn't incredibly energetic, it remains fresh and lacy with complex tones of peach, apricot, lychee and fresh linen. Good minerality and acidity on the finish.
White - Off-dry
1989 Weingut Max Ferd. Richter Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spätlese
91 points
Beautiful tones of lychee, apricot and peach on the nose with subtle hints of petrol. The palate remains fresh and elegant with layered tones of fresh linen, white peach, lychee, and smoked minerals. The finish had nice acidity and good length.
White
1987 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
92 points
Potentially the most interesting/exciting wine of the night. It started off with strange aromas of sweaty socks, smoked meats and herbs. I should have just let this sit in my glass, as others did, but instead guzzled it down. Luckily, there was some left at the end of the night for me to retaste. By then, it had taken on an incredibly exotic pineapple tone that I would almost equate to d'Yquem. The palate shared the bouquets exoticism and displayed beautiful smoked minerals, pineapples, mangos and vanilla.
Flight 3 - White Burgundy Flight (3 notes)
The white burgundies hit the spot. While the Les Lys was a slight disappointment, I enjoyed having another Genevrieres from Jobard and trying the Les Clos from Moreau for the first time.
White
2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis 1er Cru Les Lys
86 points
I had never heard of this 1er parcel in Chablis, so I was excited to try it. Much like the Moreau Les Clos drank alongside it, I was a bit let down. While it had nice minerality and floral tones, it didn't display as much complexity as I had hoped. Refreshing Chablis, but not something I'd seek out.
White
2008 Domaine Louis Moreau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos
I didn't get much on the nose at first but tones of seashells, lemons and herbs did build with time. Its palate was energetic and youthful with vivid citrus, mineral and white floral tones. Somewhat disappointed in how this showed as I've come to expect more complexity from Les Clos.
White
2007 Domaine Rémi Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières
Another enjoyable Genevrieres from Jobard. It had nice flinty notes on the nose with white florals and peach. The palate was weighty but not overly dense with enjoyable floral, white peach and smoked mineral tones. Genevrieres continues to be a favorite of mine from Meursault!
Flight 4 - Red Burgundy Flight (3 notes)
The red burgundies were very interesting to me. The 1999 vintage continues to impress and both of these were far darker, denser and meatier than I expected.
Red
1976 Domaine Trapet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Petite Chapelle
This was over-the-hill, but fun to try. Coming from a hot vintage in Burgundy this had raisin tones (didn't seem defective) with florals and plums.
Red
1999 Nicolas Potel Volnay 1er Cru Pitures
90 points
Darker and denser than I usually expect from Volnay. In addition to some really nice florals, this had cured meat, sour cherry and roasted herbs on the palate. Enjoyed its layers of flavor with its pleasantly acidic finish. Thought this was drinking well, but had a long-life ahead of it.
Red
1999 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques
91 points
I don't have much experience with this part of Gevrey, but found this incredibly dark and meaty. Not sure if this is a traditional note found here, but it was intense and complex. The palate had spicy dark fruit, oak, mushrooms, and cured meats. This is still young with some angular tones on the palate, but overall I was impressed with its complex meatiness.
Flight 5 - 1994 Beaucastel Horizontal Flight (3 notes)
I haven't drank a lot of Beaucastel lately, so with Fall weather back in the DC area thought it would be fun to do a horizontal from what I consider to be an incredibly exciting vintage from Beau. All of the wines showed well, but I think everyone admitted that the the CdP and the Hommage should have been opened hours earlier than they were.
Red
1994 Château de Beaucastel Côtes du Rhône Coudoulet de Beaucastel
91 points
I can't say that I had ever had an early 1990s Cotes-du-Rhone before, so what a wonderful surprise this was! This had a very spicy red fruited nose with forest tones, leather and cedar. The palate was silky and elegant with spicy red fruit, dried red florals and a lithe tobacco note. Very fond of this wine which stood up well against the 1994 Hommage and 1994 CdP.
Red
1994 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
91 points
Had a nice roasted herb component to the nose with florals, underbrush and smoked meats. The palate had nice weight and an obvious freshness to it with subtle coffee, smoked meats, herbs, mushrooms, florals and underbrush. Wasn't as impressive as the bottle of this I had about a year ago, but still an outstanding bottle of medium-aged Beaucastel.
Red
1994 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin
93 points
This was drank alongside the 1994 Coudoulet and the 1994 Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It's color was much darker than the other two 1994s, but it took a long time for the aromatics to really wake up. I had decanted this for 45 minutes, and I wish I had opened it hours earlier. It wasn't until the end of the night that its bouquet began displaying rich florals, sweet cranberry, underbrush, earth, and meat. It was a beautiful nose, but certainly took some coaxing! The palate was silky and more feminine than I expected. It displayed integrated flavors of red fruit, leather, tobacco and earth. Great bottle, but I'm still kicking myself for not opening it earlier!
Flight 6 - "Oddball" Rhone Flight (2 notes)
We had a couple other Southern Rhones that we put together in a small little flight. The 1999 Hommage was sadly corked, but the 2001 Pegau showed well and reminded me how exotic they can be.
Red
2001 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée
91 points
Thought this had a relatively tamed nose at first, but with time the exoticism of Pegau came through. Smoked meats, crushed rocks, dark fruit and tobacco characterize the nose. The palate had lithe tones of meat, florals, sour cherry and old leather. Pegau can be an aggressive wine, but this seemed to have mellowed out leaving behind a more elegant wine.
Red
Flight 7 - Three Decades of Margaux (3 notes)
By chance, three Margaux wines showed up all from different decades. It was an incredible flight that showcased some beautiful wines.
Red
1959 Château Rauzan-Gassies
93 points
Loved the nose. Had sweet red fruit and delicate floral perfume that were lithe and elegant. The palate was complex with layers of dried floral, cranberry, leather, and forest tones. Just beautifully mature, yet incredibly fresh, displaying the elegance of Margaux.
Red
1966 Château Malescot St. Exupéry
91 points
Beautiful red color with subtle bricking. Nose had incredible weight and dense smoked meat tones - not something I was expecting from a 45 year old Margaux! In addition to the meat, this had a lovely dried floral and cedar tone to it. Much like the nose, the palate had more weight to it than I expected with dark floral tones, pepperoni, pipe tobacco, and cedar. Thought this showed very well.
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Red
1978 Château Palmer
95 points
Intense nose of graphite, cranberry, dried red florals and cedar. With most Palmer's I've had, I could have kept my nose in the glass all night. The palate was fresh with lively violet, cedar, mushroom, leather and sour cherry tones. Incredibly elegant and refined I was blown away by this.