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Dinner With Alain Coudert, Francois Pinon, Marc Ollivier, and the Baudrys
Hundred Acres NYC
Tasted March 19, 2012 by Chris Newport with 693 views
Introduction
A great dinner organized by David Lillie and Chambers St Wines at Hundred Acres NYC. Attended by Alain Coudert, Francois Pinon, Marc Ollivier, and the wife and cousin of Matthew Baudry. David Lillie and each of the winemakers provided fascinating background information on the wines as they were poured. A wonderful evening that will most likely serve to further divert more of my wine budget towards these great wines. It's somewhat humbling to be in the presence of these winemakers as they discuss the wines that they, in most cases, personally shepherded from vine to bottle. These bottlings are the real deal. World class wines that are almost criminally underpriced (don't tell anyone). While burgundy will always remain my first true wine love, wines like these are starting to take up more and more of my cellar. I've had a fair amount of experience with Coudert, Pepiere, and Baudry but for whatever reason, I've only come across a few bottles of Pinon over the years.... a mistake that I plan on quickly rectifying.
I didn't take detailed notes and in most cases only spent 5 or 10 minutes with each wine. As such, I've only provided my general impressions of the wines and any factoids that I picked up from the winemakers.
Flight 1 (12 notes)
White - Sparkling
N.V. François Pinon Vouvray Pétillant Brut Non Dosé
A lovely bottle. Francois Pinon explained that this was from the 2009 vintage and bottled in the Petillant style, without dosage. Very high quality underlying material, with some nice Chenin characteristics. The bubbles were just enough to cleanse the palate without overwhelming the wine. This has to rank up there with Huet and Chidaine as my favorite sparkling wine outside of Champagne. A nice way to start the evening.
White - Sweet/Dessert
1989 François Pinon Vouvray 1er Trie
This was just a fantastic, close to extraordinary wine. Brought over directly from the domaine's cellars, provenance assumed to be perfect. A captivating nose wafting from the glass, I could smell this all night long. From a vintage with little bortrytis, the balance between sweetness and acidity was impeccable. Everything seems to be well integrated, nothing standing out... the flavors just wash over the palate and slowly build into the lingering finish... just fantastic.
White - Sweet/Dessert
1996 François Pinon Vouvray 1er Trie
This was also from a vintage with little botrytis if memory serves... another wonderful bottle of Pinon Moelleux, perhaps just a step below the captivating 1989. Doesn't seem to be quite as well integrated, with a stronger streak of acidity, but i'm nit picking here... this is still really nice. I really need to find some more of these wines...
White
2010 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie Vieilles Vignes Clos des Briords
Excellent vintage of this, all of the classic acidity and salinity that defines this cuvee for me with just a bit of fruity substance in the background waiting to come to the fore as the acidity dies down over the years. My favorite since the '07 I think, this just cries out for a plate of salty seafood. Drink this now or wait a while for some of the acidity to die down, should be great either way.
White
2009 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Clisson
Marc Ollivier explained that this cuvee spends 2 years on it's lees and that the '09 was close to 14% abv (something like 13.7%). He has started to pick the grapes for this cuvee a bit earlier to provide more balance in future vintages. The higher alchohol levels were not noticeable, although this was much more giving and broad on the palate than the Briords. A completely different style of wine, I'll be curious to see what future vintages of this bring to the table, as right now this seems a bit atypical for muscadet. My personal preferences probably would steer me towards the Briords. At least in this vintage.
White
2006 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie Vieilles Vignes Clos des Briords
This appeared from another table, was only able to taste a few sips... but what I tasted was nice. Really nice. The classic acidic backbone of the Briords cuvee was still in evidence, but this was much less severe than younger/more acidic vintages. Really quite nice, brings a smile to the face. This seems as if it would be more flexible at the table than wines like the '07 and '10 Briords. Certainly makes a case for stashing some of this away.
Red
2010 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette
This is still open and drinking amazingly well. Oh so nice, I'm going to have trouble keeping some of these in the cellar.
Red
2009 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive
Alain Coudert explained that the grapes for this wine come from a specific plot with the vineyards that go into the regular Clos de la Roilette bottling, but that the grapes were picked at the same time as the "regular" grapes. This was not happy to be consumed. Closed down on the nose and the palate. What was there though was obviously of high quality, with a sappy quality on the palate that seems to differentiate itself from the regular bottling (from the older vines perhaps?). This should be really good down the road...
Red
2002 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive
Another bottle that appeared out of nowhere, I was only able to secure a small tasting size glass of this. This seems to be just barely coming out of it's shell. More giving and open than the '09 Tardive with more of that wonderful sappy quality that I can only assume come from the older vines. If I had some of this (which I sadly, don't) I would be inclined to wait a few more years.
Red
1996 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux
Some thought that this was still closed in on itself and that it should have been aerated overnight for best results (apparently this was only aerated for a few hours before consumption). Tasted pretty good to me. Unmistakeably Grezeaux with that wonderful gritty gravel thing that I always find in this cuvee. What was amazing about this wine was how young it was. There were some signs of secondary development, but I would really have trouble pegging this as 15+ years old.
Red
2001 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée
As with the '96 Grezeaux, some thought that this needed more time in the decanter before being consumed. I really enjoyed this and it served to help me understand the differences between the Grezeaux and Croix Boissee bottlings. This was much smoother with a more slick feeling than the Grezeaux, and not in a bad way. It doesn't have the raw, perhaps more visceral characteristics of the Grezeaux, the gritty gravel and course tannins, but the package here is more complete and well integrated. I like them both... but for different reasons. Seems to drink well now with vigourous aeration... but this is certainly no where near it's peak. These wines are just flat out great.
Red
2010 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux
I had stopped by Chambers St earlier in the day to pick up a bottle of this to try before buying in quantity and had this in my bag under the table... well with all of the great wines being passed around, some not on the "official" menu, this made its way into the night's lineup. Needed a bit of air to open up, but this was quite nice. Again, there was no mistaking this for Grezeaux, I feel like you could nail this cuvee blind every time. This is a bit more austere than the '09 was on release, lacking the copious fruit that the '09 seemed to have that really seemed to counter the earthy gritty tannins. I think I prefer the young '09 at this point, but this was still fantastic. All of the pieces were there to make this a classic vintage of Grezeaux. Both vintages will be represented in my cellar. I'm very interested in trying the '10 Croix Boissee which the vintage seems to really suit...