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La Paulée de San Francisco 2014 Grand Tasting
The Fairmont, San Francisco
Tasted March 15, 2014 by xwine with 865 views
Introduction
Wines are listed in the order tasted. I tasted reds before whites.
Flight 1 - Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils (4 notes)
A terrific lineup presented by Rousseau.
Red
2011 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin
Very nice aromatics, tough and chewy tannins, but this is nicely structured and an excellent villages.
Red
2011 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Clos de la Roche
Considerably more supple than the two previous wines, lush, very nice wine.
Red
2011 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques
Lovely nose, tannic and difficult at the moment, the depth is promising.
Red
2011 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin
Exotic perfume, almost flowery, oh my this is nice, big, chewy, deep and dark fruit, long and focused.
Flight 2 - Domaine Marquis d'Angerville (4 notes)
The progression of tasting the Angerville wines was educational, the energy and depth increasing up the ladder; and Guillaume d’Angerville was very kind and amiable, no pretenses at all, a real gentleman.
Red
2011 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Les Fremiets
Nice perfume, somewhat straightforward but very elegant.
Red
2011 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Champans
Elegant nose, flowers, minerals, great length and persistence, pure, excellent.
Red
2011 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds
Deeper pitched nose than the Champans, wow, really steps up the game, deep, focused.
Red
2011 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs
Highly perfumed, it just oozes out of the glass, bit chewier than the first three wines, very deep but also very elegant, long finish, excellent.
Flight 3 - Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils (2 notes)
Red
2011 Bouchard Père et Fils Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles
Wild and rustic nose, dark fruit, wild berries on the medium bodied palate, fairly tannic.
Red
2011 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru Grèves Vigne de L'Enfant Jesus
Wonderful aromatics, very pretty, spicy; boysenberries, deep, nice length, quite good.
Flight 4 - Maison Joseph Drouhin (2 notes)
Red
2011 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Rouge
Light aromas, very red-fruited, spice; fairly easy on the palate, somewhat simple and approachable.
Red
2011 Joseph Drouhin Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Procès
Slight heat on the nose, somewhat tame and restrained for a Nuits, certainly a lighter style.
Flight 5 - Domaine Hudelot-Noellat (4 notes)
I very much like the style of the Hudelot-Noellat wines.
Red
2011 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Murgers
A very elegant and flowery nose, really classy NSG from the Vosne side end of the appellation.
Red
2011 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots
Minerals and spice, red/black fruit in the background; restrained, pure, very elegant wine.
Red
2011 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Clos Vougeot
Stunningly lively aromatics for Vougeot, I often find them a bit heavy, deep fruit palate, nicely balanced, a damn nice Vougeot.
Red
2011 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Romanée St. Vivant
Somewhat reticent nose, then some spice, very elegant; palate is seamless, rich and creamy and elegant all at once, long, a great persistent finish, excellent.
Flight 6 - Domain Faiveley (3 notes)
Red
Red
2011 Faiveley Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Aux Chaignots
Rustic, tannic with a slight bitterness on the finish, not for me.
Red
2011 Faiveley Latricières-Chambertin
Fresh and light red fruit nose; creamy and almost pasty, too soft, not crazy about this.
Flight 7 - Domaine des Lambrays (2 notes)
Thierry Brouin was a delight to chat with; very energetic and humorous, and seemed genuinely happy to talk.
Red
2011 Domaine des Lambrays Morey St. Denis
An interesting nose, couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it seemed very “different,” wasn’t sure I liked it at first, lots of wild berries; great energy on the palate, minerals, long.
Red
2011 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays
Great persistent perfume, lovely, elegant, palate on the black fruit end of the spectrum, really liked this.
Flight 8 - Domaine des Comtes Lafon (1 note)
Red
2011 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Volnay 1er Cru Santenots-Du-Milieu
Restrained, elegant wine, spice, focused and punchy, vibrant, excellent energy, very good.
Flight 9 - Domaine Simon Bize (3 notes)
Red
2011 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Bourgeots
Tried the Bourgeots, Fourneaux and Aux Vergelesses. No individual notes, but these wines were terrific across the board; definitely stemmy but, some delicate red fruit underneath them all; the Aux Vergelesses took it up a notch with its lovely aromatics.
Red
2011 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Fournaux
Tried the Bourgeots, Fourneaux and Aux Vergelesses. No individual notes, but these wines were terrific across the board; definitely stemmy but, some delicate red fruit underneath them all; the Aux Vergelesses took it up a notch with its lovely aromatics.
Red
2011 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Vergelesses
Tried the Bourgeots, Fourneaux and Aux Vergelesses. No individual notes, but these wines were terrific across the board; definitely stemmy but, some delicate red fruit underneath them all; the Aux Vergelesses took it up a notch with its lovely aromatics.
Flight 10 - Ballot-Millot & Fils (1 note)
Red
2011 Ballot-Millot & Fils Pommard 1er Cru Les Pèzerolles
Reduction mars the nose, though there is some nice deep fruit underneath; tart fruit on the palate is actually fairly good, but the reduction . . . . Too bad.
Flight 11 - Domaine Fourrier (4 notes)
Red
2011 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin Vieille Vigne
Typically lovely Fourrier aromatics, high acid, bright red fruit but maybe a bit clipped (and some green character).
Red
2011 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Cherbaudes Vieille Vigne
Similar profile to the villages, but a bit deeper pitched.
Red
2011 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Combe aux Moines Vieille Vigne
Again, some lovely aromatics, penetrating, good size but supple.
Red
2011 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques Vieille Vigne
Big, deep, but still shows the Fourrier elegance, terrific wine.
Flight 12 - Domaine des Lambrays (2 notes)
White
2011 Domaine des Lambrays Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos du Cailleret
Lovely perfume of white flowers and orchard fruit, with a splash of citrus, mineral palate, very good.
White
2011 Domaine des Lambrays Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières
Flowers and peaches on the nose, crisp finish, good, very nice.
Flight 13 - Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey (4 notes)
PYCM is really firing on all cylinders.
White
2012 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Blanc
Green apples, crisp, tart, excellent St. Aubin.
White
2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Baudines
Some oak showing, minerally, slatey, oak, excellent fruit behind it, should integrate.
White
2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières
Intoxicating nose, holy crap this is nice, fresh, clean, deep, waxy, complex.
White
2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Bâtard-Montrachet
Deep penetrating nose, saffron(?), full and rich, a very long and focused finish, wow.
Flight 14 - Domaine des Comtes Lafon (3 notes)
White
2011 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault Clos de la Barre
Some VA, too bad because it was quite nice on the palate (but no further notes).
White
2011 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes
Smoky, orchard fruit, racy palate, very nice.
Flight 15 - Etienne Sauzet (4 notes)
White
2011 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champ-Canet
Good, fresh, slight bitterness on the finish.
White
White
2011 Etienne Sauzet Chevalier-Montrachet
Lovely flowery, minerally nose, an engaging wine, seamless palate, nice length.
Flight 16 - Domaine Faiveley (1 note)
White
2011 Faiveley Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet
Waxy, flowers, ethereal spiciness, well balanced and complex, penetrating and focused, I like this, and a good way to close the tasting.
Closing
A fun time, of course. I detected some green in a few wines, but my overall impression was that the 2011s are elegant and delicate, on occasion showing great depth and energy. Not a great vintage, but some very nice wines.