November 20, 2023 - La Paulée de Meursault (Château de Meursault): À la Paulée. Profond et magnifiquement équilibré, avec une longue finale saline. Très grand blanc. 96 pts
September 5, 2023 - Very good Grand Cru concentration and richness. Plump with nice layering but certainly showing its age at this stage. Approaching the tail end of its prime drinking window.
September 5, 2023 - Tuesday (Chicago, IL): This was likely from the same lot as my bottle from a few years back, but drank far better. Very dense and oaky, and air was needed to help round things off. This definitely has got the expected Montrachet weight and heft here. Still very fresh, if a hint low on acidity, especially for a vintage like 2004.
March 3, 2023 - Drinks like a perfect vintage. Sweet bright fruit, floral, large, great viscosity. 94
March 1, 2023 - Pre-Paulee Warm-up Dinner (House of Nanda - Chicago IL): In vertical. Reductive start did not fully dissipate for several hours, so this never came across nearly as complete as the younger wines. Still very tasty tonight.
March 1, 2023 - Pre La Paulée Dinner with friends (Home): 04/13/17 vertical. A terrific bottle that was super youthful and needed plenty of air after pop n' pour to open up. Delicious and abundant fruit marked by a bit of reduction that blew off for an hour or two, but came back strong later in the evening.
October 22, 2022 - I have never tasted a white wine like this in my life. The layers of floral and fruit notes and the sweet finish were unrivaled to anything I’ve ever drank. It was a perfect time to drink. Wish I had more
August 6, 2022 - The 04 Drouhin Monty expresses white flower, butterscotch, honey, caramel and ripe yellow fruit. It has excellent richness and weight on the palate with good length. The Monty is more about power and intensity over finesse. It is mature and drinking beautifully. 93+
April 26, 2022 - The one we tried to beat the "Monty" (Kolabo): "Beat the 2004 Drouhin Montrachet"
The wine we had set out to beat for this session.
Bouquet of white flowers, some smoke I think, lilies, white japanese peaches and ripe nectarines. Palate showed sweet peaches, mango, zesty citrus fruit, lemon custard and jasmine flowers. There was quite a nice line of stony minerality along with immense concentration, tension and a lengthy finish.
Most importantly, this was balanced and exceptionally complete. Everything you want and hope to have - an absolutely beauty and the pinnacle of top end white burgundy. Drinking fantastically and utterly delicious!
April 26, 2022 - The “benchmark” wine in a “Beat the ‘04 Drouhin Monty” theme’d session. This was decanted for ~2+hrs before it was served blinded in the 3rd-flight of the session. Clearly the best wine of the flight! and eventually the entire evening… Light golden, with scents of smoke, white florals & bits of honey/nectarines emerging from the glass without much coaxing. The palate was where it shone brightest & had everything in spades - more ripe tropical fruit (in the white-yellow spectrum), intensely packed with freshness to boot, a complete mouthfeel. More importantly & most impressively was the absolute balance - a Zen wine as some would call it, that (together with the entire package) was so so enthralling! No sign of accelerated ageing, so expect it to hold (or even get better?)…