Craig's Wine Notes

Stopped by Saturday with a few friends after having dinner down the block. It was a quiet night there, but we did have 3 great wines. A client was dining in the bar area and drinking Chambertin Clos de Beze Clair Dau 1966, a wine I'd heard was outstanding. Indeed it was, with some black cherry fruit, earthiness, and a lot of gaminess, even a little whiff of bacon fat.

We first ordered a bottle of Chevalier Montrachet Les Demoiselles Louis Jadot 1990. While in the shadow of the incredible Ramonet of a couple nights before, this was a high quality wine, with a little hazelnut, citrus, and minerality; the acidity was a little low, though.

For a red, we got Chambolle Musigny Georges Roumier 1995. This was really nice; lots of red fruit, good weight, nicely balanced; a very good wine that certainly could have passed for premier cru.

Sorry for the lack of updates; I've been pretty busy with catalog production for the auctions, as well as preparing for tomorrow's sale. I have two events to write up, a blind tasting with my regular group in Westchester, as well as a combined Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile vertical and old Rioja evening, so watch this space.

Late yesterday morning, I was asked if I had any plans for the evening, and if not, if I'd like to go to Nougatine (the sister restaurant to Jean-Georges) with Fritz Hatton, our auctioneer, and a major collector in town for the Lyons sale. There's really only one answer to that question! So, four of us gathered for a great meal from the Nougatine kitchen and some amazing wines.

The collector had brought all of the wines for the evening. I walked in and there was an open bottle of Montrachet Ramonet 1990 on the table. It was delicious, bright acidity, medium weight and yet very concentrated at the same time, with just a hint of butterscotch and nuttiness coming out on the end to signal that it's starting to mature.

A burgundy glass was placed on the table next, quickly followed by a bottle of La Tache 1976 to pour into it. This is my second time having the wine in three months, and both times it has been showing great, good cherry fruit, a little earthy, bright, and while it is tannic, it doesn't have the harsh, drying tannins that some 1976s have. For comparison he opened a bottle of Romanee St Vivant Marey-Monge 1969, which was my dry wine of the night (more on that later). It had a lot of cherry fruit as well, plus some savory spices; the acidity was very high, which didn't bother me but one taster thought it was a little mouth-puckering for his taste. Finally, "just for fun," a bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin Leroy 1969, which would have been perfectly good on its own, but couldn't compete against the other wines in the flight.

We had been told in advance that all of the dry wines but one would be from Burgundy, and next up was our lone Bordeaux: Latour 1945. This was the first encounter I'd had with this legend, which, if served blind, I would have thought was 15 years younger. Perfectly mature, rich, perhaps not quite as complex as I expected, but a great bottle. The consensus was that this was not quite as good as the bottles from the other case the collector owns, but all agreed it was still an extraordinary wine by any standard.

We'd been told that there would be dessert wines, but I wasn't expecting them to bring out two glasses. A spectacular bottle of Climens 1947 was poured, full of pineapple, banana, modest but vibrant acidity, and as long and pure a finish as any wine I've had in a long time. Wine of the night for me. Finally, while we nursed that, we watched a sommelier apply port tongs to Fonseca 1966. This is a vintage that was unjustly ignored by the marketplace for years, but now trades only a little bit lower than 1963. This may be the best port vintage for drinking now. One of the guests described it as "like drinking a Twizzler." A beautiful bottle of port and a great way to end.

This was a half bottle opened at a friend's place Sunday night. We all quite liked it, although one taster thought the alcohol (13.5%) was obtrusive. Nose with a lot of black cherry and a little earthiness, lots of acidity and tannin hiding the fruit some on the palate, but there was a lot going on there and definitely one to watch out for in a few years.

Maureen Nelson was visiting New York for a few days this past weekend; a few of her friends here decided to throw a Burgundy BYO at Eleven Madison Park and I received a last-minute invitation to the event. The theme was pre-1985 Burgundies, but as always at this sort of event a few other wines snuck in.

We started with a couple of whites. First, a magnum of Beaune Clos des Mouches Blanc Joseph Drouhin 1993, which I really liked. Nice lemony nose with some slightly waxy notes--John Gilman, who brought the bottle, said that the waxiness is something that often comes out in older Clos des Mouches blanc--and a nicely textured palate that's just starting to turn slightly nutty (in a good way). The other was Chablis Les Clos Raveneau 1984, not exactly a heralded vintage but an excellent bottle, with some of the same beeswax, a lot of minerals, a light-bodied palate but excellent structure and great, persistent minerally flavors. With a little more time in the glass some creaminess came out in it.

I had brought a bottle of Hochheimer Kirchenstuck Auslese Domdechant Wernisches 1971, so with foie gras on the way it seemed like the right time to serve it. The color was amber-gold, and the wine had good acidity, just a touch of sweetness, and long, long flavors of creme brulee, tangerine and blood orange. Great stuff.

Time to move on to reds, first with Savigny Les Jarrons Anne-Marie Guillemont 1985, a really nice bottle. There was a touch of funk in it (someone called it "wet animal"), earthiness, some dark fruits, and a smoky note that came out with a little time. Next came Latricieres Chambertin Avery's 1983, which the person who brought it said was believed to have been bottled from fruit grown by Domaine Ponsot. The nose was light, but very Gevrey, earthy with some black fruits. A hint of citrus developed, as well as what some tasters thought might have been a trace of rot. Still, not bad at all.

Next up was Volnay Caillerets Clos de 60 Ouvrees Domaine de la Pousse d'Or 1979, always an excellent bottling. I really liked this one; the nose had a touch of woodsmoke and a slightly herbal note, as well as great earthiness and minerals, with a lot of acidity and tannin left to it.

We had made the decision to move backwards chronologically, so it was just a coincidence that the bottles one would have expected to be the most impressive were saved to the end. First, Chambertin Leroy 1976, which had a typical Chambertin nose of earth and black fruits. On the palate it had medium weight, somewhat simple flavors, and pretty good length; it didn't show excess tannin (a common characteristic of the vintage), and while it was reasonably tasty, it was a little anonymous.

Following that came a flight of wines from Louis Latour. The Romanee St Vivant Quartre Journaux 1971 was, sadly, corked (our only casualty of the night), but the 1978 of that wine was extraordinary. It was gamy, minerally, had some beef blood and sour cherry; it reminded me of a great Richebourg. Alongside that was another excellent bottle, Corton Grancey 1971, an earthy wine with a delicate nose containing just a touch of red fruits and some notes of violets; it had a really mouthcoating palate, a bit of sourness was coming out, leading one taster to believe that it is on the verge of turning volatile, but the bottle had been open since 8am and drunk at 10pm, so I am not at all convinced of that.

We wrapped up with a couple of non-Burgs; first, to refresh us, a bottle of Dom Perignon Oenotheque 1976. It was pretty tasty, a light-colored wine with raspberries, white chocolate, and brioche on the nose; on the palate it had great acidity, and long, dense flavors that weren't at all heavy, and just a touch of the trademark DP coffee starting to come out. Finally, two dessert wines: Climens 1983, which had a classic Climens tropical nose and good flavors, but just a touch of chalky bitterness on the finish, and Delaforce Colheita 1965 (bottled in 2005), which I quite liked; classic tawny port caramel, medium weight, and good acidity to keep it from being cloying.

Had these two last night with a few of my coworkers. The Mouton was opened at 4, decanted for sediment and then returned to the bottle, the Clos Vougeot opened and just poured.

Can't say I was too happy with the Clos Vougeot. It was showing a lot of wood on the nose and while the palate had some interested red fruits the wood tannin was pretty high--it wasn't harsh, but it was very present. The color was very slightly browning so perhaps this was not a pristine bottle. After a couple of hours the wood on the palate did fade into the background and the red fruits opened up, but the nose never really came around.

The Mouton, on the other hand, was just great. After its aeration we poured the first of it at 7. The nose, not surprisingly given its relative youth, wasn't too expressive, although it was very clean, not showing any wood or hot alcohol. It was rich without being heavy, excellent structure without either harsh tannin or jarring acidity. Over a couple of hours black fruits started to come out; by 10, when we poured the last glasses, it had become a wine with a lot of fruit but also real elegance. Not at all what I was expecting from a young Mouton, but I was pretty happy about the whole thing.

So it's been a long, long time since I updated this. I am going to try to get on a more regular schedule, but we'll see how well that takes.

One of the perks of working in the auction business is that occasionally we need to sample bottles to check on storage conditions. A week ago one of those came our way in the form of Haut Brion 1928, my first wine from that decade.

I was way too quick to write this one off. When we opened it, it was showing some Graves notes, but more ashtray than cigar, and the acidity and tannin were a little offputting. Over the next couple of hours (!) it got a lot richer and deeper, developing more classic humidor aromas as well as a lot of minerality. The color was more like a wine from the 60s, and it was quite dense and rich on the palate. A great wine in excellent condition, one I doubt I'll get to taste again