These are not your average wines that folks like us can afford. Had they not been purchased at an opportune time, before they became known, popularized, and aged carefully under temperature controls, these wines would fetch mind-boggling prices. Thus the 10, 000 Dollar Tuesday title here.
We are a small group of passionate food and wine aficionados, paring these wines with appropriate fare, thanks largely to Steve, and Clint's culinary explorations. It seemed like high time for me to start sharing the experience hopefully in a way that is of some interest.
These notes detail our tasting on March 29th, 2011.
Attendees: Rod, Steve, Gary, Clint, Myself
Bollinger 2003
subtle nose, mango, white peach, gains weight on the palate
Bouchard 1976 Montrachet Grand Cru- Domaine de Chateau de Beaune
glistening viscous apple juice to the eye
initial nose fairly intense cantaloupe, finishing with a lingering butterscotch
so amazing with the duck liver pate, also serving beef tartar salad with egg, onion, and vinaigrette
* This is especially notable as my birth year's vintage, this is the second time I've had the good fortune to try this wine, the first being almost exactly one year prior.
Domaine Marey-Monge Romanee St. Vivant 1969
smoky, toasty nose, some iodine and prune. light brown color with a limited core of ruby, some soy developing on nose. This wine was in the furthest state of decline of all the wines we tasted.
Romanee-Conti 1969 Monopole The current vintage price of this wine alone is pushing $5,000.
bright brick red, fiery nose, plum and soft cherry, mineral component more vibrant.
stewed veg/ forest floor, smoked almond, nose going prune now, cherry still there...staying alive
Henri Lamarche 1969 Vosne- Romanee La Grande Rue **
ruby to light orange at edge, vibrant black plum and a strong citrus fruit character here, some sawdust? most vibrant fruit of the flight so far, but the nose of the Romanee-Conti still piercing, outlasting this wine
Pate and 69' burgundys = ahhhhhhhhh....
Armand Rousseau 1969 Charmes-Chambertin
dry cola nose, potting soil, most alive fruit yet!, ruby sunset color, best tasting quote ever: "it's like rubbing a butt," thanks Gary!!
Now dining on grass fed beef, roasted bone-in sirloin with potato gratin, braised mushrooms and onion.
Jaboulet-Vercherre 1969 Clos de Vougeot ** perhaps the most famed vineyard in all of Bourgogne
asian spice, cola, round/smoove, dry cherry and herbs, full red color, bright nose. wow!
Romanee-Conti 1970 La Tache Monopole
red berries on nose, alive, grape, red cherry, plum, perky compared to the 69's, a.maz.ing.ly youthful
Ch. Haut-Peyraguey 1975
savory, fairly sweet, nice wine, light caramel, honeyed red apple, served with chocolate cheesecake
These wines are so interesting, you can't easily convey it. We are tasting history, and the character of these wines is still very much intact. Fruit is diminished, grapes turned to raisin, eventually leaving only the basic elements of alcohol, acid, and tannins, forming a structure, and a vehicle to transport you to the place and time when these vines gave forth their fruit.
I had hypothesized that the "buzz" or "high" from wines like that almost seems fundamentally different from that of the young wines most of us are accustomed to. Certainly the alcohol is lower in these wines than most anything drunk international these days, but perhaps the actual composition and evolution effects the mind and body slightly differently as well.
Well thanks for reading. Some final notes, the **'d wines were my favorites of the day, I have to agree with Steve that the Clos Vougeot was the wine of the day. Not terribly surprisingly, the most impressive name Domaine La Romanee-Contee wines, although brilliant and sound, were not the favorites of these tasters. Until next time, Salut!
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