Blog

It was time for a gathering of the 12 Angry Men at the end of March, as winter had bottled up much angriness that needed to be uncorked. 1970s Burgundy was the theme, and much generosity was on display as we gathered in our favorite haunt, the private room downstairs at Cru.

We started with a couple of bottles of 1973 Krug, original not Collection. bottlings. Although one bottle was a touch more mature than the other, the fresher bottle had a nice nose of mature honey, dust, wheat, light white chocolate and touches of yeast and dirt. Round, smooth, honeyed and tender, the palate delivered more of a wine-like experience, although it still possessed a pinch of petillance. It got meatier in the nose with air, and its nice citric edges and white chocolate flavors made it easy to drink, but it seemed a bit more mature than it should have been, which was probably the bottle. It wasn.t a bad bottle and was perfectly enjoyable, but probably not a perfect one either (92A?).

A blind trio of 1979 Champagnes was the official first flight courtesy of Bad Boy Bruce, a living testament to the fact that rock n roll will never die. We sat down to the first bubbly, which had a kinky nose with a waxy, pungent, dried apricot fruit aroma. There was also mahogany and lemon pledge in the nose as well, and a bit of maturity crept in quickly. Ray immediately found it a bit off.. It did have iodine, as Gorky noted. Ray preferred to call it gym socks, and he wasn.t being complimentary. There were flavors of earth and milk chocolate, but this bubbly got dirtier and dirtier in the glass and fell apart quickly, a bit stinky. as someone remarked after a few minutes. It was the 1979 Alain Robert Le Mesnil. Since I had a crummy bottle of this in Chicago as well, please, no one serve me this sucker again (85A).

The second bubbly was very aromatic with this floral, acacia-like exotic honey, the type of honey that Carmine would break out at Celeste, one that was made in a certain way at a certain time and only go with a certain cheese. I’m talking exotic here. Some all-bran graced the nose as well. The flavors were pungent, big, rocky and tangy with a wildflower kink. Its big, full-bodied style was full of gamy flavors. Its acidity was a bit more mellow than I expected, not exactly soft, but the Champagne seemed to be on a plateau, but a plateau that it will be on for a while. It had that delicious, wine-like edge to its citrus, vanilla and wheat flavors. It was the 1979 Krug (94).

The third Champagne in this starter flight was incredibly fresh and pungent with fantastic anise, bread and cream aromas. By far the freshest of the trio, there were still loads of acidity here; this was an infant next to the first two. Its flavors were taut and lemony; its finish stony and its acidity longer than a day with the in-laws. Bruce gleefully hailed the 1979 Louis Roederer Cristal as Champagne of the vintage.. It was tough to argue (96+).

A trio of whites comprised the next flight, and we began with the 1973 Leroy Meursault Charmes. It had that waxy, fresh, straight from the Leroy cellar nose. I felt like I could have cleaned the table with it as it smelled like anise wax indoor cleaner. The palate was soft and easy with a touch of yeast and citrus, coconut. as Peter observed, and a touch woodsy on its finish. Uh oh, some angriness crept out from King Angry himself. Ray huffed, there’s no way this is 34 years old.. He said it, not me, but it is tough to be an experienced wine taster and not agree; these cellar wines have to be at least reconditioned. The wine was still pleasant and enjoyable (90).

Roger pulled another amazing old Leflaive out of his cellar as he did at La Paulee, this time it being a 1978 Domaine Leflaive Batard Montrachet. Its nose was Five Alive, aka big-time fruit basket. There was also a stick of butter and an exotic pinch of almost Worcestershire to this smoky wine. Its palate was rich, meaty and buttery, full of exotic garden flavors and possessing great balance. Ray found it milky and smoky, while another found it briny. (94).

The 1978 Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche was gorgeous, very fresh, dusty and intense in its long and smoky nose. There was this dried BBQ jerky exotic edge here. Earth, smoke and waterfall rounded out the nose, although Suss was lost in the forest and its woodsy. nature. Its austerity was distinguished, and there was this splash of Worcestershire and tobasco on its finish, probably the same woodsiness that Suss was referring to, although who knows what was happening under the table over there (95).

The Don happened to be upstairs, and I grabbed swallows of a 1996 Dauvissat Chablis La Forest, which was clean, tasty, pure and delicious. I do love a good Chablis (93). Also, there was some 1996 Coche-Dury Meursault Perrieres. 1996 is an extraordinary year for this already extraordinary winemaker, and the 96 Perrieres was absolutely singing on this night, full of flavor and acidity yet balanced and delicious in that smoky Coche way (96).

The reds commenced with a procession of 1979s, three to be exact. One was a last second substitute due to a last second cancellation of a potential new member. All wines in this flight were served single-blind except the one substitute was double-blind.

The first red had cotton candy. in its nose per Peter, and I found this distinct green apple sour to it as well. Rob noted the sweetness of Richebourg, and it was cherry juice city. Very modern and candied, it had that Gros Frere style and indeed was the 1979 Gros Frere et Soeur Richebourg. It had a chalky finish and some t n a to it (90).

Unfortunately, a magnum of 1979 Richebourg was cooked and sickly (DQ).

Due to a last second cancellation, we were forced to throw in a ringer of a wine for this first flight, all the more needed after the DQ.d magnum. It had a fabulous nose, make that incredible and was clearly wine of the flight, although there wasn.t much competition. Leather, spice, tar and dried black roses graced its spiny nose. Long, balanced and still with lots of life, this 1979 G. Conterno Barolo Monfortino Riserva was a stunning glass of wine (95+).

A 1976 Pousse d.Or Volnay Clos des 60 Ouvrees. was corked (DQ).

A 1972 Dujac Clos St. Denis was not. Baby’s bottom was the first thing to jump out of the nose, along with tomato, rust, lemon and benevolent oak. It tasted like a Bloody Mary, a dead ringer for the Sunday brunch tasting group. Suss also picked up on tomato and soy sauce. in this pleasing 72, which had good acidity still (93).

Another mystery wine came out, and its nose was roasted and hearty yet seductive. While feminine, graceful and elegant, the wine was still forceful. Suss picked up on bell pepper. and Ray olive. in this outstanding 1972 Chave Hermitage (95).

We were back to our regular programming with a 1976 Roumier Bonnes Mares, which had some big and heady Worcestershire aromas, saucy in nature and soaking up its noticeable t n a. There was a touch of tomato flavors and wood, its wood being a touch over the top. Rich and long, there were hearty bouillon flavors in this still respectable 76 (90).

A flight of 1978s was next, and Slover was silently slurping them down before informing us of the great flight that would follow.

The 1978 Ponsot Clos de la Roche was not the Vieilles Vignes; I am not sure they even made one in 1978 strangely enough. Anyway, the Ponsot had a gamy, olivy nose with lots of stiff tannins, soy and marinated meat aromas. The palate was spicy and spiny with lots of citric twists, olives and game. Menthol flavors were on its finish, and the wine was flirting with outstanding and ultimately got there. Gamy, spiny and long, the Ponsot also had teriyaki beef. flavors per Suss (95).

The 1978 Rousseau Chambertin took it up a notch and was the best bottle of this that I had ever had. Brooding, long, reserved and refined, there was great dust in the nose of this reticent behemoth. Its flavors were pungent and full of great citrus, iron, stem, stalk and beef flavors. It was still smooth, long and great (96).

The 1978 Dujac Clos de la Roche, one of the wines of the vintage, was still excellent yet less than its finest examples. Full of olives and a touch of gas, there were also lots of garden and vegetable aromas: carrots with the ranch dip, tomato, green pepper.&it was big-time green pepper and pungent both in the nose and on the palate. Rich, smooth and with great texture, the Dujac made a nice recovery on its balanced palate. Suss noted toasted sesame seeds. (94). It should be a 98 or 99 point wine, though, but I think this was bottle variation more than an affected bottle.

A 1978 La Tache was aromatic and perfumed, shy and perfumed, more lavender and wildflower than the typical 78 beef and menthol I have come to expect. This potpourri quality carried over from the nose to the palate, where more of the classic beef and menthol emerged in the flavor profile. It was a very good bottle but not a great one; again, not necessarily off but another bottle variation situation. We all know bottled barrel by barrel very often (and to this day) , right (92) ?

A final 1978 was served blind. Meaty, gamy, chocolaty, dirty, and earthy, its nose was quite complex. Graham and honey rounded things out aromatically. Rich, creamy and meaty, its palate had vitamins and the most power of the flight so far. A touch of animal rounded out this earthy and robust 1978 Vogue Musigny Vieilles Vignes. It was a great showing for this overlooked vintage of Vogue, whose wines many feel are lackluster between 1973-1989. Well, not on this night ong> (95+).

We needed a palate cleanser, and it was a spectacular one, a 1966 Louis Roederer Cristal. Caramel oozed out of the glass like Scarlett Johansson out of a limousine. Ray took my daydream away from me with brittle, more burnt, cooked caramel, and I immediately saw his four best high school buddies getting out of the limo after her. Bruce gushed, the best vintage of the best decade in Champagne.. Bread crusts, honey, orange rind and hazelnut. (Pat) resulted in an orgy of aromas. It was pure vanilla sex going down the hatch, and it was so good it caused Big Boy to ramble about the 1911 and 28 Pol Roger for about ten minutes. It was a short speech by the usual standards (97).

I think I was back upstairs for a swallow of 1995 Roumier Bonnes Mares with The Don. I had to be, as this was 1970s Burgundy night. The 1995 was so concentrated and extremely impressive, especially for a 1995. While this seems to be a vintage most collectors avoid nowadays, I now see why Roumier most likely made the wines of the vintage and why this rusty Bonnes Mares gets $500+ a bottle (95+).

The 1971 Prieur Musigny had a brown sugared, 1959-like nose. Earthy and big, the palate was brown sugary and oaty. Balanced and pretty tasty, it was good but seemed mature for a 71 (92A).

The 1971 Giroud Bonnes Mares had a weird, peanut butter nose, and so did the palate. There was great structure to its big and long palate, and band-aid on its finish. This seemed to be very atypical Burgundy (91).

The third wine of this 71 flight was a 1971 Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze.. Its nose was a bit off-putting, to be frank, full of celery and wood. Its structure was great, though, and its acidity enormous. Its citric twists, tang and length were very special, and its flavors became more benevolent and in the garden spice direction (94).

It was another intermezzo, this time a 1928 Louis Roederer Brut. Caramel and glue, Gorky observed. Asian plum wine. was another’s observations. Wine-like, old and intense, this was another regular. Roederer Brut that showed spectacularly (96+).

A quartet of 1971 s was next, beginning with a delicious 1971 Echezeaux. It had a great nose of classic rose, leather, menthol, garden and iron. It got a little woody without crossing the line, and the palate was of similar character (93).

The 1971 Romanee St. Vivant was very big yet very square, chunky and with lots of acidity and indicators, yet overall a rusty brick of a wine (90+?).

The 1971 La Tache was another one of those magical 71 LTs. It had been a while for me; after having about half of a magical case that Cru once owned, there had been a few tough luck 71 LTs for me, never achieving the same magical heights as before. Well thanks to Big Boy, we were back in the saddle of this Burgundy stallion. Serious. and ridiculous. came from the overjoyed crowd. The beef, the menthol, the tar, the leather, the citrus, the huge lingering acidity&the 1971 La Tache. It is a wine more timeless than Roger Clemens in that it can still bring the heat (98+).

It was a bad night for Richebourg, as a 1971 was (DQ). No one cared. That’s how you have to be with old wines. If you get an off bottle, it’s on to the next. Of course, when you have thirty wines, that helps ease the pain, but so does a good backup or two for less monumental occasions.

One of the wines of the night was courtesy of The Don, upstairs sipping on some 1966 Clair-Dau Chambertin Clos de Beze.. All I can tell you is that it was fantastic (96).

Somehow, I had a swallow of 1973 Krug Collection (93).

Big Boy quickly bought the rights to the evening and made it a Big Boy Production by purchasing a 1999 Romanee Conti and 1999 La Tache off the list. The RC had ridiculous concentration and insane baby fat. Its richness, super freshness and super crushed berry core were the stuff of legends.. It was still such a baby yet able to show an enormous amount of greatness. Broad-shouldered and flamboyant, the 1999 RC is up there with the greatest ever made. Aubert certainly thinks so, and even one of my fellow enthusiasts recently admired the 99 after tasting almost 100 years of RC. It is indubitably one of the great, great wines of all time (99).

The 1999 La Tache was/is no slouch, either. Pure game, Pat admired. The LT had a spectacular nose as well. The wine seemed more mature with its gamy notes and animal fat, but it was actually more spiny and full of enough brick to make a very very very fine house. Great. appeared over and over in my notes. It was qualitatively equal to the RC yet LT all the way (99).

No one was angry anymore.