Blog

July 2nd proved to be one of the year’s most noteworthy wine bashes, a birthday celebration for wine’s original ‘Bad Boy’ and 12 Angry Manner Bruce. Bruce is a veteran of the music industry and accordingly knows how to throw a party, and about forty of his closest friends including many significant others gathered at his home for a celebration of wine and Champagne.

It started in fast and furious fashion, as when I arrived with Big Boy, such dignitaries as Airplane Eddie, Tennessee Tom, Wheels, Brad and others were already sampling some goodies, and when I say goodies, I mean some really goodies. Everyone’s generosity was on full display in honor of our gracious host.

A quick glass of bubbly came my way to waken up the palate, and it was an obscure 1969 Reserve Selection Le Mesnil, apparently some joint bottling made by the growers at the time of the famed Champagne vineyard. It was the first time that I ever even saw such a bottling, and it had a rich and fat nose with aromas of butter and vanilla. It was toasty and smoky but a bit alcoholic, rough around the edges and a bit chemical in its flavor profile, but an interesting experience nonetheless (88).

There was a lot of going around the room, a lot of which was thanks to Wheels, so I did my best to catch up quickly. A 1964 La Tache had a dusty nose, but there was sweet perfume behind it, mainly rose with a lot of minerals in tow. The palate was rich, hearty and gamy, classic 1964, with a sweet front palate that was ‘beautiful’ (95).

The 1962 La Tache was even better. There was more lift and breed to its nose, which displayed fine aromas of regal garden and tobasco goodness. The nose was so fine and expressive, gamy and sweet in that perfect, old Burgundy way. The palate had length, fatness and richness, also gamy and meaty as well. It was pretty extraordinary and a testament to how good ‘62s can be when they are on, although Eddie chimed in that he had had better bottles. True, I have had 99-pointers as well of this wine, but neither of us were complaining (96+).

What better way to follow up the ’62 La Tache than with a 1962 Romanee Conti. There was this initial hint of baby powder in the nose, which was deeper, thicker and richer than the La Tache. There was a kiss of good stink here along with enough meat to satisfy the hungriest of carnivores. The wine was rich and saucy, smooth and luscious. Its rich, gamy fruit had ‘rose petals galore,’ but its palate was smoother and more satiny than the nose led me to believe, showing more of that ’62 class. It was very balanced with nice slate and minerals on its finish, which was a ‘good dirty’ (96).

Big Boy pulled out one of the real treasures in his cellar, a 1923 Liger-Belair La Tache. I was lucky enough to have this bottle from Rob with Louis Michel Liger-Belair a few months ago, and I was more than happy to have it again. It was a ‘wow’ wine. The nose was so rich and saucy with incredible complexity, just so much going on. Minerals, gravel, dust and spice were perched atop beefy, rich fruit, with additional aromas of tomato, garden, oil and a pinch of Worcestershire. The palate was rich and still hearty after all these years, flat-out fantastic. Its acidity was endless. This is definitely one of the greatest wines ever made (98).

The hits kept on coming as a 1929 Romanee Conti was next, courtesy of Eddie. Unfortunately, it was a touch corked, but it did blow off and was still well worth getting to know, and the palate was not even showing any traces of cork. The wine was satiny smooth with great texture and hints of earth, spice, dust and leather. There was great mouth feel to this gorgeous wine, whose acidity was still there, but not as forceful as the ‘23’s. A touch of citrus rounded out another classic, whose palate was so good, I was hesitant to call it ‘affected,’ but I decided ultimately that it was affected due to its nose (95A).

Next up was my contribution for the evening, a jeroboam of 1957 La Tache, and what a jero it was. This is one of the few wines from 1957, Bruce’s birth year, that can still deliver, and out of jeroboam it was extraordinary. This bottle would be a good exhibit A for those that feel the best barrels often went into the large formats of . The nose was gorgeous and pungent, wild and gamy with that pure La Tache style. It was incredibly aromatic, with oceans of spice, mushroom, truffle oil and garden. The palate was juicy and saucy, rich with beautiful rose hip flavors and the Vitamin C. Eddie hailed the nose as ‘singing’ while King Angry, a late arrival due to holiday traffic, observed its ‘burnt’ qualities, although he was not hating. This wine was still singing out of the bottle eight hours later”¦impressive (95J).

The 1942 Krug signaled the end of the procession of Romanee Conti, although I would soon sample one more that had already been opened before I got there. Of course, we had big Boy to thank for this treasure, from this rarely seen vintage of Champagne. This was special stuff, with heavenly aromas of butter and vanilla. The bubbly had perfect color and poise, and its palate had a perfect balance of fruit and finish. Bubbles were still present though mature. Butter butter butter was what this beauty was about, although there were great cement flavors to its fine finish. The nose became grainy. Big Boy came over to me and asked, ‘what did you give this, 96, 97 points?’ To which I replied, ‘it’s right there on the border of 97.’ Big Boy was pleased that he knows my palate. Everything about this Champagne was beautiful, but I kept it South of the 97-point border in the end, as its ‘earlier’ maturity kept it from that ‘best wines that I have ever had’ category, but it sure was close (96+).

A blind wine came out courtesy of Mr. Antonio Galloni. Of course, it had to be an Italian wine, although it gave me a bit of a Bordeaux impression at first, until a few swirls brought out its true character. It had a deep nose full of mocha, cedar, earth, leather and a nutty glaze. Alexander the Great chipped in, ‘Christmas tree sap,’ and there was also this kinky tar. The palate was great, leathery and gritty with intense spice. Flavors of tar and chocolate were dominant, and this 1982 Giacosa Barolo Collina Rionda was in a great spot, and it wasn’t even a Riserva (95).

Antonio also treated us to a 1970 Giacosa Barolo Collina Rionda, which had a much milder nose to the 1982. There was more wheat cracker, yeast and zeppole here, and the palate was smooth and balanced with nice tannins, but it left a simpler impression after the 1982 despite nice grit on its finish (92).

I got a swallow of the 1934 Romanee Conti that somehow I missed prior. It was only a swallow, so forgive the brief note. This wine has been amongst the greatest of my life, and while this bottle was great, it was a bit affected and browned around the edges. There were unique pizza oven aromas, which were probably in their tertiary or later stages by the time I got to taste. The palate was thick, rich, saucy and oily with flavors of orange zest, slate and port (95+A).

Eddie pulled another whopper out of his arsenal, this being a double magnum of 1955 La Mission Haut Brion. It was another special bottle, and our first of only a few Bordeaux on this magical night. As can be typical with old La Mission, gravel and slate jumped out of the nose. Slate continued to dominate, but black fruits slowly crawled out from underneath, along with charcoal, peanut and chocolate. On the palate, slate and chocolate continued to exert their influences, along with nice plum. Rich, long and fine, the ’55 had a thick finish where the gravel and charcoal came out again. Zippy, long and extraordinary, the La Miss was still young out of double mag (96+D).

A magnum of 1953 Richebourg was unfortunately quite gassy and like ‘rancid crayons,’ per King Angry. Needless to say, it was (DQ).

A 1964 R. Engel Grands Echezeaux had a chapitalized nose with aromas of brown sugar, oat and a touch of pizza crust. Eddie wasn’t impressed, calling it ‘burnt in the mouth, horrible tail.’ There were some rich red fruits in the mouth, but there was also a bit of alley, barn and animal as well (89).

A 1969 Hudelot Musigny had that same chapitalized style of the Engel, possessing brown sugar, oat and more rust. The finish was longer and better, gritty and stony. Someone called it ‘pungent egg soaked in alcohol.’ It was very good, but you had to like that chapitalized style (91).

It was time for some more bubbly, and King Angry had brought a rare jeroboam of 1945 Ruinart. Wheat jumped out of the nose, along with a touch of grass, hay and ‘camomille frappucino’ per The Great One, who then added, ‘pumpernickel,’ while I added buttered. It was tasty, round and smooth, definitely possessing camomille flavors as well. It had richness with a dollop of sauciness, a hint of lime and a nutty finish. Butter and ‘caramel’ joined the party, and I found the Ruinart excellent, although a bit wild and woolly, and aggressive for some (93J).

A 1964 Krug Collection had a superb nose, possessing great freshness. There were aromas of whitewall tires along with the leather interior, and white fruits, flowers and rain. The palate was classic, long and dry, although at first a bit linear. Someone called it ‘ordinary for Krug,’ but its acidity slowly started to emerge, and it took off like a rocket. It became more buttery, more gamy, more minerally, just more. It zipped into the future and finished strongly (95+).

A pair of Goisses were next, beginning with a magnum of 1966 Philipponat Clos des Goisses, which came across young as heck. It was recently redisgorged, of course, in 2003. Pungent and gamy, it was spritely, long and zippy, but simple. King Angry found it ‘primary’ (91M).

The 1964 Philipponat Clos des Goisses magnum was also recently redisgorged (in 2000), but I enjoyed it much more. There were more mature flavors of rich butter and a great core. Rich, racy and zippy, I couldn’t read my notes too well other than great iron flavors. The King made a great point about how the extra three years of disgorgement made a big difference, but I think that there were also some inherent differences in the style of the wines and vintages. After about twenty wines, the notes started to get a little brief, as I was not spitting much. Apologies in advance of the rest of this article (94M).

A mini-Krug vertical broke out, beginning with a 1982 Krug Clos du Mesnil, which had amazing aromatics. The palate was rich yet reticent in what could best be described as a sleeping beauty (95).

The 1979 Krug Clos du Mesnil, its first vintage, was corked. That sucked (DQ).

The 1985 Krug Clos du Mesnil was fantastic. It was rich, buttery and classic, so balanced and long, make that really long. Its zip and zoom were still massive, although it was in a spot where the words ‘Great Awakening’ came to mind. It was King Angry’s favorite ‘young’ bottle of champagne from the evening; he loved its powerful fruit and acidity, but also the fact that it was ‘light as a feather’ (97).

The 1969 Krug Collection magnum was right there with the ’64, possessing tart lemon flavors balanced by sweet marzipan kisses. It was outstanding (95M).

The 1995 Dom Perignon out of jeroboam was long, grainy, edgy and zippy but one-dimensional. Ray and Bruce thought it was ‘flat-out great,’ Ray adding ‘smoky aromas, a wealth of yellow fruit and that creamy DP style”¦staggering.’ I should add that they were both plastered at this point lol. The King had his hand on a saber already, so I didn’t want to argue (92J).

The 1979 Krug Collection magnum was the same as it ever was, but old Krug is always a lot better than Old Milwaukee, and this old Krug was still young. Racy and zippy, NASA should test the ’79 as an alternative to rocket fuel (95+M).

A flurry of wines came back before the Champagnes answered the bell one last time. 1961 La Mission Haut Brion, now that got my attention. It was another classic La Miss, with gravel and great, rich cassis fruit to match. Long and sensual, the wine was good too 🙂 (95).

A magnum of 1929 Rausan Segla from the Grunewald cellar now via Minnesota’s #1 troublemaker was extraordinary. Is there a bottle from Wolfgang’s cellar that hasn’t been? The Segla was sweet, rich, round and lush, displaying dynamite old book and ‘library’ aromas and flavors (95).

The Artful Roger was in the house, with bags of”¦wine in tow. One of those wines was a 1969 Rousseau Clos de la Roche, which was so mint jelly I wanted a lamb chop. I am actually not eating red meat for the summer, so restraint was in order. It was rich, sweet, lush and exotic, still delicate and full of menthol (94).

The 1966 Guigal Cote Rotie La Mouline was full of violets and purple fruits along with light pepper. Rich, long and creamy, it still had acidity and length. Its pepper turned more to shades of white in the mouth, and the first vintage of La Mouline again proved to be timeless and extraordinary (96).

A magnum of 1966 Palmer was beautiful and classic, long and feminine and gorgeous. It still had edge and a lot of slate on its finish (94).

The next wine I had I can’t read what it was or remember. It was from ’83, maybe ’93, and it was leathery, long and balanced. Highly recommended 🙂 (93).

A 1962 Vega Sicilia Unico was delicious. Rich and headstrong, possessing classic Unico leather, kink, egg and meaty fruit, this magnum jumped off the page at the end of the night for its richness and vigor. It flirted with oaky but ended up being good ol’ fashioned good wood (95M).

A 1989 Coche-Dury Meursault Rougeots was in the house, again courtesy of the Artful Roger, and it was excellent. You want more notes, bring me another bottle ha ha (93).

There was a 1964 Dom Perignon Oenotheque, which was big and full of straw and hay. Zippy and heavy, this was serious stuff and an older green label Oeno. As the Angriest of the Angry pointed out, it had ‘remarkable freshness due to its late disgorgement as well as the complexity of a 45 year-old Champagne’ (95).

The 1996 Krug Clos du Mesnil shattered every glass in the room once opened. Champagne of a lifetime? Bet the house on it, with or without equity in it (98).

There was a 1988 Dom Perignon and a 1990 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, both hanging out in that excellent zone. It started to get a little ugly, so the long, stumbling and mumbling goodbye commenced. I think the main point was thank you Bruce, thank you Bruce, thank you Bruce. To many mooooooooooooooorrrrrrre!!!