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On one Spring Friday afternoon in New York City, eight serious oenophiles gathered in New York City for a significant lunch of 1971 and 1978 Red Burgundies. Actually, that’s right, there were seven. Big Boy had a tummy ache lol. It was a significant week of significant events, including Dapper Dave’s 40th Birthday celebration the night before which put Big Boy on a temporary shelf, even though I left two hours after him. It’s not easy being the Chief Drinking Officer, let me tell you ; )

Back to our event, which started on the wrong foot with a (DQ) bottle of 1971 Salon. The Mogul solved that problem very quickly with an outstanding bottle of 2011 Coche-Dury Meursault Perrieres. It had that great Coche nose with a spritely kink and a delicate, playful spice. It was delicious, balanced, round and beautiful (95).

There were a couple of squirrely Domaine Leflaives next, starting with a yeasty 1996 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet. There was a touch of tropical something that indicated this wine was not completely pure. The palate was much better, you could feel the breed in the bottle. It was long and kept improving, but I suppose one could argue it was a flawed bottle. I still felt I experienced all of its first class personality and material (96).

The 1990 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet was definitely a more advanced bottle. While it had a rich and nutty nose and an oily mouthfeel, there was definitely a brown kink to its flavor. This I would call flawed without question (94A).

The rough seas continued with the first red of our official program, the 1971 Roumier Bonnes Mares. The nose possessed lots of positive brown sugar aromas, although brown sugar can be a sign of an advanced quality. These were positive ones, encased by a lot of ceramic edges. Red fruits and tomatoes abounded along with dusty, forest floor action. The palate was round and a bit square, and while it had nice acidity, this bottle wasn’t as thrilling as it could/should be. It was tough to say this was an affected bottle, but it wasn’t a perfect one, either (92?).

From here on out, we rolled a lucky seven, as the next seven wines were all superlatively spectacular, or spectacularly superlative, which ever you think sounds better! The first was a fantastic bottle of 1978 Roumier Bonnes Mares, which was also WOTN at our 36 vintage vertical of Roumier Bonnes Mares at the end of January (yes, I know I haven’t written that one up yet). The ’78 was brimming with pure red fruit, almost oceanic with its kaleidoscope of red. There was great spice, great musk and great mushroom and truffle complexity. Nice kisses of forest and brown sugar (the non-advanced kind!) rounded out this amazing wine. There was super length to this special stuff, and it held as its finish continued to smack my lips again and again (98).

A stand alone 1978 Dujac Clos St. Denis was another great bottle, although it was more feminine and elegant in style. It was more floral, with more purple to go with its red, very fresh for a ’78. There were some Chinese tea flavors to go with its earthy flavors on its finish. There was a touch of good dirty here (96).

A pair of ’71 Musignys began with a 1971 Drouhin Musigny. This was another great nose with orange fruits, mesquite, leather and spice. While tender, it was still rich. It may have been just turning the corner of its maturity plateau, but there was no doubting its tasty, delicious personality. Its acid came out more after some beef, and its rich, orange and autumn flavors weren’t going anywhere. This was an elegant Musigny that maintained its meaty goodness (96).

The 1971 Comte de Vogue Musigny VV had a similar profile to the Drouhin with a touch more flesh. It, too, was rich and meaty with orange hues, although it showed more rusty profiles. Diamondz thought it showed ‘a little more fruit,’ and I couldn’t disagree, but we all thought that it didn’t hold in the glass as well as the Drouhin (95).

The 1971 DRC La Tache had a special nose with that classic DRC/LT spice, mint, rose and oil. There were decadent cherries soaked in something great that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. This was rich and sexy, ‘smokin’ per one of our group. Delicious and great appeared in my notes on multiple occasions, and its long, deep palate abounded with spice, acid and pure sex appeal. ‘So LT,’ cooed Diamondz. Once again, the 1971 La Tache delivered the ultimate wine experience (99).

The 1971 DRC Richebourg was close behind. Everyone was loving it; we were all in love with just about everything at this point lol. The Riche was a bit more earthy, possessing more structure in its nose than the LT, although it also possessed the usual signature, mature DRC style as well. There was great intensity to this rusty red, which had a great melange of tomato, red and orange fruits (97).

There was one more wine to be had, a deep, dark 1978 DRC Richebourg. There was a citrus twist to its nose, along with some brown sugar goodness. This was a beefy, hearty and full-bodied wine, showing the more masculine side of the ’78 vintage compared to the ’71s. I do prefer 1971 in general, by just a smidge (96+).

The restaurant accidentally opened up Big Boy’s 1978 DRC La Tache, but Jetski insisted on saving it for Big Boy later. We did see him that evening, and it was about as good as that wine gets. By the time I had that wine, it was my fourth wine event of that day, so I didn’t take any notes, but I do remember me thinking (98+). There was also a 1982 DRC La Tache from the Time Capsule collection that stunned and gunned down many other wines in front of it (96). I will save the rest for later, maybe. A big thanks to the Capital Curator himself, aka Jetski, for organizing a proper New York City Power Lunch.