Some older Bottles (and some interesting new ones)

First of all, for the trainspotters, you might be wondering whatever happened to the Vosne-Romanee 1er cru tasting I was writing about many a month back. Well, the truth is it did happen. And we had wonderful bottles. No surprises, even in the blind format, the Arnoux les Suchots 1995 was superbly outstanding. This is a grand cru calibre -- jam packed with flavours of black and red fruits and spices, it has the texture of spirited meat stew and central spine of refreshing minerality. The other outstanding one was the Potel's les Malconsorts 2002. Fresh, complex, with tangy spicy black cherries, it had a plush and pliant mouthfeel with a cool finish. Quite delightful.

Okay... Now on to the 'meat' of the blog tonight.

What was supposed to be just a casual takeaway-dinner gathering this Monday turned out quite a number of very interesting bottles indeed.

Roty's Marsannay les Boivin 2002 was steely and very structured. Its finish was almost citric (aren't all Marsannays?), the body structured, and plenty of fresh cherries and metallic twang found in the innermouth perfume. Not really sweet, but impressive on the count of purity alone. Great food wine.

Hubert Lignier's Bourgogne 2001 was very impressive. I was thinking along the line of Vosne 1er on this one. The acid structure was impressive -- just sufficiently ripe and full of bright cushy fruits. Darkly coloured for Bourgogne too. This would have been tough to decide vis-a-vis Arnoux's 2002 Bourgogne 'Pinot Fin'. The Arnoux is more lush and this one more structured. And both are great!

Bruno Clair's Savigny-les-Beaune la Dominode 1990 had me wondering if this was a Pommard or a Corton. Texture-wise it appeared like a lightweight Pommard, with the same tobacco-ey nuance at the finish (which later I decided could simply be called 'earth'). And if it was Corton, it just didn't have enough midpalate weight and was too 'heavy' on the palate (yet not heavy enough for a Pommard). I was dead sure it was south, but not Volnay, and the possibility of Savigny escaped me. I found the wine very ripe, and given the secondary character, I would have guessed a ripe year in the 80s. Too fleshy for a 1988, I thought it was a 1985. Well, knowing it was 1990 gave me some consolation. It was a hot year too. I reflected on this wine a lot, even tonight (I tasted the remnants back two nights after opening) and I would try to remember its combination of slightly evolved red and black fruits, rather viscous nature and the ashy/tobaccoey tone at the back.

The next wine was very light in colour. Delightfully bright amber in colour, the wine was quite florally scented and elegant in the mouth. It finished with rather penetrating acids which thankfully preserved the less-than-dense fruits of this wine. It's hard to tell other than it must have been a Cote-de-Nuits. It was Maison Leroy's Chambolle-Musigny les Amoureuses 1980. Two nights later, this gained weight and started to put on some evolved raspberries characteristics and is showing far more femininity than before. It must be Chambolle indeed! Quite delicious. Even Fiona liked it a lot.

The next one was similarly hued. The nose was bigger and fleshier, with alcohol evidence. But still sous-bois and sweet-mushroomy. On the palate this too had a weightier impression than the Leroy, but fell short in terms of elegance. The acid too just didn't come across polished enough with a shrill streak at the back. Potinet-Ampeau's Volnay Santenots 1978.

Now back to a younger one. This wine had a slight reductive stink on it. Muted but quite large scaled, it was not just shy of being sweet. Quite steely with a familiar earthy tone. Gevrey! I was toying around with 1er or grand cru. It was quite in-between. Sweet enough to be a grand cru but can also be a solid 1er. Vintage wise -- hard to tell. I guessed a damned good 1998. Nope. It was a 1999 -- Louis Jadot Chapelle-Chambertin, thanks to Julian.

The last bottle was an afterthought. Royce and friend didn't bring a bottle so decided to buy this off Andy's. Roty's Charmes-Chambertin 1997 TVV. This wine was singing. Totally grand cru calibre, it was full of Gevrey funk on the nose and lots of old-viney sappiness too. Black cherries, redcurrants, smoke and meat whiff gave plenty of complexity. The midpalate was generous -- too generous to be a 1997 (thank goodness this was not a blind!) Tasting this was enough to tell everyone this was a work of a maestro. Sappy, delicious, nuanced and minerally. Most impressive.