Where are my TASTING NOTES? (Domaine des Lambrays)

Darn me. I came back from Domaine des Lambrays tasting having taken notes of the wines that night (most of which I recall were not exceptional at all) and a few days later as I tried to squeeze some time to write this blog, I found that I lost the small new notebook with a snazzy little retractable pen.

Anyway, this tasting event with the Chevaliers took place in a very nice north Indian restaurant Rang Mahal. The food was excellent - I could still taste the smokiness of the chicken tandoori days after in my mouth, and the kadhai prawns was just delicious.

As my brain cells get fewer by the days (too much burg-bashing taking place), I regret to myself that I would not be able to write any notes regarding the wines that night. That said I could recall some impressions here and there about the general presentation of the evening.

The wines in general was, well, underwhelming... I believe it was the function of the selection for the evening as well as the increasingly modern winemaking style the domaine seems to have adopted. The white featured were surprisingly good. Some of the 2003s were very well made -- noticeably adjusted, but skillfully executed. Puligny les Folatieres 2002 and 2003 were presented, as well as Puligny Caillerets 2001 and 2003. The 2001, as expected, was already showing signs of tiredness, while the 2002 possessed the most complete and formidable make up of all the wines tonight.

The red selections was rather disappointing. The Morey 1er les Loups were presented in its 2002 and 2003 versions, while the domaine's eponymous flagships came in 2000 and 2003 versions. The les Loups 2002 was probably the most sound and elegant wine of the evening, while des Lambrays grand crus did not, in my opinion, reflect its exalted grand cru status. Many attendants actually liked the 2000, which in my opinion was hollow and rather coarsely textured. The 2003, despite obvious heat-inflected fruits and heavy-handed wood handling, was comparably more sleek and flavoursome in the midpalate. However both did not live up to my fond memories of the 1998 version, which in my opinion was lovely for its earthy and layered fruit expressions, nor the unshyly berry-scented 2002 version which in spite of the obvious makeups, had a very supple and reasonably dense midpalate which I would expect to layer out in time.