I lost count on how many times the few of us just decided to get together at MS's place and things just "happen". By that I mean the wines of course. Because for some reason, no matter how casual, going to MS's house, planned or otherwise, always induces the urge to unleash one's best collection. It is a mystery.
Tonight was no different. But because there is always the mystifying effect of blind bottles, the extent of the greatness of each tasting was never quite so apparent upfront. The convergence typically becomes especially intense whenever AS comes by Singapore and MS can make dinner. And when AA graces the gathering, the intensity always goes up at least one notch up. AS, Aman, AA, KL, YH and of course MS joined forces, resolute to make this another evening we would be laughing about when we recollect it.
It all started when I suggested that we should try some cult champagnes: something out of the usual circle of the grande marques, but who have reached a certain cultish superstardom. It's also a small attempt to distract the group from the usual Burgundy inclination, an attempt I would safely say was completely in vain tonight, but without regrets. Nonetheless I told the group I would contribute a Vilmart's Cœur de Cuvée as well as a Henri Giraud's Fût de Chêne. In two days the plot developed further to incorporate wines from the monopole vineyard of La Romanée and Romanée Saint Vivant from one of my favourite domaines Sylvain Cathiard. The rarity factor of these burgundies and given how discreet and measured owners of these wines tend to be when it comes to sharing these precious discoveries. I told MS I would bring a bottle of Sylvain Cathiard's 1998 Romanée Saint Vivant. AS flew in the next day, and in the evening we got together. Ad hoc.
As usual AS started out with something amazing. A blind bottle of course. This so-called 'apéritif' was rich and thick, pale golden in colour. It was full and oily in its aromas, with flintiness and nut oil, and an unmistakable popcorn oil. The attack on the palate was powerful and immediate, asserting its grandeur, size and complexity readily. Although almost viscous, there was no denying this was a stylish wine. The finish was serious and detailed. I thought a complex 1996 Puligny grand cru...? Unveiled to be 1996 Louis Jadot, Chevalier-Montrachet "Les Demoiselles" (94 points).
AA, brought another blind bottle, unaware of what AS might bring for the night. But as it often turns out, his bottle was perhaps too good a match for AS's earlier wine. An ineffably complex aroma that mixed stone-fruits, chalk, mild brioche, toasted nuts and lime oil, this wine reeked of nothing but class. In the mouth this was like liquid minerals, and in spite of its even more painfully intense midpalate than the Jadot, this seemed to be more feathery and airy as well. A juxtaposition of unlikelies — lean yet round, dense yet airy, powerful yet weightless — this has the touch of a great master winemaker. Incredible delineation, impossible precision and balance of fruits, minerals and oak elements. This is definitely one of the greatest white burgundies I've ever tasted: 1996 Coche-Dury, Corton-Charlemagne (97+ points).
After a tour de force pair of apéritif white burgundies, we moved to the dinner table and started the champagne course. From what I thought would be a formidable vintage to taste right now, the 1996 Vilmart et Cie "Cœur de Cuvée" turned out initially as quite closed indeed. Reticent aromas of lime, fresh dough, ginger plus a hint of spirit-like intensity. The palate profile was even more difficult to assess. Structurally powerful, this had a steely citrus backbone of fruits coated by a noticeable degree of oakiness today. As it evolved, hints of spices peeked through very sappy citrus fruits with a limey acidity at the back. This wine never stopped evolving throughout the dinner although never fully realising its potentials either, so proud of its youth was it today. A very powerful champagne, this reminded me of a great young Chablis from Raveneau (92+ points).
1998 Henri Giraud "Fût de Chêne" Aÿ Grand Cru is packaged in very unique and memorable bottle shape — clean, modern, classy with a certain exotic mysticism. That aside, this 'cult' champagne tastes as exotic as it looks. Sporting a slightly oxidative, oak-infused style, this medium golden bubbly carried a yeasty nose mystified by strong hints of passionfruit and tropical fruits. An interesting stalkiness could also be detected in the wine along with pineapple and peach. A broad, plush and luxurious mouthfeel revealed mealy notes, barley and curious hints of sweet peas later on. This statuesque champagne will charm anyone with its mouthfilling, sweet and luxuriant exotic fruits. A rich and hedonistic champagne, it is no wonder there are so many dedicated converts of this wine (93 points). Expectedly there was quite many ooh's and aah's around the table regarding this champagne because it was not dissimilar to Krug but was a lot more enjoyable in its youth. I can't wait to taste the 1999.
YH contributed another cult wine from Francis Egly in the form of NV Egly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs Vielle Vignes Grand Cru. The fruits of this wine came from 70-year old Pinot Noir vines in Ambonnay, more specifically from the vineyard of "Les Crayéres". In the space of grower champagnes, the wines of Egly-Ouriet are, like Jacques Selosse's wines, becoming quite heavily sought after. While Selosse is justifiably famous for his Chardonnay, Egly-Ouriet focuses on the Ambonnay terroir, a grand cru which is famous for its Pinot Noir. This Blanc de Noirs was broad and leesy, with charming and mouthwateringly berry-like fruits and notes of blood oranges. Still in its infancy — at least judging from its structure today — this non-vintage special cuvée tastes more like wine than it is champagne with lots of latent power. A grower champagne's champagne, the wine picked up a ravishing porcini mushroom tail-end upon extended aeration. Very promising, and a very uniquely style Champagne (92+ points).
Because of the RSV round which by now would extend to beyond Cathiard's wines, MS thought that we should get on with the La Romanée pair first. This is the smallest of burgundy grand crus, the land which belong entirely to the Liger-Belair family. Up to quite recently, Maison Bouchard was responsible for the élevage and bottling of La Romanée wines, and starting 2002 Louis-Michel Liger-Belair began domaine bottling La Romanée under his own label while assuming the winemaking of La Romanée under Bouchard's label from Regis Forey as well. However starting vintage 2006 the La Romanée grand cru monopole is only bottled by Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair. Admittedly due to its scarcity, up to now I have had very little experience with this smallest of all grand cru, and so I looked forward to this flight with eager anticipation.
Aman brought a bottle of 2004 Bouchard Père et Fils, La Romanée to form an interesting counterpoint to Domaine Liger-Belair's version which AS brought tonight, albeit it is of a different vintage. (I had the privilege of tasting Comte Liger-Belair's 2004 La Romanée later on in a different tasting.) High toned pinot nose with still some oakiness to shed, this quickly revealed the grandeur of the fruits underneath. While 2004 will not be remembered as a vintage with deep and richly set fruits, this wine did not lack any of such. Vosne spices abound in the nose, with intriguing notes of orange peels and chinese hawthorn. Densely perfumed, this wine was also somewhat discreet, as though there were some reserves still held back. Delicate in the palate, without any signs of greenness of the lesser-made 2004s, I noticed a little heat in the finish. An impressive and unique wine (92 points).
We now shifted out attention to 2002 Comte Liger-Belair, La Romanée, served as part of this duo flight. The difference in calibre was striking. While the preceding wine was far from being a slouch, this gave an elucidatory view into La Romanée's unequivocally great terroir. There were so many things going on with this wine beyond its effusively rich and grand perfume of black raspberries and spiced cherry liqueur. All the best Vosne attributes could be found in this wine — Asian spices, soy, ripe dark fruits, silky palate, haunting inner mouth perfume — yet, again, there was a lurking sense of reserve, as though one day there would be one new morsel of complexity to be added on later on. Extremely delicate and persistent with an unreal inner mouth perfume and complex array of dark berries, currants and hints of cedar. This gave an updated meaning to the word 'multidimensional'. This is a remarkable debut based an extraordinary terroir. With the benefit of hindsight I notice Louis-Michel's hand became more assured and sleek in the later vintages, but this was a stupendous Burgundy by any measure (94+ points). I've tasted an assortment of Louis-Michel's wines for a variety of vintages and all I can say is: pay attention to this superstar in the making.
There are few 'recent' producers that generate as much excitement to me as Sylvain Cathiard. When I tasted how profound and emotional his wines were, I told myself to keep a low profile and keep the secret to myself. But what is wine when it's held to just oneself? In my moments of enthusiasm I could not help but to speak the truth and speak it loudly: Cathiard has the 'master's touch', everything he touches turns to gold, from the humble Bourgogne rouge all the way up. The class of his cellar is of course the Romanée Saint Vivant grand cru. Given how stupendous his 1998 "Les Malconsorts" 1er cru was, the anticipation for how the 1998 RSV would be was already eating into me days before this tasting even took place. Cathiard's Vosne-Romanée wines always marry the opulent fruits of Vosne and a totally unique minerally underpinnings so rarely detected in the wines of Vosne-Romanée. Like the greatest Vosne-Romanée domaines, he uses 100% new oak for his RSV, but you'd never know. He destems his fruits completely, so in contrast to Leroy and DRC, Cathiard's style is more akin to Henri Jayer's. Likewise the results he has achieved. The 1998 Sylvain Cathiard, Romanée Saint Vivant was a beauty right from the start. Highly pitched deep black fruits with an airy spicy note. Full and complex in the mouth, sweet but bright and light with a complicating truffley top notes. Wonderfully silky in texture, cool and airy in the mouth with a plush and buried fine tannins that were barely noticeable, it left the mouth refreshed with a suggestion of mint in the finish (94 points). (Note: I had the opportunity to taste another bottle of this wine which was showing even more superbly and merits a higher score! The story will be posted later.)
MS loves to complement whatever wine his guests bring. He has an incredible cellar indeed and that is why he is able to do that. Above all, he loves to do themes, keeping a certain point of reference constant and observing the nuanced differences between the wines in the theme. It is a practice that had afforded me many of my tasting learning experiences. If the 1998 Cathiard RSV was delicious and showing the kind of genius Sylvain Cathiard is, the 1999 Sylvain Cathiard, Romanée Saint Vivant was even more mind-boggling. The first thing I noticed was the immense depth on the nose — it's as if I could swim into the abyss of pristine high-pitched dark and red raspberries. It indicated the superb precision and equilibrium that this constituted the wine. It was, of course, far from being ready: sullen yet full in its immensity of its youth... solid almost impenetrable wall of fruits. With air, the sweetness multiplied and evolved into notes of caramel and toffee. Turned firmer again, of course, and became even more dense. Still this never once came across as heavy and concentrated, but rather tend to impress with its delicately and deeply sweet fruity backbone. Amazing stuff! (96+ points)
To continue where we left off with the 1998 RSV, KL's 1998 Leroy, Romanée Saint Vivant now took the table. The classic high-toned floral and stalky perfume of Leroy was in full display here. Very ripe and richly fruited with spices and leaner, more delicate frame typical of RSV, this bottle, as Leroy's wines sometimes could show, unfortunately was a little saccharine in its fragrance and glyceral mouthfeel. Still, the persistent and cool sweet fruits were beyond faults and one could only hope that other examples will show a little more delicacy to steer clear from the slightly cloying inner mouth perfume (92 points).
To round off the evening, MS pulled another wine out of his cellar but served it blind. So we were left wondering if this was just gonna be a one-off ringer or a continuation of the preceding themes. This wine had a pure-fruited nose, with bright slightly tangy fruits. It came across as slightly wooded even at this stage right now, but it was all held together quite nicely in an elegant package. A modern school Burgundy but not over the top, with a respect for purity of fruits. Dark raspberries, mocha, hints of cinnamon and slightly green notes. Turned out to be a wine I have had many times in the past. While this was a perfectly good bottle, there is no denying that the 1998 Robert Arnoux, Romanée Saint Vivant isn't likely to improve any further and is already enjoyable now (91 points).
The time was 1 a.m. now. Bottle count: 11. Head count: 7. Well alright, so we didn't that badly after all. Looking at the evening that just passed us, we grinned ourselves silly at the lineup. Incidental, coincidental or just excellent teamwork, we outdid ourselves for sure for something quite impromptu. Quality meets quantity? Definitely. Madness meets greatness? Check. More to come? Can't wait!
