TNs from last month -- Cos, Jadot, Bouchard, Aubert, Mondavi

[marcs]

Some TNs from the last month of wines, including a great dinner with Chris Bublitz and Mike Beilin at Dino's back in April

Dino's dinner -- really nice dinner, featuring several good champagnes (which I didn't take notes on), and a 1985 Cos d"Estournel brought by Chris.

1998 Jadot Clos de Beze -- my last bottle of this, really beautiful. Just very rich and hearty but also complex and gorgeous. A touch of tomato ketchup, cinnamon, savory depth and a tang of acidity to keep it all fresh and lifted. Incense on the nose, sandalwood, mixing with those tomato sauce notes of depth. Really good wine and a lesson in how Burgundy can be hearty and earthy but also have great complexity and sophistication. This has a rep as one of Jadot's best GCs and it certainly lived up to that today.

1985 Cos d'Estournel -- well aged and in good condition, a nice vegetal quality and gradually sweetened with air to create a good balance. Very nice delicate quality, but had a slight metallic edge at the back end at times. Lacked the sheer depth and luxurious quality of the Jadot. This was one of those times when Burgundy blows away even a good Bordeaux, which feels somewhat thin and simple by comparison.

2009 Bouchard Le Corton -- brought a half bottle of this, it's one of my favorite wines. Lacked some of the complexity of the Jadot but has great fruit and sweetness made more complex by a lot of spice notes. Long, meaty, and earthy and this wine has always hit my buttons.

2015 Bouchard Le Corton -- brought a half bottle of this for comparison, wasn't nearly as good although I had high hopes given the rep of 2015. Just kind of shut down and meh.

2010 Aubert Chardonnay Lauren Vineyard -- why does this have such a good reputation? Extremely thick and sweet, essence of movie popcorn and alcohol on the nose, then that popcorn butter sauce on the palate followed by a somewhat sour and alcoholic finish. So sweet though that this carries through to the end. Not exactly a table wine but a weirdly good food match to very sweet sauces. Really, I expected this to be good and tried to make excuses for it, but overall it was kind of crap, just a bad wine. I'm not buying it again. Shared with my mother and her husband and they also were like, WTF, why is this so sweet? They are not usually a demanding audience for wine.

1995 Mondavi Reserve -- another old favorite wine, this was the wine that first turned me on to older Mondavi Reserves. I've had it many times over the years. Varies a lot based on storage conditions. This was a good bottle, not the best I've ever had but good. That certain quality of aged red wine fruit that I have a hard time describing -- some raw meat, some plum jam, some tomato, a touch of mushroom. Doesn't have the depth and vividness for greatness but excellent poise and balance and solid depth of fruit. Really pretty delicious, California fruit and a French classical quality.

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for the notes Marc

The 1998 Jadots are a well kept secret we should share with our BWE brethren. If you see them at auction, shoot first, ask questions later.

I had a 2009 Aubert Lauren earlier this year, and it was spectacular. It was like a gold medal winning hippo on ice.

[jal]

The 1998 Jadots are a well kept secret we should share with our BWE brethren. If you see them at auction, shoot first, ask questions later.

Jadot almost always overachieves. The trick is to stay with the Domaine wines, methinks (channeling Alchemeus)

I had a 2009 Aubert Lauren earlier this year, and it was spectacular. It was like a gold medal winning hippo on ice.

ROTFLMAO

[Blanquito]

Those Jadots better be great at $400 a bottle!

[marcs]

Those Jadots better be great at $400 a bottle!

LOL. I got two for like $90-100 each from Premier Cru no less. Maybe I should have sold them, had no idea they had gone so high. Oh well, all gone now!

That Aubert was just terrible. It wasn't flawed either, someone had clearly designed the wine to taste that way. I'd seriously like to taste it with someone who likes Aubert and have them explain to me why this wine is supposed to be good.

My mom and her husband, who usually oooh and ahhh about any wine not a supermarket wine, were immediately making faces and saying things like "why is this so sweet?" as soon as they tasted it. I trust civilians when it comes to judging quality wines, no label bias.

[sdr]

When I was young and foolish, I actually liked Aubert chards. Now I can’t even choke down a teaspoon of the stuff. There are a few California chards I do like, such as Rhys, but that’s because they don’t taste like California Chardonnay, they taste like Chablis.

Yet most of the guys in my local wine group love them as well as the almost equally undrinkable Peter Michael and Marcassin. And they have decent palates for red wine

Stu

[DavidG]

Peter Michael Chard is Peggy’s favorite, and I like it fine in place of a cocktail but it’s not Chablis or Burgundy of any stripe.

[Blanquito]

There’s Batard-Montrachet and then there’s everything else, as I learned to my chagrin at BWE 2019.

[stefan]

Uh, Patrick, there is Montrachet itself. Best to stay away from it if you find Batard so attractive. Or win the lottery.

[Blanquito]

For sure Stefan. But I figure I’ll never have a Montrachet, so I’m (hopefully) safe there.

[marcs]

When I was young and foolish, I actually liked Aubert chards. Now I can’t even choke down a teaspoon of the stuff. There are a few California chards I do like, such as Rhys, but that’s because they don’t taste like California Chardonnay, they taste like Chablis.

Yet most of the guys in my local wine group love them as well as the almost equally undrinkable Peter Michael and Marcassin. And they have decent palates for red wine

Stu

Yeah, after my first taste this would be pretty much my perspective. Except I never liked them when I was young.

Many years ago when I was first starting out in wine, I did kind of like Rombauer Zinfandel, so I can't say I never had a taste for crazy over the top sweetness.

[AKR]

A friend brought an Aubert chard to a tasting a couple of years ago, and I thought it was pretty impressive, but not really any more special than a lot of other comparable wines at 1/3 the price. The guys wife guzzled it though, she was not into reds, so that was mostly there to placate her.

========

BTW, Cameron Hughes usually always has a good spectrum of California chardonnays in his Lot # series every year, and they are generally strong value. You don't know what producer/vineyard/region you might get - you can read the labels and speculate - but I haven't been disappointed with the chards. He mostly sells direct on his web site, but sometimes a pallet or two will make it to Costco. These are mostly 800 to 3000 case type of outputs.

[sdr]

There’s Batard-Montrachet and then there’s everything else, as I learned to my chagrin at BWE 2019.

Glad Patrick enjoys a good BM

Stu

[AKR]

That 1945 Batard Montrachet SFed poured for us some years ago had one of the most amazing bouquets I can ever recall in any white wine. It was like a mashup of a pear tarte, creme brulee and some flowers.