Wild three days of wine
Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2014 12:39 pm
Just finished a rather crazy three days of wine tasting. As a non-professional taster, it is quite difficult to taste through hundreds of wines in just a couple of days, needless to say there was a lot of spitting. But here are some thoughts from the days.
DAY ONE: Thanksgiving Morning and Afternoon
The Salon des Vignerons Indépendants is exactly what it sounds like: an expo of independent winemakers that sell their wines directly to the public. Twice a year they have an expo in Paris that last four to five days. There are somewhere between 500 and 1000 winemakers serving their wines, although many of those are serving multiple winemakers wines, so the total is probably much more. This is usually a good opportunity to get less expensive wines that you can drink regularly, or catch some really amazing things at reasonable prices. Normally I visit during the weekend, but by then many of the great wines are sold out. So I decided to go on Thursday since I was taking the day off for Thanksgiving anyway.
My first stop was Domaine Tortochot, a Burgundy producer based in Gevrey Chambertin. They were serving several Grand Crus, including the 2012 Mazis and Charmes, and 2008 Chambertin and Clos Vougeot. Fantastic, as always, this producer has consistently delivered powerful, complex wines that are quite representative of the terroir.
In all, I visited around 15 winemakers, and purchased from about 10 of them. Although some of the wine was expensive, most was 25 Euros and under. When you buy wine here, you actually buy it from the stand directly, so when you are finished tasting you need to go back and collect all the cases that you bought. Then you either pack it in your car, or you can take it over and pay a small shipping charge to have it delivered to you or your cave, which is what I did.
DAY ONE: Thanksgiving Evening
For the evening, I met up with a friend of mine and his girlfriend, and we attended Francois' Academie des Vins Anciens dinner. This is the dinner that Francois organizes twice a year to gather up lovers of older wine. Everyone is expected to bring their own wine, which is delivered in advance to Francois so that he can prep it for the dinner. Depending upon the number of people, the participants are broken up into groups of around 10-12 people so that everyone gets a good pour of everything served within their group.
My friends and I were in group 2. I brought several wines to cover for both my friends and me, which were paired with the other wines at our table. Francois and a couple others also contributed wines that were shared across the three groups. The wines from our group were:
1962 Moet et Chandon GV Champagne (shared); Coteaux Champenois Pol Roger; 1985 Hugel Riesling; 1964 Vin de l'Etoile Jura; 1969 La Mission Haut Brion; 1966 La Mission Haut Brion; 1964 Haut Brion; 1953 Haut Brion; 1962 Cos d'Estournel; 1969 La Tour de Mons; 1953 Ausone (shared); 1955 Beaune Emile Chandesais; 1969 Cornas Chante Perdrix Delas; 1979 Fonsalette Cotes du Rhone; 1947 Vin d'Algerie "le Hoggar" rose; 1964 BV Georges de Latour; 1955 Monbazillac; and 1933 Rayne-Vigneau.
The 62 Champagne was spectacular. Creamy, seductive, everyone was stunned at the quality and consistency. For several, this was the wine of the night. This became especially true as the remaining whites that we had in our group were almost or completely dead. It was very interesting to taste the 69 and the 66 LMHB back to back. Both were clearly the same style, and the 69 was very good in its own right. It simply lacked the structure and backbone that the 66 had. The 66 was vibrant, with the gravel nose and the well-integrated tannins. It could last for another couple decades. This was in the top three for the table as well.
The two Haut Brions were excellent, but not quite living up to the 66 LMHB. Tasting them right after the LM really showed the difference between the two Chateau, and the consistency of style for each of them. I had high hopes for the 53, and it was a solid wine, but it didn't quite perform up to expectations. The remaining Bordeaux were decent, with the Ausone the best of the three. Francois had donated a 53 Ausone to each group, but there was some bottle inconsistency. The first groups bottle was bad, and I think our group had the best of the three based on what other people told me. The Beaune had very different reactions by different people at the table, some loved it, some hated it. I was somewhere in the middle.
But the real winner seemed to be the 69 Cornas. This was a stunning wine, and although I am not particular to Rhone varietals, I have to admit this was great.
The Algerian wine was interesting. The 64 BV performed really well, and it was a welcome addition for the Americans attending the dinner, given that we were celebrating Thanksgiving. (Unfortunately, Francois wasn't able to arrange to have Turkey served for the dinner). Some reviews of the 64 have been remarkably bad, but this had great body, still fruit-driven, and still had a life ahead of it. I often think that older California Cabs need to be drunk in the context of other old wines, not in the context of newer California, it gives a completely different impression of the wine.
We rounded out with a couple of stickies. The 33 Rayne Vigneau was deep in color, and I must admit I was taken in by it. There is nothing like that complex caramel of a very old sauternes.
I wouldn't pick a wine of the night for myself, but I would agree with the consensus that the top three were the 62 Moet et Chandon GV, 66 LMHB and the 69 Cornas. The order of the three really is based on personal taste.
We also got to taste a few other wines from the other tables. Francois had another bottle of the 1907 Latour, which was good but wasn't as good as the bottle we had with stefan. There was also a DRC Grands Echezeau, I believe from the 70's. I only had a small taste but the little I had was amazing. This was Francois' wine of the night, if I recall.
We decided to leave a bit early at the end, before most did. We had arrived at 7pm and I knew that I had to be up for the Grand Tasting the next morning. When I looked at my phone, I realized that "leaving early" meant leaving at 12:30am. Yikes, time flies when you are sharing amazing wines in great company!
And on to the Grand Tasting in posts to come...
DAY ONE: Thanksgiving Morning and Afternoon
The Salon des Vignerons Indépendants is exactly what it sounds like: an expo of independent winemakers that sell their wines directly to the public. Twice a year they have an expo in Paris that last four to five days. There are somewhere between 500 and 1000 winemakers serving their wines, although many of those are serving multiple winemakers wines, so the total is probably much more. This is usually a good opportunity to get less expensive wines that you can drink regularly, or catch some really amazing things at reasonable prices. Normally I visit during the weekend, but by then many of the great wines are sold out. So I decided to go on Thursday since I was taking the day off for Thanksgiving anyway.
My first stop was Domaine Tortochot, a Burgundy producer based in Gevrey Chambertin. They were serving several Grand Crus, including the 2012 Mazis and Charmes, and 2008 Chambertin and Clos Vougeot. Fantastic, as always, this producer has consistently delivered powerful, complex wines that are quite representative of the terroir.
In all, I visited around 15 winemakers, and purchased from about 10 of them. Although some of the wine was expensive, most was 25 Euros and under. When you buy wine here, you actually buy it from the stand directly, so when you are finished tasting you need to go back and collect all the cases that you bought. Then you either pack it in your car, or you can take it over and pay a small shipping charge to have it delivered to you or your cave, which is what I did.
DAY ONE: Thanksgiving Evening
For the evening, I met up with a friend of mine and his girlfriend, and we attended Francois' Academie des Vins Anciens dinner. This is the dinner that Francois organizes twice a year to gather up lovers of older wine. Everyone is expected to bring their own wine, which is delivered in advance to Francois so that he can prep it for the dinner. Depending upon the number of people, the participants are broken up into groups of around 10-12 people so that everyone gets a good pour of everything served within their group.
My friends and I were in group 2. I brought several wines to cover for both my friends and me, which were paired with the other wines at our table. Francois and a couple others also contributed wines that were shared across the three groups. The wines from our group were:
1962 Moet et Chandon GV Champagne (shared); Coteaux Champenois Pol Roger; 1985 Hugel Riesling; 1964 Vin de l'Etoile Jura; 1969 La Mission Haut Brion; 1966 La Mission Haut Brion; 1964 Haut Brion; 1953 Haut Brion; 1962 Cos d'Estournel; 1969 La Tour de Mons; 1953 Ausone (shared); 1955 Beaune Emile Chandesais; 1969 Cornas Chante Perdrix Delas; 1979 Fonsalette Cotes du Rhone; 1947 Vin d'Algerie "le Hoggar" rose; 1964 BV Georges de Latour; 1955 Monbazillac; and 1933 Rayne-Vigneau.
The 62 Champagne was spectacular. Creamy, seductive, everyone was stunned at the quality and consistency. For several, this was the wine of the night. This became especially true as the remaining whites that we had in our group were almost or completely dead. It was very interesting to taste the 69 and the 66 LMHB back to back. Both were clearly the same style, and the 69 was very good in its own right. It simply lacked the structure and backbone that the 66 had. The 66 was vibrant, with the gravel nose and the well-integrated tannins. It could last for another couple decades. This was in the top three for the table as well.
The two Haut Brions were excellent, but not quite living up to the 66 LMHB. Tasting them right after the LM really showed the difference between the two Chateau, and the consistency of style for each of them. I had high hopes for the 53, and it was a solid wine, but it didn't quite perform up to expectations. The remaining Bordeaux were decent, with the Ausone the best of the three. Francois had donated a 53 Ausone to each group, but there was some bottle inconsistency. The first groups bottle was bad, and I think our group had the best of the three based on what other people told me. The Beaune had very different reactions by different people at the table, some loved it, some hated it. I was somewhere in the middle.
But the real winner seemed to be the 69 Cornas. This was a stunning wine, and although I am not particular to Rhone varietals, I have to admit this was great.
The Algerian wine was interesting. The 64 BV performed really well, and it was a welcome addition for the Americans attending the dinner, given that we were celebrating Thanksgiving. (Unfortunately, Francois wasn't able to arrange to have Turkey served for the dinner). Some reviews of the 64 have been remarkably bad, but this had great body, still fruit-driven, and still had a life ahead of it. I often think that older California Cabs need to be drunk in the context of other old wines, not in the context of newer California, it gives a completely different impression of the wine.
We rounded out with a couple of stickies. The 33 Rayne Vigneau was deep in color, and I must admit I was taken in by it. There is nothing like that complex caramel of a very old sauternes.
I wouldn't pick a wine of the night for myself, but I would agree with the consensus that the top three were the 62 Moet et Chandon GV, 66 LMHB and the 69 Cornas. The order of the three really is based on personal taste.
We also got to taste a few other wines from the other tables. Francois had another bottle of the 1907 Latour, which was good but wasn't as good as the bottle we had with stefan. There was also a DRC Grands Echezeau, I believe from the 70's. I only had a small taste but the little I had was amazing. This was Francois' wine of the night, if I recall.
We decided to leave a bit early at the end, before most did. We had arrived at 7pm and I knew that I had to be up for the Grand Tasting the next morning. When I looked at my phone, I realized that "leaving early" meant leaving at 12:30am. Yikes, time flies when you are sharing amazing wines in great company!
And on to the Grand Tasting in posts to come...