Sunday lunch: Champagne, Burgundy, Médoc, Spain - and Canada

[AlexR]

Champagne Brut Réserve : Billecart Salmon, an excellent brut : dry, fruity refreshing, and with some depth.

1999 Delamotte: Quite a disappointment. Lacking in personality and had a strong vanilla component more than any fruitiness. So-so aftertaste. I preferred the previous.

2005 Corton Blanc, Chandon de Briailles : Well, this was a properly aged white Burgundy, from a well-reputed vintage, and without any premox, but it was quite undewhelming. Medium-bodied with an elegant, but not particularly good or long aftertaste. A fine wine, but nowhere near great.

2010 Osoyoos Larose, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada: As opposed to the previous 3, this was served blind in honor of a Canadian guest. Good color, with some bricking and a classic bouquet, but without much depth. Good on the palate as well, with dynamic fruitiness and decent length. Most of the 7 of us at table were from Bordeaux. All of us thought it was sturdy mid-range claret… This bottle was given to me by friends of Nic's who came to my house for dinner. It certainly held up the reputation of B.C. wines, although it was perhaps not quite up to the bottle of Burrowing Owl that Nic gave to me.

2005 Gruaud Larose (also served blind): This had people thinking it was quite a bit younger. It showed its age to some extent, but certainly not all 32 years. Lovely nose with decided truffle aromas and just a hint of lead to show its origins. Deep, subtle, fruity, and penetrating aftertaste. Fully worthy of its 2nd growth ranking. In its prime. A delight.It kind of followed on logically from the Osoyoos Larose since the owners of G.L. are also major shareholdsers in Osoyoos Larose.

2001 Cava- Malvasia 2001, Freixenet, “Especial per a Postres” – This 16 year-old Cava was meant to be served with dessert, and so it was (a raspberry and pistachio cream tart). The color was quite fresh and the carbonation under control. There was some oxidation there, but it was not annoying. The wine was certainly sweet, but the acidity kept it from taking over the palate. As its label suggested, it was a fun wine to have with dessert

Best regards,
Alex R.

[dstgolf]

Nice notes Alex. The Osoyoos is one of the Okanogan Valley most touted wines and though good over priced for what it is.

Did you make a mistake on the Gruaud vintage? Was it 2005 or 1985 being 32 years old?? Can't see the 2005 in its prime.

[AlexR]

Sorry Danny, yes, that was indeed a typo
It was an 85 Gruaud.

Alex

[AKR]

I had a lot of sticker shock when visiting the wine shops in BC's Whistler village.

[Claudius2]

Alex,
I devoured 2 cases of the Gruaud Larose 1985 in half bottles in the 90's, and seriously never expected it to make old bones.
But it was quite a delightful wine, lighter than I expected, but had a touch of Burgundy character about it.

I bought it at auction in the early 90's for not very much (recession in Australia then) and now wonder if I should have kept some.
But not to worry, it was guzzled with pleasure at 8-10 yrs of age.

[Antoine]

Go for Corton...Charlemagne if you don't want disappointment.
Also 2005 definitely better for red than white Burgs.
I personally prefer the Meursaults 1er crus and also Puligny, Chassagne and Saint Aubin (the 1er crus can be splendid QPRs)

Domaine de Chevalier not bad either but pricey... (no more than Corton...)

[Winona Chief]

1985 was an excellent year for red Bordeaux and Gruaud Larose was one of my favorites (along with Leoville Barton and La Mission Haut Brion, of course).

Have to agree with Antoine; my preferences in white Burgundy are 1er cru from Meursault, Puligny, Chassagne and Saint Aubin. Lots of great stuff less than $100 (with most of the best Saint Aubin less than $50).

Chris Bublitz

[Blanquito]

The 85 Gruaud is really a terrific wine. Still “undervalued” in auction where it can be had for ~$80-90 all-in if you stay alert.

[Tom In DC]

I had a lot of sticker shock when visiting the wine shops in BC's Whistler village.

I get that in almost any wine shop these days, Arv.

But you can imagine my surprise when we hit the Costco wine shop in Anchorage and the prices were the same as here in Denver!

[AKR]

I thought Alaska has some weirdness with shipping goods up to it, Jones Act and all that.

When I was in CO area last Feb I thought the wine/booze prices at the Eagle County Costco were crummy.

Really underwhelming.

[Blanquito]

The only places in Colorado where I’ve found good to decent prices are shops with some combo of the following: shops without an online inventory (so they can’t get cleaned out by wine searcher hunters), shops with some 5+ year-old stock on the shelves that hasn’t had the prices raised to reflect rising tides, and shops which offer a mixed case discount of 10-20% to take the edge off. Most of these shops are in the Fort Collins area with a few in suburban Denver. Also, the Italian wine selection and pricing in the Front Range can be good across the board (though there are still many shops and restaurants with crumbly pricing and selection), probably due to a quirk where one of the local importers is really strong in Italian wine.