Lunch with wines from here and there

[AlexR]

Yesterday I had a wonderful extended lunch with friends in the wine trade.
All wines were served blind.
We started off a 2015 Rose Rock Chardonnay from Douhin Oregon. This was fairly acidic and of no great interest. The label says it comes from the Eola Amity Hills, and apparently this is second label wine.

This was followed by a 2015 Drouhin Côte de Beaune négociant wine that was fine, with hints of white pepper. One thing you have to say for Burgundy: it sure is enjoyable younger than Bordeaux!

The second red wine was 2010 Opus One. Having opined that the first wine was from the Loire Valley (what’s 10,000 km. between friends?), I was pleased that I was the only one to guess this was from the Napa Valley. My friends were thinking great growth Médoc. This Opus was showing very well and is in its drinking window. A very classy wine with fairly unobtrusive alcohol and superb varietal character. Definitely world class.

The wine to follow was not at all to my taste: 2004 Troplong Mondot. It’s not that I snub the vintage. It’s just that this wine was brawny, hollow, noticeably alcoholic, disjointed and really dry on the finish. Yuk. Now a Premier Grand Cru Classé... I intend to open up a 2000 Troplong Modot next week and hope its better.

We had 1990 La Lagune with the cheese. This was singing and a couple of guests preferred this to the Opus One. I felt that it didn’t quite have the character and gravitas of the Opus, but it was certainly a joy to drink and just fine at age 30. Elegant and poised with a soft aftertaste.

With dessert, we had 1985 Berry Bros. Own Selection Smith Woodhouse vintage Port. This was simply wonderful. Deep, rich, mellow and just about as fine a Port as you could hope to find.

Coffee was followed by 1942 Armagnac and cigars from the Philippines.

Best regards,
Alex R.

[Claret]

Rose Rock is not a second label. It is a new vineyard acquisition in Eola-Amity Hills.

[stefan]

The Drouhin Roserock wines are just OK at this point. I imagine they will improve significantly in later vintages after D. Drouhin improves the vineyard operations. Meanwhile, go with the Drouhin wines from Dundee.

I discourage everyone from wasting money on old bottles of La Lagune. The 1990, in particular, is one to avoid at auctions.

[JoelD]

Sounds like a fun lunch. I agree about the Roserock. They don't measure up to the Drouhin wines from the Dundee Hills(I am partial to that region of Oregon anyways, but still I think the quality difference is clear.)

Happy to hear the 2010 Opus is doing well. I am selling off a lot of my Napa wines but have a few bottles of 2010 and 2013 Opus that I'll likely hold onto. Was this PNP or decanted? And how much air?

[AlexR]

Joel,

All of these wines were tasted at a friend's house.

He had decanted the reds, but I don't know how long beforehand.
I'd imagine about 2-3 hours.

Alex

[dstgolf]

Alex,

Nice to read about the lunch but more importantly that you are able to get together now for lunch etc. I had been reading that things weren't doing so well in France with the pandemic however maybe Bordeaux has done better than other areas. We're back into lockdown worse than ever with hospitals being strained through this 3rd wave. Golf courses are kept closed which is a complete disaster for me but we're mounting a push back as golf kept everyone safe and sane last summer. This is completely irrational and without science backing the reasoning. Hopefully you and Christine are doing well and have recovered after the loss of Christine's parents. Keep well mon amis.

[AlexR]

The current state of affairs here is: “non-essential” shops are closed, we are not allowed to go more than 10 km form our house and, unless we have a good reason stated in writing, we must be in our house by 7 pm.
There is talk of opening outdoor terraces for drinks and meals in mid-May.
That’s still a long way away.

My gym has been closed for 6 months and I miss it. Simply cannot gyrate in front of a television screen and don’t have any weights or other equipment at home. There are clearly inconsistencies in managing the pandemic. The EU has made a mess of the vaccine rollout and social distancing is OK at the supermarket, but not in a theatre or… golf course. Go figure!
Get-togethers of up to 6 people are authorized, so you can still have meals with friends.
But, as with you, I’m sure, our friends run pretty much the whole range of reactions to the virus. Some are deathly scared and have hardly left their house in a year. Others try to go on as if there weren’t a pandemic at all.
And, can you imagine the French without handshaking and kissing on both cheeks?
Yes, we heard about the worsening situation in Ontario.

There is a paradox in that the US and UK have been far quicker in vaccinating people, but the death rate is higher in both those countries than in continental Europe.
For the second year in a row, I have decided not to go to the en primeur tastings (2020 vintage). I cannot stand those damned little bottles I’m supposed to taste at home, and the alternative is to go to a fancy hotel under draconian conditions. No, I’ll wait until next year.

All the best,
Alex

[Nicklasss]

Hi Alex.

Seems like a nice dinner, with quite different type of wines.

I'm not surprised by your experience with the 2004 Château Troplong Mondot. Consider me not a fan of the wines of that château. I think i never had been convinced by any vintage I had. The last one i tried, the 2006, was having lot of burned oak aromas, dominating everything.

I remember going to Opus One during the weekend of the 2002 BWE convention in Napa. We had a great tour there, very serious, professionnal and genuinely welcoming. The wine tasted that day was convincing (I can't remember what vintage it was).

And poor Danny, Ontario's having a hard time with the covid third wave, more restriction than ever in that province. Québec is also in a half emergency state, but my area is maintaining the orange color code up since March... we can go to restaurants and stores, but still no gathering inside house or outside our house.

[JimHow]

I had a 1995 Troplong Mondot once, I think I am still trying to get the nails out of my teeth. I have a 2012 in the cellar, will give it at least another blanquito.

I remember that Opus One visit in 2002, Nicola, it really was a great visit, they were very inviting. I remember we went into their lab and the guy was telling us how they could sometimes give a prediction about a vintage based on the microscopic shoots from a vine that they would observe in the lab.

31.5% full vaccination rate in Maine, best in the country. Let's keep going!

[Nicklasss]

Jim, from what you're saying, i think the only Troplong Mondot I liked was the 1995, because it was more on light, red fruit and fresh style.

The 1989, 1998, 2003, 2006, i was all having high expectations for, left me thinking it is an over concentrated and burned oak wine.

[greatbxfreak]

Alex,

Why can't you adapt to new tasting approach and taste samples at home?? You're complaining about this and that. I've stopped asking UGCB to send me samples and get these directly from the chateaux plus organisations. Young Burgundy tastes better than young Bordeaux?? Have you tried des Laurets Baron and Roc de Becot from Puisseguin? Reclos de La Couronne from Montagne? All three in 2018 vintage!

Btw, Troplong Mondot softened a lot concerning its bombastic style with the arrival of Aymeric de Gironde in October 2017. 2018 proves it significantly.

[AlexR]

Izak,

Sorry, I just can’t abide by the thought of hundreds of little bottles willy-nilly to appraise a vintage, much less zoom tastings – a bit like having sex with someone over the net…
To me, the whole point of the en primeur tastings is meeting the people who own the estate and/or make the wines, and to be *there*. Frankly, I’m not interested in “disembodied” tastings. I’ve avoided them this year and last year. With any luck, things will be fine again in 2022.
To be fair, the itsy-bitsy bottle solution has not only disadvantages: You can aerate wines and come back to them, as you pointed out to me over the phone. Still, tasting varied samples taken on different days from wines within the same appellation seems pretty dicey to me…
When I say that young Burgundy tastes better than young Bordeaux, I mean that the top tier wines deliver a lot more in the early stages than Bordeaux of a comparable category. That certainly doesn’t make them any better! Just that they strut their stuff a hell of a lot earlier.

As for Troplong Mondot, I’m fully prepared to acknowledge a different, less brutal style, but I would like to see for myself .

All the best,
Alex

[JimHow]

2022???

[greatbxfreak]

You're mistaken, Alex.

I bet you could easily ask the same questions to owners over the net as you would while being at chateaux.

You say varied samples on different days from wines within the same appellation - here are you talking nonsense. During primeurs tasting in person, the samples are prepared in the same way as those sent abroad.

For tasting at home - same room, same glasses, same temperature, no strongly perfumed deodorants and Chanel/Dior/Givenchy perfume to disturb one's senses, no jumping in the car/out of the car, no rubbing elbows with someone desperately trying not to be moved away from the table where they pour wines, no noise and possibility to check the samples every day in 2-3 days.

It's the modern-day tasting thrill now during the pandemic.

[AlexR]

Hi Izak,

I see the advantages and disadvantages.

Even though I'm not young, I have tried to evolve with technology. For instance, I actually prefer to read books on my Kindle. But to me wine is about interaction, and Zoom just doesn't make it. As as second best, it'll do in a pinch, but as someone who has the choice (as opposed to a buyer, for instance) I have decided to avoid it.

So, let me speak first of the advantages, which we have already discussed:
- ability to let the wine breathe and develop
- ability to taste in a calm, controlled atmosphere
- ability to go back and retaste according to one's own rhythm
- as for Zoom, obviating driving all over hell to visit châteaux that do not take part in group tastings, and thus to gain time and reduce stress

To me, these are outweighed by the disadvantages:
- time lapse between taking of samples and their arrival
- unequal dates of sample taking for comparative tastings (essential from my point of view) which do not make for a level playing field
- impossibility of asking for another sample if there is a problem or a doubt in the context of a comparative tasting
- most importantly, subtracting the human element from wine, turning it into a merchandise, period, without context.

As for this last point, I agree Zoom tastings are something of a substitute for talking to people, but such meetings can only represent a small part of any methodical tasting of en primeur wines.
Tasting hundreds of little bottles is especially absurd for me since I live in the region of production!
Can you honestly say that amassing these little bottles can compare with going, for instance, to the UGC Saint Julien tasting and comparing wines side by side with fresh samples and meeting the owners and/or winemakers? I would be very surprised if you said yes...

You are convinced that you are right about tasting these , and I'm sure that you are right for you, just not for me. My conception of fine wine, especially at this early stage is different from yours. Let us agree to disagree .

All the best,
Alex

[greatbxfreak]

Alex,

F.i. wines from Conseil des GCCs I taste commune by commune and the same day, meaning 2 days after arriving.

For 2019 vintage, I had app. 35 barrel samples, and they were tasted in one afternoon. I hope you remember our stressed Monday in April 2019 marred by an awful organisation of events by UGCB, when we went from one chateau to another, starting on a cold morning and ending on a warm afternoon.

All barrel samples I am receiving are tasted if possible in groups, but they often arrive in the order.

It was easy with 2018s as the wines were already bottled and therefore not hampered by transport etc. They were tasted by commune by commune, almost all.

I was informed that I could ask for another sample if corked or oxidised. For 2019 samples, I had 2 defect bottles, and for 2018 only 1. So I'm afraid I have to disagree with your point of view.

Bordeaux wines are tough cookies in terms of surviving transport etc.