A short and plenty full moon night in Maine with the BD

[Nicklasss]

....

[Nicklasss]

And the sweet wines were :

2002 Château d'Yquem
1999 Chateay Rieussec
2010 Albert Mann Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles "le tri"

Nic

[JimHow]

A splendid night in the Great State of Maine !

[JimHow]

...

[DavidG]

Only 9 bottles for the two of you? Slackers!

[stefan]

Did your kids help you finish the bottles, Nic?

[JimHow]

Let's just put of this way, I brought a dozen whoopie pies and they were almost gone by the end of the night.

Omg their children are so adorable!

[Nicklasss]

I like to meet any BWEers, because you know this time will be full of friendship, generosity, and good wines. Of course, meeting a BWEer like JimHow, MichaelP or Stefan is special, as these are among the ones I know since the longer time.

So last Friday, JimHow was generous enough to use some of his time to come dinner with my family and me, and a couple of friends with their childrens, in OOB. Not enough time as when you're in good company, time flies!

We opened a few bottles of wines, as a BWE gathering would not be the same with other drinks.

2009 Château Simone: the only grand cru from Provence, from the small AOC Palette. This wine is high quality and distinctive. Medium yellow color, the nose is powerful on herbs, mint, flower pollen, starfruit, even menthol. In mouth, this was impressive by it balance, with flavors of flowers, green pears, mint, with a small bitterness, long aftertaste with minerals and more herbs. This is supposed to be able to hold for 40 years... I guess it is true. Freshness, power, elegance, a very complex and satisfying white. TN : 92.

2010 Château la Providence: from the Moueix estate, this is very young, concentrated, but the alcohol is slightly intrusive in mouth, that doesn't advantage this wine. dark red, nose of cherries, rasberries, plums, wet minerals, the mouth is thick and very fruity, with a very good amont of oak. Very good abundant ripe tannin, rion, but alcohol. 14.5%. It should improve a lot within 15 years, but for now, kind of an enigma. TN: 88-89+.

1998 Clos Fourtet is slightly corked or non perfect. No wet cardboard or moist cork but Nose is bit funky, with candied red fruit, vanilla, cherries. Mouth is light, unprecised, also on candy cherries, with strawberries. Still appreciable, but we were looking for something more glorious from that vintage and estate. TN: 84.

2000 Château Lynch Bages: i don't know If the full moon helped that wine, but it was singing, even If many years left ahead. Dark red, nose was dramatically controlled by blackcurrant Cabernet Sauvignon aromas, light tar, creamy dark berries, pencil and more cassis. In mouth, medium masculine for now, dark and Black berries character, tannic, invading, wood and that long structure final with smoky blackcurrant. Went the best with the grilled steaks. TN: 94-95.

1995 Château Cos d'Estournel: we had some discussions about this bottle, as JimHow paid it less than 60$, when the New Hampshire liquor stores were the best price in the World. Dark color, aromas were more exotic than the Lynch, with creamy dark red berries, asian spices, vanilla, soy beans and light coffee beans. In mouth, seemed a bit lighter than the Lynch. Mixture of integrated oak, spices, rasberries jam flavours. Long spicy finish, with light tannins. TN: 92-93. Very good to excellent, but i just preferred the Lynch style that night.

2005 Volnay Premier Cru Marquis d'Angerville: the girls almost Chunck that wine, as they all had weaknesses for Pinot. This showed how 2005 is great in Bourgogne, and I did not bought enough 2005 Bourgogne. Medium red, with nose of lot of little red berries, concentrated strawberries, very light spices, earth, creamy rasberries and grape. In mouth, very intense for Côté de Beaune, lot of red berries, sweet cherries, flowers, kirsch, and violet grape flavours. Will improve for more years, but so great now. Great producer, great vintage, great result. TN: 93.

2002 Chateay d'Yquem: call me a label drinker, call me nuts, some preferred the next bottle, but for me, that Yquem was just as delightfull as a caresse. So clear yellow, but sooooo much character on the nose, incredible and don't know how they do to achieves that: apricots, peaches, roasted botrytis, acacia flowers, honey, vanilla, toffey, quince, confit green lemon... This is too much for my poor brain! Mouth was very characteristic, being intense and refined and light and powerfull, and long, all at the same time.balance was perfect, you would drink a magnum by yourself! Quince, apricot flavours, full of details, with good sugar and acidity. Honey roasted mushrooms, flavours of apricots again on the final. Will be something even better in 10 years (this was a split). TN: hard to note as i always consider Yquem don't have equal, but 95+ seem ok.

1999 Château Rieussec: gold color, powerful nose, but to me very pleasing even If less complex that the Y wine. Burned honey, peaches, caramel, marmelade, and vanilla. In mouth, thick, very sweet, medium acidity, flavours of dry apricots, baked vanilla cookies, intense sweet oak, peaches and oak on the long syrupous final, but seem a slightly older/evolved. From a split. A very powerful and good Sauternes, but for me way behind the Y wine. Tn:90.

2010 Albert Mann Pinot gris Sélection de Grains Nobles " le tri" : suffered to be last after the 2 Sauternes. Was less concentrated and with more freshness but did not have time to do a fair analysis. It was already time to go!

We had a great time, and i never know If living far away from other BWEers is good or bad : good because we pace ourselve, bad because If we would see each other all weekends, who knows how we would end up!

And thanks to Jim, who take the time to come see us, and even gave me a 2008 Bordeaux as gift for Simone born in 2008. I let you guess which Bordeaux it is and you have only one chance .



Nic

[JimHow]

Great fun indeed. I love those kids, they are so beautiful!
And the rest of the company from Quebec was great company, as I usually find to be the case when I hang out with Canadians.
It was great to see Marie-Claude again, I hadn't seen her in a while.
I thought the 2000 Lynch was really on, it was tremendous with the steaks.
It was a throwback to the Lynches of the mid- to late-eighties.
The 1995 Cos was a beauty as well, spicy, quite evolved, although I guess it is 19 years old now.
I actually liked the 1999 Reiussec better than the 2002 d'Yquem, the Rieussec had much greater viscosity, depth, and flavor... not that the d'Yquem was any slouch.
Nic served the 2010 La Providence blind, I could tell it was from the right bank, good depth but the 14.5% alcohol was just too much.
I thought the 1998 Clos Fourtet was corked, myself, but I am usually wrong about these things.
Yes, the women definitely seemed to gravitate to the 2005 d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru, great Burgundy but still very young.
I was really pleasatly surprised by that 2009 Chateau Simone, Nic, that was a real eye opener for me. Loved it.

[Chateau Vin]

Great notes Nic...Good to hear that you all had great fun...

Lemme guess Nic. My bet is on 2008 Lynch...