Irish makes his half century..."The Lads" celebrate...

So a meeting of "The Lads" was called to celebrate Irish turning 50. The line up being Irish, Halifax, Ronaldinho, Woo, Monty (new name on account of hints dropped) and myself. We were sad to unavoidably lose the presence of Chewy but we drank to him and I am sure he'll be back with a bang next time. 

This group is a joy. A few of the previous outings can be seen below, were I more IT savvy then maybe there would be a section of this site dedicated to the group...the same could be said of the May trips group.

Boats, bottles, tides and pirates

Irish goes into his 50th year

Double birthday bonanza

Lunch at Ronaldinhos

The venue and co-ordination was chosen and orchestrated by Irish. Kitchen W8 is a great spot and one I have always enjoyed - if you've not been you must go. The brief was a simple one "bring a great bottle or two and NO meaningless volume". I tell you what, it worked as you'll see. But first the menu which was faultless - pics at bottom of this post.

Warm Baked Celeriac, Autumn Truffle,

Roast Chicken Skin and Hazelnuts

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Risotto of Cepes with Aged Parmesan

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Fillet of Turbot, Autumn Roots, Iberico Lardo,

Smoked Potato and Red Wine

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Haunch of Venison, Bulgur Wheat, Swiss Chard,

Creamed Chanterelles, Liver and Onions
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Cheese

So let's start at the beginning, Halifax (aka Nobby) is almost always in charge of the Champagne which is fine given he has good stocks and loves it BUT has the one downside of being served first, Nobby is almost always late! Only 15 minutes this time so having discussed the state of the world over a glass of water and got the first of Ron's dodgy jokes out the way we were on. 

North-South divide...

There was an element of "blindness" to almost all the wines. Louis Roederer 1988 from magnum was just splendid. We were on the money vintage wise having been in the 1988 to 1990 range but we were almost all leaning towards a Blanc de Blancs - Taittinger and Salon both being put forward. It was lemony with a little biscuitiness in the mix, no nuts, brioche and toast, great energy, delicious now, will age well but I can't imagine liking it more than right now! The magnum size had a positive effect without doubt. We were off and running in style

With one notable exception we went wine by wine rather than pairs which meant we could concentrate on getting things properly wrong. Meursault-Charmes 1er Cru 2002 from Lafon was up next and bang on the money. A little reduction, some petrol, good generosity, very good, focused but proper and perfect from now on, a taut density and easily of Grand Cru quality.

I decided to go early and get it wrong next, I said Grand Cru Chablis and from the mid-late 90s. I was, kind of, wrong for the right reasons but mainly because the wine was quite cool. It was a cracking bottle of Montrachet Grand Cru 2001 from Sauzet. Once up to temperature it was marmalade, tangerines, rich, with good minerality underneath and opulence (essential in Montrachet I'd say). Lanolin, iodine and full, those that kept a little in their glass just kept getting more and more...lovely.

What came next was the - ludicrously generous - focal point, even in this company. First we had Hermitage La Chapelle 1990 then Hermitage La Chapelle 1978, both these bottles and the next one having come from the estate in original individual wooden cases last year. The 1990 was stinkingly rich on the nose, full, I noted that you could smell the viscosity, whether that is possible or not, I know what I mean, rich bacon fat, so sweet big and bold but balanced and digestible, almost raisined, some soy and aniseed. A brute but a dam good one, mightily good. The 1978 was by contrast all together gentler with a more tender sweet maturity, leaves, forest floor, strawberry leaf and then tea and wood smoke, a delight. A really balanced wine, Burgundian if anything...so poised.

The Hermitage La Chapelle 1961 that followed managed to combine all the best bits of both these wines. It was perfect to have then in this order. Having a bottle of this in perfect shape is a dream come true. I was laughed down for suggesting that there was a time or mood when I would pick the 1978 over the 1961. I maintain there is, the 1961 has everything you could want. I just loved the tenderness of the 1978 as well. Looking back to the 1990 I see this as having the structure and DNA of the 1961 rather than the 1978, it has that incredibly rich sweetness. My note for the 1961 was easy to write; "Pine, resinous, oils, savage, a brut, wild, uber-concentrated degraded berry fruit, bovril and sweetness...super...wild, hickory smoke, grip...stunning...complete, Indian spices now, ferrous...magnificent!"

Where on earth do you go from that? Well one thing is for sure, you get the hell out of the Rhone...Burgundy it was and more specifically Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru 2000, Dujac from magnum. I really enjoyed this and was pleased it was a magnum as it just begged to be drunk. Degraded sweet and feminine. Waxy with palma violets, and some tangerines rind. We were pretty rubbish trying to get this blind as we were in the 1980s mainly, it had an open knit maturity, attractively so.

Another Burgundy mag next, any Rousseau wine is a treat and in magnum even more so -  Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St Jacques 1988 was everything you would want and expect. So good in fact that it blew a fuse in the restaurant. This was tightly coiled with red fruit power, poised and persistent and with stunning depth. None of the tougher, acidic nature you can get with 1988. Just a super super wine - a treat. A little bit more about Clos Saint.Jacques. 

As cheese was ordered we went back to white and a crackingly interesting pair of whites. Firstly, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 1991 from Neillon, then the very same wine from the following year - Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 1992, Neillon. The 1991 has absolutely no right to be this good, none at all. Oyster-shell and a tinge of green serious focus, spicy with a little nuttiness, some stemginger and a little lanolin, the definition of an over-performer. The 1992 was altogether richer and more decadent, a little reduced, unctuous and superb, spot on with the cheese, toffee apples and hedonistic maturity.

Just the perfect time now for a sugar lift. So where better than Yquem and the 1953 specifically. I've had very few 1953s but those I have had have usually been in verticals courtesy of Jordi. This had an expressive and fully mature nose, creme brulee with a slightly burnt topping. There is a rancio sweetness to this, lifted like PX sherry but then with a drier more intense middle, slightly burning caramel.

The next wine - Mehringer Blattenberg 1989er Trockenbeerenauslese from the wonderfully named Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gynasium - was an amazingly good contrast. So incredibly zippy and energetic, intense yet light as a feather, an amazing liquid. Lemon and even line freshness...superb. 

Then the final bottle, fittingly a birth year wine for Irish - Taylor 1966 - which had been double decanted that morning. Marzipan and full raisined sweetness but a nice medium weight, it just got better and better with air...we had the predictable "why don't we drink more Port" conversation. With that and the sound of a hoover doing its business we managed to depart before anyone arrived for diner!

Another splendid few hours spent with great bottles and great people...long may it continue! It is exactly what wine shouldbe about. Here's to the next 50 Irish!

A wave to Chewy and Newcastle!!

Food pics as promised!

Warm Baked Celeriac, Autumn Truffle, 

Roast Chicken Skin and Hazelnuts

Risotto of Cepes with Aged Parmesan

Fillet of Turbot, Autumn Roots, Iberico Lardo, 

Smoked Potato and Red Wine

Haunch of Venison, Bulgur Wheat, Swiss Chard,

Creamed Chanterelles, Liver and Onions

Latour a Pomerol - historic vertical...

After a run of really rather amazing "Jordi dinners" over the last year or so:

40th Birthday
La Tache vertical

Grouse and Richebourg at The Square

Clos des Ducs 1920-2002 at La Trompette

I was especially looking forward to this - a very thorough look at the wines of Latour a Pomerol at Les 110 de Taillevent in London with Edouard Moueix in attendance. I have always had a real soft spot for Latour a Pomerol, now yes there might be a commercial edge to that (I work for the agent) but it is more than that. The estate has made several legendary wines. It is part of a very great collection of right bank estates in the hands of ETS JP Moueix. It still somehow seems to fly slightly under the radar. I think this is for a couple of reasons, it is made as a wine to drink, it tastes well when young but is not showy or uber-extracted. People always tend to think that something must be wrong if the legendary wines of the past have not been replicated, not so. I am always excited to open a bottle, even more so a magnum of course, of Latour a Pomerol.

A few stats and background on Latour a Pomerol

7.9 hectares

90% Merlot

10% Cabernet Franc

Two plots: Firstly the nucleus which is 5 ha from the original Clos de Grandes-Vignes located on the central plateau on gravel soils close to l'Eglise St-Jean. The second plot named l'Ecole is located around the Chateau adjacent to La Grave a Pomerol on gravel soils and produces a slightly lighter wine than the first plot.

Production: Around 2500 cases a year, with no second wine

The team at "110" did well with the wines and the full menu can be seen here (a few pics are at the end of the post).

Pate en croute
Foie Gras canape

Mushroom Tartlet Cocktail

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Duck egg, poached, lardorns, champignos de Paris, baby onions

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Risotto, creamy with a fricassee of girolles

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Turbot meuniere, beurre blanc

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Saddle of lam, roasted with pickled garlic, glove and rosemary

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Le Vieux Comte, 30 mois d'affinage

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Petit Fours

I have resisted the temptation to score the wines in this post. I would find it very difficult and therefore it is rather pointless. When comparing a wine that is young (2005) with a wine that is very old (1929) what do you really achieve with scores?

Bollinger started us off as so often at Jordi's dinners, it was rather apt here as the Moeuix family often serve it. R.D. 2002 en magnum was the choice here, very taut and reductive with a little mocha note, clearly will repay considerable time.

The wines were split into logical flights as below:

Recent Vintages
2005 - So full of vibrant fruit with just a dash of saline. Very moreish and alive, voluptuous but with good structure...excitingly good. As with other 2005's this is just starting to "strut it's stuff".

2000 - A little bit of stink, then opens into a wine that is lovely from now onwards, still primary in fruit but with added complexity. I would love to drink this alongside the 2005 in another 5 years. A little spice to finish. Proper!

1998 - A little more savoury and textured, a little iron on the palate . Very moreish indeed. At a lovely point in its evolution - the beginning of the second phase. The quality of the 1998 right bankers is still not really as well known as it should be. Complete. 

1996 - Quite iodine like, with a little meatiness and then a very slight lack of flesh on the palate (the vintage) compared to what went before. Nice to drink now without profundity coming along. More a wine of minerality than fruit. Solid.

1995 - Really good, a vintage that has somehow not had the profile or praise it deserves. There are proper tannins here with the nicely mellowed fruit to contrast. Will age well for sure but good now. Everything as it should be. Classically Pomerol.

Mature Vintages
1990 - Sadly not a perfect bottle. there was a minty volatile edge but then an overly lean and savoury palate. A shame.

1986 - Meaty but also sweet, elegantly developed, pretty and almost fragile. Surprisingly good for such a "Cabernet" vintage. Really like-able.

1985 - Ever so slightly muted nose initially but then this revealed a lovely red-fruited sweetness and lovely moreish (how many times do I have to say this!) texture. This is perfect now, so wonderfully drinkable, preferably in volume! There is the balance to age further by why would you. Just lovely.

1982 - Some iron-like savoury note then almost sweetness, a little blood but with lovely fresh acidity, expressive, extrovert and slightly high-toned.

It was lovely to see the wines so far had almost perfectly translated the general perceptions of the specific vintages. 

Iconic 1970's
1978 en magnum - Volatile, "bricky", harsh and dried out more like 30 year old Sangiovese than Bordeaux. Edouard commented that this was almost exactly what he had expected from this substandard and very dry vintage. 

1975 - Corked (gutted as this is both Jordi and my vintage)

1971 - Stunning, so easy to enjoy, lovely now, so persistently sweet and fine. A cracking Pomerol vintage. Delicious notes of pure ripeness. Supreme...Wow!

1970 - Corked (a real shame as Edouard spoke very highly of good bottles of this)

Transition to ETS JP Moueix
1966 - A little more gritty and grainy and truffled than the 1971. I initially wondered if this might fade in the glass but it did the opposite getting more focused, there is a lovely nuttiness, not normally a positive in reds. There is a sweetness. Very fine.

1964 - Sightly briney, almost a note of bill-tong and pepper, lovely body with good texture and considerable power, a fully mature but not fading wine. Masculine and intriguing.

1962 - Really impressive, fully mature, precise, really lifted, pretty special, almost a mocha note towards the end, stood up well in the glass. A treat.

1961 - Corked, a rather collective sigh, but then one shouldn't meet their heros.

Madame Loubat
1955 - Really lifted, extrovert, superb, manages to be refined in a mellow way at the same time as being unreservedly hedonistic. Is there a better vintage for Bordeaux? My experiences of the 1955 vintage are almost universally spectacular. This was so good that I don't know I would want to have it again, if that makes any sense.

1953 - I think this suffered from following the captivating 1955 because in every other way it was glorious, a little creme brulee richness on the nose. Decadent. 

1952 - Clearly a cooler vintage, bricky and a little lactic, a very slight Bual character, just a well-bred wine that is getting weary.

1949 - Quite high toned and a shade volatile, a little madeirised and delicate.

1945 - Decadent notes, dates in the mix, delicious, good acidity, lifted (the acidity) but also dense, really lovely. 

1937 - Butch and rich but then disjointed not quite sure what this was, very dry and did not really fit with the other wines. 

1929 - High and dry, a little pithy, the palate is clean but totally dried out, rasping. The acidity means it is drinkable but astringent. By all accounts a very small crop with heat in September.

Climens 1942 - Sweet cep nose, mushrooms and brioche, oranges and now quite dry. weirdly would have made a good appetizing aperitif as well as a fascinating ending.

So what would I say in conclusion or summary? Well, Latour a Pomerol certainly has a great past but it is the present and the future that were the learning for me. I think everyone around the table, with the possible exception of Edouard who already knew, was very pleased to see how beautifully the younger vintages drank. Any site that can make wines as brilliant as the 1955 and 2005 but 50 years apart is exciting. There is a grace and elegance to Latour a Pomerol that can almost work against it in terms of standing out around En primeur time or in amongst other showier, glossier wines at tastings. To me Latour a Pomerol remains a very very good Pomerol that portrays the character of a vintage very well and drinks so splendidly...long may it continue! Thanks for the opportunity to taste these Jordi!

Duck egg, poached, lardorns, champignos de Paris, baby onions

Risotto, creamy with a fricassee of girolles

Turbot meuniere, beurre blanc

Saddle of lam, roasted with pickled garlic, glove and rosemary

Two wonderful days...

A third post from the biennial meeting of the DRC agents...the two previous ones are
first - the 2012's and then second - the tasting of a lifetime. This is a summary of a few other wines tasted or drunk at meals. It was a brilliant two days, really quite humbling the wines were all served immaculately and humbly. Never is there a feeling that these wines are priceless and too precious, they are wines to be drunk and enjoyed, just exceptionally good ones! 

The first lunch we had was at Le Bistrot du bord de L’eau in the Hostellerie de Levernois, a lovely spot outside Beaune.

Le Pot au feu de Queue de Boeuf au Foie gras, Consomme au sel de Celeri

Le Tournedos de Volaille fermiere, Champignons et Gnocchi, sauce au Vin Jaune

La Selection de Fromages Frais and Affines

L’ille Flottante et Crème Vanille

We had two wines:

Batard-Montrachet 2000

This small parcel was bought at the same time as the Domaines Montrachet holding. It is never sold and is used by the Domaine for "family" use. The style is delicious, quite opulent but always with a cleansing salinity. 
A little mocha and almost coffee but very mellow, saline, very good balance, lovely fruit that stops short of being tropical. Rich and quite savoury but with an easiness and sweet fruited element. There are notes of dry botrytis. Finish with a clean note of toffee on the outside of a toffee apple.

Vosnee-Romanee 1er Cru Duvaut Blochet

Given the name of this blog it is always a pleasure to drink this wine.
Slightly bruised red fruit, some iodine and a little subtly minty eucalyptus, a nicely dry edge that is very “2008” and good length. Interestingly the fruit freshened up with air and became “cleaner” and redder.

Later the same day:

A Gala dinner at Domaine de la Romanee Conti

The food was cooked by Chef Thomas Collomb who has two restaurants:

La Rotisserie du Chambertin in Gevrey-Chambertin and La Maison des Cariatides in Dijon

Vol au Vent de Cuisine Bourgeoise

Pintade de la Ruchotte, puree a la truffe noire

Assortiment de fromages

Tartelette aux chataignes de L’Ardeche, sorbet au gingembre

The wines served were:

Corton 2009 (from magnum) which we tasted just before being told what it was. This is a really easy wine to drink, taste, enjoy, lovely sweetness, not so much a Corton, quite bold with sweet black cherry and good acidity but always an easy 2009ness about it.

The following three wines were then served blind!

Romanee Conti 2011 – this stumped me completely it had such pure red fruited elegance that I thought it may well be 2010 Romanee-Saint-Vivant, it had a seriousness as well to the structure which made me think of 2010. There is a slight graphite minerality and massive amounts of pure character. I think this is a wine for the serious long term not because it is a blockbuster but because there will be very serious layers of elegance to come.

Romanee Conti 1961 – I don’t think I ever imagined I would taste or drink this wine twice in one day. This bottle was a lovely middle-aged colour, a little red but mainly tawny. The nose was multifaceted and immediately difficult to pin down to decade let alone a year. There was a little funk and an sweet animal edge. A warm year such is the high-toned elements. Heady and rich but not heavy may be bold is a better word. Of the wines earlier in the day it reminded me of a sweeter 1971. Magnificent and only improving and dancing in the glass.

Le Montrachet 1983 Methusalem (6L)

The oldest Montrachet from the Domaine that I have tasted. Butterscotch and crème brulee, toffee notes, lots of botrytis but none of this made it too heavy. Some briney notes on the palate and finish give this lift and also make the slightly rancio full-on nose not cloy. Honey with a dash of lemon. Dry and intense yet with a sweet fruit character. Amazing. If you want mature, intense Montrachet…this is it.

Chateau de Fargues 2005

Good, rich but not over the top, a lot of warm fruit and an unctuous density with just enough density.

I was lucky to sit next to the engaging and energetic Nicolas Jacob, vineyard manager (chef de culture) and therefore asked him a few questions:

The hardest vineyard to work? Certainly RSV, the soils have more clay.

And the easiest? The top section of La Tache simply it is lighter.

How big is his permanent team in the vineyards? 20 people are exclusively for the Domaine.

The following day we had one last meal again at the Domaine. Cooked by the team member – Claude Menetrier - you can well see why the team here must be happy during harvest if Claude is in the kitchen. Very classical Burgundian food but deliciously so.

Jambon Persille

Poulet Gaston Gerard

Mont d’Or

Paris-Brest

The wines were both served blind after having had the Domaine’s Champagne Method Rose (100% Pinot Noir). I had never been aware it existed and it is made off site.

It was then time for Blind wines again.

White: This was absolutely stunning. A shade reduced, in perfect balance, some richness and white fruits but also a little botrytis if kept in perfect check by the acidity. It is wonderfully moreish and hedonistic at the same time. So we got to having to have a go at the wine…on our table I was quick out of the blocks with Montrachet 1999, others then followed with 2000, 2001, 1995 etc…and it was actually Batard-Montrachet 2005. A stunning wine.

And then it was time for a red…sadly I turned round at just the wrong moment and caught the “LT 07” on the bottle out of the corner of my eye. Nobody noticed I had seen this but in the interests of wine karma I immediately declared it and counted myself "out". The La Tache 2007 was just lovely, in fact "lovely" is damming with feint praise and that is wrong…it is open and ready to be enjoyed, not that it will not see decades more, it will. It has a quite primary nose with the full spread of dark red fruit with a dash of spice, there is a lovely “shells on the beach” minerality. I love a lot of the 2007’s and this is the best I have had…gracefully gorgeous.

With a train to catch from Dijon back to Paris then London it was always going to be tight to see if we could taste the 2013's but fortunately we could:

2013’s

Tasted from Barrel at "pace" after lunch, hosted by Bertrand de Villaine. I made very few notes. As with 2012 there will be no "Duvault Blochet"...

Corton

A nice darker fruit character, not overly hard but with structure, a little puppy fat, cherries and freshness.

Echezeaux

A lovely spicey density here, very “grown-up”, pure as well.

Grands Echezeaux

Broad and quite bold, long, some fresh fruit but not too red, density but poise is the lasting impression.

Romanee-Saint-Vivant

A little bit more savoury than usual but this may be to do with the slight reduction, serious, especially for R-S-V.

Richebourg

Very pure and lifted, exceptional fruit. Good structure also.

La Tache

Superb nose here, very hard to describe, power and sweetness but not at the expense of the complexity, really very fine.

Romanee-Conti

Sustained red fruit, really brooding. There is a really elegant power to this wine, it has depth and power and structure too, it is hidden by the gorgeous fruit.

And that was the end of two amazing days in Burgundy.

The tasting of a lifetime...

This is the second post from the biennial meeting of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti agents from round the world, the first one, a tasting of the 2012's can be found Here. This tasting is very probably the most special and unique tasting I will ever do. I thought long and hard about whether to post this as I do not want it to appear remotely like an attempt to show off, on balance I just thought that wine is for enjoying and to not post it would be silly. We had been "warned" at a light lunch (see next post) that there was a special tasting coming in the afternoon but I don't think anyone dared think it might be what it was.

When we entered the room and saw the set up it was instantly exciting, then it became clear it was to be:

10 Vintages of Romanee-Conti

There was an instant feeling of something simply unique. In terms of the details, the wines we all served in Reidel Burgundy glasses, poured and tasted as we went, unlabelled bottles at the perfect "cool" temperature.

The only wine in this range I had ever had before was the 1971 when Aubert received the Decanter Man of the Year. After each vintage there is the date of picking and then the yield.

1971
27^th September

22hl/ha

Aubert noted that this was a small harvest where tweezers were used to select the good grapes.

There is some Bovril brown to the colour but it has the vibrant colour of young Bual Madeira. The nose has a beautiful degraded sweetness, so clean and vibrant. There is an amazing primary note to the fruit, red fruit but not light red. Initially on the palate the nose is confirmed, fruit again but a dash of white pepper freshness, persistence on the tongue, such life. This is a vibrant and lively wine almost exactly a third fruit, a third savoury and the final third is a saline, mineral structure. There is good focusing acidity.

The length is superb, minutes long and fresh, almost more fruit as time goes on, so elegant yet so firmly persistent. There is nothing you would change about this wine.

On re-visiting at the end of the tasting it had mellowed and melded together even more. Almost a raisin and red fruit combination.

1966

5^th October

35hl/ha

Aubert’s second year at the Domaine.

Similar to the 1971 in colour, a shade more tea like and a little paler to the rim. So pretty, my initial reaction is to say this is more feminine that the 1971. There is a touch more salinity on the nose, very fresh and very airy fruit, weightless. Such persistence and rigor to the nose. Both the nose and the finish have such exceptionally wonderful fruit. A shade bruised and degraded but pure. The palate, in-between is more rich and has a savoury depth. With air a few more meaty and stock-like notes appear. Long again, the finish changes from fruit to tea and herbs. Superb.

On re-visiting at the end of the tasting I found wonderful fruit, almost citrus, orange and tangerine. So lively.

1964

4^th October

38hl/ha

A more saturated or thicker colour, not quite as pure in colour either, quite bold and thick to the rim. Initially there are more tertiary notes and more animal, less red fruit but still has an amazing vibrancy. It is at a different stage, there is a tiny bit of spice, some sweet leather. Then there is fruit, the palate has a monstrous complexity but still a fundamental lift, there is a “bricky” tea leaf element. With air there is a lot of degraded sweet fruit. A long finish and one that goes from savoury to fruit.

On re-visiting at the end of the tasting I found more degraded sweetness, real intensity, lift but depth, some caramel-like sweetness.

1961

7^th October

25hl/ha

Similar colour to the 1964 but with a little more purity. The nose has a note of mushroom then with air a heady, spicy fruit with a saline and berry fruit lift. Initially on the palate there is such amazing sweetness, a little lively note on the tongue, a lighter almost rosewater finish follows, this is delicate and tender, the finish is a perfect foil for the sweetness of the attack. Almost a green pepper note, but it is one of life and intensity, really special. 

On re-visiting at the end of the tasting it was a little more herbal, spicy, smokey almost a shade nutty.

The most famous cross in the wine world

1959

26^th September

40hl/ha

A shade deeper in colour in the middle. The nose is only describable as “WOW”, so much life, caramel in abundance, extrovert, sweet and showy.  Power and prowess, so hedonistic. Very difficult to describe, such is the density of the sweet almost fudge-like nose. There is fruit but it is sweetly degraded. In a way this is like a warmer older brother of the 1971. There is more weight to this that any other vintage in this tasting. I think it is fair to say it does not have the multi-dimensional complexity of some. It does though show the intensity and ripeness of the vintage. The biggest yield and earliest picking date of this tasting.

On re-visiting at the end of the tasting it was just confirmed that in the nicest possible way this is a “Freak” of a wine.

1955

14^th October

30hl/ha

Clear and pale but definitely a tanned colour. Following the 1959 is rather difficult, but this has unbelievably persistent fruit, and lots of it, airy light fruit that dances, this is so elegant on the nose. The palate is a little more savoury but the fruit returns quickly, little or no saline edge. I would imagine this has always been elegant and pure…tea aromas, splendid wine.

On re-visiting at the end of the tasting I found the fruit was still so poised, some of the fruit character is a little more orange like, a very complex wine.

NOTE: I felt that the 1961, 1959 & 1955 were like three siblings with very different characters.

1961 – A late bloomer.

1959 – The school boy hero…captain of the rugby team.

1955 – The quiet achiever.

1952

29^th September

24hl/ha

The first vintage after the tearing up of the vineyard, the vines therefore were only 5 years old. There is a sensible argument made by Andrew Noblet that the bunches in this vintage profited from the “mulch” that resulted from the soil being fully turned over during the replanting.

Deeper in colour than the 1955, full tawny with no red at all. The nose is a little more muted than many. There is a more resinous note and it is a little pine like. The texture is lovely and it is “all there” just a little closed. There is a herbal edge and a persistence.

When coming back to this at the end it had become a little darker and with more soy.

1943

8^th October

Yield not known

This was the last vintage before the grubbing up of the vines and was a difficult vintage. Some tobacco then almost perfect mushroom aromas, like soaking dried mushrooms in boiling water.  Again a touch of soy. Very, very classy and precise, herbs did show as well. Very persistent and fine, more breadth than depth. A little Asian spice and a long, long finish, I really like this.

On re-visiting there was more and more life and more and more cep.

1935

15^th October

Yield not known

Very pale with hints of copper. Tea leaf and life with a dash of Sercial character. There is complete maturity here as you would expect. So light in colour but so flavoured and strong. There is a note of coconut and dry pineapple. This does have a tangy, slightly orange-like character. The aromas change every time you put your nose in the glass. You could just drink and enjoy this or spend 3 hours writing down all the nuances. A beautiful wine.

Alpine notes, herbal on re-visiting.

1919

2^nd October

23hl/ha

“Bright” brown, almost a hint of rose about the very light but clear colour. A “manure” nose initially with very farmyard aromas. There is no madeirisation at all, very mellow indeed. It does have very gentle fruit sweetness. With every swirl, and on coming back after a few minutes it is far less farmyard and more complete. Prettier and prettier. Amazing for a 96 years old!

A truly wonderful tasting that I will never forget, it that more than showed off the staggering beauty of this Cru.