Bonnes Mares de Vogue 1949 - 1999

Very few Domaines need as little introduction as Domaine de Vogüé. Dating back to the 15th century it has been under the same ownership for 20 generations. The general manager, Jean-Luc Pepin, was in attendance to host the evening with Jordi (to whom so many thanks as ever) in a unique retrospective of the Domaine's Bonnes Mares. Even Jean-Luc has never done so extensive a tasting of Bonnes Mares as this. I must declare my bias here as I work for the UK agent of this great Domaine. The bottles for this tasting were all bought by Jordi over the course of 6 or 7 years with as little research as is possible. 

Ready for battle...

By way of a little background I found this: de Vogue Bonnes Mares - Terroir insight by Wine Hog which I think is a good overview and includes a good map (love a map me!). The one analogy Adam used that Jean-Luc liked and re-uses is that you "would want Bonnes Mares on your side in a fight"...

To kick off as people gathered we had Philipponnat Clos de Goisses 2004 en magnum - A shade reduced, a little cocoa bean and reduction on the nose like a late release Champagne. A food Champagne was how I view this, vinous and rich with good texture and enough life.

A very good appetiser for what lay ahead... 

The team at the square did a good job with the food, all of which was a high standard but importantly played a good second fiddle to the wine. Nothing over powering and the service worked well as there was no over emphasis on trying to match things. A flight of wines was poured, into not overly big glasses (a good thing), then the food followed. The menu is below:

Amuse Bouche

Crisp Milk Fed Veal Sweetbreads with New Season’s Wet Garlic,

Violet Artichokes and Preserved Lemon

Slow Cooked Fillet of Cod with Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Smoked Anchovy and Red Wine

Roast Organic Guinea Hen with Smoked Sausage of the Leg, Creamed Morels, Provencal White Asparagus and Roasting Juices

Cheese

So now it was time to get going:

"Modern" vintages

Modern vintages: These tastings always focus on vintages that are mature or at the very least maturing. Whilst this started with the 1999 I have heard good things about the 2000 and had the 2001 recently at a cracking dinner in St.Emilion and it's delicious...this was a stunning flight.

1999 - Pure colour, actually the colours in the first two flights were very consistent, with a tiny bit of development. Lovely fresh mulled red fruits on the nose. This is the only wine on the evening that was most certainly primary. Really good balance and density, a shade reduced and a little hint of cheesecloth, sweet berry fruit on finish. Very promising.

1996 - Good colour and clarity. A little pine-like spice, richness on the nose, palate good but a shade drier, quite taut and serious. Some sweetness. There is a very "1996 like" sternness. I like this and would like to drink a bottle, it isn't showey enough to standout in a tasting like this but is good.

1993 - A slightly deeper colour, deliciously sweet and succulent, not just red fruit on the palate, good depth, a shade of clementine and tangerine. This is a little bigger than some of the 1993's I've had. Delicious and certainly still loosening up and improving! Very fine.

1990 - Good colour, pure, delicious, opulent, decadent, this is a little degraded. It doesn't quite have the poise and focus of the 1993 or 1999 but has an easy appeal of obviously being good....very 1990-ish 

1989 - A shade lighter in colour but so bright and so clean. A shade of animal character just showing a little more a maturity. Pure and lovely sweet fruit, really delicious, this is a feminine and sweet, poised wine. A little herbaceousness certainly, this is, on this showing, a classier and more refined wine than the good, but more brutish 1990. Special.

1988 - A shade more evolved, a dash more texture, almost a slightly chalky, powdered feel. At the same time it is very moreish and a little saline, the note doesn't seem "glowing" but this is good and a little like the 1996 in being very typical of the vintage.

The classics

Classic vintages: A dangerous title given that it raises expectation.

1985 - Paler and lighter in colour but so clear and clean. A little development but such profound sweetness, a lovely greenness that gives energy. This is a really super wine, focus but generous, rich but not remotely weighty. Special, graceful, perfect now.

1979 - Bright, clean and lean. This is in a similar style to the 1985, it remained remarkably consistent in the glass, not budging an inch. Great persistence and poise. Lovely.  

1978 - Slightly less clear as a colour. More texture, a little more degraded but at the same time saline, this is bigger and bolder than anything else going back to the 1990. Opulent and generous. Nicely a little vulgar.

1976 - More red to the colour here. This is very deep and quite resinous. Serious and with really decadent richness and opulence. There is a sense of the hot and dry season but not of burnt fruit. The image is one of small intense berries. Very good indeed.

1970 - A shade orange in colour, clear madeirisation, the palate initially had a dash of sweetness but ultimately this is not right.

1967 - This has a little madeirsation but whilst the 1970 does not appear to be representative I think this probably is as 1967 is just very tricky.

Illustrious indeed!

Illustrious vintages of the George de Vogüé era:

1966 - Sensational wine this. Good colour, lovely saline, some smoke and generosity but also focus. Rose petals and delicate aromas, a little like the 1985 in character but with even more to give. Staggeringly good.

1964 - Slightly frazzled, degraded even, then a little fruit and some sweetness but ultimately this is not in perfect condition.

1962 - Delicious, seriously giving the 1966 a run for its money. Herbs, cocoa bean and then some spices before a little coffee but all with good intensity. There is an element of the 1976 character here. Special.

1959 - Clean bright colour, some decaying fruit, clinging on a little. Interesting.

1953 - Sweet decay, a slightly milky texture, this actually got a little better with air which was unexpected.

1949 - Smells a little herbal, almost minty with some saline too, a shade powdery in texture. This is interesting and not dead if a shadow of what it probably once was.

The last flight!

Musigny Blanc mystery vintage - So this had to be 1994 or older as the white has been named Bourgogne Blanc since, knowing Jordi it could well have been much older. There was a grapefruit character and some citrus. To me there was an almost Chablis like quality. Clearly very little new oak. It was impressive and enjoyably pure too but I really needed to know what it was. One of our number got it bang on saying it reminded him of another white of the same vintage - Corton-Charlemagne from Bonneau du Martray - it was the 1987 vintage.

Fonseca 1963 followed on and was lovely, a little volatile, slightly raisin like. The marzipan character was there but in perfect balance with the succulent dried fruits. Another reminder, as in the last post, that we really should drink more good port.

Jordi, in a fit of generosity, then opened two more bottles both of vintages we had had earlier - 1976 and 1953. The 1976 was a fresher bottle, insanely so. The previous bottle was superb and what you would hope it would be in terms of maturity. This bottle tasted more like the 1993 than any other wine of the night, amazing really. The 1953 was a more lively bottle, showing more fruit and a little more balance...

All in all a stunning evening, a really good group, everyone's expectations were surpassed. What we learnt I think is that Bonnes Mares from de Vogue is more that capable of Red Burgundy of the highest order and is not to be underestimated. Also that whilst the de Vogue style is one that repays cellaring this has been exaggerated...I look forward to many more vintages in the future.

Thank you Jordi and thank you Jean-Luc for your insights!

Amouse Bouche

Crisp Milk Fed Veal Sweetbreads with New Season’s Wet Garlic,

Violet Artichokes and Preserved Lemon

Slow Cooked Fillet of Cod with Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Smoked Anchovy and Red Wine

Roast Organic Guinea Hen with Smoked Sausage of the Leg, Creamed Morels, Provencal White Asparagus and Roasting Juices

A meeting of minds @ 67 Pall Mall

This was a fun Friday night dinner at 67 Pall Mall, the wine club I've joined. Great glasses, good service and decent food mean that I imagine more and more blogs will be coming from there. It's featured already on the DJP blog. The evening was to introduce two great wine lovers - Jordi and Rajiv - to  each other, it was terrific that Neal Martin could join so it became four members and six bottles and lots of chat.

We started with a pair of whites that I brought along, knowing that I wouldn't be able to compete with the  maturity of the reds. The pair were:

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes 2011 and Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatieres 2011 both from Francois Carillon. This was the second vintage of Francois' estate. I chose the 2011's over the 2010's or 2012's as they are more open and just lovely to drink now. Interestingly the Folatieres seemed to slightly steel the show. The Combettes was more opulent and "tarty" initially but possibly a little simpler. The Folatieres, in contrast, was a little leaner, more saline, classier, very balanced. Will be interesting to track these over time.

So, onto the reds, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 2007 from De Vogue was up first courtesy of Rajiv. We felt it would need the most air so we wanted to get it in the glasses first. I love 2007's as I have said many times. This though is a more serious interpretation of the vintage. There is quite a lot of body here and a richer texture, the nose is more refined and 07' like, a little orange peel. It is a wine to be patient with as was shown by coming back to it at the end of the night when it had softened a little.

We were then firmly into the "Jordi-Zone" with the mature bottles of which there were, very generously, three. First up was Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets 1962 from H.Boillot. The nose here was degraded and sweet, opulent, with a whiff of green spices. The sweetness stayed and the texture added to this somehow. Often wines like this have a flattering opening and then turn savoury of even bitter, not so here, just a lovely fully mature bottle of sweet, floral, Volnay.

Musigny Grand Cru 1979 from Domaine Jacques Prieur was next and given that I am getting to know the Domaine Jacques Prieur (DJP) wines more and more this was an exciting prospect. The siting of the DJP Musigny is something I commented upon in this post. None of the older Burgundies were decanted, just popped and poured. The nose here was initially quite reticent and the texture a little nervous but all this settled down and ultimately this was voted WOTN. There was a masculine purity but also a refined saline edge as well, this made for both intensity and moreishness. A little spice and funk by the very end, all in all a cracking bottle of proper mature Burgundy.

Then Jordi decided we needed one more bottle, no arguments of course, Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Beaumonts 1989 from Leroy it turned out to be. This was rich, full of iron and minerals, there was an intensity to the colour that suggested it was far younger (mid or late 90's even), it had a showy, almost exuberant side. There is a spice too but never overpowering, a lovely wine that is, may be, 5-10 years from its peak...

This was a splendid evening with some great bottles being drunk amongst good chat in just the way I like it. Respectful but not deferential - these are made to be drunk. Having them from good glasses and served in small but regular pours does, of course, help.

I have a strong feeling this wont be the last time this little gathering occurs!

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

Zucca then Golf then...

A slightly chaotic blog this one but a few memorable wines have been drunk so here we go.

Starting with a delicious dinner at Zucca with a great wine lover. Two good bottles were opened. A very nice, if still simple due to its age, bottle of Bernkasteler Badstube Spatlese 2008 from Prum and then a serious bottle in the form of Grands Echezeaux 1991 from Rene Engel. The Prum was decanted which is necessary at this early stage, still simple it had lovely ripeness and vitality, really wakes up the taste buds. There is a long life ahead for this, I would probably next look at it again in 3 years time. The Grands Echezeaux was really something, nothing like a wine of 22 years old in honesty. I would say this was just starting to hit the second phase of it's life, vibrant and complex but still with forceful fruit really beautiful. 1991's along with 1993's really are lovely. The Truffle pasta and then Mallard went brilliantly with these wines.

The following morning it was off to the Wildernesse Golf club in Sevenoaks for a round with friends as their guest. We got lucky with the weather and after a good front nine things sort of fell apart for me this meant it was cigar time. I got out a nice mellow, easy, morning Robusto - Saint Luis Rey Regios from 2012. The round was really enjoyable and after a quick beer we then ventured off to The Vine, also in Sevenoaks for some lunch. The food was spot on, all the dishes tasting delicious and working well with the wines. We hadn't really co-ordinated much and ended up with four reds. They were an interesting selection starting with Charmes Chambertin 2005 from Tortochot, not a producer I know at all. The wine was primary but not closed, clear and clean red fruit with a tiny bit of tannin. Many of the 2005's do appear to be showing more than was the case 6-12 months ago. This is a wine that will age well but I don't see it being an epic. Lovely, relatively simple and a nice drink. Next up was the oldest bottle of the day and both the most unique as well as interesting. Troplong Mondot 1962 is not something you see everyday. I have to admit to having a real mental block over this estate. I am, in polite terms, not a fan. I find the wines they make now to be a little monstrous in character and extraction and just not the sort of thing I like to drink. This though was very different, elegant and with red/black fruit, poured straight from the bottle it drank well immediately and over the next 30 minutes, much longer and it might have faded but it was both fascinating and impressive for a vintage that is decent but not a patch on it's predecessor. The last two reds were both red Hermitage. The first Hermitage 2008 from Tardieu-Laurent, this was my offering and before you think why such a young Hermitage? I'll explain. In 2008 the plot that this wine was from was harvested even later than Chave and the elegance of the wine really impressed me recently so I thought it was time to re-visit and share it. It showed well, very primary but with a lovely feminine red fruit in amongst the more "butch" darkness, it was good but then I was somewhat trumped by the next wine! Hermitage 1998, Chave. Absolutely delicious, only really getting into 3rd gear but very easy to appreciate. I love the wine at this stage because it was mellow but is in now way either primary or older, just in a zone of loveliness, really superb. So two young wines that showed well and two more mature examples that were delicious, you can't ask for much more than that.

After a couple of days of normality it was time for another wine merchant friend to come over. This just means more bottles to open! We started with Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Spatlese Jubilee Label 2009 from Schloss Schonborn which is a wine I have followed for some time as I think it offers stunning value and lovely richness. This showing did not disappoint. I am trying desperately to leave some for a little while but not managing it very well at the moment. The next bottle was infanticide, Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses by Nathalie & Giles Fevre, even decanted it didn't give a way a great deal but did have a lovely texture and was very try to Chablis I just kind of wish I hadn't opened it. On to red and a wine I know very well, Barbera Cerretta 2008 from Giacomo Conterno which was great with Mrs H's brilliant, if labour intensive, chicken pie. It just has guts as well as elegance and fruit, tricky combination to pull off. We then went onto one last bottle and I have to say I was really impressed. The wine in question was Slowhand Pinot Noir 2009 from Muddy Water in Waipara, NZ. The clarity of the red - strawberry and raspberry but in no way bitter - was staggering, not far off the kind of character you get from Felton Road. I will certainly be having more of that!