Posts Tagged 2002
Grand Cru Burgundy extravaganza… Is it worth it?
Posted by eatbikelove in Wine Tasting Notes on December 8, 2013
Ahhh Burgundy, the reference point of all pinot noirs. What is it about this region that makes its wine so intoxicating and so alluring? Is this a temporary infatuation or is this permanent love?
Frankly, Burgundy is a very complex region to understand. Not only are there so many different villages, there’s also the different grading of vineyards within the same village… and we haven’t even begun talking about the producers yet. Yes there are the famous producers such as DRC, Leroy, Rousseau, Mugnier which I think you need to be a billionnaire or win the lottery to be able to afford and drink nowadays (burgs being the latest Chinese craze is adding fuel to the fire) but somehow I doubt these wines score highly in the quality to price ratio. Which is why I jumped when I was presented with an opportunity to taste some of these Grand Cru wines at a specially held dinner by BBR. Since we are talking Grand Cru here, I have also taken the opportunity to add some of my other GC Burgundy drinking notes.
The wines for the dinner was shown in pairs by region, Corton Charlemagne for the whites, Musigny for the first red flight followed by Clos Vougeot.
First the pair of Corton GC
Benjamin Leroux Corton Charlemagne 2010 GC
Nose: Lovely showy nose. Honey, white flowers, pear and a hint of butterscotch
Taste: A lovely balance with a good velvety texture. Full bodied and relatively fruit forward.
Finish: A lovely 20 sec+ sweet finish
Patrick Javilier Corton Charlemagne GC 2010
Nose: Mineral with a hint of white flower. This nose is a lot more subdued when compared next to Leroux
Taste: Light medium bodied, fine acidity with minerality lingering . A more classic style
Finish: 20 Sec light finish
As the night wore on, the wine began to open up more and the fruits then decided to come out to play…
Mugnier Le Musigny GC 2007
Colour: Light red ruby
Nose: Compact and very herby. Red fruits with a hint of Asian spice.
Taste: Light to medium bodied, strong acidity but a good structure. Hint of pepper and asian spice
Finish: 20 sec finish which I felty was a tad short given the quality of the producer and the vineyard.
This wine is light with good structure. One can just about taste the red fruits but they were quite subdued and required time to open up. Is this wine worth £400 a bottle???
Domaine De la Vougeraie Le Musigny GC 2007
Colour: Deep red colour
Nose: Sweet red fruits, hint of cassis and vanilla
Taste: Medium bodied with a good velvety texture, good fruit length.
Finish: 25 second sweet tannic finish.
A lovely wine which I actually prefer over Mugnier’s
Meo Camuzet Clos Vougeot GC 2002
Colour: Dark Red with a hint of purple
Nose: Hint of vegetal dryness, red and black fruits with a hint of cassis
Taste: Good and velvety smooth texture. Medium Bodied and feels a bit hollow towards the end.
Finish: Shorth-ish 15 sec finish.
Meo Camuzet Clos Vougeot GC 2000
Nose: Hint of Vanilla, red fruits and boiled sweets
Taste: Good velvety texture, red fruits with a hint of Asian spice. Ezxcellent balance.
Finish: 25 seconds of gorgeous fruity tannins.
What a lovely wine. I was surprised that I prefered this wine to the 2002 and also to the Musigny’s. My WOTN.
The following notes were from subsequent dinners which I was lucky enough to saviour some excellent GC burgundies.
Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne GC 2008
Nose: White fruits, white flowers and honey, hint of minerality and butterscotch.
Taste: Light medium bodied with good fruit following through. Low acidity and good balance
Finish: 20 sec finish
Grivot Richebourg GC 2006
Nose: very dense nose, raspberry, hint of blackcurrant, black cherries, violet and vanilla
Taste: medium full bodied, good acidity, dense fruit with an excellent balance. Sweet tannins
Finish: 30 second finish of concentrated fruits and sweet tannins
A lovely wine. Shame it is so ridiculously expensive!
Tasted Nov 2013
Colour: Dark red, very youthful even though it has been in bottle for over 7+ years
Nose: Black cherries, blackberries, hint of Vosne spice and vanilla. Very young wine.
Taste: Good balance, medium bodied with good structure. The fruit was a bit subdued by the lovely tannins.
Finish: 30 sec+ Finish.
A lovely wine but it obviously needs another 5 years to bring out the monster inside!
In conclusion to the opening question, is Grand Cru burgundy worth it? It ultimately boils down to a matter of choice and personal judgement. The wines are very good but for the big name producers, the pricing of late has just been stratospheric. Having said that, the fun and beauty is to try and find quality GC wines from the lesser well known producers and revel that one has picked up a bargain by getting very good juice at a fraction of the price of the famous producers. Now that is definitely one of the reasons why I LOVE burgundy!
El Matador from Rioja. Ole Ole Ole!
Posted by eatbikelove in Producer Wine Tasting on May 15, 2013
What do you think will be a Spanish wine El Classico? For me, I guess that will be Rioja v Ribera Del Duero. Both regions predominantly uses the same grape variety (Tempranillo) and make great wines. Up until early March 2013, Ribera Del Duero had the edge given my very bad experience with Rioja. A few years back, a few colleagues and I were given a Jeroboam of Rioja Grand Riserva 1999 and it was kept under ‘perfect’ storage underneath the desk of one of my colleagues (next to his smelly shoes for added curing…). Safe to stay, my first experience of Rioja (all 3 litres of it) was an off bottle and it managed to put me off Rioja (ignore the pun :-P).
Well, BBR decided to do something about that and invited me to a Rioja producer’s tasting in the China Club earlier in March. The Rioja producer in town was Carlos Lopez de Lacalle whose family owns Artadi wines, the producer of one of the best Rioja wines.
The wines were paired with chinese cuisine and I must admit, the pairing worked very well.
Carlos was an excellent host as you could tell the passion he had when discussing about his wines. He made a very good comment that the Rioja region makes very good wines but unfortunately the Rioja names that we normally associate with are the mass produced, thin ‘plonk’. Carlos admitted that Rioja producers need to do more to educate the wine drinking community of quality Rioja and I am was slowly starting to understand what he meant as his wines were beautiful. The only constructive criticism I can think of is PLEASE UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE (it looks a bit too fresh!) http://www.artadi.com
I thoroughly enjoyed the night (admittedly a bit too much) and thank you Joyce for the invite.
It was a great experience and it has definitely dispelled my previous bad experience of Rioja. I guess my current El Classico score is Rioja 1: Ribera Del Duero 1. Maybe, next time I should badger my friends to organise a Vega Sicilia v Artadi El Classico! (If you know any friends who have these wines, please let me know 😀 )
Tasted Mar 2013
Nose: good violet perfume and black fruits, hint of coconut from the oak
Taste: good silk smooth, slightly acidic and rustic, good balance with lots of fruit
Finish: 20+ second finish
A very nice fruity wine but I believe given a few more years this wine will be a superstar!
Tasted Mar 2013
Nose: violets and blueberry, hint of cassis, good perfume n hint of mint
Taste: tannic dryness, hint of vegetal flavours, medium bodied,
Finish: 25 second finish
The most tannic of the lot tasted that night. Definitely needs time.
Nose: hint of leather, less perfumy and less red fruits than 2004. Is this the evolution from good storage?
Taste: lighter in style, hint or red fruits, v good balance and smooth silky style
Finish: a 20 second elegant finish
A very elegant wine with a nice smooth texture.
Nose: very perfumed, cassis, black fruits,
Taste: Medium full bodied, acidic but good balance, good concentration. A lot more dense than Pagos Viejos
Finish: 30 second finish
The El Pison series is definitely a level up from Pagos Viejos (although I think the 2004 Viejos is giving these wines a run for their money)
Nose: good red fruit, hint of vanilla,
Taste: less fruity than 2002, red fruits, slight acidity and medium bodied
Finish: 30 second finish
Good wine.
Nose: leather, hint of earthiness, red fruits, velvety nose, mocha
Taste: great balance, red fruits, smooth, silky texture, great acidity. Medium bodied.
Finish: 40 second finish
Carlos’ comment for this wine was simple: ‘Its El Pison 1995, what more should I say’. A very very good wine. Glad I was able to saviour (a bit too much of) it at the tasting as I later found out it currently costs GBP280 a bottle!
To PC or not PC, whilst being sandwiched by an Italian and an Aussie
Posted by eatbikelove in Wine Tasting Notes on May 14, 2013
Do you remember the days when you were young and you hung out with your mates all day long without even thinking twice. Sadly, as age catches up and everyone else has different priorities, it seems harder and harder to catch up with old mates… which is all the more reason to treasure these gatherings and drink good wine! 😀
Recently, my uni mates and I arranged for a long overdue catch up (like all good 3 Michelin stars, we had to book over 1 month in advance). The location was a nice private kitchen in TST and we decided to have a mini vertical of a chateau that is currently gaining superstar status, Pontet Canet. Like all good wine tastings, we choose an Italian to get warmed up (after some bubbly of course) and a strong Aussie Cab Sauv to make sure we were all tipsy at the end of the night.
After a quick taste, it become blinding obvious that PC 2001 was denser and needed more time so we enjoyed the wines in this order; Chianti Classico, PC 2002, PC 2001 followed by Majella Coonawarra
Overall, it was a great night which was also educational the difference in vintages was more pronounced when tasted side by side. Bravo to my friends who brought the wines and I can’t wait for the next gathering!
Nose: very fruity nose of black fruits and cassis, hint of herb and mint,
Taste: medium bodied, a bit light for a Chianti, low acidity, easy to drink but a bit hollow on the mid palate.
Finish: short finish of 10 second
An OK bottle but I felt it was lacking the usual Chianti fruitiness. Perhaps it would’ve benefited with more aeration?
Nose: liquorice, dense red fruits and a hint of blackcurrant and mint,
Taste: red fruit and wine gums, slightly tannic, good fruit and medium bodied,
Finish: 20 second finish
A good wine. The wines are easy to drink and delicious when paired with food.
Nose: denser than 2002, black fruits, creme de cassis, hint of herb, sweet black fruits like blueberry, hint of vanilla
Taste: sweet red fruit, slight tannic dryness, this is still a young wine! Medium bodied and with a very good and silky texture
Finish: 30 second fin with a coffee aftertaste.
A very good wine with nice fruit. I was amazed at the finish when I sensed some coffee aftertaste…
Nose: oily texture, concentrated black fruits, alcoholic nose, hint of medicinal cough syrup
Taste: sweet cabernet sauvignon made in a new world style, not tannic, very fruity with a slightly reductive nose.
Finish: 15 second finish
A solid wine which expresses Coonawarra Cab Sauv well without being overextracted. Shame we had it after the 2 PCs!
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