Posts Tagged 2005
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!
Back to the ‘Old’ world…
Posted by eatbikelove in Wine Tasting Notes on August 27, 2013
Spending over a month in Australia has definitely helped in improving my understanding and appreciation of Australian wines. Interestingly, it has also helped solidify my wine preference. There are lots of very good wines in Australia but, I’ve realised that I am a crazy fan of aged old world wines which focuses more on balance and the wines being velvety smooth.
I do have lots of friends who are big fans of strong and powerful red wines (such as Barossa Valley Shiraz’s) and I can completely understand their preference. Post my trip, I have been checking my wine notes of recently tasted old world wines and I can happily say…”Honey, I’m Home!”
Tasting
Lumiere Histoire 2011
OK… after all this talk of old world wines, what is a Japanese wine doing here :-P. This is an interesting wine from Yamanishi prefecture which I recently tasted with a few friends in Tokyo. Tasted: June 2013.
Nose: Cheesy smell, hidden white flowers, white pear
Taste: medium light body, smooth body, no acidity, no dryness.
Finish: no finish to think off.
I admit, this is not my first choice if I have one.
Champagne Lahaye, Blanc de Noir NV.
Tasted June 2013 when I visited my friends in Singapore. I’ve had this on numerous occasions and it does not disappoint.
Nose: almonds, lemon zest, hint of green apple
Taste: great balance, medium weight, good acidity,
Finish: decent finish of 20 second
A v v nice champagne to go with Chinese food (tasted with Teochew cuisine)
Clos des Papes 2001
Nose: red and blackberries, strong cherry nose, hint of white pepper
Taste: good smooth texture, secondary flavours of berries and plum. Hint tannin
Finish: long finish of 30 second
A very nice GSM blend from this legendary producer. Given its age, all the harsh tannins have receded leaving a lovely smooth texture. Tasted along the champagne with Teochew cuisine. Lovely!
Blain Gagnard Chassgne Montrachet Caillerets 1er Cru 2009
Tasted July 2013
Colour: pale straw yellow
Nose: oily, white apple, pear, white flower, honey
Taste: beautiful silky texture, typical Chassagne body with the fruit taking centre stage. White flowers and good acidity
Finish: white apple and pear finish. c25 seconds.
Lovely wine and keeps on improving in the glass. After lots of swinging, the wine opens up to velvety smoothness.
Cathiard Vosne Romanee Aux Reignots 1er Cru 2008
Tasted July 2013
Colour- dark ruby red
Nose- dense mix of red n black fruits, hint of vanilla, upon opening smells like a Pauillac then reverting back to a Vosne nose.
Taste- velvety smooth with power! Good balance between fruits and tannin. Hint of mint @ finish.
Finish- long minty finish of over 30 seconds.
A very good wine that is bound to put on more weight and improve with age.
Jean Grivot Vosne Romanee Village 2005
Tasted August 2013 in Sydney Australia.
Nose: beautiful red and black fruits, cherries, velvety rose perfume, hint of vanilla
Taste: medium bodied, good fruit, velvety fruit,
Finish: good 20 second sweet fruity finish.
A good wine but shame about paying the WET tax in Australia.
Domaine Tollot-Beaut Chorey Les Beaune 2010
Tasted August 2013
Nose: cowpat at first, then slowly opened up for red fruit, cherries, raspberry,
Taste: acidic taste, red fruits, medium light body, simple structure.
Finish: 15 second finish.
A decent and simple glass of burg. On of those daily wines if you can afford it.
Domaine De la Vougeraie, Gevrey Chambertin Les Evocelles 2009
Tasted August 2013
Nose: red fruit nose, green muskiness from the oak, hint of vanilla
Taste: medium bodied, red fruits, slight hint of acidity
Finish: short finish of 15 second
Interesting wine with the potential to add on weight after a few more cellar age.
Domaine De la Vougeraie, Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2007
Tasted August 2013
Nose: red fruits, strawberries, hint to green, velvet texture, hint of mint
Taste: medium full bodied, red fruits, good texture, velvety smooth
Finish: 25 second finish
On a different level to Evocelles even though it is from the 2007 vintage. Good concentration.
Olivier Leflaive Meursault Tillets 2010
Tasted August 2013
Nose: white flower, lemon peel, hint of honeysuckle
Taste: sweet fruits, hint of apricot, slight acidity. Good texture.
Finish: 15 second semi dry finish.
Relatively simple wine given the price. Not sure if I am paying for the wine or for Leflaive???
Sebastien Magnien, Beaune !er Cru, Les Aigrots 2006
Nose: red fruits, strawberries and raspberries, hint of vanilla and lavender.
Taste: red fruits, started out light but gained weight once opened, good texture with a slight acidity
Finish: fruity finish of c20 seconds.
A half decent wine. Shame I only have 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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