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Roberto
Grape Stomper
Posts:166
 | | 10/30/2005 12:56 PM |
| I recently had the opportunity to attend the Zachys Pre-Auction Tasting at the restaurant Daniel in Manhattan. This event highlighted offerings from the 17,000 bottle single-consignor Fall Action which closed today. The private room at Daniel was the perfect venue for this event. The elegantly-set tables were covered in a sea of numbered stems keyed in to the tasting guide. As expected, the staff at Daniel did a great job with both the food and wine service. I'm impressed with how well they maintain a high level of service in a challenging group setting such as this. Three bottles of each wine were opened, except for the magnums. The young wines were double-decanted. The pours were more than generous. In fact, I don't think anyone at my table was able to finish the majority of their respective pours. Some of my notes are brief so please forgive me in advance.
Flight One
99 J.F. Coche-Dury Meursault Les Rougeots: This wine exploded from the glass aromatically with cotton candy, cinnamon biscuits, minerals and nuts. The wine tasted somewhat more advanced than expected for its age but still had excellent, fresh fruit and a long finish. The Coche signature was evident and while some might call this wine stylized it was undeniably delicious.
'99 Comtes Lafon Meursault Perrieres: At first I thought that this wine was oxidized and shot as the color was dark. A table mate who had the wine recently suggested that it needed time to open which it did. After a few hours this wine developed an enticing mineral laden nose. The taste fell short of my expectations and I kept wondering whether this was closed or slightly oxidized. Still, a great bottle of wine nonetheless.
'00 Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet: Light in color with a bright, toasty nose of wet stones and white flowers. On the palate this wine really strutted its stuff offering a deft combination of power and elegance. The finish was long and while this wine is still young it was drinking quite well. With time it threw off smoky notes and continued to add complexity of taste. This is one of my favorite white burgundy bottlings and this showing demonstrated why. Wine of the flight.
Flight Two
'99 Prieure-Roch Chambertin Clos des Beze: Dark in color with a primary nose offering gamey and earthy notes. This wine had a large frame in the mouth and was difficult to evaluate at this stage. I like the fact that no oak was present.
'96 Prieure-Roch Chambertin Clos des Beze: Similar to the '99 but more alive aromatically with the gamey/meaty notes and notes of spice and smoke. This wine actually tasted quite good and did not have the harsh, acidic profile that many '96 reds have now. It tasted balanced and improved nicely with air. Perhaps one worth putting in the cellar.
'98 Claude Dugat Charmes Chambertin: My notes read "smells like a Rhone wine". I would have pegged this blind for a modernist CdP and not a Burgundy at all. It was highly extracted but did not do much for me.
'99 Dugat-Py Charmes Chambertin: Almost black in color. The nose is initially dominated by new oak. After some swirling the wood seemed to back off and the bouquet offered aromas of pound cake, blackberry brandy and baked bread. The wine was dense and concentrated with black fruits on the attack but the funny thing is that the finish was graceful and hauntingly elegant. I did not want to like this one because of the new wood but fell in love with it by the end of the night. An outstanding wine in the making.
'99 Claude Dugat Griotte Chambertin: Heavy new wood on the nose. Licorice and soy sauce. Urinal notes emerged but blew off. This wine has a big presence in the mouth and was clearly modern in style. The finish had firm tannins. Others at my table found this to be outstanding. I really did not get a chance to work with it for very long but don't think this is my style.
Flight Three
'99 Henri Jayer Cros Parantoux: When this was being poured the room became notably more silent. Bottle number 1225 of 1067 produced. New oak infused nose with Vosne spices and soil notes. In the mouth this wine had a medium-bodied feel but finished with building power. I noted iron notes in addition to dark, primary fruit. This wine kept getting better with time and is undoubtedly destined to be a classic.
'98 Henri Jayer for Georges Jayer Echezeaux: Identifiable as Echezeaux on the nose it had a masculine and musky aromatic profile. It started out closed with a tannic finish but did flesh-out in time to become a very interesting wine. The palate seemed more refined than the nose and I would love to follow this wine in the future.
'00 LeRoy Chambertin: Open, spice driven nose. The color is lighter than most of the wines on the table and the palate, while somewhat light in weight for both a 2000 and LeRoy, wins me over with grace and finesse. This was one of the best-drinking red Burgundies of the night.
'96 LeRoy Romanee ST. Vivant: Closed nose with game and meat notes. Notably lacking the aromatics one expects in a RSV proably because it was just too young. In the mouth this wine did taste like many other '96 red Burgundies taste to me - tightly coiled and acidic.
'98 LeRoy Richebourg: This was one of my favorite wines of the evening and a wine I would buy. It had a nose of dark fruit, minerals and earth. The palate was at first marked by a dry finish but it put on significant weight in the mid-section and almost developed a sappy quality to the fruit. Not over-the-top in style but balanced and restrained. The LeRoy wines as a group impressed me with their successful styles relative to the vintages which I consider a tribute to the winemaker.
Flight Four
'99 Guigal La Mouline: The most open and lightest in color of the three '99 La La's. New oak on the nose with a dense, deep palate of syrah fruit. The layers of flavor are mind-boggling. My notes read "Syrup of Cote-Rotie". While still a baby this is probably drinking the best of the trinity. Great stuff.
'99 Guigal La Turque: The most oaky of the three on the nose. Probably the most extracted of the group this was very similar to the others (bacon fat, tar, leather, buckets of fruit in the mouth) but my least favorite. Still outstanding.
'99 La Landonne: Aromatically this smelled of bacon fat, tar, pepper and an interesting vegetal note (like Cabernet Franc) which I really liked but others found off-putting. The palate here is thick, viscous and layered. The finish is a tad shorter than the others but were are really cutting hairs here. A monumental wine.
'90 Jaboulet La Chapelle: One of the 3 bottles opened was corked and dumped. This bottle showed a nose of leather, tar, beef blood, tobacco and cinnamon spice. It was nagged by a funky quality that did not blow off. The palate was good but did not have the depth and richness of previous bottles. This might have been subtly corked.
Flight Five
'98 Chateau Lafite: Dark, brooding and giving a little cassis and lead pencil on the nose. Closed , tight and tannic in the mouth with good basic raw materials this wine seemed to be in an awkward stage.
'98 Haut Brion: Another great showing for this overachiever. The nose you would expect from a great young Haut Brion - Tobacco, asphalt and underbrush. The palate was medium-bodied with sweet tannins and long finish. This is a wine of class and should continue to improve. In my opinion it should be counted among the great recent vintages of Haut Brion.
'90 Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse: Right bank notes of tobacco and chocolate with a distinct cherry liqueur aroma. The palate was lighter than I would have expected for a wine of this legend. Still very enjoyable.
'50 Lafleur (Magnum): You could smell it two feet away as it was being poured from the decanter. As each successive person at my table smelled it the response was the same, "Wow!". I had a hard time writing a note for this wine because I was absolutely blown away. I hate to use the term "port-like" but it is one of the only ways to describe the way this wine tasted. It concentrated but dry at the same time. The nose had coffee, tobacco, tar, cherries, menthol and chocolate. The fruit was ripe and dense and the finish was minutes long. The thing about this wine that really impressed me was that it tasted so young. One of the best wines I've ever had.
'47 Lafleur (Magnum): This wine initially paled in comparison to the 1950. It started out so closed that I wondered what I had in my glass. I almost wrote it off. The only thing that gave me hope was that the finish had prominent, sweet tannins. The real story with this bottle is the way that it improved over the course of an hour in the glass. It became a great, mature Pomerol similar to the 1950 but just not as intense or concentrated. By itself it stood as a great bottle of wine but on this evening it did not make me cry! | | | |
| love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts:12352
| | 10/30/2005 3:44 PM |
| Roberto, sounds great. Can I ask what an event like this costs per person?
Also, how was the food?
And, how did you learn of it? I would love to attend such an event @ Daniel or a restaurant on that level next time.
Thanks! | | | |
| ojeffso
warren, new jersey
Wine Lover
Posts:4877
| | 10/30/2005 11:20 PM |
| | some tasting roberto. too bad no really old burgs to match the old bordeaux. still great. | | | |
| Roberto
Grape Stomper
Posts:166
| | 10/31/2005 3:15 AM |
| Al, this event was by invitation and was mainly attended by serious collectors and industry professionals. Zachys is a great operation and if you are active at auction this is a good house to deal with.
Jeff, I could never tire of old Burgs as you know but it was nice to drink a little Bordeaux for a change! | | | |
| Joseph Bembry
Wine Lover
Posts:4857
| | 10/31/2005 5:40 PM |
| Great notes, Bob! Wish I was there!
jb | | | |
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