Burg Night in the Hills

The Lamorinda Old World Wine Geeks assembled for another tasting, this time with a focus on Burgundy and Pinot Noir. Lamorinda is a cul de sac in the East Bay Hills (cul de sac in the original French sense—interested readers are referred to Roman Polanski’s film of that name), a forgotten community with a space warp to the gentle slopes of Burgundy and the deep gravels of Bordeaux. Along with the spectacular food prepared by Nilla (I particularly recall the shrimp in a flavorful Swedish style sole walevska sauce and the coq au vin), we had an impressive suite of wines, with not a bad bottle in the lot.

We began with Dave Sankaran’s house champagne, the Krug NV, which paired beautifully with the appetizer brought by Dave and Antonette, thin slivers of beef on toast with a wasabi-based topping. The Krug was in fine shape, with the signature yeast and brioche nose and vibrant, mouth-coating flavors making for the perfect aperitif.

The Krug was followed by (or in the case of some impatient tasters, overlapped with) a 2004 Alesia Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. This is one of Dave Sankaran’s favorite wines and I had never had it before. This shows an impressive nose of red Pinot fruit infused with a distinct spiciness (with AllSpice being the actual aroma we eventually fixed upon). In the mouth, this wine is light on its feet, but intensely flavored and nicely delineated, with the mineral notes complementing the spice and red Pinot character. Very impressive, I will be in search of this one, or others from Rhys Vineyards…

To pair with the first course, the shrimp in sole walevska, we had the 1992 Leflaive Puligny Montrachet les Pucelles, a beautiful bottle evidently close to its peak. Aromas of peach, pear, and tropical fruit blended with more northerly notes of white flower and soil on this beautiful wine, probably the number 2 of the night for me. Despite the tropical notes that impact the palate as well, the Puligny acidity and vibrancy were still there, especially on the long finish. Great stuff!

We then proceeded to a flight of three aged Burgundies, a 1980 Leroy Bonnes Mares, a 1985 Jadot Gevrey Chambertin Estournelles St Jacques, and a 1989 Rousseau Chambertin.

The 1980 Leroy Bonne Mares early on showed an attractive nose of mushrooms, underbrush and red Pinot, but seemed to fade into a more one-dimensional profile with time in the glass. The wine showed reasonable concentration and balance, just not much to get interested in, especially up against the other two Burgundies.

The 1985 Jadot Estournelles St. Jacques was much livelier and longer lived on the nose and in the mouth, with bright red Pinot/Gevrey notes, accompanied by faint truffle and underbrush. This wine was in fine shape, and while it never scaled the heights of the Rousseau, I think it was my wife’s favorite red wine of the night with its airy vibrancy and delineation.

Well, we moved to a new level (IMO) with the 1989 Rousseau Chambertin. This bottle showed an exquisitely detailed, ineffable nose dominated by truffles, mushrooms, and shape-shifting forest floor/underbrush notes that seemed at times to bring in an olive component. Equally detailed and multi-layered on the palate, the vibrant red fruit merged seamlessly with the truffle/mushroom flavors, delivering a finish that just would not quit. There must have been a match between my genome sequence and that of this wine, because this wine really sent me off--if you put this wine on the opposite site of the room, you would have had to have tied me to the mast like Odysseus to keep me away from it. I see that Don Cornwell rated the wine 94 points, which makes me think I would be afraid to try one of his 99 or 100 pointers for fear of bursting into flames. One of the greatest Burgundies (and wines) I have ever had…

As a blind Pinot, Lou Rittenhouse served the 1999 Dehlinger Pinot Noir Octagon Vineyard. This wine compared quite favorably with the older Burgundies, even if it really needed some more time in the bottle. The nose of red Pinot fruit was just beginning to develop secondary characteristics. In the mouth, the beautifully ripe fruit comes across as intensely flavored but light on its feet, with none of the heaviness I associate with some Pinot from this year. Round, complex and palate-coating, this wine was probably second only to the Rousseau among the reds of the night.

Maybe because we had had enough wine, but the 1990 Suduiraut, while pleasant to drink and in good shape, just did not get me excited. The wine showed excellent palate-coating viscosity and an abundance of tropical and peach fruit notes, but seemed to lack the complexity that shows up in the better examples from this chateau (I can’t help thinking of the 2001 here).