Tuesday-Night Burgundies

[DonRocks]

Four of us, one of whom drove down from Massachusetts just for the evening. I was in charge of the food, and brought a six-pound slab of rare roast beef, a one-kilogram wheel of Brie, and two large, rustic loaves of bread.

1997 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru "Les Perrières" - Classic middle-aged Coche nose, medium weight, healthy acidity for the vintage, elegant and ethereal, incredible white pepper in the bouquet, developed some surprising caramel in the nose after an hour, but arguably never reached its peak

1993 Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet - Oxidized and undrinkable

1993 Leroy Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru "Les Beaux Monts" - Exactly the nose you'd want from a great adolescent Leroy, minerals, mushrooms, and that "boiled beetroot" fruit which lies right in the middle of the red-black spectrum, long finish, changed over an hour but neither improved nor declined, a perfect Leroy

1998 Ponsot Chambertin - Surprising confectionary fruit in the nose of this rare wine, acidity was in the background, but persistent if you searched for it, very Charmes-Chambertin-like, representative of the newer school of Ponsots, but a very early entry into that category, balanced and very drinkable with no signs of decline

1990 Claude Dugat Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Lavaux Saint-Jacques" - What could have arguably been the wine of the night was virtually ruined by the owner shaking the bottle up during transport, an incredible nose and completely healthy fruit, but from the very first glass there was powdery sediment clouding each glass, marring the finish and turning a nearly perfect wine into merely a very good one, a tragic waste of wine and money completely due to negligent handling

1985 Georges Mugneret Ruchottes-Chambertin - Almost a great wine, there was an initial display of ever-so-slight TCA which all of us thought would be eclipsed by the large-framed, almost Rhone-like weight, and perfectly healthy, barely mature fruit, though alas, the TCA won the arm-wrestling contest as the minutes wore on, and this outstanding wine never came into full bloom

1997 Henri Jayer Echezeaux (George Jayer bottling) - Approaching maturity with several years of positive aging ahead of it, this had a classic, infantile "candied" Jayer nose with crushed raspberries, ultimately to resolve in a more stately presentation several years down the road

Cheers,

Rocks.