What a wonderful Friday night we had a Graileys last week! As often happens, a battle of B’s occurred by pure coincidence as our valued clients pursued the fine wine unicorn. Burgundy and Bordeaux are stalwarts at Graileys and these 4 bottles certainly lived up to the expectations! We started the night with 1969 Faiveley Charmes Chambertin that was recently acquired and it was fantastic! It was bright and powerfully red fruited with loads of dried red flowers, truffle, sois bois, incense and hard spices. The wine needed to open up (if you can believe it!) and the tannins were fine, silky and savory. The finish was quite long with truffles, red currant, wet leaves and minerals. Wow what a wine! Next up was 1971 Camille Giroud Chambertin that was a different animal altogether. The Giroud was sappy and darkly fruited with black cherry, date, roses and sandalwood on the nose with round, rich tannins and a youthful power. It continued to open over the hour and really lengthened out with mushrooms, forest floor, sois bois, black raspberry and black plums. A very consistent producer that crafts multi-generational Burgundy.
Next we had the twin stunners from Bordeaux. These 1982s were spot on in every way and the 1982 Margaux was the best bottle from this vintage that I have enjoyed to date. The wine had a mysterious, even intoxicating nose that was replete with damp leaves, truffles, sweet tobacco, black currant, creme de cassis, bakers chocolate, espresso, coffee bean, dried violets, exotic incense and graphite. I was bowled over and literally did my “Good Wine Jig” unconsciously. The palate was every bit as good sweet sweet, finely grained tannins of extreme allure. Like cashmere and crushed ripe black currants on the attack with a full middle complex ripe fruit and tertiary leather, cigar box, and gravel flavors. The finish went on for well over a minute and it rewarded us all over 3 hours thanks to the Foxes. Full disclosure: I decanted the wine for about 2 1/2 hours before they arrived and put a closure of the decanter to prevent over-aeration. It was majestic! Still fantastic but just a step below was the stalwart 2nd Growth from St. Julien 1982 Gruaud Larose! This was the best bottle of 82 Gruaud I have drank and it was perfect in every way. Really dense, thick, unctuously textured, offers up sanguine scents of beef, ripe cassis, herbs, tobacco, and underbrush. Extremely concentrated and complex, it is a huge, full-bodied, weighty, rich wine whose tannins are getting silkier and silkier. A pure delight to drink that will evolve and drink like a champ for 20-30 more years. This is truly a legendary bottle of Gruaud Larose that rocked!
Other great wines from the night included these:
2012 Matthew Wallace Cab
2013 Alphonse Mellot La Moussiere Sancerre
1991 Beringer Private Reserve Cab
2009 Guigal Ex-Voto Hermitage
The Hensteeth Lineup of Great Wines
2002 Cos d’Estournel
2000 Ponsot Clos de la Roche
2001 Echezeaux
2007 Domaine de Montille Pommard Les Rugiens 1er Cru
2011 ABC Holdegard
1999 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chappelle
NV Camille Saves Brut
2011 Opus One
1999 Billecart Salmon Cuvee Nicolas Francois Brut
2012 Evening Land Seven Springs Pinot Noir