Another strong night at Graileys! Dominique Laurent dominated the table! The ’00 Dominique Laurent Beaune 1er Cru VV was smoking and the ’11 SQN Patine Syrah couldn’t have been on a more opposite spectrum but it was a close second! While the ’00 Laurent was all about elegance and seamless in nature, the ’11 SQN was demanding with rich flavors and textures. Both phenomenal bottles of wine! The 1989 Veuve Clicquot Cave Privee was beautiful as always with its rich, warm toasty flavors and lengthy finish.
The ’76 Cos d’Estournel was on point straight from the bottle but it fell off relatively quickly, especially for those who kept it longer in the glass. The ’89 Cos on the other hand took about a solid hour for it to fully express its rich characteristics. After it opened up, it was one of the stars of the night!
We had a chance to open a bottle of the 2009 Second Flight it is still a baby- loaded with primary fruit and expensive oak. Decadent nose of creme de cassis and black cherry pie filling lead the palate with definite oak notes of coffee beans, cocoa and sweet supple tannins.
1989 Tertre Roteboeuf- showed classically as it has advanced in age with fine grained tannins and notes of turned earth, decimated red cherry and truffles.
2012 Comte de Vogue Bourgogne Blanc- this declassified Grand Cru Musigny blanc was fleshier, more advanced and oxidative than what we have had before. The first bottle was indestructible, linear with powerful minerals, shear lemon and lime; it needed hours of air in the decanter before it made its first budge. This second bottle had a rounder body, creamier in texture, rich vanilla, honey and tropical fruit. There was great energy in the room and in the bottles- there wasn’t a bad bottle in the lineup!
