By: AJ McClellan
With the weather finally coming around our Thursday night was a relatively quiet one. But even on a quiet night you can always find some excellent bottles opened around the Graileys tables.
The first bottle was a true treat! A half bottle of NV Krug grand Cuvee from the original Graileys. This Krug had been laying low in our members cellar for more than six years. I would love to have told you the blend of the vintages, but this bottle came out before they coded the wines to tell you such things… The bottle was rich and powerful with toast and almond extract, reminding me of some of the 85 and 89 vintage Krug bottlings we have had of late. The effervescence was still intact and I found a very pleasant key lime pie note on the finish.
Next up was a 1990 Vina Tondonia Rioja Blanc that was so much fun to drink! This waxy wine was full of brown butter, tangerine pulp, honey, and dried flowers. While I was a huge fan of this bottle, the previous two times I have tried it the wine has been flat and oafish. If you have any of these in your cellar I would recommend drinking them immediately and hoping for the best.
The last three wines of the night were a trio of excellent Burgundies. Starting with a 2006 Pierre Morey Meursault Perrieres which was on the cusp of its secondary nature, giving off slight nutty aromas and hints of honey while the lemon fruit was still very much intact. This is a nicely complex wine with more subtle layers that I feel will come out in another 3-5 years. Compared to the 2000 Verget Batard Montrachet the wine was a completely different animal! The Verget was right in the midst of its secondary aromas with full blown honey blossom, dried peach, and a stark minerality of limestone. The palate gave off a golden delicious apple component with a slight nuttiness. I feel the Batard is in an excellent drinking window right now. Last but not least was a personal favorite of mine, the 2010 d’Ardhuy Corton Charlemagne. This is a fresh, young bottle that shows great promise! The fruit is crisp and long on the palate with a sturdy backbone of minerality and acidity. I love the slight vanilla bean that comes from the oak aging as it rounds out the wine and adds yet another level of complexity.
Sometimes the slow nights are the best!