Friday night was pretty intimate with only a couple of members enjoying wine in Graileys’ “Living Room”. The 2007 “house Meursault” (Arnaud Ente) was opened and enjoyed by all. The citrus and orchid fruits were expressive in an array of conditions: sweet Meyer lemon juice and fresh golden apple on the nose, with more of a charred and preserved citrus with caramelized pear richness going into the mid-palate. With more power than what the 2009 Arnaud Ente Meursault [see my blog from the previous week] has to offer, this wine is just stunning. To me the 2007 showcases a deeper Meursault nature compared to the more focused 2009. It drank with layers of toasted hazelnuts and salty almond skin bitterness, the perfect amount of Chardonnay yeast, and elegant minerality that all beautifully intermingled with the ripe fruits and earth. Can the 2007 Arnaud Ente Meursault age more? Absolutely!! …As long as we do not drink them all at Graileys 
The 1999 Domaine Daniel Rion & Fils Clos Vougeot GC was the last vintage for the eldest Rion, Patrice, as he transitioned into his own negociant project with his wife, and is now run by his remaining siblings Christophe, Olivier, and Pascalle Rion . Coming from the “Whopper” of Grand Cru vineyards in Burgundy, with a massive 50.59 hectares or 120-ish acres, one must be careful in selecting a wine from Clos de Vougeot GC, for variance of style and quality can be quite dynamic based on the producer and which parcel of Clos Vougeot the grapes are from. Luckily for us, Domaine Daniel Rion is a classic producer and in 1995, the Rion family purchased a just over half an acre parcelof prime CLos Vougeot from an old Burgundian woman for $900,000!! With this money, I think I will do the wine buying and drinking and let the Rions do the winemaking. This key parcel is located just south from Grands-Echezeaux, sitting high up the hillside with perfect exposure and irrigation and is comprised of 40+ year old vines; and as vines become older, the resulting wines develop more characteristics of its terroir. Wildly complex with loads of red fruit, spice and secondary organic earth elements (sommelier’s nice way of saying funky animal stench) shining through, this Clos Vougeot drank as a GC should.
Other wines that were enjoyed this evening…
2011 Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay Napa Valley
2006 Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque Champagne
2001 Etienne Sauzet Chevalier-Montrachet GC
2008 Chateau Clinet Pomerol
2009 Domaine Charvin Chateauneuf de Pape
2001 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne GC