By AJ McClellan
Every day is special in Graileys, but some are more special than others. Yesterday was one of our member’s birthdays and WOW some great wines hit the table. We eased into the night with a 1982 Dom Perignon that was every bit as delicious as we were hoping! Burnt Caramel with toast and roasted pecans on the nose. The effervescence is almost all gone but there was a lovely sourdough note that floats around the toasted aromas and mingles to make a complex palate that shows great length and power. The finish showed seared apricot with and burnt bread. No punches were held for this next bottle. The 1991 Leroy Chambertin hit the table with a resounding thud. Spicy raspberry sprinkled with coco powder spilled from the glass and wrapped all of us in anticipation to try the wine. With the first sip notes of clean soil rolled forth with bright red fruit and a spicy white pepper. The complexities were subtle but wide ranging moving from powdered chocolate to pine and violet. This wine took a good hour to open in the glass and lasted for over 4 hours. I think that it was still a baby and could easily go for another 10 years to bring out some more of the earthy notes.
With one look at what was on the table you could tell that the night was going to be brilliant. Not to be out done our members stepped up to the challenge of finding some stunning wines to compliment what was already on the table. A 1988 Remoissenet Le Montrachet was opened trepidatiously with a fear of pre-mox on everyone’s mind. Once in the glass the wine bloomed with key lime pie, limestone, and vanilla. There was no sign of caramel or honey which for a wine of this age was very surprising to me. Given 2 hours in the glass the wine continued to grow in complexity showing pleasant white flowers and some citrus fruit. Last but not least was the 1976 Dom Perignon Oenotheque which we have been spoiled with several times recently. Drinking with great freshness this bottle was outstanding. A counter point to the deep richness and oxidative style of the 82 the 76 was bright and crisp with white peach and ripe lemon. We did pop a 1993 La Tache but unfortunately it was not drinking, a heartbreaker but sometimes that how the cork crumbles…