Ideal drinking window
Recently opened and served for a private dinner, these wines were stunning, showing their full potential and in the ideal window for drinking.
Most wines have opening and closing periods, and it can be difficult to predict their ideal drinking windows.
All wine professionals usually speculate about when it could happen, but this is just a lucky guess, an estimate without really knowing when it will be for sure.
But when you've been waiting for the right time to come, and right at opening, you realize the wine is fully open, displaying all its complexity and potential, having reached its ideal drinking window. It is an incredibly satisfying reward for your taste buds.
Jacquesson Dizy Corne Bautray Extra-Brut Champagne 2009
Jacquesson has been one of my favorite champagne houses for the past 3 decades. It is also sentimental, as "Jacques" is my son's name, which gives me a good excuse to open a bottle now and then. The champagnes of Jacquesson have been the subject of many posts on my blog, and it is always a pleasure to pop the cork of these beautifully crafted champagnes.
Crafted from a single 1-ha vineyard in the “lieu-dit” of “Corne Bautray” within the commune of Dizy (Vallée de la Marne), planted exclusively with old Chardonnay vines (planted in 1960) and ranked as “Premier Cru,” Dizy Corne Bautray 2009 is an exceptional Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne.
The 2009 Jacquesson Dizy Corne Bautray Extra-Brut is a gentle, round, and delicate Champagne that is also rich and complex. The nose offers discreet yet expressive aromas of wild, fresh almonds and yellow stone fruit, mingling with toasted brioche and mineral notes. The palate is warm, round, generous, and ample, incredibly balanced (even if some of you would want a little more acidity), focused, with a gentle texture and refined structure. The finish is long and immediately calls for another glass (like all the wines tasted that day). Gorgeous Champagne!
NB: The recently tasted 2012 vintage was fresher, zestier, and sharper than this 2009 vintage. And yet, 2009 is so complex, yet elegant and aristocratic in its own way; it is too difficult and maybe unfair to compare them, as both offer a tremendous experience for the palate.
Domaine Jean-Claude Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Boudriotte" Burgundy 2018
Located in Chassagne-Montrachet, Domaine Jean-Claude Ramonet is one of the leading producers of Burgundy and probably the most famous in Chassagne-Montrachet.
Today, third-generation winemaker Jean-Claude Ramonet leads the domaine, while his brother Noël manages the family vines. The next generation is now engaged in the business: Jean-Claude's daughters, Anne-France and Clarisse, assist in the cellar and office, whereas Noël's sons, Michael and Pierre, work with him in the vineyards and develop their own winemaking ventures.
Ramonet cultivates vines across a prestigious 17-hectare mosaic, showcasing appellation levels from Bourgogne to Grand Cru. Premier Crus like Les Ruchottes and Clos de la Boudriotte, along with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that historically defined the domaine, receive similar recognition as their top-tier counterparts. Other distinguished vineyards include Bâtard-Montrachet, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Cailleret, and Chaumées. In the traditional Burgundian style, Ramonet also produces small quantities of Aligoté and Gamay.
The house is celebrated for its pure, complex, and age-worthy white wines, produced from low-yielding, old vines, especially those in the renowned Grand Cru vineyards, with Montrachet as its flagship.
Domaine Ramonet's iconic status, high quality, and limited production (around 100,000 bottles annually) make its wines among the most sought-after Burgundies among international collectors.
Domaine Jean-Claude Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Boudriotte 2018 was also very nice. The nose displayed floral and mineral aromas, combined with yellow-fruit and buttery, oaky nuances. The palate was almost like drinking a soft, buttery juice, but in a good way. It was soft, creamy, silky, coating, concentrated, and harmonious, with great minerality and zestiness, leading to an even more coating finish, with lots of buttery flavors all the way through. What a lovely wine!
Château Léoville-Las-Cases Saint-Julien Bordeaux 2009
When discussing wines that go through opening and closing periods, Chateau Leoville-Las-Cases, considered a rather classic Bordeaux style (rather than a modern one), is definitely a great example.
Having tasted this wine countless times over the past 34 years, En primeur, at the barrel, and in all the bottles I opened in my long career, I can tell you that it is a rather capricious wine that goes through up-and-down phases.
I was a little skeptical at first, having not tried the 2009 in a long time, about whether it would be open or closed. And yet it was so perfect and opened, it inspired the title of this post, as I truly believe it is now in one of these ideal drinking windows, as it showed fantastically well.
Dense and opaque, with an attractive color in the glass. The nose is expressive and charming, ripe yet fresh, with dark berries, cassis, tobacco, and mocha aromas, along with spicy, earthy, and oaky notes. The palate is gorgeously harmonious and integrated, rich and complex yet round and suave, nearly flawless, offering similar flavors as on the nose but with more depth, excellent texture and structure enhanced by great freshness (surprising for a 2009 vintage), no angularities, no edges, from the attack to the long, lingering, seamless finish. Stunning wine! So fresh, complex, sophisticated, and youthful! To be enjoyed now before it closes down again for a period of time.
NB: The guests and I compared this Leoville-Las-Cases 2009 with the following wine, Mouton-Rothschild 2009, and we all found that LLC was showing so much better than its First Growth counterpart.
Chateau Mouton-Rothschild Pauillac Bordeaux 2009
This bottle was brought by one of the guests. And it was also very good, but coming after such an incredible Leoville-Las-Cases 2009, it seemed to lack freshness, substance, and integration. And as both reds were from the same vintage, we thought it would be a great experience to compare them. Let me explain.
Although Mouton-Rothschild 2009 is also rich, complex, and concentrated, and seductive in its own style, it tasted less friendly and showed less harmony and integration, with more roughness and earthiness than Leoville-Las-Cases 2009. And more particularly, it definitely lacked the freshness and fruitiness that the Saint-Julien offered.
Mouton showed more of the characteristics of the hot 2009 vintage, riper and darker fruits, opulence, and a more full-bodied palate, yet less fresh and less sexy than the LLC 2009. Opaque color in the glass, too. On the nose, it revealed aromas of plum and cassis, licorice, coffee, and chocolate, with some earthy, oaky, and smoky nuances. The palate is also rich and complex, but, as mentioned earlier, less harmonious, less fruity, less integrated, and definitely less fresh and less together than LLC.
Does that make it a bad wine? No, absolutely not. Mouton 2009 is also a gorgeous wine in its own way, with the potential to age for years to come. And yet, compared to LCC, it didn't offer the freshness, purity of fruit, or seamless integration. Maybe Mouton 2009 is not yet in its ideal drinking window.
To conclude: Maybe we shouldn't have compared them; maybe we should have tasted and enjoyed each wine for what it is and how it is. Yet, being from the same vintage, with one a first growth and the other a second growth, it was too tempting not to do so, and by doing so, it was also too tempting not to revive the eternal debate (often discussed here on my blog) about how some second and third growths often outrank some first growths, showing how obsolete and in need of a total revision the 1855 classification really is.
That's all, folks, for today, but stay tuned for more posts to come!
Cheers! Santé!
Dom
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