LeDomduVin: Champagne Henriot, William Fevre Chablis and Chateau Brane-Cantenac

Champagne Henriot, William Fevre Chablis and Chateau Brane-Cantenac 

Sometimes, I do serve affordable wines! 😉😄👍🥂🍷

Champagne Henriot Millesime 2008

Established in 1808, Champagne Henriot is one of the rare independent Champagne houses that has remained in the same family throughout its history. The 2008 vintage celebrates its 200th anniversary. 

A blend of 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir, Henriot 2008 is a delightful champagne. It is fresh, crisp, rich, dense, and "gourmand." It has lovely stone fruits, white flowers, mineral aromas, great acidity, structure, texture, and a long lingering finish. It is really enjoyable and a steal at that price! 

William Fevre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2016

Light yellow color with green nuances. Fresh, clean nose, mineral, white and yellow stone fruits, lemony aromas, with light buttery notes. Fresh, clean, and zesty on the palate, focus and steely with razor-sharp acidity, balanced, light and limpid, cleansing. Loved it. 

Chateau Brane-Cantenac Margaux 2001

I found the 2001 vintage somewhat thin and austere but still quite enjoyable. The wine presented secondary and tertiary aromas with red cherry, raspberry, black currant, liquorice, earth, minerals, and some oaky and vegetal notes. The palate has good acidity and moderate tannins, yet it was light and lacked complexity and texture. The finish was shorter than I would have liked. Although lacking in substance and depth, the wine tasted fresh and juicy, with slightly unripe red fruit tones and vegetal notes that needed some time to mellow with aeration. I carefully decanted the wine to allow it to breathe and to prevent any sediments in the decanter. It was ok, but not my favorite vintage from this Chateau. 

Cheers! Santé!

Dom

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LeDomduVin: Cristal 2015, Droin Hommage à Louis 2021 & Haut-Brion 2008

Last night's wines: Cristal 2015, Droin Hommage à Louis 2021 & Haut-Brion 2008

I opened and served these wines for a private dinner.

Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne 2015

Light, refreshing, crisp, with razor-sharp acidity, it is satisfying but better with food (oysters, for example).

Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin Chablis Grand Cru "Hommage à Louis" 2021

Strangely, I would have loved to like it, but I found it a bit dull and lacking in substance, with a short finish. It's definitely not up to the standard of a Grand Cru, in my opinion. Too bad. I will need to revisit it with a new bottle to check if it was just a problem with this particular bottle.

PS: For those who did not know this Cuvée from Droin, it is a special Cuvée. It is supposed to be the pinnacle of Droin wines and one of Chablis's finest grand cru Cuvée. The name pays homage to "Louis Droin", who bought this plot in 1920. It was used for the first time for the 2020 vintage. It is a plot on "Les Clos" adjoining "Valmur", so normally It should be beautiful. And I like their wines in general. But this particular bottle, no. That's why I said I should taste it again; perhaps it was a bottle that suffered. However, the cork was good, as was the appearance and the nose. On the other hand, the taste was really disappointing: no substance, complexity, or length in the palate.

Chateau Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan 2008

My tasting is biased because Haut-Brion is my favorite Bordeaux wine. Yet, again, it showed wonderfully. I loved it. It was opened for 1h30 before serving, and there was no decanting. It was perfect. It was so smooth and silky yet textured and structured, complex and rich yet elegant and sophisticated. It was really pleasurable.

Cheers! Santé!

Dom

@ledomduvin #ledomduvin #wine #vin #vino #wein @louisroederer_ #louisroederer #champagne #jeanpauletbenoitdroin #chablis #grandcru @chateauhautbrion_ #hautbrion #pessacleognan #bordeaux #tastingnotes #sommelier #sommelierlife #sommlife #wineyearly #ilovemyjob

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LeDomduVin: Burgundy Stellar Examples - Raveneau and Groffier

Burgundy stellar examples: 

Raveneau and Groffier

Opened this weekend... (1/2)

Raveneau and Groffier need no introduction, as both are widely recognized among connoisseurs and enthusiasts of exceptional Burgundy. Their reputation precedes them.

Domaine Francois Raveneau Chablis Premier Cru "Foret" 2018

Stunning! Upon opening the bottle, I immediately detected a pleasant aroma from the cork, indicating its initial appeal. It boasted zesty citrus peel notes in the glass, subtle nuances of apple and pear, toast, and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, it is smooth, silky, generous, ample, and charming, exuding elegance and precision, enhanced by crisp acidity and chalky minerality on the finish. Beautifully balanced, finely structured, and textured, while gracefully expanding from the attack to the long finish. What a delightful wine! Loved it. 

Domaine Robert Groffier Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru "Les Sentiers" 2018

As soon as I opened it and took a whiff at the cork, enticing aromas filled my nostrils and put a smile on my face. Past its dark red hue, the nose offered timid black cherry and floral notes with an earthy tone. After a little while, the nose was quite charming and refined. The palate also seemed shy, dry, earthy and acidic, thin, and lacking a bit of amplitude. After about an hour, it opened up, revealing more prominent flavours of ripe dark cherry and plum mingling with floral and earthy notes. The moderate tannins provided a good structure and length, and the wine was pleasantly easy to drink. Yet, it seemed that it was still closed, having yet to fully express itself. Too young, I thought. And yet again, something told me that within 5 or 6 more years, this pinot would transform into an exceptional wine. It just needs a bit of time.

Domaine Robert Groffier Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru "Les Amoureuses" 2018

Compared to "Les Sentiers," "Les Amoureuses" appeared so much more open, confident, and exuberant. The nose was refined and enticing, combining red and dark ripe cherry with mineral and floral nuances. The palate is soft, silky, refined, almost fragile, yet layered, complex, rich, and generous in a very elegant and sophisticated way. Impressive!

As discussed with my colleagues that night, it is true that it is very difficult to go back to drinking average wines once you've tasted high-quality ones (like those above). For wine (and everything else), you can not return to mediocrity once you have tasted excellence. - Dom

Cheers! Santé!

Dom 

@ledomduvin #ledomduvin #vin #wine #vino #wein @domaineraveneau #domaineraveneau #francoisraveneau @domaine.robert.groffier #domainerobertgroffier #robertgroffier #burgundy #chablis #chambollemusigny #stellarwines #stellarwineexamples #lesphotosadom #sommelier #sommelierlife #sommlife #ilovemyjob

Unless stated otherwise, all right reserved ©LeDomduVin 2023, on all the contents above including, but not limited to, photos, pictures, drawings, illustrations, collages, visuals, maps, memes, posts, texts, writings, quotes, notes, tasting notes, descriptions, wine descriptions, definitions, recipes, graphs, tables, and even music and video (when and where applicable).

LeDomduVin: Quaffable wines

Quaffable wines

It is fun to regularly participate in food & wine pairing/tasting for various events in our restaurants and other venues, as well as doing and supervising the wine service during these events.

Organizing the wines for these events and tasting them with the team allows me to come down from the stratospheric heights of top wine levels where I usually spend most of my time, to come back down to earth, to the world of more affordable quaffable wines.

Yesterday, we tasted these wines:

Champagne Henriot Brut Souverain NV

A blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier, it is gentle, nice, and easy, light to medium bodied with a fine mousse, crispy without being too acidic, and good minerality and chalky nuances, delivering pear, lemon flavors, with light notes of ginger, seashell and toasted brioche.

Pascal et Nicolas Reverdy Sancerre Terre de Maimbray 2020

Soft, supple, and mineral, well balanced, light-bodied, and easy-going, yet rounded by ripe fruit flavors, which almost made it taste sweet with the Thai-influenced food we had with it. The finish was a bit short for my taste (but that's me). 

William Fevre Montmains Chablis Premier Cru 2019

Fresh, really crisp, light to medium bodied, superbly balanced between the ripeness of the fruit and the razor-sharp lemony acidity, developing a cleansing steeliness marked by a mouthwatering minerality bringing both structure and texture lasting to the zesty lingering finish. Loved it.

La Rioja Alta S.A. Vina Alberdi Reserva Rioja DOCa 2018

Frankly, I had higher expectations for this wine as I love this producer, and Rioja wines in general, more especially when it is a "Reserva", but it was light, too light, and short unfortunately, lacking both charm, complexity as well as structure and texture (in my opinion). Not a bad wine, just "blah"...

Thierry Germain Domaine des Roches Neuves Saumur-Champigny Franc de Pied 2016

As the main course was fish, I could have chosen a Pinot Noir, but I preferred a Cabernet Franc instead. It was a great alternative, as this wine was rather light, with great acidity, bright red, and dark fruits, integrated tannins, excellent balance, and long-lasting fin. Loved it.

Cheers! Santé! 

Dom

@ledomduvin #ledomduvin #tasting #tastingnotes #vin #wine #vino #wein #champagne #loirevalley #burgundy #chablis #rioja

Unless stated otherwise, all right reserved ©LeDomduVin 2023, on all the contents above including, but not limited to, photos, pictures, drawings, illustrations, visuals, maps, memes, posts, texts, writings, quotes, notes, tasting notes, descriptions, wine descriptions, definitions, recipes, graphs, tables, and even music and video (when and where applicable).