Wednesday Betsy was working, so with lemon chicken we had a small glass each of
the leftovers of a Brocard Kimmeridgien (it had filled out a bit , more fruity
than previous night, nice). When she left, I opened 375 of the 1999 La Chapelle
de la Mission Haut Brion (Pessac-Léognan). Not showing a lot at first, just
some blackcurrant fruit. Medium-bodied, moderately tannic. I kept going back
occasionally as I worked at computer over 3 hours. Over the evening some pretty
notes of flowers, smoke,tobacco and leather started to emerge; the fruit
developed a redder profile. Will let the couple 750s wait a while longer. I
also liked the '96 & '98 of this wine; would (on that limited experience) rank
it near the top of the seconds. Would like to try the 2000, but every time I've
seen it it's been north of $40 - too expensive for a second wine IMHO (I paid
$19/750 for the '99). B+/A-

Thursday Betsy had a committee meeting before performance, so left before I got
home. David and I had leftovers, and I popped the cork on the 2001 Dominique
Laurent "Cuvee Numero 1" Bourgogne, which I had picked up recently for $12.
Concentrated black cherry fruit with a distinctively Burgundian earth note.
There is some toasty oak (hey, this is Dominique Laurent), more than I would
prefer, but it's not overbearing. Big and beefy for a Bourgogne Rouge, I
wouldn't be happy if this was a $25 village Pommard, but a good value at this
price. B/B+

D. Laurent reminds me a little of Verget. The more expensive wines garner
acclaim/points, but I don't tend to like. But I seem to find the lowest end of
their portfolios more attractive.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a
good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where
it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy,
and certainly not of consistency.
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

>D. Laurent reminds me a little of Verget. The more expensive wines garner
>acclaim/points, but I don't tend to like. But I seem to find the lowest end
>of
>their portfolios more attractive

Dale,
Is this becuse the higher end wines are a bit overblown with fruit and
oak or because the QPR just isn't there?
Bi!!

Dale Williams wrote:
> Wednesday Betsy was working, so with lemon chicken we had a small glass each of
> the leftovers of a Brocard Kimmeridgien (it had filled out a bit , more fruity
> than previous night, nice). When she left, I opened 375 of the 1999 La Chapelle
> de la Mission Haut Brion (Pessac-Léognan). Not showing a lot at first, just
> some blackcurrant fruit. Medium-bodied, moderately tannic. I kept going back
> occasionally as I worked at computer over 3 hours. Over the evening some pretty
> notes of flowers, smoke,tobacco and leather started to emerge; the fruit
> developed a redder profile. Will let the couple 750s wait a while longer.

Thanks for these notes, Dale. Jean picked up a magnum of the '99 La
Mission at a charity auction a few years ago (!!), but notes like yours
are the closest I'm gonna get to tasting it for quite a long while... ;-)


> D. Laurent reminds me a little of Verget. The more expensive wines garner
> acclaim/points, but I don't tend to like. But I seem to find the lowest end of
> their portfolios more attractive.

Have you ever tried any of the Tardieu-Laurent wines from the Rhone? I
just wonder if you'd prefer their Crozes to their Hermitage, if you take
my drift...

Thanks for the interesting notes!
Mark Lipton

p.s. I have a bottle of Verget Chablis Bourgros that I'll open in a few
years, perhaps side by side with a R&V Dauvissat "Les Clos" if I'm
feeling cruel. ;-)

> Is this becuse the higher end wines are a bit overblown with fruit and
>oak or because the QPR just isn't there?

A bit of both. In Verget's case, the heavy hand with the oak isn't very evident
in most of the cheaper offerings. In Laurent's , all the wines show oak, but I
can take an oaky $12 Bourgogne better than an oaky $120 Bonne Mares.

I think my expectations, especially my desire for a sense of
place/terroir/whatever, are obviously higher for the more expensive offerings.
Dominique Laurent's wines taste more of winemaker than of place (his Chambolle
tastes closer to his NSG than it does to other producers' Chambolles). Typicity
is important to me; not to some other people (including some critics).
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

Dale Williams wrote:

>
> What year? I wonder if Verget has moderated the oak use recently (not that the
> Dauvissat is a stainless steel wine!), as Fevre seems to have done.

It's the 2001. I picked it up during Sam's winter warehouse clearance (white
wine shopping in Feb. -- great prices!). The Verget PC Chablis sold out before I
could lay a cyber-hand on it... BTW, the Dauvissat is also 2001. My first
Dauvissat Chablis was the '85 Les Preuses and showed next to no (new) oak, but
that was pure René. Vincent appears to me to be more of a quercophile.

Mark Lipton