Weekend Vinopolpick 12-11-20

In a blue-chip appellation like Hermitage, a bottling like this is a rare value.
Delas Freres Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes, Rhone 2015 750ML ($89.95) $66 special
Falstaff Magazine 96 points “[Translated] Very closed, blackberry jam, hints of balsamic spice. Creamy start, immediately present minerality, extremely high density with fine but not too silky tannins, an elegance at the maximum of what fits in 14 percent by volume, minerally seasoned, all components seamlessly integrated, ripe, well-bearing acidity, very expressive.”
Wine Spectator 95 points “This is loaded with well-defined loganberry, blackberry and boysenberry pâte de fruit flavors, flecked with anise and black tea notes and carried by a fine iron streak that lingers wonderfully. A wine of cut, purity and precision. Best from 2020 through 2035. From France.”
Wine Advocate 94 points “A blend of Syrah grapes from several lieux-dits, including Les Bessards, the 2015 Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes is aged in new and second use barrels. It’s a dark, concentrated wine, meaty, rich and tannic but with a bright beam of cassis fruit that lifts it and gives it great definition and shape on the palate. Give this medium to full-bodied wine at least 5 years in the cellar and drink it over the next 15.”
Jeb Dunnuck 94 points “While the Les Bessards gets all the attention, the 2015 Hermitage Domaine Des Tourettes isn’t far behind and is unquestionably the value play. Beef blood, cassis, blackberry liqueur and loads of crushed rock nuances all emerge from this ripe, concentrated, full-bodied Hermitage that has a classic, structured profile. It’s well worth a case purchase and will keep for two to three decades. As always, this cuvée comes from two parcels, the lower part of the Bessards lieu-dit and the Les Grandes Vignes located at the highest point on Hermitage Hill. It’s completely destemmed and sees 16 months in 30% new French oak.”

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One of the Loire’s hottest Chenin producers’ flagship, at an unbeatable price.
Brendan Stater-West Saumur Les Chapaudaises, Loire 2017 750ML ($59.95) $36 special
Case-12 Brendan Stater-West Saumur Les Chapaudaises, Loire 2017 750ML ($719.95) $389 special (that’s only $32.42/bottle!)
Importer Note “We met fellow ex-pat and wine geek, Brendan Stater-West, where magic happens – in Romain Guiberteau’s cellar in Saint-Just-sur-Dive. Since 2011, Brendan has been working behind the scenes as Romain’s right-hand-man. And in 2015, he completed the first harvest of wine to be bottled under his own label, from the wonderfully unique site of Les Chapaudaises! Brendan’s single hectare of vines comes from the lieu-dit, Les Chapaudaises.  A half-kilometer from the now famous butte of Brézé, on slightly elevated slope, the vineyard soil is completely composed of tuffeau limestone with calcium-rich clay and sand with a plentiful supply of seashell fossils.”

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The average listed price is $53

A great value out of northeast Spain
Bodegas Virxen Pagos del Galir Mencia, Valdeorras 2016 750ML ($21.95) $16 special
Case-12 Bodegas Virxen Pagos del Galir Mencia, Valdeorras 2016 750ML ($249.95) $169 special (that’s only $14.08/bottle —the lowest listed price in the country!)
James Suckling 92 points “A wine with a delicious density of fruit and dusty texture. Medium body, fresh acidity and a long and flavorful finish. New wine from Rioja’s CUNE in this appellation.”

Lascombes has been one of the biggest over-performers in Margaux, with a string of successes since the 2000 vintage—but the 2010 might be their best ever.
Chateau Lascombes, Margaux 2010 750ML ($149.95) $119 special
Wine Advocate 96 points “The wine hits all cylinders in 2010. The average alcohol for the bottled wine is 14%. It has a gorgeously sweet nose of creme de cassis, spring flowers, subtle barbecue smoke and charcoal followed by full body, beautiful intensity, great purity, stature and length. The influence of any oak is minimal, despite the fact that 90% new French oak was used. Needless to say, this is an example of modern-styled winemaking at its finest, and arguments that such wines will not age well, do not represent their terroir , and are soul-less, are totally groundless. Give it five or so years of cellaring and drink it over the following 25-30 years. This is one of the great Margaux wines of the vintage.”
Decanter 94 points “Lascombes in 2010 has exuberance and precision and confidence, and a sense of fun. At the 10 year mark the power of the tannins is clear and evident. It’s a big, concentrated, exuberant wine but it has delicacy and construction and persistency. Drinking Window 2020 – 2042.”

An insider’s pick made with some very coveted grapes
Jacques Lassaigne Millésimé Brut Nature, Champagne 2010 750ML ($149.95) $99 special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 95 points “(Reviewed Aug 2019) Due to be disgorged commercial a few weeks after I tasted it was the 2010 Brut Nature Blanc des Blancs Millésime, a vintage that Lassaigne described as characterized by “very high maturity” and which was vinified entirely in tank. Offering up aromas of lemon oil, green apple, warm bread and chalky soil tones, it’s full-bodied, ample and vinous, with chewy dry extract and a fleshy core, crisp acids and a long, saline finish. Once again, it’s a blend of  Les Paluets, Le Cotet and La Grande Côte, Lassaigne commenting that it always tends to come from the same parcels.”

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To say DRC is the finest example of Burgundy is an understatement. These are the finest wines produced in the world. Iconic and highly sought after, these are devoted followed and drunk in ecstasy. These arrive next month directly from the national importer, Wilson Daniels, through our local distributor. 

“The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s 2017s are showing brilliantly from bottle, and this tasting with Bertrand de Villaine was one of the absolute high points of my two months of visits along the Côte d’Or… spending an hour or two with full glasses of wines such as these is not merely of immense professional interest but, I admit, a source of great personal pleasure… it is clear that this is a vintage that will give immense pleasure to anyone able to secure a few bottles. Hauntingly aromatic, structurally supple and pungently intense, this vintage will drink well younger than both its 2016 and 2015 predecessors, but it is much closer in quality to those two vintages than I perceived 12 months ago. At the end of our tasting, the group spent some time discussing possible analogies, and the comparison I found the most compelling is with the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s 1985 vintage. Indeed, I had drunk a superb 1985 Grands-Echézeaux from the domaine over dinner with a good friend a few days before my visit, and the similarities in overall balance between the two vintages were strikingly apparent as I tasted through the young 2017s. The domaine’s 2017 Montrachet also merits special comment, as it is a magical wine built for the ages.” William Kelley, Wine Advocate


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Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Corton Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune 2017 750ML ($1999.95) $1,499 special, only 4 bottles available
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 93 points “The 2017 Corton Grand Cru is performing beautifully from bottle, bursting from the glass with a captivating bouquet of peonies, rose hips, sweet red berries, orange rind, spices and subtle soil tones. On the palate, the wine medium to full-bodied, supple and velvety, with succulent acids, good concentration and a long, exquisitely perfumed finish. Indeed, it’s only by comparison with the domaine’s utterly suave wines from Vosne-Romanée later in the tasting that this Corton’s tannins seem comparatively coarse-grained. Picked on September 4th, it is showing appreciably better than it did when I tasted it from tank before bottling last year.”
Allen Meadows-Burghound 93 points “A ripe, fresh and layered nose combines notes of plum, spice, earth and plenty of floral influences. There is fine richness to the relatively supple middle weight flavors that possess a velvety mid-palate mouthfeel along with reasonable if not special density, all wrapped in a youthfully austere, balanced and sneaky long finish where a hints of warmth and sweetness eventually emerge. This minerally effort needs to develop better depth but the potential appears to be present for that to occur.”

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Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits 2017 750ML ($2,499.95) $1,799 special, only 1 bottle available
Antonio Galloni 96 points “The 2017 Grands-Echézeaux Grand Cru is a pretty big step up in this range, both in terms of depth, power and energy. Here the flavors are dark, while there is quite a bit of tannin lurking beneath. Black cherry, graphite, leather, smoke, spice and menthol infuse the 2017 with tons of virile, somber character. Readers will have to be very patient. A whole range of sepia-toned aromas and flavors shrouded in tannin add depth to an imposing Grands-Echézeaux built for cellaring. Harvest was on September 12.”
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94+ points “More brooding and reserved than the Échézeaux that preceded it in the tasting, the 2017 Grands Échézeaux Grand Cru unwinds in the glass with an enticing bouquet of cassis, blackberries, blood orange, exotic spices and musk. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, ample and fleshy, with a more introverted, structured profile than the Échézeaux, its considerable reserves of concentrated fruit framed by an abundance of powdery tannin and succulent acids. Long and penetrating, this will reward sustained bottle age. The Grands Échézeaux was picked on September 12.”
Neal Martin-Vinous 94 points “The 2017 Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru was picked at 41hl/ha on September 12 and bottled on May 21 and 23, 2019. Given 10–15 minutes to open, it is clearly richer on the nose compared to its petit frère, revealing hints of kirsch, red currant and orange pith and subtle loamy aromas. The palate is medium-bodied, with suppler tannins than the Echézeaux and hints of wild mint, freshly rolled tobacco and a touch of spice toward the harmonious finish, which fans out effortlessly; it is perhaps less grippy than the 2015. This is an open “G.E.” since it can often be difficult to read just after bottling. It will give enormous pleasure over the next two decades. 1,290 cases produced.”
Allen Meadows-Burghound 94 points “A cooler, more elegant and equally spicy nose of mostly red fruits and Asian-style tea is wonderfully fresh if notably more restrained. As is typically the case there is more size and weight to the broad-shouldered flavors that are shaped by firmer and slightly less fine-grained tannins on the impressively persistent finish. This is not as concentrated or powerful as it usually is but even so, it is going to require at least 10 years or so of patience and should amply reward 15 to 18.”

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Arriving Later This Month:

Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Richebourg Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits 2017 750ML ($3,199.95) $2,399 special, only 4 bottles available
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 95 points “The 2017 Richebourg Grand Cru offers up generous aromas of ripe strawberries, raspberries, cinnamon and coniferous forest floor, framed by a lavish application of creamy new oak that’s less immediately integrated than in the Domaine’s other wines at this early stage. On the palate, the Richebourg is full-bodied, rich and multidimensional, with a lavishly enveloping attack and supple structuring tannins that are almost entirely concealed by its deep core of fruit. Long and sapid, this is a spectacular wine in the making.”
Allen Meadows-Burghound 95 points “A discreet application of wood frames the even more complex and spicier nose of relatively high-toned, cool and airy aromas of red berries, violet, rose petal, orange pekoe tea and a hint of leather. The sleek, intense and sophisticated middle weight plus flavors brim with both minerality and dry extract that buffers the slightly firmer tannic spine shaping the hugely long, powerful and beautifully harmonious finale. It would be fair to observe that this isn’t the most concentrated Richebourg the Domaine has ever produced but it is one that should age effortlessly on its balance. In sum, this is a highly refined and elegant Riche with a positively gorgeous mouthfeel.”
Antonio Galloni 95 points “The 2017 Richebourg Grand Cru is a Burgundy of Cistercian austerity. Searing tannins give the Richebourg its trademark sense of energy and vibrancy. White pepper, mint, dried flowers and bright red berry fruit are all beautifully delineated, with underlying beams of minerality and salinity that lend dimension. Richebourg is very rarely finessed, but is more typically a wine of brawn and pure power, as it is here. A range of bright, floral/savory accents suggest a bit more elegance may lie ahead. We will see. My colleagues appreciate the Richebourg more than I do. Harvest began the afternoon of September 8, after Romanée-Conti. Rain on the 9th caused a break in picking for the day. The last of the Richebourg came in on the 10th.”

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The average price is $2,840

Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Romanee-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits 2017 750ML ($2,999.95) $2,499 special, only 3 bottles available
Antonio Galloni 98 points “A total stunner, the 2017 Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru is the most expressive wine in the lineup today. Rich, creamy and so wonderfully textured, the RSV simply has it all. The tannins are present, but they are also matched by tremendous fruit density and pure power. Floral and savory overtones grace the lifted, saline finish. Leaving price aside, if I could only have one wine in this range, it would unquestionably be the RSV. The 2017 is a total knock-out. That’s all there is to it. This fruit was picked on September 10 and 11.”
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 95 points “The 2017 Romanée-St-Vivant Grand Cru was also showing very well indeed, soaring from the glass with scents of cassis, violets, blood orange, cinnamon and espresso roast that are complemented by carnal nuances of smoked duck and musk. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, multidimensional and enveloping, with terrific concentration, rich and powdery structuring tannins and a long, saline finish. This is a dramatic, head-turning Romanée-St-Vivant in the making, and it is showing even better in bottle than it did from barrel.”
Neal Martin-Vinous 95 points “The 2017 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru was picked on September 10 and 11 at 36hl/ha and bottled between April 26 and May 21. It initially has a more reticent bouquet compared to the Richebourg and requests more time in the glass. Eventually it evolves wonderful, almost pixelated scents of red berry fruit, wild hedgerow and crushed stone. Although it is less intense than the previous two vintages, I discern a touch more precision and focus than in the Richebourg. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins. There is a little more body and depth than in the aforementioned Grand Cru; more energy, perhaps. A mixture of red and black fruit emerges toward the finish, the latter becoming more prominent with aeration. This is a delicious Romanée-Saint-Vivant. Beautiful. 1,693 cases produced…”
Allen Meadows-Burghound 94 points “A markedly floral and very finely nuanced nose almost timidly reflects notes of rose petal, violet, red currant, sandalwood, tangerine peel and a whisper of anise. The sleek and strikingly refined medium-bodied flavors culminate in a sneaky long if decidedly compact and quite serious finish that is presently on the youthfully austere side. This is an exercise in lace and grace though not one without plenty of punch.”


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Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Richebourg Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits 2002 750ML ($4,199.95) $3,799 special, 1 bottle available
[Back label significantly stained]
Wine Spectator 95 points “The most forward of the ’02s in both barrel and bottle, this floral- and cherry-scented red verges on opulent, yet remains fresh, pure and succulent. There’s a more decadent feel to this Richebourg.–Non-blind 2002 DRC tasting (February 2005). Best from 2014 through 2032.”
Burghound 95 points “(fashioned with <70% whole clusters). I had not tried the ’02 Riche in several years so it was interesting to see how it’s progressing. The expressive though very cool nose is finally beginning to display the initial hints of maturity with the classic dried rose petal and spice nuances adding both elegance and breadth to the pretty mix of red fruit and plum scents. There is a beguiling mouth feel to the intensely mineral-driven broad-shouldered flavors that are at once powerful but sleek, all wrapped in a muscular and palate staining finish. The refined palate impression is considerably enhanced by the dense but extremely fine tannins, in fact so much so that while this is still very clearly on the way up it could actually be drunk now with pleasure. That said I would still strongly advise holding this strikingly pretty effort for another 6 to 10 years first. I should note that while I have had relatively consistent notes over the years, occasionally I land on a bottle that seems herbaceous and almost vegetal; why this variation occurs isn’t clear but nonetheless it does happen.”

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