Blind starter:
Legras Cuvée St. Vincent 1996 was a fair Blanc de Blancs Champagne from Chouilly. Appley, very full bodied, floral and red toned in fruit - in fact it was so fruity and floral and red toned that I was sure it was a Pinot-based Champagne! Shows just how little I understand wines...
Then we had a half-blind set of 2005s from Rousseau and Camille Giroud.
Camille Giroud Chambertin Grand Cru 2005 was very dark coloured. The nose was massively oaky and smelled like powder that hot chocolate is made from: sweet and oaky. Fruity, quite tannic, some refreshing acidity and berried fruit, but frankly it was difficult to see the Pinosity in this.
Armand Rousseau Mazy-Chambertin Grand Cru 2005 was quite shy - but I have always liked the shy girls that make me look for their charms. Red toned, mineral, elegant and did not have as voluptious a character as I expected from a warm year wine. Lighter on the surface than the other '05s tonight, but this had an intensity and inner fire that the Girouds mostly lacked. It is a wine I would love to spend hours - or decades - with.
Camille Giroud Corton Clos du Roi Grand Cru 2005 was a very toffeed and sweet and oaky wine. It was concentrated, but soft and lacking in electricity. It perked up on the aftertaste, though. But sadly the oak was dominant. Ultra-modern.
Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques 2005 was odd amongst tonight's Rousseaus. The nose was very, very sweet and concentrated and seemed like raspberry liqueur. I tend to prefer the scent of wines to the taste, but this time around I found the palate more to my taste: tannic, acidic, yet very concentrated and fruity yet unadulturated by excess oak. I usually like Rousseau, but with this one I would be a little wary simply because of that liquer-like sweetness and huge concentration.
Camille Giroud Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds 2005 was dark, modern, oaky but had some berried, Pinot-like elements underneath. Sweet and the oak was rather bitter on the aftertaste. Not a style of Burgundy that I appreciate.
Armand Rousseau Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2005 was a lovely wine. The nose was quite classic in style with its beet-root, vegetal and mineral notes, but paradoxically was stern and voluptiously fruity at the same time. Tannic, closed, ungiving, tight but it was still pure Pinosity. Even when closed, this was a lovely wine.
Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques 2005 was strange amongst tonight's Rousseaus. It had such obvious new oak notes that I thought this might be one of the Girouds! But it did have a bright Pinosity underneath the oak and even some lovable vegetality. Quite masculine in style, tannic and rugged, oaky. I usually like Rousseau very much, but this bottle was an exception as I found it more "modern" in style than my preference.
Armand Rousseau Chambertin Grand Cru 2005 was deep and dark toned, very classy, elegant and with true Pinosity despite the obviously warm year aromatics. Tight, tannic, closed but still obviously a wine that is potentially profound. There were some new oak aromas, but the pure Pinosity covered them, so I can forgive them.
Lovely.Camille Giroud Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru 2005 was actually a pretty nice wine. The new style from Giroud is usually too oaky and inelegant for my taste, but this wine worked to some extent. Sure, there is very much oak, but it doesn't manage to cover the Pinosity and the vibrant, sexy fruit and the earthy nuances I hope to see with the grape. Strong, masculine, and even though it has none of the delicateness I hope to see in a Pinot, it still screams Pinosity to me. This is in a style that isn't close to my heart, but I still have to admit my grudging admiration.
Then we had some recently released bottles of older Camille Girouds - I have adored the all too few older Girouds I've had before, and these bottles were no exception:
Camille Giroud Clos St. Denis Grand Cru 1976 was an intense wine with a strong red berry character and a warm-year-like sweetness of fruit (yes, there was fruit still in it). Bright, tomato/rust notes; vibrant yet sweet - what a lovely wine!
Camille Giroud Corton "Les Bressandes" Grand Cru 1976 was more animal than the Clos St. Denis with darker fruit aromas, rugged, a bit shitty, tobacco/vegetal but still very fleshy. It was softer on the palate than I expected from the nose, but still had a healthy skeleton giving shape to all that flesh. Nice!
Camille Giroud Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Les Cazetiers" 1976 was very shitty and dark, masculine and rugged; tannic, brutish and inelegant but very charming and very Pinot - oxymoronic though this may seem.
Camille Giroud Volnay 1er Cru "Frémiets" 1976 was very earthy, more elegant and red toned, less warm-year-like than the previous '76s, sweet fruit/strawberry, some dung; bright and acidic, delineated, lovely mature character despite still being a bit tannic. Very lovable.
I tasted from two bottles of Camille Giroud Volnay 1er Cru "Champans" 1978. The first was just lovely and pure, aged Pinosity, vibrant yet leafy/earthy/sous bois; structured and sweet despite obviously being mature - a lovely, lovely wine. The second bottle was also lovely, but smelled just like mushrooms and wasn't at all as brightly fruity; but was a lovely, lovely expression of old Pinot. There are no good old wines, just good old bottles - but even the good old bottles can be radically different.
Camille Giroud Beaune 1er Cru "Les Bressandes" 1988 was darker toned than the previous old Girouds, but still with a lovely animal/shitty character, very lively and vibrant, masculine but still bright and pure Pinosity. Lovely.
For dessert we had a couple Reciotos:
Monte Cariano Recioto 2001 smelled like herbs and strawberries - quite like a Grenache based dessert. The palate was fairly high in acidity, vibrant and refreshing and seemed more off-dry than a dessert. I enjoyed it very much.
Bussola Recioto TB 2003 was sugary and dark toned, inky, unrefreshing and frankly not as interesting as the Cariano. Simple.
With a lovely dinner of lamb and a wonderful tomato risotto I was served a blind glass of Amirault "La Mine" St. Nicolas de Bourgueil 2006 which was very true to the grape (and thus great with lamb): herbal, leafy, cassis; but also was rather full bodied and stronger than I would expect of Loire Cab Franc. Nice stuff.
And one more blind was passed my way: Jean-Marc Boillot Bourgogne 2005 which I thought was a very serious effort for a Bourgogne. It was quite spicy, a bit oaky perhaps, but that didn't mask the Pinosity; soft fruit, sweet but balanced. A nice enough wine, and impressive for Bourgogne.
-Otto