My wife and I welcomed two good friends of ours over for dinner to hear about their travels to Easter Island, and they shared some great stories with us over a few nice bottles of wine.
NV Serveaux Fils Champagne Carte Noire. This bottle disgorged in July 2013 is comprised of 65% Pinot Meunier and 35% Pinot Noir. It’s pleasingly dark-toasted on the nose, with giving aromas of brioche, dark ginger, subtle berry fruits, browned apple, graphite, chalk and struck flint. In the mouth, it’s very nicely-concentrated, dense and fleshy, with a well-knit textured feel on the tongue. It holds its shape really well all the way through to the powerful and lengthy finish that shows no hints of bitterness anywhere. It has its own kind of character and showed tremendously well on this night.
2013 Edmunds St. John Gamay Bone-Jolly Rose Witters Vineyard El Dorado County. Aromas of raspberry, strawberry and mineral are nicely directed and fine-toned here. In the mouth is where it really shines, though, with a delicious burst of juicy strawberry and red citrus fruit supported by smooth acidity. It has nice effortless body and a generous nature that makes it a pleasure to drink.
2008 Aubert Chardonnay Lauren Vineyard Sonoma Coast. This is a bit darker in color than I’m used to seeing in Aubert Chardonnays. The nose takes a few minutes to sort itself out, but comes on strong with driven aromas of butterscotch, sour wood, vanilla, mace, hazelnut and lemon oil. In the mouth, it’s totally loaded with flavors of vanilla, butterscotch, hazelnut, allspice and nutmeg—very similar in profile to the nose, actually. It’s persistent, big-bodied, lusciously-textured, oily and pliant in feel, with just a hugely tang and spice-driven personality. While very good, I just can’t say it was one of my favorite Aubert Chardonnays, though, maybe just a bit too over-spiced. I’d opt to wait a while on these.
1966 Château Lascombes Margaux. This wine looks pretty healthy, with a solid garnet color and just a bit of browning around the rim. It evolves and changes constantly on the nose, showing at different times nicely aged scents of tobacco leaf, green pepper, dusty earth, dried red currants, dark cranberries, white pepper and fireplace ash. In the mouth, it’s a bit lighter-bodied than I might hope for, but it makes up for that by showing very little sign of tiredness and plenty of old-fashioned and well-aged savory flavors of meat drippings, iron ore, iodine, cranberries, raspberries and currants. It’s certainly an old claret, but really nice, and definitely a treat to be able to drink at this stage of its life.
1999 Philippe Delesvaux Coteaux du Layon Sélection de Grains Nobles. From 500 ml bottle. This pours a dark amber-orange color and throws out an intoxicating aromatic cornucopia of quince paste, nectarine, honeycomb, lime zest, orange peel and almond aromas that are wild and vivacious on the nose. On the palate, it’s brightly acidic and zesty-driven, showing vibrant and high-toned flavors of burnished nectarines and oranges, along with some more tropical nuances. It slices across the palate more than coats it with any creamy or luscious qualities—leaving a nice fresh and lifted feeling on the finish. It was a big hit all around.
-Michael