Tag Archives: La Tâche

RIP: La Tache 1991

An evening to remember. An afternoon to forget. Conceived as a celebration of his new job, my friend, ‘Risky Business’ had declared his interest in drinking a special bottle. In fact what is widely considered to be one of THE special bottles – if you are a Burgundy nut at least: La Tache 1991. Having supplied said bottle and having read up on it, I volunteered to decant the Tache at the office (a few hours prior to dinner at The Square).

By the time I’d cut the capsule I was worried. By the time I had the corkscrew in the cork – which began to turn freely in the neck of the bottle – I knew that I, and the La Tache – was in trouble. I just about managed to withdraw a distinctly dry cork from the bottle in one piece. As I began to pour a Burgundian legend, the sensation of cold water running down my back increased. Completely brown with no hint of garnet, let alone ruby remaining. Madeira-like in aroma, but without any freshness or acidity, this bottle was completely ‘gone’. RIP La Tache 1991. (By all accounts this is not typical, clearly !)

Fortunately Risky Business is a man who knows how to prevent a crisis. One speculates that (professionally speaking) he sees the potential crises he averts as more serious than the incidence of an oxidised bottle of La Tâche; but from the wine merchant’s perspective, frankly – I doubt it. So, apparently unflustered, Risky Business took the matter in hand and, with the insouciance of a professional magician, produced another bottle to conjure with.

NB: to what extent Mme Bize-Leroy might approve of her wines being seen as “stand-ins” for the DRC is unclear……

2010 Meursault Perrieres, Roulot (96/100)

I was slightly surprised at the colour of this wine – which was a little more golden that I expected. So my suspicions were raised that we might be looking at oxidised wine number two of the evening….. Fortunately those concerns were rapidly assuaged, although without tasting a second bottle (any volunteers ?) I did initially wonder if this bottle was just fractionally more advanced than is typical. Anyway: rich, Lafon-like scent of lemon zest, candied peel, and lemon cheesecake. I wouldn’t have guessed this as Roulot I don’t think. Full bodied. Fleshy and opulent but with the freshness and acidity to balance the sheer volume of this wine. It really is very large scaled. Reminds me of the flavour of the lemon and honey cough mixture that my mother gave us as children. Which I loved: she had to hide the bottle ! Finishes stoney and bracing. Fantastic. As the evening progressed I became more and more convinced it is just a big, big Roulot Perrieres – the finish got more and more vivid and saline.

2002 Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Beaux Monts, Domaine Leroy (97/100)

Still a good bright ruby garnet colour. A huge relief and contrast to the lifeless tawny colour of the Tache 1991. Amazing fragrance. Really lifted and very, very intense. Aromas of hawthorn, briar, gravel, rose petal and peony. Turbo-charged freshness and vivacity. You’d swear this was a Grand Cru, and a great one at that, from the scent. Very, very long flavoured. Masculine, firm, savoury and dry with the lovely freshness of bright red fruit when first opened. Progressing beautifully in the glass and becoming darker and spicier. Hugely flavoursome. Later I picked up hints of tar and the proverbial ‘roasting tin’ meaty savoury aspect. A great wine and for my palate, bang on right now. No doubt it will last for ages, but why wait.

2010 Rhys Alpine Vineyard Pinot 92/100

Served after the big red and white Burgundies. Which worked for me – in fact it generally works for me – after mature flavours and aromatics I find myself craving lively fresh scents and juicy primary flavours. Bright, full ruby colour. Strawberry and cherry nose, just a touch jammy. Full bodied and flavoursome, with tons of red and black fruit. Also hints of tomato and fennel emerging as it sat in the glass. Finishes with velvety tannins and hints of slate or granite. Recognisably not Burgundy but recognisably Pinot albeit quite ripe. Really good but not absolutely top class – just slightly one dimensional. A very nice bottle nonetheless.

~ Very many thanks to Risky Businesss for his magnanimous attitude in case of vinous adversity

The 100 point Wine (?)

I’ve always thought that awarding a wine 100 points…..or 20/20 if you prefer the traditionally British scoring system – to be rather egotistical. When declaring something to be perfect, it seems to me that you are also indicating that you believe you have absolute knowledge about that item. That you know, absolutely, categorically that it could not be improved upon.

And I don’t claim to know that. So I don’t give 100 point scores.

Not even privately, in my head.

Yesterday I attended a dinner with two friends at which we were lucky enough to drink extraordinary wines. Three Burgundies and one Bordeaux. It was one of those dinners that makes you laugh out loud at the absurdity of your good fortune. “How on earth did I end up here, doing this, today ? ? ?”

My heartfelt thanks to those friends that made this evening possible.

As regards the wines themselves, one might argue we did everything wrong: the red wines were served simultaneously, inviting invidious comparisons between three special red wines – which certainly all merited being considered alone. The wines were as follows:

1999 Puligny Montrachet, Les Enseignieres, Coche Dury (94/100)

Medium yellow gold. Bright and lively, yet full coloured. Having had this wine before I should have had the courage of my convictions and asked the excellent sommelier (at The Square) to decant it a couple of hours in advance: it seemed slightly jaded initially but tightened and freshened and revealed more and more fruit in the glass. Really lovely; but not typically ‘Coche’ for me – this is broad, orangey ripe, creamy. But after some time in the glass not a bit jaded. Bang on.

1989 Château Pétrus, Pomerol (98/100)

Hugely fragrant with that Pétrus scent that I’d (try to) describe as Asian spice, smokey nuts and clove. I kept on picking up different nuances over the course of the evening – one minute I picked up fennel seed, then cumin or curry leaf, the next liquorice, tar, toffee. Sometimes fruity; sometimes waxy, leathery and just a bit feral ! Very concentrated, very deep and very powerful on the palate. Almost too much of a good thing: huge opulence; flavours of blueberry, spice, plum pudding, caramel, aniseed, and saffron. Finishes very powerfully with savoury toffee. Colossal. I love it, but I couldn’t drink a bottle by myself.

2005 Chambertin, Domaine Armand Rousseau (96++?/100)

….At this moment in time, this is by far the tightest and most restrained of the three reds which we drank. Which doubtless did it a disservice. As the evening went on, this was developing beautifully in the glass. Indeed – if we’d opened it 24 hours in advance (or given it 20 years in cellar, much more appropriately !) this could well have been the standout wine, but today it was all in reserve. But lovely, nonetheless. Reticent initially, then mineral, with hints of cinnamon, raspberry and leaf. Later on I picked up notes of stem, smoke and rose petal. Very long and palate saturating, with almost citric purity. Crisp red berries, maybe. Long, bitingly concentrated finish. But not especially giving or generous today, you sense that this needs time: a lot of it !

2005 La Tâche, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (100/100 (!) (?))

I had my first mouthful of this after finishing a glass of Pétrus and was rendered speechless.

Almost unbelievably, not only does it rival or exceed Pétrus 89 for sheer power and intensity (!), – it has a rapier like delineation and focus, that makes it seem…..just….more. Irrespective of region; irrespective of age. I just can’t imagine there being a more perfect young wine. There couldn’t be, could there ? The intense scent of 2005 La Tache was in perpetual flux over the course of the evening. Initially I picked up herbaceous elements of hawthorn, briar, and even mint or menthol. Later it seemed to have acquired all sorts of notes of spice, gravel and smoke. On the palate this is combines enormous scale, silky texture, painful intensity and total precision. Totally, totally fresh, vibrant, rich, and even now, at what you might expect to be an awkwardly early point in its evolution, it is breathtakingly brilliant.