Shock and awe

Another year, another Palais du Grands Cru. Old friends, older wine (although I missed out on a lot of these) in a new venue with a significantly reduced list. M. Lurton was there with his Imperials of Chateau d’Yquem – the 1988 was particularly impressive with orangey citrus notes instead of the usual lemony tang which marks out these Sauternes from everything else.

In general, the whites fared better than the reds. I’m not usually a fan of  Leflaive but the Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet 2006 was very, very good. Clean as a whistle, precise winemaking and with years to go – one for the cellar. Pick of the whites for me however was the Joseph Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche 2007 – complex, layered, with excellent fruit and good acidity. Lovely.

Best red of the night (limited sampling) was the Jaboulet La Chappelle 1991, not as fine as the 1990 but still very, very good. Then again, I did not bother with any of the Bordeaux. Of the red Burgundies, the Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses 2003  from a Jeroboam was outstanding – warm fruit, good concentration and soft, smoothening tannins. The DRCs were, as usual, pretty disappointing – both the 1988 La Tâche and the 1989 Romanée-Saint-Vivant were not at peak drinking condition. When will Ficofi learn to bring in the bottles more than a week in advance of the tastings so the wines have some time to rest and relax? The bottles were still shocked and I was not awed.

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