Proceedings commenced with this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Morgeot 2013 from Domaine de la Choupette. This was textbook premier cru Chassagne, and I described it as "precise". We all agreed it complemented the smoked salmon beautifully. It was drinking very nicely now, but G thought it was 18 to 24 months away from perfection. We probably also served it a little too cold. For me it was a 9 on the premier cru scale.
With our beef stew, we moved on to this mystery wine. All that was known about it was that the capsule stated "Sichel Fils et Pere, Beaune" although even then, there was a debate whether it was Pere or Frere. That's certainly an unusual order for those words. I've just belatedly Googled it and it seems it was probably Sichel & Fils Freres.
The bottle detectives got on the case and based on the large punt, thought that it could have been bottled in the 1960s so was likely to be a wine from the late 50s or early 60s. It had certainly maintained its colour well.
In fact, it had maintained everything well, and had a lovely nose which was definitely Cote de Nuits. We were thinking Vougeot or possibly Morey St Denis as there was some chocolate going on. It was rich and powerful and had clearly been chaptalised, and had an amazing finish which went on for three or four minutes. The Baron said he liked the "brambly" finish and could imagine drinking it with apple crumble. Basically, it was absolutely delicious old school burgundy and whoever stored it certainly knew what they were doing. But, as G said, it was probably absolutely undrinkable in its youth.
Next up was this Volnay Caillerets from Bouchard, again with no date but suspected to be from around the same time as the previous wine. This had a resinous quality on the nose and was very different from the previous wine, with a lively acidity and great finesse. "Grippy" said the Baron. It had stone fruits going on - plum or damson, and I got apples on the finish, but had possibly been influenced by the reference to apple crumble earlier. G thought this was a wine made for the Hospice de Beaune, but I'm not sure how he arrived at that conclusion.
The third red of the evening was this village Vougeot "Le Prieure" 1966 from Pierre Pennelle. G had saved this for last thinking it would be the biggest of the trio, but it turned to be surprisingly lightweight. It did, however, evaporate mysteriously from my glass!
D had brought a novelty can of 100% California Burgundy d'Casa along, probably from the late 80s, and we felt obliged to taste it for the sake of science. A comment was made about it tasting dusty and I can only describe it as grape juice combined with the contents of an old hoover bag. After one sip, it went down the sink.
Not to be outdone, I wheeled out this bottle of Rata Truffe which I succumbed to after a boozy meal with a certain wine merchant. None of the others there had tried it before, and the reaction was, shall we say, mixed. "The nose is offputting but the flavour is good" was one comment and "Genuinely extraordinary" was another. It was agreed that it might be good in a risotto and I might just have to try that.
Finally, I have to thank D for raising the tone at AduV Towers several notches by giving me this 18th century decanter. It's absolutely beautiful and I will certainly make good use of it.
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