4 decades of Romanee Saint Vivant

18 Jan 2013: To celebrate Richard's birthday, Richard and I hosted a wine dinner with the theme: 4 decades of Romanée Saint Vivant.  The organisation took quite a bit of effort as we wanted to limit ourselves to no more than 16 different wines, and we wanted to ensure there would be some connection within each flight so that we could make some interesting comparisons.In the end we came up with the following 4 flights:

Flight 1:
2002 Romanée Saint Vivant, Sylvain Cathiard
Medium ruby core. A very expressive bouquet of red and black fruit, layered with Vosne spice and violet notes.  The palate was initially a little closed and took a bit a little aeration to reveal the explosively aromatic and pure notes.   There is tremendous depth and intensity here - there is richness but without the weight. Finishes long.  A very elegant wine that has just come into its drinking window.  18.5/20

2002 Romanée Saint Vivant, Jean-Jacques Confuron
The nose is more floral here - lovely violet notes.  Compared to the Sylvain Cathiard, the underlying material seems less ripe.  More marked acidity.  The structure of the wine seems a little loose when compared to the Cathiard. 17/20

2001 Romanée Saint Vivant, Sylvain Cathiard
Quite a reductive nose initially.  Lower acidity than the 2002 vintage and the more astringent tannin has yet to resolve itself.  There is not the same class, richness nor structure as the 2002. 17.5/20 

2000 Romanée Saint Vivant, de l'Arlot
Already very open.  There is lovely red fruit purity, complemented by dried rose petals, leather and tea leaves, with some savoury character.  Silky tannin. Lovely sweet finish. This wine needs drinking now. 17/20

Flight 2:
1993 Romanée Saint Vivant, Joseph Drouhin
This exudes the class of Drouhin wines: elegance and precision, delivered with its hallmark understatement.  A mature but more subtle bouquet of coffee, earthy, tea and leather notes, layered with spicy black fruit.  Mid weight palate, with a rather linear structure of fine acidity and precise balance.  A very stylish wine.   Just a little drying on the finish.   17.5/20

1993 Romanée Saint Vivant, Hudelot-Noellat
Medium garnet core. A very evolved and funky nose, with coffee, leather, earthy, smokey and manure notes, with caramel and toffee nuances.  Some sweetness on the rather short astringent finish.  This bottle is past its best. 15.5/20   

1993 Romanée Saint Vivant, Robert Arnoux
Quite a seductive and complex bouquet still flaunting some of the sweet oaky aromas of vanilla and sweet spice, with leather, game, coffee, tea, cloves and nutmeg notes framing the spicy black fruit.  Silky tannin sets off the nicely balanced weight and richness on the palate, with a lingering finish.  Absolutely gorgeous now.  18/20

1993 Romanée Saint Vivant, Leroy
The embodiment of elegance and finesse, delivered with power and depth.  Very dark fruit, almost compote like, mocha, pot pourri, herbal, slightly stemmy and pot pourri.  A rich and insanely delicious wine that is drinking so well now, with a very long finish, which is just showing a hint of dryness. A wine of sheer class. 18.5/20

Flight 3:
1992 Romanée Saint Vivant, Leroy
(This bottle was recently purchased directly ex domaine).  We were all amazed by how well this tasted given the not so favourable vintage.  Black fruit and liquorice notes on the nose.  Very concentrated flavours for the vintage, if a little straightforward and lacking in precision.  Delicious now!  17.5/20

1991 Romanée Saint Vivant, Leroy
This is much more linear and precise than the 1992 vintage. Very attractive aromatically, with notes of black fruit, spice, coffee, earthy and a hint of vegetal notes.  Beautifully balanced, with the hallmark concentration and power, and lots of fine complex detail.  Very lovely juice that is drinking perfectly now.  18.5/20 

1990 Romanée Saint Vivant, Leroy
This is big and brooding today.  A beautifully complex and intense nose of black fruit, liquorice and nutmeg, showing no signs of tertiary development yet.  Plenty of vigour, richness, power and concentration on the still relatively closed palate.  Patience is required for this wine - I think it will be stunning.   19/20

1990 Romanée Saint Vivant, Domaine de la Romanée Conti
This too is showing a robust muscular structure but more open than the Leroy.  Black fruit, black tea leaves, violet and nutmeg.  The balance and harmony are superb here, presented in a most refined and elegant frame.  There is richness but without the weight of the Leroy wine.  Sensational effort. 19/20   

Flight 4:
1985 Romanée Saint Vivant, Robert Arnoux
A mature nose of game, truffle and earth, still layered with red and black fruit notes. Wonderful harmony here but somehow lacking in freshness and vigour.  The acidity is lower and there is a drying finish.   A very pleasant drink now with food, but does require drinking up!  17.5/20

1978 Romanée Saint Vivant, Domaine de la Romanée Conti
Another funky and very mature nose marked by mushroom, game, prune and caramel notes.  Quite supple on the palate, delivering much richness and depth, but just lacking a little in energy and freshness. Finishes long.  A wine that probably saw much better days - for me this bottle seems to be past its peak.  17/20

1964 Romanée Saint Vivant, Marey-Monge
Sadly heavily madeirised.
1962 Romanée Saint Vivant, Marey-Monge
Not in best condition - could be volatility, hint of mustiness (slight cork taint)?  A little bland on palate.

We did take a vote in the end to see which were the two best wines and the majority of us picked the 1993 Leroy as the best wine, with a few going for 1978 DRC and me 1990 Leroy.  As for the second best wine, there were equal votes for 1978 DRC, 1993 Leroy and 1990 DRC, with a lone vote for the 1993 Arnoux!

Despite two dud bottles, we did manage to have a most educational tasting, with lots of interesting comparisons.  Now I cannot wait to organise the Part 2 of this tasting with the other bottles that didn't make the cut this time!!!  (Richard and I tasted the 1990 Confuron recently and it was sensational....beautifully integrated, harmonious, with a finish that goes on forever....19/20)

1962 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St Jacques, Rousseau

6 Jan 2013:
1962 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St Jacques, Rousseau: Garnet core. A mature and elegant nose of dried rose petals, dried raspberry, coriander, earthy, leather, liquorice, coffee and smokey notes with just a hint of soya sauce and some caramel nuance.  Lithe, silky, harmoniously and elegantly structured and perfectly at its prime.  Finishes long and sweet. Drink now!! 18/20

1993 Bonnes Mares, d'Auvenay

5 Jan 2013:
1993 Bonnes Mares, d'Auvenay: Deep ruby core. A very lush and opulent nose of blackberry, blueberry, black cherry liqueur, exotic spice, long zheng tea and bouquets of violet, with a sappy undertone. Aromatically heady. Medium bodied with a measured weight. Vibrant acidity and very fine tannin giving the wine a most refined and elegant structure with an understated power and beautiful detail. Lovely long velvety finish. This is a wine still flaunting an almost ageless youthfulness, that can certainly be enjoyed now but will reach its apogee in probably 10 years time. 19/20

Marvellous 1961 Bordeaux

15-24 Dec 2012: Richard cooked a beautiful roasted saddle of lamb, with rosemary, lots of onion and sweet garlic! Divine. It was a perfect Pauillac evening.

The 1982 Lynch Bages was initially more closed than the 1982 Grand Puy Lacoste.  It needed time for the bouquet to come through and even more time for the palate.  The nose was earthy, with leather, kirsch, raisin, and liquorice notes.  Slightly more reserved and tightly structured than the more aromatic and voluptuous Grand Puy Lacoste.  Full-bodied, with a velvety structure of tannin.  A low-ish level of acidity.  It needed a good part of the evening to take on more weight and for the depth and complexity of flavours to become more apparent.  When it finally did, it was well worth the wait! Patience is required for this wine.  17.5+/20

The 1982 Grand Puy Lacoste was a very attractive wine. Head-turning bouquet of cassis, blueberry, coffee, leather, cigar smoke, violet and cedar, with hints of liquorice spice and warm stoney earth. A rich and concentrated palate that impressed with elegance rather than heaviness, velvety tannin, and just enough acidity to keep the wine fresh. Just coming into its drinking window now and with a long life ahead!  17.5/20

The 1961 Grand Puy Lacoste was a fully mature wine, with very impressive bouquet of coffee, leather, kirsch, sweet cloves and nutmeg.  An absolute beauty that has retained freshness, poise, elegance and depth.  Very supple on the palate, with the sweet fruit finish that lingers for a very long time.  Drinking at peak now but there is no hurry to drink up this wine.  18/20

A few days later, we had the 1961 Gruaud Larose.  Ruby core, with just a tiny hint of garnet at rim. A mature and smokey bouquet met the nose, enchanting us with aromas of sweet tobacco, oregano, dried flowers, cedar, crushed stone, leather and mushroom. Velvety texture, rich in complexity and depth, with abundant sweet blueberry and blackberry fruit lacing the tertiary notes.  A glorious wine, that did not fade at all during the course of 4 hours, still showing a robust structure of velvety tannin and firm acidity.  The finish went on and on.  Marvellous!!!  19/20

For Christmas Eve dinner, joined by two close friends, we had some more 1961 over a superb meal at Otto e Mezzo!

1961 Plince showed a ruby core. A very attractive nose of tobacco, coriander, pot pourri, leather and just a hint of soya sauce. A medium-bodied wine, that improved in the glass, but a little light on the mid palate and finish, did not quite have the same magnitude and vinosity as the 1961 Palmer that followed.  Slightly drying finish. 17.5/20

1961 Palmer was a tour de force.  A totally magnificent example of a great classic from Bordeaux.  Still showing plenty of energy and vigour on the nose, palate and finish.  The bouquet was a very complex pot pourri of intense aromas of strawberry and blueberry, layered with notes of leather, mocha, spice, cedar and coffee.  The intensity and richness on the palate was simply astounding, the flavours deftly coating the palate, leading to a finish that lingered till the next sip.  A sensational wine that almost seemed timeless.  20/20

1962 La Tache

25 Dec 2012: Garnet-ruby hue.  An intensely aromatic bouquet that reminds me of warm chocolate pudding dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg, complete with preserve of forest berries. Just a hint of sappy and herbal note on the palate.  All the opulence and richness nicely delivered through a relatively youthful structure of silky tannin and vibrant acidity.  The slightly astringent finish lasted a whole minute. An ultimate expression of purity, finesse and opulence. This is drinking at peak now, and will continue to drink well for 10+ years.  19.5/20 

1963 Taylor's

24 December 2012:  A number of the pre-1970 ports were bottled without any labels, and were just washed with some white paint upon release.  The embossed capsule would bear evidence of the provenance.  This 1963 Taylor's was a bottle recently shipped back to Hong Kong, from a bigger batch.  There was a little stickiness on the wax capsule, and the cork felt a little loose through the wax, but the level was well above shoulder, into neck.  We decided to try this bottle with a few friends/connoisseurs.  Wow!  What strength, youthful vigour, intensity and concentration!  This port is developing at glacial pace and the best is yet to come! Dried fruit, raisin, apricot, nuts, toffee apple, enhanced with some coffee notes!  Unctous on the palate, with firm acidity, giving the wine tremendous lift, and a phenomenal and long finish.  No sign of drying out at all.  This is a port very much in its youth.  Drinking perfectly now and over the next 20+ years! Our scores amongst the four of us ranged from 98 to 100 points!  A truly great classic and a wine amongst the best of all times!

1990 Echezeaux DRC versus Jayer

13 December 2012:  A few Burgundy nuts got together at La Maison Restaurant in Wanchai and we had two very fine pairs of wines for comparison.

First pair was 1990 DRC Echézeaux versus 1990 Jayer Echézeaux.  In anticipation of the broad-shouldered structures, both wines were given same amount of time in the glass to breathe.  The nose of the 1990 DRC was a very elegant and classic perfume of floral, with notes of earth, nutmeg and cloves, as well as some dark fruit.  Perfectly balanced, firmly structured, with plenty of freshness and a long and layered finish.  Very elegant, superb purity and a very good showing of DRC Echézeaux. 18/20  By comparison, the 1990 Jayer showed a ripe and concentrated nose of warm earth, plum, kirsch and blackberry on the nose, followed by sappy notes on the palate.  There was more than a hint of the drying finish on this wine.  17.5/20 As the evening progressed, the Jayer seemed to be losing steam on the palate, while the DRC grew from strength to strength.  I couldn't help noticing the differences in their prices....the DRC would be around GBP 800 a bottle and the Jayer last went for over GBP 4,150 a bottle at the Sotheby's auction in London in December 2012!

Next pair was the 1988 versus the 1990 DRC Romanée Saint Vivant.  Both wines showed the vintage characteristics rather well.  The 1988 was a textbook terroir expression of lovely sous bois and spicy notes, with pure red and dark fruit, while displaying a more austere, linear structure with good acidity, but with no shortage of finesse and elegance. Drink now and over next 5 - 6 years. 18.5/20  The 1990 showed a more opulent bouquet with notes of spice, earth and ripe dark fruit.  There was weight, density and depth on the palate. Finishes long.  A juicy and structured wine with a long life ahead.   Drink now and over next 8 - 10 years.  18.5/20