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Cantemerie 2012
RP 89-91 HK$260 |
| Cantemerle’s ethereal elegance and racy, classy style are unmistakable in this understated yet pretty, dark ruby-colored 2012. Offering lots of cherry, raspberry and black currant fruit, this is a wine of unmistakable finesse and delicacy. Enjoy it over the next 10-12 years. |
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Calon Segur 2012
RP 91 HK$760 |
| The 2012 Calon Ségur, has an opaque ruby/purple color, very sweet black raspberry, black cherry and currant fruit, underlying forest floor notes, wonderfully sweet tannin, surprising up-front opulence and beautiful purity, texture and length. This is an outstanding effort and a strong wine in 2012. Drink it over the next 20 years, as the acidity is quite low and the wine already approachable. |
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Clerc Milon 2012
RP 92 HK$650 |
| This is another strong effort from the Mouton Rothschild stable and its excellent administrator Philippe Dhalluin. The 2012 Clerc Milon has an almost blackish-blue opaque color, soft tannins, ripe notes of blackcurrants, licorice and subtle background oak. There is an attractive floral, licorice quality to the fruit. The wine is medium to full-bodied and beautifully pure with ripe tannin. It is soft enough to be approachable in several years and should drink well for 20. |
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Leoville Poyferre 2012
RP 92+ HK$550 |
| Owned by the Cuvelier family since 1920, this property over the last 20 years has made some great wines in the Médoc. The 2012, a blend of 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot and 4% Cabernet Franc, is opaque purple, thick-looking, and from bottle much more impressive than it was from barrel. This very extracted, rich, full-bodied, masculine Léoville Poyferré needs a good 5-8 years of bottle age and should evolve well for at least 20-25 years. Loads of blackberry and cassis, crushed rock and graphite notThe 2008 La Tache amply illustrates why this monopole is the darling among most of those lucky enough to regularly taste or collect the wines of the Domaine de La Romanee-Conti. Hints of mocha, vanilla, maraschino, and almond paste lend a confectionary note to generously rich cassis and raspberry, while Latakia tobacco, peat, clove, black pepper, star anise, and cumin contribute commune-typical Vosne-Romanee personality in spades. The high-toned, sweet themes continue inner mouth, with intimation of heliotrope, rowan, and lily perfume, while the wine’s smoky, spicy elements seem to descend into a low-register undertone of roasted red meats and forest floor. As this opens to the air, a subtly sweet-saline suggestion of lobster shell reduction adds richness and succulence. Strikingly creamy in feel, this La Tache nevertheless possessed a fresh berry edge that helps convey vibrancy to a finish that practically glows in your mouth, offering another of those Burgundian paradoxes of light and dark. Here, de Villaine’s case for long-term potential is easily made, and I expect this will richly reward at least 15-20 years of attention. Domaine de La Romanee-Conti director Aubert de Villaine perceives both the estate’s 2008 and 2007 collections as vins de garde, and I can’t argue with that assessment, even though when I first tasted the 2007s – soon after they had come out of malo – I harbored reservations, wondering whether to interpret de Villaine’s description of them as “ethereal” to read “ephemeral.” He says holding back the usual 5% share of production for the Domaine’s own cellar was difficult in the greatly reduced 2008 vintage, and that he is already regretting not having arranged to bottle a larger share in magnum. He still had time when I visited in April to reconsider the bottle format for three appellations, which were the only ones I was able to taste, since De Villaine is loathe to show wines in the first 9-12 months after bottling. (I’ll report on the full 2008 collection from bottle at a later date.) If the 2007s here were unusual for that vintage in the degree to which they gained stature in the course of elevage, such behavior was normal when it came to 2008, so that I was not surprised to hear de Villaine remark on a new-found degree of confidence in the stature of that collection. To an even greater degree than in most vintages, success in 2007 and 2008 came down to meticulousness at every stage; to quality of vine material; and to location, in all of which respects no estate in Burgundy has any advantage over the Domaine de La Romanee-Conti. Interestingly, the estate lingered no longer over the picking of their 2008s – from the first of the La Tache on September 27 to the last of the Echezeaux on October 6 – than they had over the 2007s, which were picked from September 1-11. The inclusion of stems was lowered to less than half in 2007, incidentally, but in 2008 was typically closer to three-quarters. Vendange entier is a technique not only time-honored and in continuous use at the Domaine de La Romanee-Conti (even when it fell out of favor at most Burgundy estates in the waning 20th century), but one which de Villaine and cellarmaster Bernard Noblet have subjected to repeated testing, so as to establish in any given vintage the right balance between 100% de-stemmed (“which lacks something by way of complexity,” says de Villaine) and 100% (“which can be too marked by the stems,” he continues). es are present in this medium to full-bodied, impressively concentrated and pure wine. Forget it for a while, as this is one of the bigger, richer Médocs. |
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