This is the second date of two identical events featuring our Chateau Lafite Rothschild and our Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru’s. Blue have modified some of their tasting menu dishes and, together, we have designed a 7 course tasting menu which will specifically compliment the wines. The first event date, in early January, was sold out and was a huge success: the wines are in good condition and the menu and wine pairings work well.
We will drink:
Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet from three premier cru vineyards, Le Clavoillon, Les Folatieres and Les Pucelles. Domaine Leflaive is one of the best and most important producers in Burgundy and their premier cru chardonnays from Puligny are regarded as excellent expressions of the terroir. The wines are all from the marvelous 2002 vintage, which is drinking perfectly now, and they will be presented as a flight of three so that members can compare and contrast them. As the wines are all 100% chardonnay and all made the same way, members will be able to taste and appreciate the differences that the vineyard sites have on the finished product.
Leflaive’s premier crus are never cheap and the 3 we will be tasting retail from around US$175 (Clavoillon) to over US$250 (Pucelles)...so you can guess what they would normally cost off a restaurant wine list.
Château Lafite Rothschild 1st cru classé, Pauillac, 1983 & 1988. Chateau Lafite is iconic claret. A blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot, it is regarded as the most elegant and delicate of the 4 first growth reds from the Medoc. Although neither 1983 or 1988 are up to the standard of the stellar 1982 vintage, these are very good vintages. The 1983 is fully mature and is probably in the middle of its optimum drinking window. The 1988, often described as a vintage which produced classic claret, is more youthful and an interesting contrast to the softer 1983, having now shed its harsher tannins and beginning to drink well.
Lafite is always expensive. A feature of the fine wine markets in the past few years has been the spectacular price rise of older vintages of Lafite: both the 1983 and 1988 retail for between US$900 and US$1,200 PER BOTTLE (the 1982 is over US$4,500).
Maury 1937: made in Roussillon, France, by a now-abandoned process from late harvest black Grenache grapes, this is an interesting and unusual alternative to the port we usually have with cheese. The wine is aged for a few months in glass demi-johns and then stored for decades in oak tuns, being bottled only in 2003, unblended and unfiltered.
Vouvray, Domaine du Clos Naudin, 1990: from the Loire, this wine is made by Phillipe Foreau, who has been described as “one of the traditional stars of Vouvray”. The 1990 vintage was top class. This wine is moelleux, meaning that it is sweet wine made from botrysized grapes. It has an outstandingly lovely nose, immensely fragrant, sweet, fat, soft, with perfect acidity.