A night of great wines: Old acquaintances and new friends

During our first wine tasting of 2024, one of my friends brought up the idea of doing a blind tasting as a part of our next get-together. The reason for a blind tasting was that we were all too familiar with certain producers because we repeatedly go back to those producers so we should broaden out palates with interesting wines from new producers that would stir our perception of what a wine from a certain region can be like. This was a fun idea so we immediately decided on having a get-together one week after our first wine tasting.

​

​

Before beginning the blind tasting, we decided to warm our palates with some “old acquaintances” and, by “old acquaintances”, I mean wines that we’ve had before.

***2012 Champagne Pierre Péters Cuvée Spécial “Les Montjolys”:***

The only blanc de blanc of the night, Champagne Pierre Peters “Les Montjolys” was a champagne that I have had multiple times before and enjoyed .

While I personally prefer “Les Chétillons” because I have always felt it to be the more expressive of the two, “Les Montjolys” came out singing with notes of sweet yeasty dough. Unlike a previous bottle of 2015 “Les Montjolys” I’ve had, this bottle quickly unfurled with notes white flower and citrus. White flowers, citrus notes, vanilla, and some cocunut shavings were also present. Delicious stuff, makes me want to I probably drink my bottle of the 2012 vintage as well.

***Champagne Krug Grand Cuvée （flower label, circa 2004):***

It takes just one look of my post history to see that Champagne Krug is nearly always present at our wine tastings. This wine tasting, there were no exception. While I have had many Krug Grand Cuvée before, this was my first time having one with the old flower label. Krug produced their Grand Cuvée under this label from 2004-2011 (before their introduction of the editions) and, per my friend who brought this bottle, based on the numbering on the cork, this was circa 2004.

Once poured into the glass, this champagne immediately displayed a rich dark golden hue commonly found in aged champagne. The mouth feel felt quite dense and the nose displayed notes of citrus, brioche, and honey. The palate was apricot, pears, and a hint of minerals. Personally, I think that I would have preferred this champagne more if it had slightly higher acidity, but one never says no to Krug, especially not a bottle of well-aged Krug.

***2015 Domaine Ramonet “Clos du Caillerets” Monopole:***

The bottle that I brought to the gathering. Upon pulling the cork, I sensed notes of reminiscent of peanuts. In the glass, subtle notes floral, lemon peel, green apple, and mint. On the palate, the wine showed structured minerality with notes of tropical fruits and stone fruits. My friends seemed to enjoy this wine quite a bit so I left most of it to them as I still have a few at home.

***1994 Domaine Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru:***

My first experience with a Domaine Bonneau du Martray this old. The wine opened with a slight pop, indictive of a great seal by the cork. Seeing how new the cork looked, my friends and I inspected the cork and noticed it was labeled “Rebouche en 2022”. Interesting. It must have been a night of firsts because it was also my first time tasting wine that was recorked by the producer.

On the nose, the wine first displayed notes of mushroom, which I did not initially enjoy. With time, came notes of lemon, honey, vanilla, and some peach. The palate was rich and creamy with notes of honey, apple, and chalk. The wine, for some reason, felt to me like a champagne that has lost its fizz.

***2019 Domaine Takahiko Yoichi Nobori Nakai Blanc:***

After being shocked by the juxtaposition of fruity nose and umami palate found in Domaine Takahiko’s reds, I was both excited and hesitant to try the white from the Domaine. On one hand, I am excited to see how good of a white the “DRC of Japan” can produce, on the other hand, I am hesitant to try it out because I do not wish to taste umami on my fruity whites.

Thankfully, this wine did not disappoint at all. On the eye, the wine was quite hazy. One of my friends even remarked that the wine reminded him of a hazy IPA. Notes of grapefruit leap out of the glass and are accompanied by subtle notes peach and lemon peel. The palate was a reflection of the nose but turned up a notch with even more grapefruit notes that almost appear as if it were a alcoholic grape fruit soda. The wine really did feel like a grapefruit forward hazy IPA but without any of the bitterness that one might find in beer.

I am not a believer in the impact of biodynamic on the drinking of wine, but one of my friend did remark that we drank of bottle on a “fruit day”, which is the best day for drinking wine. Still feels like pseudoscience to me, but if the wine tastes good, I couldn’t care less. This was my “wine of the night”.

***2007 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes:***

The only red of the wine tasting, this was a wine that demanded contemplation. Despite its age, the wine felt “closed” when first poured into the glass. Given some time, the wine begins to open up. Beautiful notes of tart cherry, strawberry, raspberry and some mint. Chocolate notes and liquorice notes were also present.

Interestingly, despite poured from the same bottle into wine glasses with the same shape, the wine smelled noticeably different in one of my friend’s glass. The wine, in his glass, gave off slight rubbery aromas and felt a bit corked. However, for everyone else, the wine smelled as it should have. A weird but interesting occurrence.

​

​

After sampling each of the “know wines” that was brought to the tasting, we decided to open the floor to the fun event of blind tasting and hopefully meet some “new friends”. As I have single handedly downed roughly half the Domaine Takahiko Yoichi Nobori Nakai Blanc, I only participated in the blind tasting through smell and taste. None of the blind tasting wines were ingested.

***2018 Domaine de la Grange des Pères:***

Sensed notes of vanilla, cherry, meaty notes when I smelled the aroma. The palate showed pretty strong tannins that indicate, to me that the wine was quite young. Guessed 2017 or later GSM blend, possibly old world, maybe Northern Rhone. Was the closest among the group to the correct answer but still failed on naming the proper region.

***2020 Porseleinberg:***

A little bit funky but also displayed very strong notes of tobacco and peppercorn. Can not pin-point the exact region but felt like it was a new-world syrah. One of my friends was able to narrow it down to being a South African Syrah but nobody was able to guess the exact producer.

***2019 “Y” by Yoshiki:***

The wine that nobody guessed correctly. Gave off aromas that were reminiscent of Pinot Noir but the color and tannins were nowhere close to Pinot Noir. A friend ventured to guess it to be a wine from Santa Barbara. Turned out to be a California Cabernet Sauvignon produced as a collaboration between a Japanese artist named Yoshiki and Rob Mondavi Jr.

​

​

Not wine related, but since we were enjoying our wines with Japanese cuisine, one of my friend thought it would be fun to round off the night with a blind sake tasting and, wow, this was really a treat to conclude a fun and memorable night.

**Omine Shuzou 3 grains unfiltered raw sake Yamada Nishiki:**

Super prevalent notes of Muscat grapes, lychee, and honeydew melon immediate lead me to recognize this as a Junmai Daiginjo. The complexity and density of the mouthfeel led me to guess it had a higher rice polishing ratio than most Daiginjo. I guessed at least 60% of the rice has been polished away (turned out to be exactly 50%). Considering that the sake felt very premium, I was able to successfully guess that it used Yamada Nishiki. Was unable to pin-point the exact producer but loved this sake. Should probably get a few bottles for personal enjoyment.

by Disguised_Riches