At Léoville-Poyferré, Vinexpo 2007: Vignobles & Signatures Dinner/Tasting

I came across some more notable old write-ups from before I started my blog. Here is one of them.

19th June 2007, I was at Château Léoville Poyferré with (and courtesy of) Franck and Francoise Alby for the Vignobles & Signatures Dinner/Tasting of Le Club des Grands Domaines.

Coming from tasting at Vinexpo that day (10:30am - 2:30pm), I was able to taste through probably only half of the wines. That and because of the cocktail set-up, I was meeting so many people, all of whom, including our evening's host, Didier Cuvelier, found it very curious that a Filipino lawyer with absolutely no business interests in the wine industry came all the way to Bordeaux for Vinexpo.

The Wines Tasted:

Drappier Champagne:

Champagne Carte d'Or Brut NV and Grande Sendrée 2000 with seared foie gras atop apple compote en croute. The Carte d'Or was quaffable and refreshing enough with its moderately bright, focused, linear Fuji apple-dominated flavors with ubiquitous yeast/white flower profiles. This simple, light champagne would be something for the beach, I imagine. The Grande Sendrée, as to be expected, had much more character, nicer body and a touch of complexity to it. Good enough, I suppose for moderately-priced champagne. Honestly, though, I do not see myself buying either of these bubblies.

From Jean Durup Père & Fils (Chablis):

2005 Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume, Château de Maligny and 2005 Chablis 1er Cru "l'Homme Mort", Château de Maligny. Both were relatively simple Chablis: the Fourchaume light, feminine, a bit thin and lacking in personality; the l'Homme Mort (or "the dead man", such a very curious name) masculine with more minerality and an obviously better middle. Both displayed, at the time, very dominant lemon notes - a bit too much for my taste.

Domaine Antonin Guyon (Burgundy):

2005 Meursault Charmes 1er Cru Les Charmes Dessus - More than decent minerality, citrus fruit and heft in the middle (specially compared with the 2 preceding wines). Good enough. Should be better in around 5 years, I think.

2005 Chambolle Musigny Clos du Village - Simple, up-front, sweetish cherry/beetroot/strawberry flavors, at virtually the lightest spectrum of medium-bodiedness. Nothing complex, but quite pleasant nonetheless.

2005 Corton Bressandes Grand Cru - A natural medium body, less sweet than the Chambolle Musigny, nicer weight, deeper flavors, comparatively more complex, more masculine. More than decent wine.

Les Vins Louis Tête (Beaujolais):

2006 Beaujolais Blanc - This was the very first white Beaujolais I have ever had. A fresh, fruity, pleasant white. Very quaffable, a vision of a nice, simply cooked tuna dish sprang to mind. Not being familiar with this region, moreso with the whites thereof, I commented to the nice young fellow doing the pouring that it reminded me of a light Meursault. He seemed quite happy I said that, and made sure to point out that I could not buy a bottle of decent Meursault at his price of 5-6 Euros. He was right of course.

2006 Côte de Brouilly Rouge La Chapelle - It smelled like berry-infused rosewater. It's light-to-medium body was comparatively generous with dark berry/strawberry/slight raspberry flavors and alluring violet notes in the middle and to the finish. Would definitely qualify as a good red for summer.

Château de Tracy (Loire):

2004 Pouilly Fumé - Quaffable, bright, refreshing, unmistakeably sauvignon blanc with decent minerality. Decent enough, good for summers at the beach.

2005 Pouilly Fumé - Rounder and fuller than the 2004 version. Nice and bright, more gooseberry than grapefruit, almost equal in dominance to the lemon/citrus flavors. Not bad at all at its 8.50 Euros per bottle price*.

2005 Pouilly Fumé "Mademoiselle de T" - This is their 2nd wine. Its nose was quite similar to a sauvignon blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand in that the fresh, bright grapefruit and gooseberry notes were relatively aggressive and grassy (Franck and I noticed this almost immediately but kept our conversation to a mere whisper lest we offend), though not enough to be over-bearing. Around 5.70 Euro per bottle*.

2004 Pouilly Fumé "HD, Haute Densité" - A well-made, pleasantly dry Pouilly Fumé with noticeably more character, concentration and minerality than the other bottlings; grapefruit-dominated with nicely woven lemon/citrus notes. Around 24 Euro per bottle*.

*Franck got the prices from Comte Henri d'Estutt d'Assay who was pouring for us. He seems like a very committed man, passionate about his wines.

We then moved indoors for dinner. A band was playing. It was quite a relaxed and festive atmosphere. I spent much of my time with Franck, Francoise and their long-time friend, the most charming Vincent-Noël Martelly (Didier Cuvelier's brother-in-law, if I am not mistaken). I was quite surprised that he switched to speaking in Spanish when he found out I was from the Philippines - I didn't expect many Frenchmen knew that our country was under Spanish rule for around 300 years.

Dinner continued stand-up, cocktail style with excellent dishes of roast duck, foie gras, etc. being passed around in small dishes. For seconds, one had to line up at the long tables, which was not a problem at all since Francoise is an absolute magician at appearing suddenly at the top of the line each time we wanted more. She could just walk straight up to the top and nobody seemed to mind at all. I bet I would have been assaulted if I tried doing that.

With dinner, I pretty much stuck to the 1999 Léoville Poyferré (Magnums) - Unquestionably the best wine that passed my lips during the affair, but then I became an avid fan ever since the Doc brought a bottle of the '96 vintage to one of my dinners. The '99 was marginally less rich and generous with its flavors and aromas (then, again, it is younger) than the '96, but otherwise cut from the same cloth with subtler earthy, truffle notes and a more approachable over-all feel to it. Very impressive given the vintage. At a mere US$42, this is a definite buy for me.

While having the duck course, Franck urged me to try the magnums of CdP being offered: 2000 Château de la Gardine CdP "Cuvée des Générations Gaston Philippe" - This is one of those darker, bigger, dense, richer CdPs unlike the more understated, lighter-bodied, ethereal ones I remember drinking from my father's bottles during the mid 80s (I understand CdP was quite the rage in Manila at the time). This had a pleasantly warm, earthy feel to it with a touch of gaminess that played nicely with the magret. Quite enjoyable indeed.

After dessert, dessert wine and espresso, I developed a bad case of hiccups which prompted me to excuse myself. I went out to the balcony over-looking the winery across the driveway where some people were milling about. Apparently, my case was worse than I realized, one particularly violent hiccup startled the people downstairs. How embarrassing.