Comfort Zone

It was our last night with The Roadsters and it was very cruisy.  No expectations, and an easy meal for dinner that would put no-one to great trouble.  It tasted even more delicious because of that.  We were even into finishing off the part bottles from our previous effort, so we truly were comfortable.  Then  it started – an escalation in the bottles being opened.  And they were all wines we were very familiar with, consisting of styles we see the most of.
 

First of the new bottles was a 2010 Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett.  SWMBO and I love this label and how Ernst interprets the site.  He captures the beautifully exotic florals that put it into a league of intrigue over the sheer slatey deliocacy of Wehlener Sonnenuhr, but it has greater elegance and finesse than the broader, heavier and spicier wines from Urziger Wurzgaten.  An on top of it all, the special, searing, but fine acidity of the 2010 vintage.  A delicious drink indeed.

Then onto something more serious.  A 2007 Morey-Blanc Auxy-Duresses.  This is white burgundy that punches way above its station.  Served blind, we all knew its provenance, and of course 1er cru was where we mostly placed the wine.  It’s proximity to Meursault and the producer came through in the style of the wine, softly broad, but without any sighn of flabbiness.  Beautiful poise, the 2007 vintage giving it a sense of finesseand approachability.  Hazelbut and cream supreme, it too was a delight for us all, and it’s a wine that truly comfortable in itself.

The Roadsters couldn’t help themselves, and a couple more bottles appeared, one at a time, but served blind as well.  We all love red burgundy, as Pinot Noir is the hot variety globally, and we see so much of it here.  The 2009 Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertib 1er ‘Cazetiers’ had us thinking.  It had the ripe and sweet fruit of the vintage, making it appear New World like.  But realising that it was from Burgundy, there was no sign of overripeness or lack of acid structure.  It had just started to show a touch of secondary development, but wasn’t older than 2008 for sure, from its sweetness.  What a conundrum.  But it was incredibly refined and slippery, with absolutely no hard edges, quite sumptuous.  With no blood and fur, I couldn’t see it as Gevrey-Chambertin, though that was what SWMBO went for.  I chose Vosne-Romanee over that and Chambolle-Musigny.  Well I was wrong, and very pleased to be.  In afterthought, the cooler site of Cazetiers had moderated the 2009 vintage character.  And it was a joy to drink.

The final wine was a 2009 L’Arlot Nuits-St-Georges 1er ‘Clos des Forets St George’.  A tougher beast, darker and grippier, with waves of savoury blackness, and not quite enough sweetness to match the grip, density, whole bunch and oak.  It was an easy guess to get to Nuits-St-Georges, as it lacked the majesty of Grand Cru, and it had much more character than a village wine.  Yet the size of the wine and all its inputs worked.  It was in its place, but we didn’t quite like it, because of our expectations.  It was out of our comfort zone, but drinking it put us into the zone of the zzzzzs, so off we went!