Battle of Two Ripe Vintages

On Wednesday evening, I was with three friends at Enomania in Copenhagen. I had hoped to do a sample of two different Barolos from 2007, but we ended up with a Barolo 2007 and a Burgundy 2009. Well, actually we tasted also one sip of another 2009 Burgundy.



First wine of the evening - too opulent for my taste

First up was a bottle from Burgundy. We chose to try something from the much hyped vintage: 2009. Unfortunately this hype has lead to a drastic increase in price, but that's another story... Well, back to the wine - we chose a 2009 Domaine Dujac Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru "Aux Combottes". As we ordered this wine while we were at the restaurant it was not given any specific pre-serving treatment, instead it was poured into a decanter, from which it was served. The color was quite dark red, but this information is not 100% accurate as the light at the restaurant naturally is not completely bright. In the nose it displayed very dark fruit - really black and ripe cherries as well as some blackcurrant. In the mouth I found it slightly out of balance. Initially when entering the mouth it was very opulent and an explosion of super ripe fruit - almost overwhelming. The finish was very abrupt and I seriously missed some acidity to help balance the (over)ripe fruit. With time in the glass it did however improve quite a bit, but to me it was still too ripe in the fruit. It almost felt like you could chew the wine. I must say that I was somewhat disappointed with this wine, especially after having tasted earlier vintages of it, including 1999 which was incredible.

 

Yes, I know I have been on a bit of an Altare trip lately - but what a trip!

After the Dujac we had a bottle from my beloved Elio Altare. It was 2007 Barolo Barolo Brunate :-) Yes, I know I have been a bit narrow minded lately with all these Altare wines, but I'm just in the mood for these wines now. I adore their elegance and their perfect balance. This one was no exception. On the nose I found a lot of menthol and dark fruit - cherries and plums. In the mouth it was opulent but not nearly as opulent as the Dujac and although it had sweet fruit it was by no means chewy as the Aux Combottes. The tannins were soft, round and sweet, which is very characteristic for this vintage in Langhe. I have found other Barolos and Barbarescos from this vintage a bit clumsy and dull, but this one possessed freshness and a purity that I loved. It had a very long finish with quite good acidity on the contrary to the Dujac. It kept improving over the evening and I felt very happy to have chosen this bottle from the wine list.

After another great experience with the Brunate from Altare, it is sad to think that this year (2011) is supposed to be the last vintage for Altare's Barolo Brunate. The reason is that Mario Marengo, from whom Elio gets the grapes, has said that he is no longer interested in doing the usual swap for Arborina grapes. In a way I can understand, because it must be tough to see that Elio constantly outperforms him, but still I wish Marengo would change his mind, because I think Elio's Barolo Brunate is an iconic Barolo that deserves to be made also in the future.

Well, as indicated in the beginning, we also tasted a sip of another bottle from Burgundy. Damiano came with the glass without telling us what it was, and I'm a little proud to say that I very fast nailed it as Rousseau 2009 :-) I don't drink a lot of Burgundy, but Armand Rousseau is one of my absolute favorite producers from that region, and this was his 2009 Chambertin Grand Cru. It is not fair to write a big report on this wine as I only had a little sip, but I had enough to sense that it was a completely different animal than the Dujac. It was still with ripe fruit, but a very different selection of fruits - much more light red berries, and then it had this scent of animal or staples that I always find in Rousseau wines. It also had freshness and an elegance I didn't find in the Dujac and I felt it was able to balance the ripeness of the fruit. It was a very good sip indeed. Thank you Damiano!

 

We finished with a sip of this beauty

So, returning to the headline of this post, "Battle of Two Ripe Vintages", I must say I clearly felt that 2007 Barolo won against 2009 Burgundy. The Rousseau seemed to have handled the heat of 2009 in Burgundy much better than the Dujac's Aux Combottes, which seemed almost a little cooked. In general, I have not been a big fan of the 2007 vintage in Langhe, as I find the wines lack the tannic structure that I like, but in this case the Brunate made up for it via its freshness and overall balance.



The two ripe vintages



Below are pictures of Damiano's amazing food. If you haven't been to Enomania yet, it is a mistake - no, it is a BIG mistake! I can't recommend the place strongly enough. Damiano prepares simple yet fantastic food and he is very passionate and knowledgable about his wines.

Risotto with halibut saltimbocca - delicious




Ravioli filled with braised veal cheeks - rich and good

 

The meat was tender as butter and the white truffles didn't hurt...