WTN: Great red and white Burgs at Kittle House

So last night eight good geeks (ok, six good geeks, a couple of great spouses) gathered at Crabtrees Kittle House for dinner and a little tour around Burgundy. After a thunderstormy day, it was a beautiful evening, and Betsy and I were lucky enough to be on side with gorgeous outside view. It was really a convivial group, and everyone brought some nice wines. We did the tasting menu, and a fine night ensued.

1998 Raveneau "Butteaux" Chablis 1er
Fresh, young, giving. Very light, yet with depth and concentration on finish. I really enjoyed this. A-/B+

2000 Domaine Leflaive "Les Pucelles" Puligny-Montrachet 1er
Pear and citrus fruit, just a bit of hazelnut/fish oil Coche-style exoticism, good length, young. B+

(somewhere in here there was a delicious opener of crudo/sashimi, tuna and an excellent white fish that I thought was hamachi but thought after tasting maybe fluke, with a lime/cilantro sauce, then next course was a nice dish with some halibut with little baby artichokes that didn't interfere with wine)

1995 Drouhin "Les Folatieres" Puligny-Montrachet 1er
My white. Bigger, rich, mature but not oxidized. Gio said it seemed Batardish. Very nice wine, though I preferred the Chablis by a hair. B+/A-

1991 Niellon "Les Vergers" Chassagne-Montrachet 1er
Kittle House has the best list north of city, and Dave spotted some bargains compared to market, and we discussed whether to get this or a Ramonet. I voted for this due to sentimental reasons (plus it was great in 2000). Age is really showing on nose, oxidative/sherryish notes, but it's considerably fresher on palate - definitely some oxidative flavors of caramel and nuts, but also some chalky minerals, flowers. I liked more 9 years ago, but this is classy if fading (I think I may have liked more than table). B

A pretty good lineup of whites, and then we started with reds. About then a diver scallop accented with curry on a bed of peas with mint arrived, sounds weird, tasted delicious.

1996 Comte de Vogue Chambolle Musigny 1er
Young vines Musigny of course. Good acids, some tannins, perfumed. Nice, but I thought just a touch clunky compared to its flightmate. B

1996 Rousseau "Les Cazetiers" Gevrey-Chambertin 1er.
Black cherries, earth, and a little grilled meat. Nice balance of fruit, tannins, and acids. Tiny hint of brett, but well within my tolerance level. Drinking well but with a future. I think I might have been in minority in preferring to the Vogue. B+/A-

Next course was duck breast roasted with thyme, with little porcinis, zucchini, and turnip.

1999 Mommesin Clos de Tart
Damn! Corked all to hell

1996 Rene Engel Clos de Vougeot
Big, ripe black cherry fruit framed by somewhat zippy acids, very nice though I think time would do this good. B+

At some point a lamb chop accompanied by roast lamb neck and some fennel arrived.

1998 Thierry Violot-Guillemard "Rugiens" Pommard 1er
Totally new producer to me, but I was quite impressed. Combined that Pommard meaty masculinity with some real elegance. Some lead pencil/ graphite and minerals. Lovely midweight which went well with the food. A-/B+

1980 Henri Boillot "Rugiens" Pommard 1er
Pretty sure my last bottle of this, but other than one grabbed by TCA has been a consistent strong performer. Smoke, crushed cherries, lighter older Burg with fresh acids keeping it lively. Again, elegant (who'd have thought of both Pommards as oozing elegance?). As always, I find this stunning on nose, good on palate. A-

This was supposed to be the end, but as the cheese (Epoisses, Pleasant Ridge, plus a Portugese cheese I missed name of) came, a bottle of the 2001 de Montille "Les Caillerets" Puligny-Montrachet 1er appeared.
A pungent slightly cheesy nose, with flowers and lemon peel . Rich and structured on palate, apple and lemon meringue. Very good. A-/B+

Quite a night (and Betsy was driving so I had no constraints). Thanks to everyone for their vinuous generosity (especially Dave who I think paid separately for the Niellon). Jacques did a great job organizing (no surprise),. and it was one of the better combinations of meal and wine I've had in a long time.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency. 

Aside from that corked Clos de Tart, that sounds like a fantastic evening. Thanks for sharing.

I take it Kittle House is BYO-friendly? I'd heard a lot of good things about the place, but had also read they had a great wine list (so wasn't sure how amenable they'd be to people bringing in their own wine).

Monday is free corkage at Kittle House. I think normal corkage is $25, but it's generally not a place I'd do BYO. It's rather pointless, as the list is huge (something like 5K selections, 75K bottles overall) with a lot of bargains. Maybe not as many bargains as in past, but if you look past trophy wines tons of cool stuff. The '91 Ramonet and Niellon 1ers were $75-110. I didn't look at list this time, but in past not too hard to find older stuff at what I'd call average retail (or less). Single vineyard Bandols from top producer at 15 years for $40, '90 Thalabert for $50, etc.

List, corkage, or BYO night, wine service is very good. We had to assure them last night we were ok with multiple pours in same stem (they probably used 5-7 stems per person for us)

Wow. I need to head there some time once I get back to the East Coast.

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks for the data point on the '96 de Vogue 1er Cru. I was thinking about opening my last bottle, but will wait. Perhaps it will slim down a bit with more time.

Again too bad about the Clos de Tart. I have a singleton of that as well. Maybe we can open it some day.

Thanks for the notes Dale, this was a great evening and the wines (except for the Clos de Tart and the Niellon) were all awesome.

BTW, I am convinced the Niellon was prematurely oxidized. It should have been returned.

I thought all the other whites showed off well.

The two Pommards were the most elegant wines of the evening, to my surprise. The Guillemard was impressive, especially for a 1998. The Boillot was delicious and probably my favorite red of the evening.

David, I have also one bottle left of the Vogue; not to be opened for another five years. I also have some 1998 and 2001, I'll try one of those soon.

I don't think I left a drop in my glasses all evening. The dump bucket was probably empty.

[David M. Bueker]

I have the 2001 de Vogue Chambolle 1er Cru as well. I look forward to hearing about your experiences with it, if you open it soon. I'm mostly laying off my 2001s (except where I have a number of bottles) as I think they can still improve a great deal.

Jacques,
hard to call an almost 20 year old "prematurely" oxidized, it's always been a risk at that age. The problem is when 6-10 year old wines are shot. In any case, despite the maderized nose, I thought it actually tasted pretty good.
Betsy did some dumping, but we tried to limit her pours from start.
Seems Oregon is the place to shop for Violot-Guillemard
Fun night, thanks again for organizing

I see where the confusion lies, Dale. The Niellon was a 1999. Dave almost ordered the 1991 Ramonet Ruchottes but decided on the Niellon. A 10 year old Niellon Vergers should not smell like that. The taste may have been good but I could not get past the nose.

Are you sure? I didn't look at bottle but thought I was told '91. If that was a '99, indeed it shouldn't have shown like that. I didn't think there was such a things as '99 Niellon Vergers, thought that was when the vines were grubbed up.

Jacques, I just checked with Dave, he said it was indeed the 1991 Vergers

hmmm, ok then. Sorry about that

Confused Jacques

Love the Kittle House, but I am all about ordering off of their list...too many bargains...still.

Love the Kittle House, but I am all about ordering off of their list...too many bargains...still.

I usually do order from their list. That's the reason the service is usually so good when I organize byo tastings there

The service is generally excellent, agreed.