originally posted by maureen:
I aam thinking of opening a Bruno Clavelier NSG Aux Cras 2001. Anyone have this lately? Ever? Thoughts?
Sorry it took so long.
On consecutive Fruit nights, a trio of Claveliers with a modicum of age.
2001 Bruno Clavelier NSG 1er Cru Aux Cras V.V. 13.0%
Cork had lots of mold, but the wine seemed fine. Aroma on the serious side of pinot fruit, tending towards cherry & kirsch, with a halo of tertiaries. Beautiful mouthfeel, just lovely, showing balance and harmony between the parts. Very fruity, yet somehow demure. I tend to prefer the more strawberry/raspberry end of the pinot spectrum, but this was a well-developed treat.
2001 Bruno Clavelier Corton Grand Cru Le Rognet 13.0%
Comparatively closed, but also showing fruit at the darker end. Comes off as quite primary. Attractive acidity, detached before food, integrated afterwards. Delicious, refined, without the taste or smoothness of wood, but still a ways from the complexity it will surely show at peak.
2002 Bruno Clavelier NSG 1er Cru Aux Cras VV 13.5%
Even more closed than the 2001 Le Rognet, and far more than its 2001 brother. Makes me wonder if the moldy 2001 cork let more air in, making it appear more developed. This 2002 has tannins, which the others didn’t, but is equally fresh tasting, with fine acidity and harmonious balance. Pure and clear, free of wood or alcohol taint. But most of the action happens in the mouth, which thumbs its nose at the nose. Needs many more years to reach maturity.
As a comparison, this was a bit disconcerting, because the second and third wines, still quite primary, suggested retroactively that there was something irregular about the first, something that might not have surfaced otherwise.
Also, with the third wine, an interesting thing happened after we had finished the savory part of the meal. Marcia brought out a pair of low carb desserts she had made during the afternoon using Xylitol instead of sugar. Ordinarily, dry wines become exaggeratedly acidic after eating sugar, but the Xylitol-based desserts had almost no impact on them. You heard it first here. Marcia thinks this may be because Xylitol is actually a kind of (non-inebriating) alcohol. Perhaps something to be explored by the few diabetics among us, and the not so few who are weight-challenged.
