Clos Roche Blanche

[Keith Levenberg]

For those unable to make it (sorry, Jay) - I hope the powers that be won't mind me making Didier's remarks available to the community:

Cannot thank David enough for putting this on and giving us the opportunity to say thank you. A packed room testified to how much this winery means to so many.

But the best wines were had at Table 3 :)
You all know CRB transcends tasting notes, but the highlights for me were the 2014 Sauvignon Blanc #2, 2011 Sauvignon Blanc #5, 2014 and 2009 Gamay, 2012 l'Arpent Rouge, 2014 Pif, and 2006 and 2004 Cot. The 2014 and 2013 Rose weren't bad either and I'd be happy drinking the 2013, 2012, and 2011 Gamay anytime. Lest you think I'm too rosy, there was a bit of the brown acid going around the room in the form of a 2007 Sauv Blanc. Sadly no Cabernet - apparently I'm not the only person who'd had trouble keeping my grubby hands off them when they were young. The pair of Cots was really the only thing we drank with bona fide mature flavors - without sacrificing that CRB bite.

At the end I shamelessly begged Didier to come out of retirement and he mentioned that he's got a project he's working on in the south. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.

 

[Jay Miller]

Sigh, I was so looking forward to that dinner. Not to mention having already paid for it.

Thank you for the notes!

If you make it back up to NYC before I open them I'd be happy to share the 2005 and 2009 Cots I was supposed to bring.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

Thanks, Keith. I saw a few familiar faces in the crowd: Eben, Jules, Alice, Andrew, Jennifer.

Didier mentioned two bad wines. You mentioned only the 07 SB, what was the other he thought was off?

And how was the food?

 

[Marty L.]

Spotted this on the shelf at the recently opened "Peoples Wine Shop" in NYC's Market Line gourmet/hipster/mixed-use luxury real estate nirvana/hell:

From a distance I only saw the bottle and let out an audible gasp of greedy excitement, causing the (oddly numerous) members of the sales staff on the floor to chuckle. I grabbed the bottle and asked how many they had and how many they would sell me. The salesperson then told me that sadly there was only one bottle and it was not really for sale, pointing to the $10 billion price tag.

Whoever manages that shop is one sick puppy.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Marty L.:
Whoever manages that shop is one sick puppy.

For displaying a treasured bottle?
For not listing the price prominently enough?
For owning something you want?

 

[Keith Levenberg]

originally posted by Marty L.:
a cruel joke. . .Spotted this on the shelf at the recently opened "Peoples Wine Shop" in NYC's Market Line gourmet/hipster/mixed-use luxury real estate nirvana/hell:

From a distance I only saw the bottle and let out an audible gasp of greedy excitement, causing the (oddly numerous) members of the sales staff on the floor to chuckle. I grabbed the bottle and asked how many they had and how many they would sell me. The salesperson then told me that sadly there was only one bottle and it was not really for sale, pointing to the $10 billion price tag.

Whoever manages that shop is one sick puppy.

He should duct-tape it to the wall!

 

[MarkS]

originally posted by Marty L.:
a cruel joke. . .Spotted this on the shelf at the recently opened "Peoples Wine Shop" in NYC's Market Line gourmet/hipster/mixed-use luxury real estate nirvana/hell:

Wonder how much this would fetch at auction?

 

[Michael Lewis]

And to think, I would be glad to sell a bottle of 2014 CRB Cuvee Gamay for as little as $100,000.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Michael Lewis:
And to think, I would be glad to sell a bottle of 2014 CRB Cuvee Gamay for as little as $100,000.

Clearly, you are not a post-modern artist.

 

[Pavel Tchichikov]

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

originally posted by Michael Lewis:
And to think, I would be glad to sell a bottle of 2014 CRB Cuvee Gamay for as little as $100,000.

Clearly, you are not a post-modern artist.

the bottle with a blank label next to it proves post-modernism

I would not sell CRB but I would amortize the loss. In the early 1990s Union Square was serving 1980 d'Yquem by the glass, and a friend and I were at the bar offering a smell of our empty glasses at $5 per sniff, until we got kicked out. Not sure what the problem was, as an empty glass previously containing d'Yquem smells remarkable. In any case, I would do the same with CRB at the bar at Racines, inflation adjusted.

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

originally posted by Michael Lewis:
And to think, I would be glad to sell a bottle of 2014 CRB Cuvee Gamay for as little as $100,000.

Clearly, you are not a post-modern artist.

the bottle with a blank label next to it proves post-modernism

I would not sell CRB but I would amortize the loss. In the early 1990s Union Square was serving 1980 d'Yquem by the glass, and a friend and I were at the bar offering a smell of our empty glasses at $5 per sniff, until we got kicked out. Not sure what the problem was, as an empty glass previously containing d'Yquem smells remarkable. In any case, I would do the same with CRB at the bar at Racines, inflation adjusted.

Hah, funny you should share that. We served the '76 d'Yquem for my Dad's 80th birthday a while back. The empty glasses the next day smelled better than 95% of the wines I've ever had.

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by Marty L.:
a cruel joke. . .Spotted this on the shelf at the recently opened "Peoples Wine Shop" in NYC's Market Line gourmet/hipster/mixed-use luxury real estate nirvana/hell:

Sadistic.

 

[Pavel Tchichikov]

originally posted by Jay Miller:
Sadistic.

I must be displaying masochistic tendencies then, since I've been unable to throw out the empty magnum of Cot from LL's big birthday.

Tangentially related, the search function reveals the following bit of brilliance from SFJoe in relation to one of the wineries that had taken over CRB vineyards prior to their full retirement: "hipster-spoofed."

 

[mark e]

originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:

originally posted by Jay Miller:
Sadistic.

Tangentially related, the search function reveals the following bit of brilliance from SFJoe in relation to one of the wineries that had taken over CRB vineyards prior to their full retirement: "hipster-spoofed."

That's funny as I remember tasting Noëlla's first vintage with him at the LDM tasting. The wines were pretty flawed. VA among other issues. So the comment is apt. And everyone missed Didier and Catherine (and their wines).

 

[Tristan Welles]

So I am holding on to 6 bottles each of the '13 and '14 Pif. I'd like to continue to drink one, now and then, as a reminder. Is there a consensus on how long Pif keeps in a 56f cellar?

 

[georg lauer]

originally posted by Tristan Welles:
So I am holding on to 6 bottles each of the '13 and '14 Pif. I'd like to continue to drink one, now and then, as a reminder. Is there a consensus on how long Pif keeps in a 56f cellar?

Along those lines, I have a pretty good stash of 09 Cot. Started to drink very well recently. How much longer you guys think it will stay there?

 

[Pavel Tchichikov]

originally posted by Tristan Welles:
So I am holding on to 6 bottles each of the '13 and '14 Pif. I'd like to continue to drink one, now and then, as a reminder. Is there a consensus on how long Pif keeps in a 56f cellar?

Only a member of the politburo, which I am not, could express a consensus.

Jeff Connell and Kay Bixler will keep theirs for decades. Others will enjoy them young, for good reasons. I enjoyed Pif's grandaunt, La Closerie, at the age of 10 and will likely do the same with Pif; it's also vintage-dependent (duh), e.g. I have little desire to return to the 2010 in the next couple of years.

Wild guess is your 2014 will have more appeal in the short term than the 2013. That isn't saying that the 2014 won't keep.

 

[Kevin Roberts]

I'm mostly successful at not feeling too bad about missed opportunities, but one thing I do wish is that we would have started working with wine (my company started as a beer only distributor) and the LDM wines specifically a couple years earlier so that I could have had the opportunity to have worked with Didier/Catherine's wines. They were wines that were among my very first loves and very instrumental in my going down the rabbit hole of wine.

 

[Jayson Cohen]

We had the 14 Pif a few weeks ago. See Jeff’s Cellar Hangout report down the home page. But I don’t agree with his note. I didn’t note strong Brett and like it very much. Even if it’s not the Côt. No worries trying it now.

 

[Keith Levenberg]

Say it ain't so! Brett would seriously depress me because I still have ~30 bottles left of my stash and barely anything left from before.

I don't know if there's a right/knowable answer in terms of how long to keep. The wine behind the Pif label in 2014 isn't the same wine it had been a few years prior, when it got the whimsical name because it was the lightest and most glou-glou red in the lineup. By the end, most of what they had left went into the Pif, including the old-vine cot which IIRC was about 40% of the 2014 and which ought to have given it the bones for cellar longevity.