Wine night with Hart, Sean, Tabs, Ben and SM.

I’ve been waiting for an occasion. This is an old, oooold wine. We last had the 2002 back at Ibid and it was deliciously well-aged. As with all old burgs, it’s really a gamble if it’s past its prime, or worse still if it’s corked.

On inspection: fill level looked good. Cork was visible starting to dry out, but generally healthy. See slide 3 for fascinating glistening of what I think are tartrate crystals embedded in the cork. This wine is SO old, I left it to slow ox in the glass over 2-4 hours.

On the glass: this is an brickish orange. Generally milky finish.

On the nose: big waft of barnyard funk. It takes a fair bit of aeration for it to dissipate. Age has done its thing: it’s now largely dried figs, faint hints of raisins, and just this complex tertiary note bomb. Leather. Something savory and iron-y. This was just perfect with the blue cheese and Comte. Truly. This really benefited from a ton of air, as the dried fruits intensified and balanced the tertiary funks.

On the palate: it always surprises me how lively old Robert Ampeau’s wine can be. Mid+ acidity, Super soft but present tannins just peeking around. Slightly silky finish.

This was mighty pleasurable. That said, I would pick the 2002. This is perhaps too far aged for my palate; i like that the 2002 still retained some splashes of that fresh dark red cherries, which was much more beautiful with the funk.