My birthday celebration at Les Ducs with the crew.

YUM. This was soooo good and completely exceeded my expectations. We had their second wine for our engagement party, and now the Grand Vin.

Fill was good, but man, the cork was dry and crumbly despite having been maturing in my ~80% RH wine fridge for several months now.

In the glass: deep rich ruby with garnet hue. Legs that slightly stained the glass. Mid+ bodied.

On the nose: this wine was nearly wide open fresh outta the bottle. Unlike the second wine, which was round and almost a fruit bomb, the grand vin tonight was Intensely aromatic and surprisingly linear in its blackcurrant and blueberries. Distinct sweet oak. As the wine breathed (peaked with about 2 hours of air in the bottle), distinct red plums and licorice in this beautiful balance.

On the palate: lotsa red plums. Mid+ acidity. Mid+ body. Long finish. High alcohol. Grippy tannins. Man. This wine is so beautiful, but as usual, my meek palate found the 14.5% alc a touch too strong. Thankfully the meal was rich and dense, and that helped to manage the alcohol.

This is yet another winner from the criminally underrated 2008 vintage. I’m actually surprised as how incredibly high quality this was, especially given Tropolong Mondot’s sorta patchy performance in the 2010s. So very pleased.