Thursday, April 17, 2008

Cellar Report: '99 Coste-Caumartin Pommard

God, I remember the days back in college when I was satisfied with a quart of Schlitz Malt Liquor and some weed. How it came to this I'm still not sure, but all I can say is thank god it did! I mean, if I'm going to get a buzz on it feels a helluva lot better doing it with premier cru Burgundy rather than rat poison beer.

Last night to celebrate the grilling of the first t-bone of the season, I decided that w and I should mark the occasion with some pinot noir in the French tradition. I came across a few bottles of this juice languishing on one of my local distributors price lists. They only had four bottles left, which was hardly enough to share with my people at the wine shack, so they ended up in my personal stash. I opened the first one a couple of weeks ago with my pal DOR and his lovely bride....corked! Damn!! So it was with more than a little trepidation that I popped the cork on last night's beverage. Oh yeah, not too worry because this turned out to be an awesome red wine.

Coste-Caumartin is a tiny burgundy producer in the village of Pommard, and this freakishly beautiful bottle of adult refreshment from the "le Clos des Boucherottes" vineyard in the Pommard appellation is what they call a monopole bottling, meaning that Coste-Caumartin owns and produces 100% of the grapes from this site. 1999 was an excellent vintage in Burgundy, and the wines are by reputation just now starting to drink well. Right out of the bottle I would never have guessed this one at eight years old. It was so fresh and bright with vibrant cherry, spice, and smoke flavors that kept developing and amplifying, backed with young tannins and perfect acidity. After about an hour it blossomed, giving up this intense, complex earthiness that was so incredible, a luscious ripeness rolling out from underneath. Absolutely beautiful pinot noir that makes me understand why there are so many Burgundy dorks out there in wine land. Those malt liquor days never seemed so far away!

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