The Tasting Room with Emily Boom: October Highlights
Bordeaux Index
11 November 2024
Welcome to 'The Tasting Room', a series where members of the Bordeaux Index team talk us through what they're tasting, drinking and enjoying. In this article we hear from Emily Boom, a member of our Private Sales team, for the first edition of her Monthly Drinking Diary.
It's no secret that I have had the opportunity to try some seriously good wines. A combination of having the fortune of working at Bordeaux Index, and growing up in the Boom household, it always seemed an inevitability. I am privileged to be able to open and indulge in some truly incredible wines and felt like it was time to share with you all. I hope that this selection gives you some inspiration for what to stock in your cellars and enjoy at the table. These are my standout wines of October.
2004 Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc
If you didn’t know any better, you would have thought based on the colour that the 04 JL Chave Blanc was oxidised – it’s liquid gold. This wine is beautifully oily, rich and bold. Packed full of quince, pear and tropic fruits on a textured tannin structure. It’s creamy, round and big - not one you could, or indeed should, ignore. A very Burgundian style of wine, if you like big, rich burgundies, Chave is a brilliant wine to explore.
96pts Josh Raynolds “Bright gold. Intensely spicy pear, peach and apricot pit aromas, with a strong suggestion of sweet butter. Round and weighty but at the same time juicy, with focused peach and pear nectar flavours enlivened by exotic spice and mineral notes and deepened by honey and fresh cream tones. Gains in freshness with air, picking up strong mineral and tangy citrus zest notes.”
95pts Robert Parker “The 2004 Hermitage blanc, which hit 15% natural alcohol, is another superb effort, continuing a succession of totally profound white Hermitages from 2003, 2004, and 2005. As many readers know, this small family producer has been making wine in Hermitage since 1481! The 2004 (about 1000 cases) reveals a light gold color, terrific finesse and elegance in spite of its enormous power, unctuosity, and richness. Of course, it is not as honeyed as the otherworldly 2003 (which hit 16% natural alcohol) but it is an amazingly full-bodied, powerful wine with pervasive honeysuckle, peach liqueur, and nectarine notes intermixed with liquorice, quince, and acacia flowers.”
The 1998 Sassicaia is such a remarkably complex vintage. Straightaway you are presented with this deep garnet colour with hints of brick at the rim. The bouquet opening up in a highly expressive manner, with aromas of ripe blackcurrants, plums, and dark cherries, intertwined with notes of tobacco, cedar, and leather. Subtle hints of Mediterranean herbs, spices, and earthy undertones add to the complexity. It’s beautifully strongly structured, with finely integrated tannins that give it its signature silky texture. It shows great balance, with a vibrant acidity that provides freshness and an indescribable long and lingering finish – it certainly leaves an impression.
And that is what Sassicaia is all about - with every bottle offering a dance of opulent dark fruit, silky tannins, and a mineral-rich finish, a beautiful reflection of the unique terroir of Bolgheri. If you have a soft spot for Cabernet Franc and do not have a case of Sassicaia in your collection, what are you waiting for?
98pts Ian D’Agata terroirsense.com (Aug 2022) “Good full red with a little bricking at the rim. The captivating nose suggests red cherry nectar, sandalwood, faded flowers, minerals, smoke and sweet spices, along with more evolved nuances of cured ham, crystallized orange peel and cumin. Then magically sweet, subtle and lively, with still excellent energy to the red fruit and milk chocolate flavours that are nicely complicated by potpourri and a dusting of powdered rocks and sandalwood. Beautifully delineated and still firm after all these years, the 1998 Sassicaia conveys an impression of excellent extract and wondrous balance. Clearly no spring chicken, but very impressively fresh on the full-flavoured finish that showcases substantial noble tannins, real class and memorable refinement. The 1998 is the best vintage of Sassicaia in the 1990s and one of the five best Sassicais of all time. Drinking window. 2022-2040.”
2022 Bachelet Monnot, Bourgogne Blanc
Next up is the definition of easy drinking – fresh, light and bright. This is a great fridge filler, a wine that will always please. Think all the citrus – lemon, lime and orange with flattering notes of pear. It’s such a clean and complimentary wine. As I said, well worth keeping in the fridge for any occasion, it will not disappoint.
87-88 pts Jasper Morris “Two thirds from below Puligny-Montrachet, one third Chassagne. Clear pale colour. A certain reductive tension. Fresh apples behind, in a slightly leaner style, yet with good energy at the back. A little fresh plum in the fruit mix.”
2009 Louis Roederer Cristal Magnum
Winston Churchill was most definitely right – “a magnum is the perfect size for two gentlemen to have over lunch, especially if one isn’t drinking.” Unfortunately for me, the other party of this lunch was drinking, and a magnum would never be enough. What a beauty. Cristal typically exudes elegance, and this was no exception. It provided notes of crisp apples, flowers and toasted bread, all dancing on its chalky minerality and super fine bubbles. This went down an absolute treat, a true pleasure. Paired with a couple lethal St John’s negronis and I was well set for the day ahead. I could rest easy knowing I had drunk one of the best champagnes out there.
95-97pts Essie Avellan “An open, soft and welcoming nose with sweet lemony fruit, pastry tones, vanilla and a faint spicy edge. There is a ripe, generously fruity character behind the reserved subtlety of the nose. Bright fruit of exemplary polish. The opulent, fruit-packed palate is smooth-textured and round. The generosity turns into beautiful focus as the wine advances on the palate. Salivating, energetic, chalky-mineral and tight, promising great potential.”
96pts Antonio Galloni “Rich, creamy and radiant, the 2009 Cristal captures all of the natural generosity of the vintage while also retaining a good bit of freshness and aromatic intensity. Immediate and totally sensual in its allure, the 2009 will drink well with minimal cellaring. All things considered, at this stage, the 2009 comes across as relatively restrained for a wine from a warm year.”
There is a reason people say Rayas is catnip, it’s a complete enigma. A Rhone legend which again like the Chave, leans heavily towards the Burgundian style. A wine packed with extraordinary and unmistakable sweet fruit, with unreal complexity. Unlike some CNDP, it possesses a relatively delicate structure, with its silky tannins. Rayas is a gracefully sexy wine and it’s a wine every serious collector should try. Additionally, the white is not to be overlooked!
95+pts Josh Raynolds “Fresh raspberry and cherry on the nose, with sweet red and dark fruit preserve flavours. Even sweeter on the finish, with a jolt of lavender pastille. Component #2, from "older vines": Dense cherry and candied violet aromas. Fleshy in texture, with deep, sweet cherry fruit. Became more tannic with air but stayed sweet. Component #3, "from stony soil": Exotic raspberry and Asian spice aromas. Sweet, weighty and improbably elegant, with vivid red fruit flavours and outstanding finishing clarity. Remarkable. Has the potential to be a great vintage for this wine.”
94pts Jed Dunnuck “A good, but not great Rayas, with sexy, perfumed, and upfront kirsch, sweet spice, underbrush, and dried floral aromatics, the 2006 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve is medium to full bodied on the palate and beautifully balanced, showing sweet fruit, a soft, seamless texture and impressive focus and precision on the finish. Surprisingly accessible and open, it will be interesting to see how this evolves over the coming years. While more structured vintages can drink well for 2 to 3 decades, I would shoot for drinking these over the coming 10-15 or so years.”
That’s a wrap of the best of October. Until next time.