The Masculine Summit
The domaine itself calls Chambertin the masculine one — broad-boned, short on finesse in youth, rounding out with time. Twenty-three years on, that sentence was sitting in the glass.
Vintage 2002
9 notes
A Tiara in a Warm Year
Piper-Heidsieck declares Rare only in the years it thinks deserve the name, and 2002 — a warm, dry, concentrated vintage — was an obvious one. At nineteen, with Chardonnay leading the blend, it was still bright at the core and only beginning to turn golden.
The Solar Vintage
The ripest, most flamboyant Dom Pérignon of its era — a year so warm that the house later admitted it had picked the Chardonnay too ripe. Nineteen years from the harvest, opened before two Californian Chenin Blancs, which is not the usual company.
The Same Wine, Released Twice
Bollinger's R.D. is La Grande Année left on its lees for years longer and disgorged late. The same 2002 base wine, in its first release, opened a few months after the R.D. had been — a chance to taste the difference time on the yeast makes.
Petite Sirah, Eighteen Years On
Petite Sirah is the grape Napa uses for colour and tannin and rarely bottles on its own. A single-vineyard version from Calistoga, made by Bob Foley, opened at eighteen years to see what the tannin had turned into.
The Bottle Before the Consultant
Twenty-one acres on a volcanic shelf above the Silverado Trail, and an estate that had already lost its founder. The 2002 sits on the hinge between two eras at Dalla Valle — the last stretch before Michel Rolland arrived.
Two Names on a Margaux Label
August 2002 was a disaster in Bordeaux and the vintage should have been forgettable. Then an Indian summer arrived and stayed until mid-October, and the Cabernet on the left bank ripened after all. Eighteen years later this was a Saturday-night bottle over dinner at home.
A Clone Where the Vineyard Name Should Be
Grower on the label, appellation on the label, and where the vineyard name would normally go, a clone number. An unusual way to describe a wine, and an accurate one.
Lily Bollinger's Long Argument
R.D. is not a prestige cuvée in the usual sense — it is a vintage Bollinger left on its lees for years longer than anyone asked, then disgorged late and sent straight out. The 2002 is the argument in its most flattering year.