I've been on a kick lately of opening bottles with some age on them, including the 1990 Hermitage discussed below. Tonight was a 1996 Nuit St. Georges Les Fleurieres from Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron. Dinner was an oven roasted chicken with black truffle butter rubbed between the skin and the meat and a mixture of wild and white rice. For an hour and a half while it was roasting the house smelled wonderful, earthy and delicious.
I opened the wine about half an hour before dinner. The color was a medium pale red with definite shades of orange on the rim. The aromas were locked up tight for the first few minutes but then dark, red cherries and dry forest aromas began peeking out. The first few sips seemed overly tannic and a little tired. By the time dinner was ready the tannins eased and the fruit came to the the fore. Halfway through the meal the wine finally got itself together. The nose was wonderful with old fruit aromas and that bit of forest. The tannins subsided to a supporting role. The wine was not big and robust, but there was an unmistakable elegance to it. The wine was Ginger Rogers and the chicken was Fred Astaire and there was a definite waltz happening between the two. Nice wine that is probably just a bit beyond its peak, but wonderful to drink.
1996 Nuits St. Georges Les Fleurieres from Jean-Jacques Confuron. 12.5% alcohol and $60 eleven years ago.
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