A visit by Olivier Leriche of Domaine de l’Arlot ensured that Jancis Robinson MW accepted our invitation to lunch.
Domaine de l’Arlot makes gloriously drinkable Nuits St Georges. Their style isn’t grandiose but they give a huge amount of pleasure and are immensely popular with our clients. They are extremely well balanced and feature heavily in my own cellar.
We started with two of their white Nuits St Georges – the 2006 Gerbotte and the 2002 1er Cru Clos de l’Arlot. We only get tiny allocations of their whites which is a shame as they are delicious and age superbly. I have been tasting and drinking them for over fifteen years and I have never had an oxidised bottle. At a recent tasting the 1996 Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Clos de l’Arlot was the outstanding white wine in a very grand line up.
The reds were all Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Clos des Forets St Georges. The 2001 was lovely but for some reason more backward than when I tasted it recently. This was followed by the 1991, a wine that I have drunk many times over the last ten years. Sadly it is a fading beauty and is just beginning to lose its fruit.
The star wine was the 1999 in magnum. This is outstanding – deep coloured, profound, excellent weight and still not at its peak. I have to admit that I am biased as this is the vintage that I picked grapes at Arlot…
Unfortunately the lunch ended acrimoniously when two of the guests realised that they were shortly to be competing in the “Master that most resembles their Dog” competition in Somerset. Having now seen pictures of both dogs I am convinced I know who the winner should have been, but my lips are sealed.