Before I tackle the question above, I'd like to thank you all for patiently waiting a few days for a new post - I needed the rest. The Cold came back, except this time it progressed beyond my throat, and brought some fever along with it. I actually did try to post a few youtubes, but as sometimes is the case the site wasn't working. I guess it was not meant to be. Basically you missed a video of a lemur, and of John Medeski trading organ licks with a guitarist (forget his name) with an organ effects rig hooked up to his guitar.
Briefly, in other wine blog news I added a few links to the bottom of the page: Spume by Wolfgang Weber and Besotted Ramblings and other Drivel by Peter Liem. Many of you are probably familiar with their work both online and in Wine & Spirits magazine. Wolfgang's blog is wine focused, of course, but shows the wide array of other interests which I love in a blog. Peter's 'Besotted...' has already made me salivate by describing and posting photos of a hearty bowl of ramen in Tokyo, and has detailed tasting koshu, or aged sake, in Nigata. Very interesting and well-written. Check both of these blogs out, you'll be glad you did.
Now on to the '76 Chateau de Meursault Savigny les Beaune. It is a wine for which I had low expectations, but I bought it anyway because of the year (my brother's birth year). Though it was a good vintage in Burgundy (a hot one, though), and many of the better wines have apparently aged quite well, this is merely village wine from the cotes de beaune. From my understanding that is two strikes as far as extended bottle aging is concerned. I have limited experience with 30+ year old burgundy, though another wine from '76 was one of the most compelling, complete and satisfying wines I have ever tasted. This bottle tonight was not that. The color was light brick, with a touch of an amber glint towards the rim, in other words spot-on for mature burgundy. Black truffles, dark cocoa and berries on the nose preceeded a snappy palate of tangy cherries. At first the wine was a bit one-dimensional, but still obviously hanging in with fruit and some life yet. This humble, village savigny gained some intensity and heft as the meal went on, with the fruit turning a bit more assertive and darker. The pairing was with boneless leg of lamb (one day I'll venture outside of lamb for my mature burgundy food pairings) and herbed whole wheat orzo. It was fine, but the real pairing was the savigny and track 4 off Boredom's Vision Creation Newsun.
