Robert Groffier的惊喜

La Surprise de Robert Groffier (article written in March 2010 in Dijon)

Remember the Gevrey Chambertin 2007 by Robert Groffier that I opened a week ago? It was vivid and elegant: a masculin backbone tempered by tender, fresh red berry notes and lifted by minerality and spice. Very long, very fine.

Unfortunately I couldn’t finish it before my voyage to Alsace on Tuesday and so the “leftover” stayed in my fridge, nearly forgotten. This was not unusual: when I drink alone, I can never finish my bottle in 1-2 days. Most became undrinkable afterwards.

I tried to clean my fridge today and I pulled out this bottle of Gevrey, feeling really guilty. I nearly wanted to pour the remainder into the sink. Just out of curiosity, I poured some into a glass, just to see how it tasted like - an oxidized Groffier’s Gevrey Chambertin.

Then there was this amazing moment of shock which I will never forget: I felt like I was smelling into a wine that was 7-8 years OLDER. I was graced with all these delicate, aristocratic aromas of leather, truffle, fine grilled nuts, dry flowers and caramelized red fruits. On the palate, the tenderness and freshness remained with zesty balsamic and mineral notes.

No where, no where, has this wine showed a hint of oxidation! It is still so alive, so vivid as ever before (after one week in a fridge)! And more, it has evolved into something mellower, more sophisticated, with intriguing scents and flavors. A wine with depth, depth in complexity and depth in time. And the color, I almost forgot to mention the color: it has changed into a brilliant, translucent garnet, just like a shining precious stone!

“Savoir vieillir, c’est conserver longtemps les vertus de la jeunesse” (knowing how to age is to conserve for a long time the virtues of youth)!

I was completely taken over by this wine, by its ability to surprise me so much.

When you thought it was finished, it came back to you to say: not yet, I still have more stories to tell…

When you thought something once beautiful had forever gone, it returned to charm you, to amaze you even more…

A good wine makes you smile

A great wine touches your soul and makes you cry

A good wine is pleasure

A great wine is emotion

Yes we need both, pleasure and emotion.

I am so glad that, in the same wine, I have found both, at different times.

Patience, it has never been my strength

The reward of patience, I have got it by accident.

And it was so great!

Like the style of your writing. Intriguing.

thanks! perhaps because the wine itself was intriguing!! ;-)

写得真好，要是能翻译成中文就更棒了。