Deep, deep, sweet Pernand hillside joy :-)

With my Xmas/New Year lurgy in remission, but still compromising my nose's abilities to 'work' properly, I finally got around this evening to trying the first of a 6 pack of 1997 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne - with trepidation !

Opened this unwrapped from its tissue with trepidation for 'you know what' but - the relief - whilst the amber gold colour looked worrying the nose has that very subtle, older but correct, white burg aromas, not a whiff of anything sherryish. The palate is really nice. Clearly a product of ripe (very ?) fruit, and would benefit from a tad more acidity, but otherwise coolly delicious with subtle rocky mineral ripe sweetish detail, subdued creamy vanilla oak notes, savoury, chewy, palate flooding and very long. Just minerally delicious and true GC class. Wonderful !

Fingers crossed for the other 5 !

Seasonal drinking was ( ;-) ) as usual, quite modest - I spend most of my time acting as a chauffeur! But I enjoyed some nice Piesporter, decent 10-12 year-old shiraz, a magnum of 81 Corton Rognets and another magnum of Robert Denogent 07 Mâcon-Solutré "Clos des Bertillones" - the second one of these - the first a tad disappointing, this was excellent.

Happy New Year to all...

Some burgs we've enjoyed:

A tour through the 2010's of Jean-Marc Vincent - Auxey-Duresses Blanc Les Hautes, Santenay 1ers Beaurepaire, Gravieres, and Passetemps. Bill's impressions are spot on but what I can add is that over the course of a bottle each the Beaurepaire and Passetemps both remained poised and impressive while the Gravieres seemed to lose some of its charm after a couple of hours.

2004 Lucien Boillot - Gevrey 1er Cherbaudes: clearly marked fatally by the vintage.

2006 N. Potel Vosne Romanee vv. - very unforgiving and tight on the nose for the first 1-2 hours open and in the decanter, but with vigorous encouragement hints of pretty red fruit could be found. Over time the gorgeous perfume became more apparent though remained reserved and subtle. The palate has a beautiful texture with the tannin becoming more evident as the fruit unfolds over hours. Perfect balance and structure. Great now, has years of life.

Tonight wife and I going to RN74 in the city. Should be able to pick off something very nice off the wine list (if I can conceal the pricetag from her view)

May you all have the best of the New Year!

Rick

Hi Joachim, thanks for the reply and yeah -- the '94 Rousseau CSJ was a real surprise, most notably on the depth of fruit and mouthfeel. The cork was soaked 80% through, but otherwise the bottle was in great shape, which might have had something to do with it. We opened 3 Rousseau CSJs this year: this one, a 1995, and a 2007. Casting aside the obvious relative infanticide of the latter bottle, the 1994 was the hands-down winner. I had great expectations for the 1995, but it disappointed on the overall -- was somewhat sour and uninspiring. I'm intrigued by the notion that perhaps expectations going in can have an unduly disproportionate influence on perceptions of a given bottle of wine.

Re the 1996's -- its weird -- I've wondered the "when will they be ready" question on about 75%, with the other 25% being quite satisfying (e.g., (again a surprise on the upside) a Mugneret-Gibourg Vosne-Romanee about a year ago). I think you're right -- leave them until they're 20. I have about 15 bottles left in stock overall and I plan to leave the vast majority alone for at least 3-5 more years.....

-Todd

Had dinner with a few friends yesterday and I brought the wine.
I decided for a blind comparison of a Swiss and a Burgundy both from 2010.
The Swiss was a Eichholz from Annatina Pelizzatti from Jenins. This is a wine I already drank a few times this year and always loved it. Beautiful nose, with red fruit and floral notes, very expressive, and a palate to match, elegant and light.
The Burgundy was a Dujac Morey-St. Denis.
Pouring them in the glass, it was immediately evident which was which, the latter being much darker. I also could immediately identify the nose of the Pelizzatti and enjoyed it. But still the Dujac was much more interesting, had more depth, with spices overlaying a chinotto note.
On the palate the difference was even more evident, with the Dujac showing again a lot more depth, with more body and intensity, without giving up elegance. The tannins (barely perceivable in the Eichholz), were quite strong in Dujac but not at all disturbing.
Dujac's finish was very, very long.

I think this was the first Burgundy 2010 I tasted from bottle at home (rather than in Burgundy's cellars) and it's been delicious - if it is representative of the vintage (as I hope) it's very convincing.

Interesting Todd, especially the 1994 CSJ. Lately I had so many bad experiences with this vintage that I'm really surprised. The 1994 Chambertin from Rousseau I had two years ago was OK, but not more, a light, elegant wine, but not on Grand Cru level. We had it side by side with a Jadot 93 Chambertin, which was lightyears better. The 1994 Mugnier Les Fuees I opened recently was nearly undrinkable - light, sour liquid. I still have a Mugnier 1994 Musigny in my cellar, but given the recent prices, I think I'm going to sell it.

And interesting comment on the 1996ers - lets see how they come out on their 20th birthday, haha!

Just noticed a typo -- FWIW, it was the 2008 Millot and Mugneret-Gibourg V-R villages that we had, not the 2009......

We have hopped around a bit over the holidays. Actually had a Bordeaux on Christmas eve (to answer the question in the other thread), and have had a couple of Oregon pinots. Mostly Burgundy, though, with the high points being:

-1994 Rousseau CSJ. Major surprise on the upside given the vintage rap. One of those ethereal, almost weightless wines at first, then gathering strength of fruit, earth, acidity and secondary components as the bottle opened. Could have been the law of low expectations at work, but who cares -- a great bottle of wine and a really nice surprise. Had this on Christmas day.

-2009 Vosne-Romanee villages side-by-side: Jean-Marc Millot and Mugneret-Gibourg. Very interesting contrast. Both ultimately showed their terrior and some spicy typicity, but winemaking differences showed through a fair bit, with the Millot coming off as more restrained in style. Ultimately loved them both so hard to argue with either style....

-1996 Maillard Aloxe-Cortion 1er Grandes Lollieres. Mixed bag here -- had some interesting earthiness and bright acidity, but left me with a question I've asked a few times on the '96s: will this ever be really ready (i.e., fully integrated), or is it just what it is???

-2008 Drouhin Vaudon Chablis 1er: really minerally and acidic, just the way we like it!

Happy New Year to all!

-Todd

Continuing my holiday wine festival, I opened two marvelous Gevreys yesterday with two friends. We had a 99 Clos St. Jaques from Sylvie Esmonin and a 06 Combottes from Rossignol-Trapet.

Clearly, the Clos St. Jaques was the wine of the evening. The platonic idea of elegance and style. Even if the style of the Domaine became quite modern in the last years, this 99 was made very traditional. One could say that the wine lacks body, but I was totally captivated by this wonderful, complete elegant wine, incredible. Lot of red fruits in the nose, on the palate a dominating minerality which was literally dancing on my tongue, kind of a gentle sparkling which lasted half a minute. Then, even if the wine had not too much power, the finish lasted another 30 seconds. Great wine. And a proof, that ratings can be very misleading: Allan Meadows gave it 89 points. A mystery to me. This was a wine of class and nobility, showing all the perfection of its terroir.

The Combotte was great, too, even if it could not match with the CSJ. But still, what a great wine. More on the black fruit side, with a good and strong acidity, and the somehow robust and down-to-earth character of this Domaine. I think Rossignol-Trapet is really underrated, by wine critics and somehow here in the forum, too. These are really honest and typical burgundies which are true representators of the terroir, made in harmony with the nature, build for a long aging. You could taste all the potential of this wine, even if its far from ready. But I can really recommend this Domaine.

More to follow on Saturday, since for tomorrow we have Domaine Maume, Domaine Chevillon and Jean Noel Gagnard lined up!

A mixture of burgundian and non-burgundian wines for me this Christmas. Nothing too extravagent yet, but some lovely wines. We will continue to be festive for another couple of days yet, but here are some of the burgundies that we have enjoyed so far:

2010 Philippe Chavy Puligny-Montrachet Rue Rousseau Chardonnay
Drinking very nicely, still rich and a little oaky but with time it became much more interesting.

2009 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Champlots
Lovely Saint Aubin, very complex, yet fine and elegant. Plenty of life left in this, leave for another few years. With air it developed a good richness but it still is much more fresh than the average 09 white burg.

2008 Domaine Dujac Morey St. Denis
Superb village wine, nice elegance and complexity. Very fine burgundy with some earth, poop and a mix of red and black fruits, a little tight at the moment but still drinking quite well.

2008 Vincent Dancer Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Romanée
Whispers rather than shouts, but ohh my what a whisper. Uber fine profile of mint, stone fruits and some oak derived notes, but lovely tension, line length. This is a really lovely wine and with time the oak recedes and leaves an exceptionally classy wine.

2007 Philippe Chavy Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières
Drinking very well, smooth, long, lemony with super acidity.

2008 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Chambolle-Musigny
Incredibly tight and primary, nice wine underneath but needs time. Deeper and more brooding than some chambolle. Serious wine.

2006 Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux
Fat, although others enjoyed it more than I did.

Joachim's post pre-empted my best intentions somewhat but, as he seems specific to Christmas Eve, and I was intent on a wider post, what are all you good Burgundy fixated folk drinking this seasonal holiday ? Let's share - well, thoughts at least, whilst Bill's taken himself over to the UK for a lie down ;-)

My start point for thinking about a seasonal drinking thread, apart from the season itself, was my finally getting around to pulling some older wines from storage as I've been meaning to do for ages. As I've detailed on Joachim's thread so far I've tackled two (premoxed - doh !) whites and a super red - just had another sip of the latter and now got some charry oak I didn't get to start with (which adds nothing, spoiling the initial, cleaner, purity).

Besides the:-
Domaine des Lambrays 2001 Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru 'Clos du Cailleret'
Chateau de la Maltroye 1996 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru 'Dent de Chien
Domaine Jean Grivot 1996 Vosne-Romanee 1er cru 'Les Suchots'

I've pulled various 3's or 6's from storage to hopefully last me a few months as most of what I had at home I didn't want to drink for various, mainly age/value/sentimentality reasons !!!

From the pull off's I've earmarked a bottle of each of the following for intended holiday drinking:-

Domaine Denis Mortet 1995 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru 'Lavaux-St-Jacques' - loved the 97's I've drunk of this. Tremendous bottles.

Domaine Jean-Michel Gaunoux 1996 Corton-Renardes Grand Cru. My only Gaunoux reds. I've loved his Meursault Perrieres 1996 & 2002 but not had a red so far & can't recall who I bought these from EP. Will be opening the first of a 6 pack with my father and brother on Boxing Day.

Domaine Maume 1996 Mazis-Chambertin GC

In the wings for a change of mind/other possibility are Barthod's 95 Chambolle Beaux Bruns, Bachelet's 95 Gevrey VV, Engel's 02 Vosne Brulees or Arlaud's 09 Bourgogne Roncevie.

Whites wise, I've sampled two so far, to be taken up with the selling merchant with no expectation of any recompense but.........

Others earmarked are:-

Domaine Darviot-Perrin's 02 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru 'Blanchots-Dessus'. Had a faulty bottle of this at a mate's a fortnight ago but another some months ago was great - super terroir. Bottle also earmarked for the parents Boxing Day as my preferred alternative to cheap fizz with salmon blinis.

Nervous cough:- Domaine Bonneau du Martray 97 GC Corton-Charlemagne. Drawn off a 6 pack, so far untouched - please, please St Vincent..............

Domaine Leflaive 98 Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru 'Les Pucelles' - have 3 of these.

Domaine Chandon des Briailles 96 GC Corton-Charlemagne - 3 of these also. The 97 & 98 were very average and not GC worthy for me, if not premoxed at least.

Domaine des Comtes Lafon 03 Meursault Goutte D'Or and 01 Clos de la Barre (latter should have been 02 but bond made a mistake). Had 2 of the 03 Charmes last few months - grim, oaky, charred, no fruit, flacid wines. Am hoping the Gouttes will be better, if needing drinking soon anyway.

So, folks, Happy Christmas and a bonne nouveau annee pour 2013 to you all. My all your burgs be blessed (well, more than mine anyway) and may you all have a great seasonal affair (conscious we are differing religions etc).

What was good for you in 2012, what was bad and what are you particularly looking forward to in 2013 ?

For me:-
Good :- Only daughter blitzed her college results & got a very good university place were she seems to be thriving.

Bad:- Getting her settled into university (fatherly duty) meant I missed my 6th vendange in Morey for le premier equipe de Morey, Domaine Arlaud. Very upsetting, sometimes though family comes first, but see below.

Being back on the Cote in 2013 with Cyprien Arlaud, bless you sir, telling me my place is reserved for 2013. Hope to see Mr 'nicest man himself' David Clark, Ray W (equally a top man!) and Andrew Nielsen amongst others then. Can't come soon enough and if it rains throughout who cares - I'm British !!!

Cordialement mes amis.

MG

Thanks Howard, my brother lives in LA. I'll have him check it out. I also signed up on the mailing list.
Thanks,
Mark

In the US, I have seen them at Woodland Hills, but they are a lot (a very lot) more expensive than buying from Ray directly.

Howard, great post. Enjoyed your impressions. Now if I could only find Ray's wines in the US. Bill, I'm not working for Maison Ilan. No financial interest. I'm just cheering on the Americans who are trying to make good wine especially in Burgundy.
Mark

Mark Goldberg said:
Bill, what are your impressions of Maison Ilan's wines? From what I read ,his wines have minimal intervention and should show the terroir from where they're from. In the US,on the Travel Channel, Anthony Bourdain, did a documentary on Ray walker and Maison Ilan. You can find this on the web at Maison Ilan's site or on their Face Book page. It's an excellent video.

I visited Ray in summer 2011 and tasted his 2009 Charmes and MSD Chaffots and all of his 2010s. The 2010s were in barrel and many were still undergoing malo, so they were hard to taste, but they really showed purity and beautiful fruit. That, to me, is a hallmark of what I have tasted of the vintage, but I think that in Ray's 2010s it is also a reflection of what he is looking for. Again, with the caveat that the wines were undergoing malo, it seemed to me tha the wines were transparent and tasted different one from another according to their terroir. They were quite impressive. We went with Ray to a restaurant for lunch and he brought bottles of the two 2009s to lunch with him. Ray wanted to show them to the owner of the restaurant who is a wine broker. I was also impressed with these wines and liked them very much. I have seen recently people (esp. with the Charmes) criticize the wines for showing oak (an interesting comment considering the Chaffots saw no new oak and the Charmes 30%). I cannot comment on how the wines are showing now, but can say what I saw in the wines a year ago again was pure fruit and certainly not oak flavors. I was sufficiently impressed that while I bought a 1/2 of the 2009s and a 1/2 case of the 2010s to try the wines, I doubled the order in 2011 (with my wife's blessing and encouragement, a feat in itself).

Mark Goldberg said:
Bill, what are your impressions of Maison Ilan's wines? From what I read ,his wines have minimal intervention and should show the terroir from where they're from. In the US,on the Travel Channel, Anthony Bourdain, did a documentary on Ray walker and Maison Ilan. You can find this on the web at Maison Ilan's site or on their Face Book page. It's an excellent video.

You sound like you are commission Mark ;-)
http://www.burgundy-report.com/summer-2011/profile-maison-ilan-nuits-st-georges/

Bill, what are your impressions of Maison Ilan's wines? From what I read ,his wines have minimal intervention and should show the terroir from where they're from. In the US,on the Travel Channel, Anthony Bourdain, did a documentary on Ray walker and Maison Ilan. You can find this on the web at Maison Ilan's site or on their Face Book page. It's an excellent video.

I tasted the Ilan 09 bottles and 10 from barrel Mark. I even ordered some 10s just before the deadline fell. I look forward to see how they are coming along...

Joachim, I had the opportunity to drink the 08 and 09 Dublere Volnay 1er Cru Pitures. I enjoyed them both. The 08 showed more acid and less fruit than the 09,but still well balanced and soft. Typical of the variation of the two vintages. The 09 was smooth and elegant.It's nose and taste was red fruits and licorice. It was beautifully balanced and ripe. To me they had the fruit and taste typical af Volnay. I think they will both taste well over the next ten years. I think the 09 is more approachable now.
Has anyone tasted the wines from Maison Ilan?

Mark, we had a tasting with non-burgundy PN, where we had a Dublere as a pirate. I liked it, but was not really impressed. Maybe you know anyway, since you commented in this thread as well, but here are my notes again:

3. Domaine Dublere Beaune 1er Cru Les Blanches Fleurs - We really liked the wine – but none of us identified it as the Burgundy. Might be a result of the 2009 vintage, which I still regard as untypical and too broad. Still, it was a real pleasure to drink, a textbook Pinot, but nothing special and not more elegant then the Suisse PN or the Heger. (17/20)

I still suspect that it was a matter of the vintage, since I read so many good things about Dublere. Did you compare 2009 and other vintages from Dublere? Do they come out diffferently?

Dominic stated" dynamic young wine makers making stellar and affordable juice".Two young wineries who should be sought out are: Domaine Dublere and Maison Ilan.Both owners and wine makers are from the U.S. Blair Pethel at Domaine Dublere is from Washington,DC.He started making wine in Burgundy in 2004. He studied under Patrice Rion and Jean-Marc Pillot. His 2007 Volnay 1er has beautiful fruit,well-balanced and a long smooth finish.At $40.00 US it's a great price.Ray walker is the owner and winemaker at Maison Ilan. Ray became the first American ever to make Le Chambertin. He started in Burgundy with little money, no connections, and no experience in wine making. When he first traveled to Italy he became obsessed with wine.He first studied in Bordeaux. In 2005 he sampled a 2002 Meursault Clos de la Barre from Comte Lefon. From that moment he was going to explore Burgundy. Then he got into the reds. He went back to the US and worked at Freeman winery in Sonoma. Freeman makes excellent single vineyard Pinots.He left his job in Sonoma and went to Burgundy with a plan. He would try to buy village-level grapes to make wine. During that time he taught hemself French.Village- level grapes were not available,but someone offered him grapes from Charmes-Chambertin.Because of the economy grand cru grapes were in the market.He found a wine maker willing to share space and equipment. He was obsessed in making wine as a purist. He stuck to minimalist methods, influenced by Jacky Truchot. He used methods that required few tools and minimal technology. His fermentation is in wood rather than temperature controlled stainless steel.His first vintage was from 11 1/2 barrels. He now has a winery in Nuits- St. Georges. It is astonishing that a young American with no connections is making beautiful wine in Burgundy. Those who have tasted his wines gave great reviews. He now makes wine from Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny, and Volnay. Regarding both of the wine makers, has anyone tried their wines? Mark

I'm going twice in a year to the burgundy. The first time in 1975 I was by Serafin and Cathiard.
You could than buy a St.Vivant under 20 franc. In 1985 all his vine was sold to Taillant. The price of the 1986 was then just three times as the 1983.
He never saw me again. Ten years later his son was telling a german importer that he has no customer base which are buying his wine each year.
At the moment in burgundy you have in each village one or two great young vigneron which make great wines for a good value. One of my favorits in Pommard is Cyriot. As I get older I must also look for early drinking wine that means I have to go to the cote de Beaune/Chalonnaise.
Today I have a Bellene Volnay 2008 Clos de Chene which is just great.
As soon as a vigneron can sell his wine to a foreign country the prices will go up.

Sell DRC to pay for for your CSJ!

Howard

Some interesting observations which I do feel have a lot of validity; will be interesting to see whether other posters care to offer a view.

Personally I am finding that their is increasing interest in all things Burgundian, which I guess is a good thing for the producers but maybe not so for the consumer.

Allocations on some of the wines that I have been regularly buying over the last few years have changed from 12s to 6s to 3s with pricing on these wines increasing year on year. Maybe I will be down to an allocation of a single bottle next year? I think that if that happens then I will just forget about those wines and look to purchase something else.

It is no doubt that having two stellar vintages in succession (2009, 2010) have not helped with availability and pricing so it will be interesting to see what the 2011 vintage brings. Will those consumers that just buy great vintages disappear for the forthcoming En Primeur campaign and will prices come down?

I'll post on anything, although it does seem as though comments from others usually appear on the bigger named wines. My village where I am going to be upping my purchases going forward is Marsannay (Pataille, Coillot, Fougeray de Beauclair); some really great quality wines being produced here and at very reasonable prices. It will be interesting to see if pricing goes up in Marsannay if any of their lieu dits are granted premier cru status.

Another point I wonder what people think of is drinking vs selling and at what point do you have to get to before the dynamic changes? I have been buying Rousseau GC Clos St Jacques for a couple of years and as with all the wines that I buy my intention is to drink not sell. My storage account gives me price valuations on the wines that I have purchased and in just over a year this wine has been valued at over double the price I paid for it. Makes selling a tempting prospect all of a sudden.

Mark

A couple of additional things to comment on from the OP. There is a shhhh mentality on the part of some Burgundy drinkers. At least some of them have an inflated view of their influence and knowledge and think that it they divulge the names of their favorite wineries, the prices will go higher and the wines will become unavailable. So, you see tasting notes on the famous, while you see people trying to hide their love for others.

Also, just some people are self conscious and only post on the big names they drink. While they drink other wines, they may not post because they are afraid some bonehead will criticize them as unsophisticated for liking that producer.

Here;
rue Notre Dame
21630
Pommard
Tél : 03 80 22 18 52
Fax : 03 80 22 74 30

Jacob, no. I meant Michel Gaunoux from Pommard, a red wine Domaine.

JT, if you mean Jean-Michel Gaunoux from Meursault I would say yes. I've once visited this domaine and his Perrieres was 'formidable'!

You van use http://www.annu.fr to find phone and fax numbers

Does anyone know whether one needs an appointment to visit Domaine Michel Gaunoux? Couldn't find any contact details anywhere.

emile said:
Bill, have tasted Darviot Perrin 2009s?
What is your take on this Domaine in general?

Hi Emile
I've only tasted occasonal bottles and nothing in the last couple of years - so I've no view on them - sorry...