Thursday was just your average evening: me gatecrashing a dinner in Beaune with 3 former ‘harvest (07) mates’, plus two winemakers and someone ‘ITB’ (in the business) from Australia…
Prompted by an earlier Henri Boillot bottle that was more than a little tired I had decided that I had to open a 2001 Corton-Charlemagne. I hadn’t tasted this in the last couple of years, but the first three bottles of a six-pack were seriously (and serially) stunning – I never had a better Charlemagne. I took the same occasion to try another (as yet, recently untasted) 2001 Charlemagne from Dubreuil-Fontaine and added a little Mischief & Mayhem 2005 Puligny Caillerets to oil the wheels:
- 2005 M&M Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Caillerets:
Light colour. With the first sniff, everyone said ‘typical 2005’ – ripe, forward, rich etc. Was a great start before we moved to…
Rebuy – Yes - 2001 Dubreuil-Fontaine Corton-Charlemagne: Light colour. Tight, mineral, less obviously ripe. Austere and concentrated – probably what most 5/6 year-old Charlemagnes would aspire to!
Rebuy – Maybe - 2001 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne: Not light colour – at least not when using the previous two as reference. Very ripe, honey on the nose. In the mouth it’s fat and concentrated – no obvious oxidation aromas or flavours – but not the zing, not the painful intensity and not the haunting finish of those first bottles – comment from winemaker friend #2: “you called me round just to taste this?” – ouch.
Rebuy – No
This Boillot is now ‘only’ a good wine, no-longer a great one. It’s a significant fall from its peak and my last two bottles will be drunk in the next 6 months – at €60 I won’t leave one for academic interest – N.B. the 2005 is more like €100…
After that, we all went back to the Dubreuil to confirm how austere it was before finishing every last drop of the evening’s ‘honey’ the M&M – just a very, very classy wine.
For the record, we also had a lovely 2001 l’Arlot NSG Fôrets de l’Arlot, a sadly ‘flat-ish’ 1990 Dom Ruinart Rosé and a 2001 Amiot-Servelle Clos de Vougeot that showed poor aromatics but was ‘okay’ in the mouth… Oh, and the company was great 😉
There are 5 responses to “ouch – potential p.ox from a benchmark wine”
Bill
In response to your notes on the 2001 Boillot CC, we opened one on Sunday. To all of our surprise, it was much more mature than a 6 year old CC should be, not over the hill with oxidation, but certainly to be consumed within a year or two to get what is left of the acidity and structure. Another white Burgundy disappointment to say the least. Another disappointment was the 99 Matrot Meursault Perrieres – almost nothing to this wine and hard to distinguish any chardonnay or French characteristics to it. At least the 99 Sauzet Puligny Combettes was really a good bottle.
Your bottle sounds like a clone for mine Jerry – sad to say. My last two will be drunk over Christmas. Maybe when I get back I might have to check on my lonely Roulot 2000 Perrières..
i am retasting 99 whites
had an amazing ( no surprise jerry) pierre morey perrieres, a corked but perfect color and a quick good taste of philippe brenot batard and a gorgeous albert morey batard.
time to check in on 01’s i think
leroy perrieres deleger chevalier, matrot perrieres and combettes pernot’s etc
Chet
No surprise too that I had a great bottle of 99 P. Morey Meursault Perrieres – at Troisgros. And also a very good 2000 P. Morey Meursault Narvaux. I don’t think I have ever had a P. Morey oxidized bottle. Last night a good (although plenty of reduction) 2000 Leflaive Combettes, but a shot 88 Ramonet Batard.
is there any explanation yet on why certain white burgs are p. oxing…?
i’ve had several bad bottles of 04′ by mikulski and fontaine gagnard lately that should have just been starting to mature….from maltroie, vergers, poruzots, etc.
Craig – I can only refer you to the following link – starting half-way down the page:
https://www.burgundy-report.com/spring-2010/random-ruminations/