not half good – 1999 mugnier chambolle

25.9.2015billn

WP_20150925_08_25_19_Pro

I’m really at a loss with these half bottles – luckily I have less and less of them…

Way-back-when, when the 1999s were released I was fortunate enough to buy Mugnier’s Musigny, Amoureuses and villages Chambolle. I didn’t have much of the villages, but it tasted great, so I jumped in and bought a dozen halves too – just as well, I thought, as those 75cls are long-gone.

I drank an early Musigny at it was brilliant (note that I’m very happy to have drunk that young bottle, despite Frederic deciding it’s not up to us when to drink them). I’ve had a couple of Amoureuses too – the last 2 years ago – and, likewise, it was brilliant – perhaps even more brilliant, certainly aromatically. But! I’ve ‘tested’ these villages halves every 2-3 years, and frankly they have never been that great, i.e. consistently not great – I think I now have 3 or 4 left. This week’s bottle seems to offer a modest but not classically Chambolle aroma, but the finishing flavours are frankly bitter and not that much fun. I don’t, however, see any obvious faults, just a not very tasty, 15 year-old villages, from a renowned producer. I questioned my timing in previous years, but at some stage that becomes a false crutch.

Good storage, good looking condition, consistently poor results versus the excellent ‘other’ Mugnier 99s from the same source in my cellar.

I remain bemused …

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

There is one response to “not half good – 1999 mugnier chambolle”

  1. Stefano27th September 2015 at 5:59 amPermalinkReply

    Strange story.
    I believe here, the theory of the halves, versus the 76cl versus the magnum does not make sense, as these halves were never ok.
    So I thought in which conditions are the bottles filled at a domaine like this one (artisan). First I suppose the different formats are filled in sequence. That is all the magnums together, and the others special formats, including the halves, which usually are not the majority. Then the 75’s are done with the remaing volume.
    As I suppose that he uses one barrique at the time, you can guess where I am going…. unless he blends, let’s say all the barriques of his village in a tank, and start the bottling process.
    This would be the only rationale explanation as you had consistently average halves versus good 75’s.
    Probably the same story happened with the Clos des Lambrays of the same vintage…I just got happy enough to get a good case.
    In my cellar, I have only a few halves of Prieur’s Puligny les Combettes left. But I was never disappointed with them.
    Cheers
    Stefano

    • billn1st October 2015 at 7:48 pmPermalinkReply

      Stefano, you could be right. I don’t recollect a single good bottle from the case, so far…

Burgundy Report

Translate »

You are using an outdated browser. Please update your browser to view this website correctly: https://browsehappy.com/;