29 wines, tasted blind in Beaune, 23 May 2019.
Lots to recommend in Marsannay in 2017 – a big thumbs up, it seems, for Domaine Bruno Clair here…
2017 Huguenot, Marsannay Champs Perdrix
A very different style of nose after the Santenays – rounder more depth, almost texture to dark pinot fruit. A little more drive – but not more volume that the Santenay 1ers. Certainly some dark oak that’s cushioning, blurring, the flavour but this is very delicious wine! Excellent with a great finish!
2017 René Bouvier, Marsannay Clos du Roy
Medium-plus colour. A good volume of aroma quite some high tones too. Supple, fresh, a modest depth of tannin. Slowly mouth-watering. Certainly less delicious than the last, more modest finishing too.
Medium-plus colour. A deep nose, faintly spiced and herbed – but in a positive sense – impressive! Ooh – that’s lovely in the mouth – open, bright-flavoured – fine structured – energetic. Layers of flavour. A wine that says ‘look at me’ – good length too – bravo!
2017 Bruno Clair, Marsannay Les Grasses Têtes
Medium-plus colour. A wide nose but one of modest depth and high-tones. A little gas – which affects the texture and the energy – but the middle and finishing flavour have a nice intensity and clarity. Very good – but carafe!
2017 Derey Frères, Marsannay Les Champs Perdrix
Medium, medium-plus colour. Deep dark aromas with some sparkly extra complexities. Supple, deep, dark-flavoured – a subtle reduction at work here – but wide and concentrated in the middle with a lovely dark fruit in the finish. Very good.
2017 René Bouvier, Marsannay Le Finage
Medium, medium-plus colour. Not a big nose, but one of attractive high tones. Plenty of mouth-filling flavour that’s coupled to freshness and a lovely texture. A little burst of finishing energy – this is very good.
2017 Bruno Clair, Marsannay Les Longeroies
Medium-plus colour. Hmm – now that’s very nice – slightly high-toned but wide and complex – nothing exaggerated, and eventually suggesting flowers. Full, complex, mobile – a little fine-grained tannin – and a growing depth of flavour – plenty of oak in that – but a wine of very fine proportions and flavour. It’s excellent!
2017 Philippe Naddef, Marsannay
Heavy bottle alert! Medium-plus colour. A tight nose – there’s some freshness and possibly some reduction too. Yes reductive – but this has a fine shape in the mouth – open, fresh lots of flavour – but a little too reduced to say more – carafe, shake, spray – but don’t drink direct – there’s the potential for excellent here.
Deeper colour. A nose that’s a little tight – but it’s not forced and there are some interesting little flashes of complexity. Fuller, more concentrated than the average. Supple, also a little tight in the flavour but not the architecture – the shape – the finish is excellent. Here is potentially a great 2017 – but have patience!
2017 René Bouvier, Marsannay En Ouzeloy
A little more modest colour. Deep, dark fruit – exacerbated by a little reduction. Mouth-filling, supple a bit oaked flavour. Round, lots of sucrosity and a nice but warm (roast – or maybe just toasty) impression to the fruit. Tasty, but it could be so much more…
Lots of colour here. Hardly forced – spiced, dark fruit – quite forward aroma. Supple, concentrated, not much fat – a driving, complex wine of energy and complexity – oh, and really great flavour. Bravo!
2017 Derey Frères, Marsannay Les Champs Salomon
Medium-plus colour. Good weight and width of aroma – just a little caramel in the mix here. Concentrated, plenty of sweetness, driving with good intensity. Just a little hard structured today – but with a lovely mouth-watering finish. Excellent, but a little more patience is required here.
2017 René Bouvier, Marsannay Longeroies
Medium-plus colour. A deep nose, dank, oaky, perhaps reductive – interesting all the same! Mouth-filling, not really any overt oak in the flavours but like the nose the flavour-profile is dark and has a nice complexity to it. Sweet, interesting, very tasty wine.
2017 Huguenot, Marsannay Heritage
Medium, medium-plus colour. Not a big nose, and the high tones betray the aroma of oak – but quite attractive overall. Supple, really a fine depth of texture – but there is also an insistent side to the flavour here. A little extracted perhaps but a very tasty wine indeed, with an oak note in the finish that reflects the nose – but it’s hardly visible in the middle flavours.
2017 Philippe Naddef, Marsannay Les Genelières
Hmm – that’s a heavy bottle – they are seemingly rarer here than in Beaujolais tough!
Medium, medium-plus colour. The heavy bottle has me expecting more – but this nose is a little compact – some pretty anecdotes but there’s not much to find today. Lots of sweetness and a wave of fresh flavour. A little rasp of tannin but modest, slowly mouth-watering in the finish. Expectations of the bottle are not met – but this is an easy and tasty wine.
Deep colour. An intense nose – complex, inviting – almost, but never quite too much. Supple, concentrated, lovely energy, depth of flavour, young, slightly oaked, but great wine – bravo!
2017 Philippe Naddef, Marsannay Champs Perdrix
Medium, medium-plus colour. Quite a good width of aroma – some caramel, tighter above and below. Plenty of volume in the mouth – silky too though a modest tannin starts to grow from the core. Tasty, oak-inflected flavour. Long finishing too – I don’t like the oak, but the end result is an excellent wine!
2017 Charles Audoin, Marsannay Clos du Roy
Deep colour. Actually quite a tight nose, given the colour, perhaps slowly liberating some fresher florals. Plenty of freshness and energy – there is concentration and energy here – the result is a young but excellent wine – without obvious recourse to the barrels.
Medium, medium-plus colour. Hmm – not the biggest nose, but it’s rather nice with a subtle but attractive herb and a (growing more) beautiful dark fruit below. A hint of oak but a width of super flavour. Here is a wine with a proper structure – it says wait 1-2 years – but this is super wine. Bravo!
2017 Pierre Naigeon, Marsannay Vieilles-Vignes
Medium, medium-plus colour. Hmm – a lovely and forward, dark-red fruit – fine clarity here. Lots of energy, lots of structure – mouth-watering flavour. The fruit of the palate is less fine than the nose but it’s a tasty wine – and like the last, have a little patience – excellent wine!
2017 Pierre Naigeon, Marsannay Sampagny
Quite deeply coloured. A vibrant nose but one that seems a little forced/extracted – perhaps some gas contributing to that. Yes, gassy, and that makes it a little more astringent. Concentrated, intense but really not very pure flavoured – low/no sulfur – hard to judge or enjoy today…
2017 Derey Frères, Marsannay Les Genelières VV
Medium, medium-plus colour. Ooh – a very different nose – very herbed/menthol – pine-needles. I don’t find TCA on the palate but this is a little strange – fine texture good concentration but vs the average Marsannay this is a little bizzare!
2017 René Bouvier, Marsannay Champs Salamon
More weight to this bottle – the wine has my attention!
Medium, medium-plus colour. An easy, open, dark-fruited, perfumed nose – attractive – and surely there’s plenty of whole-clusters here. Nice in the mouth – not too forceful, but still of volume and nice, not too overt energy. Easy finishing wine. There is a lot to find here but the presentation is puzzlingly ‘easy’ – all the same – very tasty!
2017 Clos St.Louis, Marsannay Sampagny
Medium-plus colour. A punchy, forward, quite herby nose – but there is a depth of dark fruit below – the nose slowly tightening in the glass. Fresh, energetic – fresh-flavour profile too – floral-fruit – with fine persistence. I would say excellent!
The aromatic intensity is much more modest here – but it grows in the glass – eventually with a really lovely floral note. Sweet but fresh, mobile energy, a very modest frame of tannin- ultra-fine grained. You know what – this is excellent, indeed more than that, it’s great. Such a lovely wine – one that creeps up on you and then embraces you – bravo!
Deeper coloured than most. Ooh – now there’s a little reduction at the base but this has a really beautiful floral aroma – I hardly need to drink it! Supple, concentrated, waves of flavour – the reduction is perturbing this a little but here is clearly a great Marsannay – of depth, concentration and deliciousness! Bravo – such a gorgeous finish!
2017 Christophe Jolivet, Marsannay Longeroies
Medium-plus colour. Quite an attractive nose – modest herb mixes with faint, sweet, florals. Good shape and volume in the mouth. The tannin is modest but the wine is very tasty, slowly mouth-watering flavour in the finish. Yum!
2017 Huguenot, Marsannay Montagne
Medium, medium-plus colour. Deep, faintly reductive with a little higher, herby, tones. Lots of energy, and certainly this is a mouth-filling wine. There’s sweetness and a good depth of flavour. Certainly above-average Marsannay that just gets better and better as you head from the middle into the finish. Starting good – this wine finishes excellently!
2017 Faiveley, Marsannay Les Echezeaux
Hmm – a lovely, floral width of inviting aroma. Round, deep, a little reductive, some tannin – the nose is very forward, the palate not – wait – but this could be great wine – not today though, today it’s only excellent!