Tasted in Meursault with Nadine Gubin, the 12th November, 2014.
Domaine Jacques Prieur
6 Rue des Santenots
21190 Meursault
Tel: +33 3 80 21 23 85
+33 3 80 21 23 85
www.prieur.com
Nadine on 2013:
“It was a late vintage, starting for us at the beginning of October with the whites; they were evolving very fast.
“Of-course we can’t avoid discussing the hail when talking about this vintage – we had 70% losses in Beaune and Volnay – we had bought some new vines in Pommard Les Charmots in 2011, but nothing has been harvested in 2013 and 2014!
“We had quite clean grapes, with fine freshness and precise textures – it was a very nice surprise.
“Our malos were long, indeed two still haven’t finished (Puligny Les Combettes and Echézeaux) but I’m confident they should be over by the end of the year. Except for the malos, I would say it was quite an easy elevage.”
The wines…
In theory this domaine would produce equal amounts of red and white wine, but with the location of the hail in the last vintages, the white production is currently higher.
2013 Meursault Clos du Mazeray
Part barrel and part (2/3rds) 33hl foudre elevage.
This looks almost oily on pouring, but the nose is fine and fresh and I would say clearly Meursault. Fresh but concentrated in the mouth. Finishes fine too. Very, very good!
2013 Beaune 1er Les Grèves Blanc
Young vines from the bottom of the slope.
Some high tones with a weight of tight fruit at the core. Wide and pretty with a coconut barrel note. Tasty but today (at least) with a little too much make-up.
The nose has more weight and a faint salinity, finally some white blossom too – blind I could easily be fooled and say ‘Meursault.’ A little spritz, lots of growing width. This is very, very impressive – I’d serve this to anyone. Yum!
2103 Beaune 1er Champimonts Blanc
High and low aromas, some intensity too – though clearly different to Meursault. Wide, with a lovely texture. Growing intensity and a fine extra flavour in the mid-palate and onwards. Fine and long with understated but balancing acidity.
2013 Meursault 1er Santenots
A definite smell of Meursault – high-toned freshness over a faintly spicy component. More obvious Meursault flavour. This wine is more about width than intensity today, but it remains a tasty wine. A very good finish perks things up!
A wide and very super Meursault nose – likewise in the mouth this is rather panoramic. Lots of energy with a faint phenolic/tannin and also more intensity. Fine – I have to pause before the next wine – this finish is so long!
This nose is not so wide, but it is deep and mineral with a faint agrumes-reduction. There is a little oak here but the stance is very mineral and shows fine clarity. It finishes with a phenolic-tannin texture and some fainter oak. A beautiful wine.
2013 Le Montrachet
Here the nose really showcases high-toned fruits – a little quince over ripe citrus. At first I think there is Chevalier-like minerality, but this is on another level – and padded too – rounder with faint phenolic texture. The finish focuses on the mineral aspects of the wine and then even later brings a reprise too! Today the Chevalier is the more accessible – it will be a very limited number of people who get to compare their respective development.
2013 Corton-Charlemagne
Even lower volume than in 2008.
Here is aromatic weight, if still a rather tight impression. There is a brightness and freshness here, not (today) found in the Montrachet. Intensity, minerality and a relatively wide flavour that pushes you into the finish. Again a phenolic-tannin texture in the very long finish.
Les Rouges…
With the exception of the Beaune Clos de la Féguine, all the wines were still in barrel.
2013 Beaune 1er Les Grèves
Normally 20-25 barrels – only 6 in 2013.
Really deep colour. The nose is similarly deep but rather uncommunicative. In the mouth there’s gorgeous depth and texture – really super – there’s a little oak flavour to go with the dark cherry fruit, and I suppose it will take a little time to fade, but there’s no oak texture. The tannin seems very fine.
2013 Beaune 1er Champimonts
Normally about 35 barrels – again, only 6 – and the same in 2014. Some whole clusters used here.
Similar colour. The nose is wider and less deep. Again, full and round, here with an extra sweetness. Just a little tannin versus the Grèves in 2013. The last drops in the glass are fresher and faintly spicy.
Racked one week earlier. ‘The opposite of Champimonts, with light, not deep soil.
A deep and impressive nose. More brightness of flavour – more high-tones and low tones – fine complexity, energy and length. Really lovely, and the last drops show some flowers too!
2013 Volnay 1er Santenots
The old and young vines were vinified together, but it’s too early to say whether it will wear a ‘Santenots’ or ‘Clos des Santenots’ label.
A similar aromatic depth to the other wines but augmented with higher notes. Silky, slightly plush texture and an underlay of velvet tannin. Long, long, long…
2013 Corton-Bressandes
From almost 0.75ha, and not touched by the hail in either 2013 or 2014.
A very fine width of almost glossy aroma – tighter below. This also starts very silky in the mouth before some tannin takes grip. Fresh and dynamic – this showing brilliantly today. The last drops in the glass smell really lovely.
The nose is quite floral. It seems a little tighter below but is really inviting. Wide, big, lithe – not textured until the tannin arrives. High-toned fruit, ending with real aromatic bravado. Super Clos de Vougeot!
2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
This young-vine fruit from Chambertin is now almost 20 years old – planted in 1995 – I wonder how much longer it will remain as a separate cuvée…(?)
The nose starts tight but silky. It’s a discrete depth – but deep all the same. Fullish and fresh with sweet fruit – and as seems the vernacular today – a growing tannin, though it peaks more as a grip than a grain. A suggestion of oak at the commencement of the finish, but blink and its gone. Super, and the last drops in the glass have the aroma of violets…
2013 Chambertin
A simply super depth of aroma – really! There’s a faint prickle of gas on the tongue, but here is great intensity, an intensity that creeps up on you. The tannin is very similar to the 1er Cru, perhaps modestly silkier. The finish is a fine width of flavour Super! The last drops in the glass are once-more great…
A rather classically big, round, textured assault on the nose. The next sniff reveals a bouquet of flower – finally the aroma of the Clos de Vougeot is bested! Big in the mouth (no surprise) and also the wine with the most tannin too. Fine energy and acidity. Very long but more stony material than fruit – but the texture holds long too!