Tasted in Meursault with Nadine Gubin, the 10th November, 2015.
Domaine Jacques Prieur
6 Rue des Santenots
21190 Meursault
Tel: +33 3 80 21 23 85
www.prieur.com
Nadine on 2015:
“The grapes were really excellent; a good harvest in whites, nice grapes for the reds too, but too few of them! In the Côte de Nuits we had yields of maybe 25 hl/ha instead of 35 hl/ha. Beaune which was hailed so often, came in as expected, with small grapes and not much juice, but we definitely over-estimated the quantity that we thought would come in from the Côte de Nuits.
“We started with our whites on the 3rd September.”
Nadine on 2014:
“Due to the hail we really lost lots in the Côte de Beaune. Beaune itself was 60-80% lost; Volnay about 50% lost. The yields in the Côte de Nuits weren’t enormous, but 30hl/ha was acceptable.
The 2014 reds have density and consistency of quality – the freshness is the biggest surprise – we had late malos into May-July. The evolution has been a very nice surprise. Ripe fruit, good weight but with finesse too. Not a complicated vintage to taste or understand, but there are good differences between the terroirs, but the freshness is the best surprise.
The whites also had late malos – some that finished in the July/August period, just before vintage. No rot, really super grapes.”
The wines…
All 2014s are still in tank, except the Beaune 1er which has been racked. The reds I found to be well above average, the whites were superb…
2014 Beaune 1er Clos de la Féguine
Typically deep colour for this domaine. A fresh but lovely dark red, slightly sweet, fruit. Unctuously sweet in the mouth, some oak artifacts, but silkily textured with weight of concentration. Good dimension of mid-palate to finishing flavour. Very fine length…
Deeper, darker, a little more discreet today. Here is a brighter line of acidity – a direct wine but with really fine fresh personality, mouth-watering flavour – simply excellent! “It’s a really great surprise for us after the episodes of hail.”
2014 Beaune 1er Champimonts
No Champimonts as was 90% hailed. So will make a Beaune 1er with some Choucherias too – probably
2014 Volnay 1er Champans
The nose is a little confused it seems but there’s weight of aroma below and a kind of textured higher note. Like the Beaune Grèves here is a line of direct and perhaps more complex flavour. Beautifully mouth-watering in the finish – excellent. In the end this may be as good as the Grèves. The last drops in the glass are coming together with a pretty violet aroma. This just needs a little time.
2014 Volnay 1er Clos des Santenots
A cuvée this year, the older vines again gave almost nothing, but the younger vines were more productive.
A modest nose but with a slight floral lift. Wide, a panorama here, a little oak flavour in the middle, a little texture from the tannin, but no grain. Wide and mouth-watering, a little more structural, but excellent… The last notes of the finish again with a little bitter oak tannin.
2014 Corton-Bressandes
From almost 0.75ha, and not touched by the hail in 2014.A 50% whole cluster fermentation.
Modestly open nose; there’s a suggestion of creamy, smoky oak over a tight core of red fruit. Lovely in the mouth, tongue-wrapping texture and lots of complexity – a lot from the oak but that will be gone in 2-3 years. Potentially super.
2014 Clos de Vougeot
Not the most overt, but here a subtly lovely aromatic complexity – wide, mouth-watering fresh fruit flavour, the oak is mostly assimilated here and this flows beautifully over the tongue. Some understated structure today. This is a fine CV…
This is young-vine fruit from Chambertin which was planted in 1995.
Wow – gorgeously complex and fresh nose, fruit and flowers, time in the glass adds a sweet, smoky oak note too. Airy, gorgeousness. With fresh energy and brilliant complexity. Could the finish be deeper? – lets see in the Chambertin – but frankly great wine.
2014 Chambertin
There are 4 separate parcels of vines, all in the core of the appellation – 2 young and two old vines
Very different; deeply, concentratedly, perfumed. Actually I prefer the freshness of the young vines cuvée. Bigger in the mouth, rounder in shape and texture too. A little more tannin in the finish with an edge of salinity. Overall a more massive wine in all directions – except today freshness and joy. In the first 10 years I suggest drinking the young vines, but afterwards…
In Champs Traversins next to DRCs Poulardières.
So deep a colour! Impressive depth of aroma. Slowly releasing floral notes too. Here is a more direct freshness reminiscent of the Gevrey 1er. Beautiful concentration and a discreet padding to the texture, ouf! A lovely extra ‘bang’ of fine flavour in the mid-palate before a long fading note. More to wait for than some recent vintages – i.e more patience required – I think, but excellent.
Here is a fresh, pretty and complex top layer of aromas – below it starts tight, but slowly, slowly, it becomes rounder and rounder, filling the glass also with a floral dimension. Eventually, I have to admit, this is the best nose! In the mouth this is also very round, not the most weight of all the wines here, but really impressively complex and indeed spherical. There are fresher wines, there are wines with a little more energy, but this is the broadest and longest finishing of them all…
Les Blancs…
2014 Meursault Clos du Mazeray
2/3rds vinified in 33hl foudres plus barrel. Lost 50% in this parcel, just below Goutes d’Or, a 3ha parcel. Just before the 2015 harvest this was assembled with lees, for bottling in January. All other whites are still in barrel.
A wide, soft, silky, ripe citrus nose that’s quite perfumed. Some gas, wide, indeed quite mouth filling – it seems energetic without overt freshness. A rather reflective wine but with good finishing Meursault flavour. Last drops leave a more Meursault impression.
Young vines from the bottom of the slope. the only white Beaune this year as the others were close to 90% hailed, this also 70%… From Marriages just on the northern side of the road that goes to the hut of l’Enfant Jesus; the whites on the more gravelly base, reds higher on the slope.
Fresh high tones, a little mineral, but today rather discreet. Lovely in the mouth despite a little gas, here is very fine complexity, salinity, even a hint of tannin. Faintly touched by the barrels but that’s probably gone in a year. Excellent wine
From Pitures. The vines were planted in 2000, almost 1 hectare.
A deep nose, recognisably Meursault, some freshness – in stance it reminds me a little of a Genevrières nose. Ooh, mouth-watering loveliness. Fine texture just with a suggestion of padding and a gorgeous line of flavour that lasts long in the finish.
A brighter nose with ripe citrus fruit. A hint of gas but here is gorgeous width and excellent complexity too – pushing long through the palate into the finish. First class Perrières!
2014 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Combettes
Also a part vinified in foudres, 50% roughly.
Here is a more oak-toasted nose. The first. Behind is a sweetness and fresh weight of aroma. Plenty of gas, but the freshness is clear, the direct, complex flavour too – also more oak flavour. But again finishing really impressively, even after Perrières. If/when the oak disappears into the background, this will also be excellent.
Right at the top of the vineyard.
Deep notes, faintly reduced and mineral. Simply melts over the palate, fresh flavour, with a suggestion of silkiness. Hyper-complex in the mid-palate and of-course seemingly everlasting in the finish.
From 2 parcels, one classic hillside and the other by Dents du Chien
There’s a core to the aromatic that instantly makes me think of Montrachet – I’m learning, eh… Its almost a toffeed fruit at the core. Large-scaled but no fat, just weight, concentration and brilliant complexity too. Then an extra intensity in the mid-palate that rolls into the finish. Just a brilliant wine. Bravo.
Next to the vines of Lalou, plain east facing with a very white soil under the trees. Sometimes the grapes eaten by the wild boars!
A more composed, less overtly complex nose. Large, silky, more mineral flavour, again with a really very fine complexity and at the end, composed energy. Completely different mid-palate flavour. But a large scaled finish all the same if without the pop of the Montrachet. Really, really long… A very slightly bigger, but less gorgeous wine than Montrachet today, still, everything is marginal!
There is one response to “Jacques Prieur – 2014”
Bill,
I think you might find a typo in the name, I think it is Gublin.
thanks.
You are right Nick, but if you want to point out typos, you could be here for some time 😉