Tasted in Meursault with Nadine Gublin and Martin Prieur, the 12 December, 2015.
Domaine Jacques Prieur
6 Rue des Santenots
21190 Meursault
Tel: +33 3 80 21 23 85
www.prieur.com
Part two of my visit to this producer as I only tasted the 2015 whites there in October.
The wines…
None of these 2015s have been bottled yet – indeed some have only just finished their malos. A little more whole-clusters than is usual for here was used in 2015.
We start with a couple of négoce wines – since the episodes of hail that decimated the domaine’s vines from Volnay to Beaune, they have bought and sold relatively modest amounts of wine under the négoce label Labruyère-Prieur Sélections. For the last couple of vintages, this has amounted to about 45 barrels of wine.
2015 Labruyère-Prieur Bourgogne Rouge
From around Maranges. Did all the harvesting. Soon to be bottled. Very old vines, all elevage in barrel, about 15% new. All destemmed
The nose is deep and a little cushioned, faintly oaked too. Full of intensity and fine textured tannin- fresh and long, a hint of bitter oak in the finish – which will mostly be gone in a few months. Long and fresh finishing. This will be super.
2015 Labruyère-Prieur Griotte-Chambertin
Malo only just about finished! 100% whole cluster.
Fresh and open nose – sweetly fruited. Supple, muscled wine but with very fine texture and an impressive intensity in the middle. Really a strong wine but not to massive. Good, if not mind-bending stuff.
Domaine Wines:
The Prieur style is fully evident here, with plenty of oak and deeply coloured wines. In this vintage those aspects combine to make obvious ‘vins de garde‘ i.e. wines you can keep in the cellar for many years. This style means that you may miss a little of the delicacy that pinot, indeed burgundy, can deliver – but the impact and thrill of such wines remains clear to see. It’s a great set of wines.
2015 Meursault, Clos de Mazeray
100% whole cluster.
Wide, and fresh, just a little floral complexity too. Fine, supple texture, concentration without too much weight. Really good intensity in the middle with some trailing oak notes. Tasty stuff, will have a little more overt energy when the oak fades I think.
A bigger, wider, fresher and really attractive nose. Really supple and lovely texture. Intense again, lots of mid-palate complexity here, and the oak is much more modest. This I find excellent! Bravo!
2015 Beaune 1er Champs-Pimont
A deeper, darker-fruited nose, but with higher red reflections. Like all so far, a supple concentration – no fat yet tons of material. Intense and here with just a little more tannin perhaps, but all is very fine-grained and just avoiding dryness. Lovely.
2015 Beaune 1er Les Grèves
Hmm – still a dark nose, but one with complexity and a real invitation to drink – lovely. Wide, lithe and muscled wine, not directly intense but the flavour mounts and mounts – lovely freshness of mid-palate flavour and great texture. Long and quite wide in the finish. Lovely. Like the last, big and powerful, but Feguine is the prettiest today…
2015 Pommard 1er Charmots
Bought in 2013, but lost 100% in 2013 and 2014, so this the first bottled vintage. 100% whole cluster. About 0.3 ha just above Grands Epenots.
A fresher, more floral nose, very faint coffee. Wider, subtly complex. Palate. A faint floral. This is a hint tighter / less open than the previous, but with a tenacious finish. Very nice!
2015 Volnay 1er Santenots
Young vine Clos Santenots, now 20 years old. All destemmed.
A delivery of deep and high notes in tandem, a pretty freshness here too. Large scaled, fresh top notes, not a massive density but a very nice complexity. The tannin is present but not jarring. A good burst of finishing flavour too. Long with modest intensity. Perhaps a little tight…
The old vines of the Clos. Also destemmed – very different in style – so the 20 year-olds are not yet ready!
More depth of aroma here, dark fruit, with an accent of oak. A more mineral and fresh impression – a wine more of line than volume. Complex in the mid-palate, faintly oaked, very long – almost elegant – super wine – bravo!
From almost 0.75ha. A 50% whole cluster fermentation.
Deep colours all round. A higher-toned, more mineral aromatic complexity. Silky, turning to velvet as the tannin slowly surfaces, but a beautiful line of fresh flavour that runs through the core of the wine – this I like very much! It’s very long too. Built to last yet tasted super today – bravo!
30% whole clusters.
Less aromatic width, but a nice depth overlaid with pretty fresh fruit and minerality. This is very inviting. A fine linear wine, a wine of line, of intensity, of ‘don’t drink me now’ but with just beautiful mouth-watering finishing flavour. Really a great mid to long-term wine – I love it!
2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
The young vines – now about 20 – from Chambertin. Vinified together for first time in 2016 but only because there were 4 barrels worth and to give the best volume for the fermentation.
Really some depth of aroma here, if a little tighter above. Lovely in the mouth, there’s volume and there’s texture but in both
instances very nice. Then there’s a growing mid-palate intensity which follows a nice line and has a slowly melting flavour. From the finish on this has a strong mineral component which fades in a mouth-watering way. Really excellent wine – no question.
All destemmed like the last
Tight but fresh, a little spherical, a faint halo of pretty flowers too. Silkier, a little more weight, but this is more lithe and fresh, yet seemingly with more intensity and focus. Beautiful stuff, really elegant despite the concentration. A keeper of a wine, but a brilliant one!
2015 Echézeaux
All destemmed.
A very silky nose, with a certain density, yet a little tight. A little more grain, yet also a little more overt energy with complexity and melting flavours attached. This is much more open and approachable, and indeed a very tasty wine – yum!
2015 Musigny
About 15% whole cluster.
Almost impenetrable colour. The nose is almost equally impenetrable – a shame! Wow in the mouth though; floral-fruited flavour, super volume, fine texture and real weight of flavour. Long, lingering flavour with a modest mouth-watering aspect. There is more than a suggestion of massive potential here, but today it’s not really talking. A shame for me (and you dear reader!)