Benjamin Leroux – 2015

19.12.2016billn

Tasted in Beaune with Benjamin Leroux, 12 December 2016.

Domaine Benjamin Leroux
5 Rue Colbert
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 22 71 06
www.benjamin-leroux.com

Benjamin on 2016:
“I’m actually happy. Of-course it was a small harvest, yet we made a little more than expected and the quality looks great – in fact, it reminds me of 2010 – nicely constructed, elegant wines. We saw decent volumes in the Volnay and Pommard 1ers, and our grand crus delivered a bit more than in 2015 – but our Savigny was mostly lost. Really the volume results are all over the place – we made the same in Vosne-Romanée as in 2015. Santenay is also super.”

Benjamin on 2015:
It think 2015 is a vintage that will close, unlike the 2014s which taste great right now. I had, globally, good pHs in 2015 with good balance. My wines always have their natural acidity, no playing with additives for me.

The wines…

2015 Savigny-lès-Beaune
From the south-side of Savigny, the centre and towards Aloxe. A third wc.
A wide fresh, deep red fruit note. Bright, but with depth and intensity, great width of flavour – this is very yum…

2015 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Hautes Jarrons
Rounder, nice depth, extra fat, nice fresh, muscular wine – finely concentrated. Fresh, lip-smacking finishing flavour. Very yum again.

2015 Beaune 1er Cent Vignes
Ooh, that’s aromatic, a floral fruit perfume – super. Layers of great, dark-red flavour, weight and tasty flavour.

2015 Blagny La Piece Sous la Bois
A higher toned fruit, more elegance. Fresher, more intense, bright fruit but more tannin too. Fine intensity here but I love the finish – yum!

2015 Volnay 1er Mitans
A deep nose, a little vibration, dark red fruit. A little fat, and very good weight of flavour. A little tannin and a lot of floral flavour.

2015 Volnay 1er Clos de Cave des Ducs
Like most, not yet racked. Will bottle when ready. 50% wc
Starts a little reduced, otherwise just a little tighter red fruits. Plenty of tannin but bright floral fruit in the finish.

2015 Volnay 1er Caillerets
Less than 50% wc
Deep but vibrant and nicely transparent too. More line, more freshness. A linear wine with fine mouth-watering flavour. Subtly dry fine tannin. A great flavour in the finish. – bravo!
2015 Pommard 1er Rugiens
From Rugiens-Haut
Here is an open, wide and very attractive dark fruit. Very silky, super depth. Hmm this is really excellent – bravo! Just a wonderful finish!

2015 Corton
Various plots including some Bressandes. ‘I’m very happy with the 2015 there’s certainly a grand cru texture but it’s not always so – Corton is place that intrigues me, it’s the same with Charlemagne, I think you need to do 50 barrels to get it right every yearè’
A very silky, wide if still a little tight nose. This is big, with a hint of coffee, but fine and slowly fading. This is surprisingly easy to enjoy right now!

2015 Gevrey-Chambertin
For a long time the biggest villages cuvee – about 30 barrels worth. All is assembled and returned to barrel
A little top note of coffee-oak. Ooh, that’s very silky, a super texture and fine line. This is excellent!

2015 Vosne-Romanée
A blend of Maizières and Violettes. The second most important villages cuvée. Close to 60% wc, more like 20 for the Gevrey – Finer clusters in Vosne!
Higher toned, and yes, a hint spicy. Supple, giving, weighted, faintly saline fresh flavour. There’s a lovely complexity here – a mouth-watering, melting complexity. This is excellent in a cool-fruited style. Bravo!

2015 Chambolle-Musigny
Terres brun and terres blanche.
A really lovely, floral red fruit here, dark red. A little coffee in the depth of the mid-palate. Concentrated yet giving. This is just a beautiful, subtly but excellently long wine.

2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Champeaux
Dark, gelé fruit – very attractive. A good structure, fine dark, mouth-watering fruit, long with a bit of oak – excellent!

2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Perrières
Under Mazis
A more modest, slightly tighter nose. Nice on the mouth, a super base of textured, cushioned acidity. Just super if more obviously structured today.

2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Goulots
Bright, wide, floral fruit. Big in the mouth but no fat, just energy and complexity – great Goulots! Really love the last drops in the glass.
2015 Nuits St.Georges 1er Boudots
Racked November, back into barrel – 75% wc.
Wide and complex, A big, open and impressive nose. Wide, mineral, fresh, mouth-watering with great flavour, the tannin is there but with micro-grain. Definitely showing its proximity to Vosne. A great wine!

2015 Mazoyères-Chambertin
Wide, white pepper spice. Lots of energy and complexity here. Super wine, the forgotten wine, but its fresh and involving, has great energy and character – simply will be a great glass.

2015 Griotte-Chambertin
A wine that grows in the glass. A certain defocused wc, but lovely complexity. Big, mouth-filling and very nice.

2015 Chambertin
Ooh, airy, complex, super inviting, not of power. Bigger in the mouth, a little tannin and a lot of energy, this grows and grows and then grows some more. Just open-ended complexity. Bravo….
2015 Clos de Vougeot Petits Maupertuis
A much brighter, fresher nose with some flowers. Fresh, structure, mouth-watering flavour melting from the skeleton. Here is certainly an austere CV, but one with everything!
2015 Echézeaux
From vigne blanche.
Ooh, deep, textured dark fruited nose! Round, supple, concentrated yet fresh and complex. This is wow wine. Drink today or in 30 years, I don’t think it will matter!
2015 Clos St.Denis
Wide and beautiful notes of mineral red fruit and flowers. Round, less mineral than I expect until the mid-palate, then broad and super complex… Easy to drink but far from easy wine. Complex and rewarding…

Les Blancs…
The first wines tasted, from barrel. Afterwards, to finish, from tank.

2015 St.Romain Sous le Château
Deep, ripe citrus. Fresh and wide in the mouth with very good energy. I like this! Really a very fine finish!

2015 Meursault Narvaux
Here is a more vibrant and deeper nose. A hint of gas. Melting flavour – and very fine flavour too – perfect energy and freshness. Yum! Just endlessly tasty…

2015 Meursault 1er Porusots
Late malos here.
A deep and very attractive nose. Mouth-watering a little more density and complexity. Good freshness still. Very yum!

2015 Meursault 1er Genevrières
Gorgeous, faintly spiced nose – beautiful. Fresh, transparent, just a little harder in the mid-palate, but it melts well and is really powerful finishing, slightly saline here. Will be great!

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Tête du Clos
Vibrant deep, ‘noble’ reduction. Super intensity and shape here. Splendid.

2015 Bâtard-Montrachet
From Chassagne, the upper part of the vines, between Vougeraie and the Hospices, and below DRC’s Montrachet. Magnum will be sealed with cork, but not bottles, only screw-cap.
A little herb and a bright fresh width of complexity. Fresh, but layered, lots of growing intensity but it’s moving and growing the whole time. A big finish here, not just big, great!

Now the wines in tank:

2015 Bourgogne Blanc
All from the commune of Meursault. First elevage in foudre, now on tank.
Fresh, quite inviting nose. Full, good weight, decent freshness, all over. Tasty wine. Also impression of tannin. Super finishing length.

2015 Auxey-Duresses
A brighter freshness. Also in the mouth with good volume. Less ripe as the last. Great mid-palate to finishing flavour. Bravo I could drink a lot of this…

2015 Monthelie 1er Les Duresses
Great, bright colour. A little reduction. Some gas. Then really lovely, melting flavours. No reduction and beautiful finishing flavour. Yum!

2015 St.Aubin 1er Dents du Chien
Ooh – bright, fresh, gorgeousness! Power, structure but silk and an intensity of fine flavour. This is really fine – also in the finish. Easy to recommend – super wine!

2015 Meursault
A slightly tight but fresh hose. A little fatter, more muscle, and real concentration here. The flavour melts from the mid-palate and again some length here.

2015 Meursault Vireuils
A deep, nose but a fresh nose. Also in the mouth, fresh, intense, energetic and really a wide and complex finish – a great finish! Yum!

2015 Meursault 1er La Piece Sous la Bois
Ooh, bright, fresh and hyper attractive. Mineral and complex, really complex and mouth-watering. Long, long, long. A little hardness to the mid-palate structure – yet delicious. Bravo!
2015 Chassagne-Montrachet
Fresh and attractive. Really a growing intensity here – great line, simply great villages. Super width and complex length. ‘The first vintage I haven’t helped it with some 1er Cru‘ says Benjamin.

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Abbaye de Morgeot
A tighter, more citrus, ripe citrus, nose. Muscled but lithe and with tension. A nice weight of finishing flavour too. Long and very, very tasty!

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Baudines
Fresh top notes with a deeper bass. Supple, fresh and with just a few millimetres of fat – fine energy and balance here. Great concentration yum!

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Embazées
Ooh – that’s a nice top-line of aroma. Slightly sweet pineapple. In the mouth, serious, minerality, some ripe and melting fruit. A really excellent wine here. Very classy and complex.

2015 Corton-Charlemagne
Almost a little acacia aroma here. Fresh and deep. A growing intensity merges with a line of flavour – a saline and very narrow line in the finish. Today less demonstrative than many, but very persistent all the same.

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