Tasted with Mark Fincham in Nuits St.Georges and Beaune, 07 and 12 December 2017.
Marchand-Tawse
9 Rue Julie Godemet
21700 Nuits-Saint-Georges
Tel: +33 3 80 20 37 32
www.marchand-tawse.com
A complicated tasting as multiple locations and different days to taste just about everything – in fact this report is second in size only to the Roi Chambertin tasting, as there are 53 wines are included here – in two sittings…
The wines are largely listed in the order that they were tasted, but if you want to jump only to the Domaine Tawse wines – that’s mainly, but not only, the old Domaine Maume from Gevrey, then those wines are listed at the end of this report – you can jump directly there by clicking here.
And what does Mark think of 2017?:
“2017, many of the wines already gone through malo. It is a vintage that today reminds me of 2014 – but better – at least that’s what I thought at the start!”
The wines…
With 20 highly recommended wines in 2016, this is a great address – it could have been a few more but the wines were not always showing their best, depending on their stage of elevage. Ignoring vintage variables, I see the quality of the work incrementally improving for the domaine wines as they are more bedded down in their vineyard work and slowly becoming more settled in their slowly reducing number of facilities.
2016 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Multiple sources, ‘still managed to build a good cuvée in 16.’ Majoity CdN – ‘north CdN’
A big nose of open armed, dark fruit with a twist of whole-cluster spice. Fresh, ooh, delicious, just a hint metallic in the middle but finishes really great, such excellent dimension here.
‘The Avalon replacement and the name seems to be catching on’ A little from Pommard, Marsannay and some 1er cru too in this vintage.
A deeper nose, attractive darker fruit. Extra freshness, lithe, complex, nothing metallic, then floral finishing, slightly saline too. Top!
2016 Coteaux Bourguignone
‘We though we might not have any wine so we found this in Vosne and it was cheap – so why not try! All gamay.’
Deep, fine, complex and inviting. Lots of volume, a modest tannin, fine width and depth of flavour, much more pinot style than you would expect. Behind the 47N but really a delicious wine for the price.
Deep, but attractive and pure. Ooh, this has volume, melting, pure freshness, really a depth of delicious flavour. Brilliant for the label.
Not sure if will use the Vignots label. 80 year-old vines with a tiny yield – will they pulled out or not? – I hope not…
Ooh, also a deep but fresh, almost exciting nose. Ooh (again!) this has so much width, complexity and more important deliciousness. Bravo again – this is so beautifully 2016
2016 Marsannay
‘Curious, we didn’t think we’d get anything, then we got a great proposal, higher slope vines here.’
Nice vibrant reduction with very subtle spice. Deep, classy almost glossy dark fruit, faint coffee in the finish. Delicious!
Of course badly damaged in the south so more on the Vosne side of Nuits this year.
Wide, transparent, faintly floral – a beautiful nose. Pure, fine, modest tannin, such an elegant and beautiful wine – hard to keep the signature of Nuits yet with elegance – but here it is!
2016 Vosne-Romanée Aux Champs Perdrix
Lots of whole bunch, no sulfur vinification. Late picked as a cold spot.
Big, spiced, complex super nose. A little harder structured than the Nuits but with more depth and complexity of flavour too. Wide and beautifully finishing.
Two parcels included.
Ooh, big spicy nose of attractive volume. More volume in the mouth too, but super melting flavour, a touch of modest tannin, sweetness in the finish – really a honey!
2016 Chambolle-Musigny
Deep, perfumed, beautiful aromas. More concentration, more depth of flavour. Tighter in the middle. Big but really mega-potential for this wine, but predominantly it’s about the aromatic today
2016 Gevrey-Chambertin
Deep, a little reduction here but swirling brings a lovely more open depth with faint whole-cluster. Still a bit of reduction on the flavour but wide, more open than the Chambolle and long. Delicious but more modest vs the last – though not in the finish, it’s great here.
Ooh a deeply attractive mid-red fruited and floral nose. Supple, great in the mouth, wide, hint of spice, a hint of salinity – wide, complex, delicious wine – as usual!
2016 Morey St.Denis 1er Clos des Ormes
Quite reduced. But big in the mouth with really a super energy and vivacity. Almost some coffee in the finish – this will be excellent but it’s hard to judge the nose today
2016 Morey St.Denis 1er Faconnières
Ooh – this has such an open width of beautiful high-tones. Supple, concentrated a little more stricture. A depth of almost chewy flavour
Deep and a little reduced. More depth, more concentration a little more executive texture. This could be grand cru. Coffee in the finish. Will be great!
2016 Nuits St.Georges 1er Perrières
One barrel, just above the frost carnage in this vintage
A fabulous nose – floral, with depth and purity – you can have more complex but not ‘better’. A little reduction, a little grip, depth and interest. This has a little tightness, but if the nose is anything to go by this has a great future!
2016 Nuits St.Georges 1er Richemone
Deep, dark, vibrant not reduced. Dark, layered, a little tannin, but here like the name there is more richness, the finish is more Nuits than richness. Good stuff though.
2016 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Longescourt
Just underneath St.Georges – ‘the 15 was a monument!’ But there is only 180 litres – it just fit in an old musigny barrel!
Oooh – deep, perfumed whole cluster. Lots of volume, lots of complexity, plenty of wc but not a bit gothic – more perfumed flavour. Ooh there’s not much but this, but it will be a fabulous magnum!
2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Combe Brulée
Not the biggest but a very fine and complex, assuredly Vosne nose. Hmm, plenty of fresh structure but this has depth, good texture, though a trace of distracting oak, but really this is a super wine!
‘A wine that keeps developing in the barrel – because of that Im sure its nit yet fully formed.’
A little more compact aroma. Beautiful texture a little more direct, complex but yes, I think this needs more time, but what there is, is really very impressive!
From the top part of Suchots.
Ooh – so big and open with some vibrant whole-cluster perfume. Ooh, fresh, so much energy, lots of mouth-watering volume – though all of this is accentuated by a hint of gas. I think this has the potential to be great in 15 years. It’s already excellent!
2016 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Champeau
This a Marchand-Tawse, not domaine Tawse wine – the biggest crop in 2016!
Deep, ripe, concentrated dark fruit. Ooh, this is transparent, and has such an engaging freshness – this absolutely makes the wine. Super.
2016 Gevrey-Chambertin En Champs
Neighbour of the last wine. ‘Very old vines and concentrated.’
Big, round, deep but fresh. Hmm, almost a little mineral, wide, melting, fine flavour. Wide in the finish, with faint coffee. Lovely.
2016 Pommard 1er Rugiens
First year for this wine, but a longer-term contract, only 1-2 barrels expected. Here a new barrel. But 48 month aged staves…
Big, wide, faintly reductive spice – like two or three others. Ooh – volume, melting, delicious complexity. This flavour’s a little different in the mid-palate and finish, composed but great flavour… and long – super wine.
2016 Corton
Starting tight but this opens, indeed blossoms, very quickly – beautifully. Volume, a nice density, a little salinity, round, almost comforting flavour. Supple and long. Just a very fine package!
2016 Clos de la Roche
Deep, a little reduction. Lots of volume, a little too much reduced today, but the shape, concentration and energy are first class. The finish, likewise
2016 Clos St.Denis
Deep, deep, faintly reduced. Plenty of volume, a little touch of of drying tannin, very good freshness. I’m usually a big CSD fan but good as this is, I have a preference for the CdlR!
Ooh, wide, just a trace of florals – but really an excitement. Ooh, fabulous, complex, energetic, pure. Wow wine – bravo!
Very structured so the last to taste!
Ooh, fresh and vibrant, not overtly as complex as the Echez. Big, complex, really an energy to match the last – it has spice, punch and is overall great. The Echez is finer, but this holds its own amply. Less Charmes, more Chambertin I would say – and that’s the greatest compliment!
Les blancs de Marchand-Tawse:
First two were first racked maybe that’s why they were so aromatically forward!
75% Côte de Beaune, Ladoix, Puligny, Meursault and the rest from Viré-Clessé – there’s usually some CdN but there was none! Probably start bottling these the 2nd or third week of January…
A big and fresh nose, accented with pretty notes of citrus and salinity. Bright, fresh. Modestly direct but with fine clarity and delicious fresh flavour – rather sophisticated flavour for the label – bravo!
2016 Viré-Clessé
From Quintaine on the hillside.
A deeper, very slightly heavier nose but still with freshness and points of complexity. Big, tasty, wide fresh and beautifully delineated flavours. This is a very fine VC!
2016 Mercurey
Three barrels, initially bought as a one-off.
A lovely fresh almost peachy fruit – narrow but lovely! Similar in the mouth, complex, mouth-watering, almost a little tannic and mineral. This is very fine – I so rarely rate Mercurey blanc, but here is a good one!
2016 Rully
‘We have lots of interest in this area, this from Les Chaumes from an organic producer’
A tighter but finely pure nose. Bright, tasty wine that is more (minerally) concentrated but with no associated austerity – pretty accents of citrus. It’s less overt today than the Bourgogne or Viré-Clessé but it is finely wrought and very tasty wine!
Mainly 3 parcels Charrons, Grands Charrons and Vireuils
Ooh, this is a relatively modest aromatic level but what’s showing is just so beautifully inviting. Overtly more concentrated – of mineral line – a hint of mineral austerity here but the flavour slowly melting over the palate is very fine. This will make a really great bottle!
2016 Puligny-Montrachet
Not made every year.
Another fine if slightly compact nose – but bright and engaging. This has a certain presence in the mouth – less overtly mineral than the Meursault but probably because there is a little more overt complexity here. Very tasty wine indeed – the finish almost a little Meursault-esque… super!
Organic contract a blend of bottom, middle and top of the vines.
The nose whilst wide is not so overt – only very slowly opening. In the mouth there is real class – volume, melting flavour, fresh complexity. Just the merest austerity but this seems like the flavour is already starting to melt – I think a really top bottle in another 12 months…
Domaine Tawse
The name Maume is disappearing from the labels. All the domaine wines from 2016 were made in Gevrey then barreled here in Nuits. The 2017s were all done here in Nuits. Other domaine wines are in Beaune too – red and white, those are listed after the former Domaine Maume wines.
Mark notes “I like to do a longer maceration with the domaine wines as I’m more confident with the raw materials. These wines are almost more traditional, my models are Grivot and Méo – I couldn’t make wine like Bertrand, and I was in that cellar for 5 years.”
2016 Gevrey-Chambertin
A blend of vineyards, about 70% in the area of Crais but some Combes, Roncevies, Justice Fourneaux and Clos Prieur Bas. Biodynamic since 2012. ‘I really feel that the wines have improved, they have a more sappy acidity.’ 20% wc
Nice floral complexity. Good volume, mobile, freshly complex, long. Delicious – a more floral wine than an overtly Gevrey wine…
2016 Gevrey-Chambertin En Pallud
‘Not a vineyard I feel appropriate for wc so it’s all destemmed.’
This has an accent of reduction but there’s a wonderful freshness and attractive side to this wine. Bigger, more intense, with melting flavour but with a decent amount of structure. Richness of fine finishing flavour. A wine that finishes soooo good!
‘Part is very old vines, only 10-15% but they go in as whole bunches.’
Deep, also a little reduction. Ooh just so juicy fruit – adding depth, sucrosity and energy – this is complex and delicious though complicated by the reduction today. Still, I think great villages.
2016 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cherbaudes
Just one barrel from old vines – separated since 2015.
A very pretty width of half floral, half fruit notes. Wide, fresh, lovely intensity, pure fruit intensity with a hint of tannin to cushion it. Wide and very long. A honey of a wine!
‘The area of Gevrey that shone in 2016. Picked late, 13° natural. Replanted in 1983 it gains more complexity every year, as though these are still young vines…’
Deep, wide, fine despite some reduction. Really fresh, mineral, pure fruit, love!
Vibrant, yet almost dirty in the depth – but in a great, exciting way. This is just a fabulously complex wine, of depth, energy and layered finishing flavour – great wine!
Two small parcels of old vines, near the bottom of the vineyard but they are old vines, picked late. Just two barrels of wine.
Ooh, wide and deep – beautiful. Great freshness, depth of ripe but fresh darker-red fruit. This is a wine if dimension, good texture and composure. Lovely lingering flavour – bravo!
A little more whole bunch, ‘The Petits-Mazis of tiny bunches, 85 year-old vines, it makes no sense to try to destem them.’
Big, complex, a little fecund, edged with a subtle reduction. Big, concentrated – what a mouth-filler – wide, and still very long – so long!
The following were tasted in the new place on the corner of Beaune’s Boulevard, near the cenotaph. Here the floor needed digging out to give (modern!) head space. The Domaine Tawse 2015s were in here for the first time, but the volume of 2016s in here looks rather sad, as their Côte de Beaunes – Tuvillains excepted – were decimated.
2016 Beaune 1er Tuvilains
Bought in 2011, now 5-6 years of biodynamics and changes to the pruning ‘seem to have really helped here.’
A broad nose, some whole-cluster. In the mouth too the wc is to the fore, but there is energy and a tasty complexity here. More wc than I really prefer, but they needed some volume to ferment in 2016. really a chewy length here.
2016 Beaune 1er Clos de Roi
Should be 19 barrels worth of wine, but they have 300 litres! This gets the old Musigny barrel. ‘These are old vines so we mustn’t prune too hard!’
Wide, concentrated floral, less gothically wc. Some gas, but layers of fine flavour here, wide flavour. Long a little saline. This is rather fine.
There’s no Teurons as the small amount of grapes went into the Bourgogne 47N.
2016 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Lavières
Third vintage – 2 barrels – in 2017 there were 21!
Ooh, nice deep, wc but very inviting. More muscular and structural, but wide and concentrated with fine freshness and intensity… super length…
Possible to make 8 barrels, the got 4.5 – some producers lost much more here.
Deep inviting, a hint reductive though. Concentrated, layered delivery of flavour, really tons of wine here. This is a beast – almost black fruited. This will be great – but only if you are patient enough!
2016 Musigny
As usual, a made-to-measure barrel – about 280 litres and always new. ‘These grapes are always hand destemmed, so it ferments are really slow as there is so little juice to start with.’ No frost.
Ooh, that’s a powerful nose, slightly reduced, some wc impression despite hand destemming. but what power! Supple, direct, an energy here. Wide, layers of finishing flavour, a hint of tannin on the finish. Special.
Now 4 Domaine Tawse whites:
Whites put in barrel, rarely with any batonnage – ‘maybe only if it looks like the fermentation is slowing.’
4 barrels – it could be 15…
Hmm, top to bottom this is freshly attractive – only a modest width of aroma. Bright and complex in the mouth – this rather easily follows the Genevrières and has a beautiful flavour – if only for that – bravo! Super wine!
2016 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Abbaye de Morgeot
Right by the Abbaye, in fact almost sheltered by the buildings there. Bought in 09, converted quite early to biodynamics
A lovely width of aroma, modest density. Quite large scaled, vibrant in the mouth, lots of energy and tasty complexity – this is lovely wine – really a honey.
2016 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champs Gains
Hmm, this has a lovely nose – again not the biggest. Hmm, wide, growing in all directions, fresh and complex – this is a lovely wine. Really adding some melting flavours too. More than a suggestion of finishing tannin, and slowly fading in to the horizon, simply a very fine Puligny…
2016 Corton-Charlemagne
All south-facing, quite steep in Charlemagne. Have to be careful as it can get quite ripe here it’s anyway always 13-13.5°
A fine fresh nose here, accented with complexity. Ooh – big wine in the mouth, really concentrated, melting citrus from the core, this is a great wine. There is plenty of sweetness but the balance of the wine seems impeccable. Excellent!