Degustation

domaine robert-denogent

By billn on December 04, 2007 #degustation

robert denogentDomaine Robert-Denogent is a domaine whose wines I’d never tasted. Given that they also lie outside the ‘true’ Côte d’Or – way out in Pouilly-Fuissé – I’ve never felt the need to travel that far afield. But a couple of weeks ago I had the chance to taste, and the wines were really excellent – even more-so when factoring in the value versus a Puligny or Meursault. I started without my pen, but the wines were so good I had to find it, hence, the notes gradually get longer!

2005 Robert-Denogent, Mâcon-Fuissé Les Tachestry to find this wine...
Very impressed by the length here – this is very nice.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Robert-Denogent, Mâcon-Solutré Clos des Bertillonnestry to find this wine...
Slightly more tropical nose – gives a similar impression on the palate too. It’s soft, but also intense and with super acidity.
Rebuy – Maybe
2005 Robert-Denogent, Pouilly-Fuissé La Croixtry to find this wine...
Less tropical – starts much more mineral and then widens out into a wide vista of ripe fruit.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Robert-Denogent, Pouilly-Fuissé Les Reissestry to find this wine...
This seems very concentrated and intense. I like this very much and there’s a super length.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Robert-Denogent, Pouilly-Fuissé ‘Claude Denogent’try to find this wine...
There’s just a hint of cream on the nose. In the mouth it’s very impressive with a creamy width and an expressive length.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Robert-Denogent, Pouilly-Fuissé Les Carronstry to find this wine...
On the nose this also has the cream, but there’s an extra dimension too – lovely. Quite big in the mouth, though the ‘hit’ of concentration comes quite late. Before that ‘hit’ I might have wanted a little more freshness, but the mouthwatering finish knocked my socks off – very, very good.
Rebuy – Yes

voillot volnay champans – 2005 style

By billn on December 03, 2007 #degustation

joseph voillot volnay champans

2005 Joseph Voillot, Volnay 1er Les Champanstry to find this wine...
Medium and a bit depth of colour. The nose is deeply red with an impression of soft oak in the background. It’s a narrow entry, right through into the finish where it suddenly widens and shows a lovely length of flavour. The fruit is a mix of beautifully melded cherry and raspberry, the tannin must be in there somewhere but the impression is just the smooth ride to the finish. Compelling, but less interesting and open today than the Brouillards despite a little more density.
Rebuy – Yes

barthod 2005 bourgogne rouge

By billn on November 28, 2007 #degustation

barthod bourgogne

2005 Barthod, Bourgogne Rougetry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. Slightly volatile and high-toned, but these notes mainly disappear with swirling to leave a deeper, cream-edged base – it’s then quite impressive. Fresh in the mouth, dense and slightly furry with very good fruit that follows through into the finish. Very impressive – average 2004 villages quality here – but I’d still mainly drink over the next 2-3 years.
Rebuy – Yes

PS Unlike the Chambolle, this wine still shows a high level of value…

2005 tollot-beaut, savigny 1er champ-chevrey

By billn on November 27, 2007 #degustation

2005 Tollot-Beaut, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Champ-Chevreytry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. Wide, sweet and interesting on the rather yummy nose. There’s plenty of grainy tannin, but it doesn’t overwhelm the lovely fruit background that slides slowly into a good, less obviously creamy and oak inflected finish than the 1er Lavières. I almost always like this cuvée and here’s another to add to the list!
Rebuy – Yes

2005 tollot-beaut, savigny 1er les lavières

By billn on November 25, 2007 #degustation

This very adequately followed a half-bottle of Billecart-Salmon…
2005 Tollot-Beaut, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Lavièrestry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. A deep and impressive nose that’s edged with dark cherry and darker oak. The palate is very well concentrated, soft tannin and excellent acidity. The fruit is dark shaded, buttressed by oak flavour and has a nice creamy medium length. Very, very good.
Rebuy – Yes

ouch – potential p.ox from a benchmark wine

By billn on November 24, 2007 #degustation#p.ox

pox

Thursday was just your average evening: me gatecrashing a dinner in Beaune with 3 former ‘harvest (07) mates’, plus two winemakers and someone ‘ITB’ (in the business) from Australia…

Prompted by an earlier Henri Boillot bottle that was more than a little tired I had decided that I had to open a 2001 Corton-Charlemagne. I hadn’t tasted this in the last couple of years, but the first three bottles of a six-pack were seriously (and serially) stunning – I never had a better Charlemagne. I took the same occasion to try another (as yet, recently untasted) 2001 Charlemagne from Dubreuil-Fontaine and added a little Mischief & Mayhem 2005 Puligny Caillerets to oil the wheels:

  1. 2005 M&M Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Caillerets: try to find this wine... Light colour. With the first sniff, everyone said ‘typical 2005’ – ripe, forward, rich etc. Was a great start before we moved to…
    Rebuy – Yes
  2. 2001 Dubreuil-Fontaine Corton-Charlemagne: try to find this wine... Light colour. Tight, mineral, less obviously ripe. Austere and concentrated – probably what most 5/6 year-old Charlemagnes would aspire to!
    Rebuy – Maybe
  3. 2001 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne: try to find this wine... Not light colour – at least not when using the previous two as reference. Very ripe, honey on the nose. In the mouth it’s fat and concentrated – no obvious oxidation aromas or flavours – but not the zing, not the painful intensity and not the haunting finish of those first bottles – comment from winemaker friend #2: “you called me round just to taste this?” – ouch.
    Rebuy – No

This Boillot is now ‘only’ a good wine, no-longer a great one. It’s a significant fall from its peak and my last two bottles will be drunk in the next 6 months – at €60 I won’t leave one for academic interest – N.B. the 2005 is more like €100…

After that, we all went back to the Dubreuil to confirm how austere it was before finishing every last drop of the evening’s ‘honey’ the M&M – just a very, very classy wine.

For the record, we also had a lovely 2001 l’Arlot NSG Fôrets de l’Arlot, a sadly ‘flat-ish’ 1990 Dom Ruinart Rosé and a 2001 Amiot-Servelle Clos de Vougeot that showed poor aromatics but was ‘okay’ in the mouth… Oh, and the company was great 😉

ghislaine barthod 2005 chambolle-musigny

By billn on November 17, 2007 #degustation

This Barthod has a small problem – it is from a domaine with ever-more renown, hence, prices are on the up – this is a great wine but in a vintage like 2005 the value certainly lies elsewhere; the previous Volnay 1er Brouillards from Voillot costs the same and frankly is such a massive step up in complexity and elegance that the Barthod has no chance to make up the gap! NB this is still a top-class villages, but it’s an expensive one – that said, if you haven’t already bought some, you may already be too late – so it doesn’t really matter!
2005 Ghislaine Barthod, Chambolle-Musignytry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. The nose shows a transient deep and toasty oak nose – then it’s gone. At 20° the nose is diffuse and flabby but at 17° there is some tightening, black cherry and just an edge of reduction. The palate starts just a little rough, but I think this is just a little dissolved carbon dioxide as there is quite some improvement, eventually it’s lovely. Following the Voillot, this is more masculine with darker shaded fruit and perhaps more density, but certainly missing a little of the magic complexity of that wine. Lots of dimension and a very impressive finish. It needs a little time in the glass, but this is a top-class villages.
Rebuy – Yes

2005 voillot volnay 1er brouillards

By billn on November 14, 2007 #degustation

joseph voillot volnay brouillardsBurghound went overboard (perhaps) on the 05 Voillots so I was happy to find a few bottles – if this, the ‘smallest’ bottling is any benchmark then Burghound was ‘on the money’ and I can’t wait to try the higher scoring wines. Seems I did very well to pick up a few magnums!
2005 Joseph Voillot, Volnay 1er Les Brouillardstry to find this wine...
Medium cherry-red colour – relative to its age and other wines of the vintage it’s quite light in colour. The nose is forward and shows a lovely perfume; floral top notes and bright red berries with red cherry at the base. Fine silken texture, perfect acidity and a slowly fading, cream-edged finish. Not powerful, but it has real dimension, class and elegance – excellent.
Rebuy – Yes

dureuil-janthial 2005 nuits st.georges 1er

By billn on November 13, 2007 #degustation

dureuil-janthial nuits argillières

2005 Dureuil-Janthial, Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos des Argillièrestry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is wide and fresh, faintly creamy but far from effusive and goes through quite a sulfurous phase before smelling more of violets. In the mouth there is a plush background to soft and creamy red fruit that lasts well into the finish – just a little coconut edged. There is good mid-palate dimension and an oak-driven richness. A very good bottle, but today I’d like a little more personality.
Rebuy – Yes

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