2006 Red Burgundy: how are they doing?

I’m hoping others have been taking a look at some of the 06 red Burgundies and found signs of what might happen.

Some of us have drinking the 07s happily. The 05s are still pretty much asleep except for some of the village wines. The 08s are very tight and I’m not touching mine. Some 09s are drinking fine and the vintage might not ever close down. The 10s seem to be closing pretty tight.

In the last few months I’ve opened some 06s and tasted others too. They seem to still be asleep and very tight from mid-palate onwards. But there might be some sings of hope.

Amongst the remotely approachable wines:

2006 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni
(My note: This showed well granted that as most 2006 Burgundy wine it is shut down. In other words, it’s progressing in the right direction.
It showed that When Gros Frère et Soeur gets it right, the wines are excellent. Aromas of dark fruit and warm earth. It has savoury characters and hot ferments lift the wine in interesting ways. While the nose is giving and very promising the palate shuts down from mid palate onwards. It has a good grip, excellent ripe and lacy tannins and a tight acidic backbone. Everything in this wine suggests that the Musigni climat does share many of the characteristics of the big brother just on the other side of the western wall and across the narrow road. Very good and promising.)

A second bottle a couple of months later was wrong in a way that suggested a flaw rather than a vintage characteristic.

In the category “why did you open me?”

2006 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
2006 Domaine Anne Gros Vosne-Romanée Les Barreaux

What are others thinking?

Some are approachable, others not so much.

In the ‘not so much’ category I would put Domaine Faiveley Clos des Corton Faiveley and Cazetiers.

Thierry - were you at Mike and Cathy’s when we had the Gerard Raphet Clos de la Roche a couple of years ago? It was showing pretty well.

No I missed that.

The 2006’s I have had that are showing something are flawless but compared to a better vintage are indistinct and missing something off their fastball. Which to me makes them great to drink but overpriced.

The 2007’s I have had are all fun and expressive and honest and fairly priced but I do not yet trust this data.

The 06s are a little muddy. The 07s are brighter, more cheerful and better in a little bit of simple fashion.

Of course, several producers we’ve talked to are big fans of the vintage and among them, no more so than Fourrier. Of course, time will tell.

Generally speaking I disagree.
2007s are softer, many are aprochable now, even very enjoyable, but only the best will gain by further cellaring.
2006 is a nice, fruity, elegant vintage, good to very good concentration and excellent balance reg. the structure, but most are (far) too young … while not extremely closed they won´t show everything now - and one shouldn´t be puzzled if opening one now - and being eventually disapointed … not the fault of the wine! 2006 is certainly superior in the longer run.

I just listened to JM Fourrier on an “I’ll drink to that” podcast and he said how much he loves '06s and how he likes to blind them against '05s and often finds them better.

Having said that the '06 Fourriers, Faiveleys etc I have had, often with you gentlemen, have typically not been yet ready or as enjoyable as the corresponding '07s. However, I agree with Gerhard that ultimately the quality of '06 will out and it’ll be regarded as superior in the long run. (I appreciate that Faiveley is a somewhat special case due to style changes '06/'07).

The 2006 that I have tried have been fruitier than 2005 because there is less tannins to envelope the fruit which albeit less intense than 2005 shows well. They will appear more supple when they open up by 2020+.

06’ Larmache La Grande Rue and 06’ Clos de Tart were delicious when I last tasted them about a year back.

Excellent point…While many aren’t going to fall apart in the next year(s) they also aren’t going to improve with age. Drink or hold the 2007’s but don’t let them hold a spot in your cave which could otherwise be for 2010’s.

I had a good 2006 Courcel Epenots about a year back. Slox ox’d the entire day but still very primary. Soft, concentrated, ripe but with plenty of zing and structure. It was a pleasure to drink but certainly early in its life with plenty of promise ahead of it.

So my single recent experience has been that the 2006 was open but not anywhere near mature whereas the 2007’s are mostly mature.

Is there a red burgundy vintage in the last 30 years that anyone can say hit its peak at age 8? I think there are some terrible vintages that probably began and remained awful (I’m think about '84, although I don’t have enough experience to make a judgment) but '06 isn’t terrible. Far from it. Burgundy develops in a non-linear fashion and goes through peaks and troughs through decades. I’d bet that at various points over the next 40 years there will be '06s drinking pretty darn well, particulalry given that the red burg producers referred to on this board are among the 100 or so best in burgundy.

2006 Jadot Estournelles St. Jacques was terrific about a year ago.

2001s and 2002s seem to be drinking pretty well these days. Some 2007s are also, but not all. 2006 is a mixed bag for right now, IMHO.

I have been leaving my '06 bottles alone. I see no reason to rush to judgement on them. No village bottlings to check on, so it’s just wait until fall 2016.

Update-just checked and had forgotten the 2006 Bachelet CdN Villages. Maybe check one of those some time soon.

07s are very well priced no doubt but after that, the best values I’ve found are 06. I’ve found 06s to have good fruit and nice balance. I think they may have more stuffing to age than the 07s.

06 Dujac MSD village is drinking nicely with even a bit of complexity on the nose.

Will open the 06 Combottes tonight and report back.

Opened a 2006 Heresztyn Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Corbeaux last night, showed young but quite nice with a bit of air, the nose more expressive and interesting than the palate.

Nice to hear about the different bottles people have been drinking.Of course there is no rush to either open these wines or to rush to conclusions. Most people seem to think that they are showing good fruit and plenty of structure.

Fourrier thinks that the worst thing about 06s is that they came after 05s.

For us in NZ, 06s were not good value as the exchange rare was shockingly bad.

Drank a Jadot Suchots '06 on Thursday night, four heads.
It was beautiful, if young. I wish the bottle had been larger…
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