TN: 2009 Maison Ilan Morey St Denis 1er Cru Chaffots

Tom_Mann · October 24, 2014, 10:27pm

So given all the recent commentary about Maison Ilan in recent weeks I thought I would pull out a bottles and see what’s what… I opened this about 8.30pm London time, and it’s now 10.40pm. In terms of provenance, these were some of the first bottles to leave the cellars as I have bottle no 13. Hand labelled and waxed by a fellow board member who drove them back to the UK on my behalf (probably at quite high speed).

Pop & pour. To start with it’s pretty reductive. There’s some fruit under there but a moment is required. So I chuck it into a decant for 20 mins and lo, the reduction is gone.

Lots of red & dark fruit to start with, quite well balanced, a lot of fruit on the palate, some good purity. There’s quite a good level of concentration here - tannin too but very well hidden. With more air it fleshes out, and the concentration of the vintage starts to show through. Reminds me of Hubert Lignier’s Moreys at this point. It’s pretty pleasant However…

The more I drink this, and the more it gets some air, it adds weight and stuffing which is good, but there’s also this expresso/coffee thing that grows on the nose and on the palate and that I don’t like. I need to research how the wine was made in 09 but it feels like some unresolved oak here? Pretty primary.

This is very different from the first bottle I tried which must have been 2 years ago which was pretty muddled and muddy. This has gained in focus but also picked up the expresso note - am going to let my bottles sleep for another couple of years and try again. I also pulled bottle of Charmes 09 but on the showing of the Morey am hesitant to pull the cork given this showing. 88+ pts

Mike_During · October 25, 2014, 1:13am

Tom, nice note. Yes, that oak is more pronounced in the Charmes though I did not have any major problem with it at this stage, I think it will resolve itself in a year or two.

Peter_Chiu · October 25, 2014, 2:35pm

Mike…if you own 09 Charmes from other producers, why not do a tasting of them. It should be fun and the result should interesting. (Please take my suggestion in a positive way). Charmes was never one of my top ( or preferred ) AC in Gervey; that being said as Chambertin and Chambertin-CdBeze is now getting too pricey, I stared to buy Latriceres from Faiveley and D-Laroze in 2008 and did some pairing tasting with them…

Paul_H_Galli · October 25, 2014, 2:45pm

Tom Mann:

So given all the recent commentary about Maison Ilan in recent weeks I thought I would pull out a bottles and see what’s what… I opened this about 8.30pm London time, and it’s now 10.40pm. In terms of provenance, these were some of the first bottles to leave the cellars as I have bottle no 13. Hand labelled and waxed by a fellow board member who drove them back to the UK on my behalf (probably at quite high speed).

Pop & pour. To start with it’s pretty reductive. There’s some fruit under there but a moment is required. So I chuck it into a decant for 20 mins and lo, the reduction is gone.

Lots of red & dark fruit to start with, quite well balanced, a lot of fruit on the palate, some good purity. There’s quite a good level of concentration here - tannin too but very well hidden. With more air it fleshes out, and the concentration of the vintage starts to show through. Reminds me of Hubert Lignier’s Moreys at this point. It’s pretty pleasant However…

The more I drink this, and the more it gets some air, it adds weight and stuffing which is good, but there’s also this expresso/coffee thing that grows on the nose and on the palate and that I don’t like. I need to research how the wine was made in 09 but it feels like some unresolved oak here? Pretty primary.

This is very different from the first bottle I tried which must have been 2 years ago which was pretty muddled and muddy. This has gained in focus but also picked up the expresso note - am going to let my bottles sleep for another couple of years and try again. I also pulled bottle of Charmes 09 but on the showing of the Morey am hesitant to pull the cork given this showing. 88+ pts

Definitely agree with you on the Coffee aspect of this wine.
But I actually find that an attractive feature…

TTT

ybarselah · October 25, 2014, 2:57pm

i had this as soon as it landed in the states and loved it - very voluptuous fruit and zero oak or char. very morey, but didn’t have the heft of a top 1er as this clear is. i think this is a grower thing more than anything else.

dbailey · October 25, 2014, 5:33pm

Was this the bottle with the “unique” label?

dcornutt · October 25, 2014, 10:23pm

This wine to me really reminded me of a great 1er cru from Hubert Lignier when I first tasted it.
My bottles are resting right now.
Thanks for the notes.

Mike_During · October 26, 2014, 2:02am

Hi Peter, I will but it will be a few years away, I think I only have a couple left. Will need to mix vintage on a few but have Dugat-Py, Bachelet, Drouhin, F Esmonin, Geantet Pansiot, Perrot Minot, Humbert Frere, Raphet, Rousseau, Vougeraie, Taupenot-Merme (Mazoyeres) to compare with. BTW had a 2000 Trapet Latricieres last night among some other stuff- https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz_pbZnnKBD9MGtwdE91aHhsaHM/view?usp=sharing. Cheers Mike