How well do you know Burgundy?

How well do you know Burgundy was Matty G’s theme last night at Monday Table. I know Champagne pretty well as I did ok on the bubbles bracket. I obviously need to drink more Burgundy as I was woeful on the Burgs.

Greg took out the annual Walter Bourke Memorial trophy by the length of the straight, he was on fire. Food at St Kilda’s Circa restaurant was excellent.

Champagne

1985 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Oenothèque: Had a touch of matchstick to the aroma and was very fresh and fruity with some tinned pineapple notes. It was full, creamy and lactic in the mouth with great finesse and outstanding length.

1985 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Oenotheque Champagne Charlie Brut: Was rich and meaty with some biscuit things going on. It had a touch of mushroom and some red fruits. It was creamy and powerful with a dry chewy finish.

White Burgs

2008 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bourgogne Blanc: There’s a touch of VA to the aroma. It is ripe with some tropical fruit action and a slight nuttiness. On the palate there is green melon coolness and it has good length of flavor.

2008 William Fevre Chablis ‘Valmur: Has a mineral spine and some white peach but far too much butterscotch. Got worse in the glass.

2008 Château de Puligny-Montrachet Chevalier-Montrachet: Has some guava, rockmelon and white peach on the nose. It is full, sappy and fruity in the mouth with layers of flavor. It really builds through the palate and finishes clean, minerally and long but perhaps without the tension of great Chevalier.

2008 Domaine Ponsot Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Clos des Monts Luisants Vieilles Vignes: Quite nutty with some citrus notes. It has good line and is dense and chewy but that nuttiness goes all Sherry like on you once it spends a bit of time in the glass.

2008 Château de Puligny-Montrachet Bâtard-Montrachet: A lovely, fresh and elegant Batard. There are whiffs of lanolin and citrus. It is rocky, direct and detailed in the mouth. There’s great purity and the finish oozes minerality.

2009 Coche-Dury Meursault: Has all of those Cochey struck match things going on. It is rich, broad shouldered and powerful with explosive orchard fruit flavours. There’s so much wine here with nice minerality just below the flesh.

Red Burg with a sneaky German thrown in.

2008 Domaine Dujac Clos St.Denis: Engaging aromatics of ginger, 5 spice powder, beetroot and cherry. Plush, velvety and fine in the mouth. Excellent detail, great cut.

2001 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes: Funkier than James Brown. Horsey, shitty, barn yardy with a palate that is clipped.

2008 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche: A slightly darker fruit profile than the CSD. Also quite spicy with some sarsaparilla root and Chinese 5 spice. Sweet and succulent red and black fruits envelop the mouth. It has good line and really fans out on the finish.

2011 Huber Spatburgunder (no idea of what the vineyard was): Just a little sweet and sour with ripe fruits countered by a greener tinge. Has some sarsaparilla and root vegetables. Decent depth and length.

2008 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes: Quite cool and rocky. Has some menthol and things that are savoury and a little agricultural. There’s good depth of cherry fruit and a finish that is laden with minerals and earth.

2001 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche: complex aromatics of sweet cherry fruit, compost, earth and aniseed. Lovely balance and proportion with a silky mouthfeel. Builds through the palate and has terrific persistence.

Red Burg with a sneaky Rayas thrown in.

2005 Hudelot-Noellat Romanee St.Vivant: the slightest suggestion of tca detracted from what otherwise is a brilliant wine in the making. So dense and sweet with a juicy core of blackberry fruit.

2002 Domaine Jean Grivot Richebourg: Absolutely in the zone. Sweet cherry flavours and dense and crisp. There’s engaging perfume and plenty of depth. Lovely structure and poise and a finish that drives on and on.

1999 Domaine Dujac Clos St.Denis: Also drinking beautifully. Has some compost, sandalwood, spice and meat on the nose. It is full and lacy in the mouth with flavours that play in that perfect place between sweet and savoury. Nice definition and exquisite balance.

2000 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve: Smells of rose petals, mace, juniper and beef stock. It is full, sweet and generous in the mouth. It perhaps lacks the detail of some of the great Burgs served around it but is a delicious wine none the less.

1996 Dominique Laurent Musigny: A very calm nose of cherry stone and spice. It is cool, rocky and detailed with crisp red and black fruits and the rigid minerally spine of the vintage. Still quite youthful yet deliciously crunchy.

1999 Nicolas Potel Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Gaudichots: Has some earth and truffle development on the nose. In the mouth it is full sweet and vinous and trimmed with savoury flavours. There’s good depth and concentration and it breathes up to show some engaging florals.

A couple of sweeties

1989 Château de Fargues: Plenty of apricot, honey and lavender. Rich, fat and long. Absolutely in the zone.

1942 Château Climens: Colour was great, nose was god awful. Feral, cheesy, aldehydic and volatile. Nil by mouth.

The obligatory Aussie fortified

1949 Tintara Vintage Port: Has some red wine smells along with nuts, biscuit, dried fruits and all this is cut by a fine spirit. Rich and sweet in the mouth with some teak and curry leaf development. It finishes clean.

Good Lord Jeremy!!!

Pretty good. Its a big mine field.

Great line up!
I must have missed the invite.

I can tell the difference between Champagne and Burgundy (well, red at least). Do I win?

Wade - glad to see you finally found your way over here. Hope to see you participating a lot and welcome!!

Thanks to your note, I’m now sure I made the right decision to pass on a lot of this from Zachy’s auction that ended earlier tonight.

You were obviously not forewarned there is an odd man out in the red brackets.

How many picked up on the Rayas?

Nice work mate.

Really interesting, diverse selection of wines but it sounds like too much hard work…guess I’m glad I only had to put up with dinner at Noma instead!

I brought the '00 Rayas to a CNDP lunch last year, really divided the table - pretty old school Rayas.

If you do not mind, what is the format of a tasting like this?

Jeez…i’m exhausted just reading about it…and all the youngish grand crus axed…

21 wines…

about 3x what I can pay attention to …

was there food mixed into the event, too?

i know people must have slept well that night.

A lot of babies indeed…

2002 Grivot Richebourg is a great, great wine. I had it last in 2008 when it was painfully young and it was absolutely incredible. One of the best wines I have ever had.

Fantastic line-up. Hope we do something similar in SF Bay Area soon.

Most of us picked the odd man out and I reckon around a third thought it was CNDP.

Stuart,

As mentioned in the report it was at Circa restaurant where a wonderful meal was enjoyed. The event began at 7pm and we finished around 11.30pm. There were 10 people at the table and we pour around 60 mls of each wine. We leave 100-150ml of each wine for the waiting staff and chef to try. After pouring out dregs and oxy wines etc I reckon I ingested about 850ml of wine over a 4.5 hour period, slept well and was up early the next morning and blasted out a 7-8 km run around the tan track.

You are on record many times expressing your disdain for tastings where many bottles are consumed and you feel like you can’t assess or enjoy too many wines in one sitting. Our group can do so and do so with full enjoyment. There is a real spirit of Bonhomie and generosity at the table and healthy discussion ensues during and after each bracket of wine served. We always serve the wines blind, then allow a good amount of time for discussion. We drink young wines, we drink old wines and we drink wines in between. There were some younger Grand Crus served at this event and the two ’08 Dujacs for example were splendid. I would have no hesitation opening another one of these now. I know you would and that is fine.

I drink several aged bottles at home every week where it is just my wife and I sharing a single bottle between us. I love drinking wine this way. I also love looking at many bottles in a sitting with a larger group and am glad I have the capacity to derive maximum enjoyment from different ways of experiencing wine.

Cheers
Jeremy

Jeremy,

I enjoy reading your exploits even if I am highly skeptical that any human being is capable of appreciating much of anything under the circumstances you describe in this thread, especially from a bevy of under-10 years old grand crus.

I don’t think people get drunk at these bachanals. I think there is too much sensory overload for any human being I have ever met to glean much of anything—especially when you mix in food. Of course, I have never met you.

I do feel compelled sometimes to blurt out in response to such threads my skepticism-- mainly because I think uninvolved people reading about such events and notes should at least think about the “limitations” and appearances of such events, ie, that it is one way, among many options, to do things. Usually, I just move on, though…sometimes I can’t resist commenting.

To each his own… I realize that, unlike some people, you are reporting, not really trying to impress.

I don’t suggest a “right” way to do things, though, as I’ve said repeatedly, I wince when I see so many potentially great (with some minimal age) grand crus getting killed of en masse before they can, IMO, really why they’re so revered.

I will continue to look forward to reading.

stuart

Stuart - just out of curiosity, have you ever made a similar criticism of Charlie Fu’s threads that describe similar “ballah” tastings?

Yes, indeed, Dennis.

To be clear, I don’t think of Jeremy and his escapades as being “ballah”…maybe I should.
Those guys with Charlie Fu epitomize that…and I think they realize it…and perhaps it is a generational thing not to care what others think.

As I said, to each his own. Often it is the writeup, seemingly oblivious to how some might construe the report and the event, more than the event itself ,that grabs my attention.’’

I don’t criticize them for doing what they do, even if I wouldn’t (and I wouldn’t), as much as not realizing that they seem a bit oblivious to the limitations of what they glean…and the seeming compulsion to off great wines before they could possibly show their greatness.

I even chuckle at some of the Fu/Chien notes…it reminds me of the Hangover movies, combined with “Groundhog Day”.

I do think it is important to let readers on these threads know that some think this is not the best way to evaluate and treat wines…most reading them might not even know that villages wines…or even 1er cru wines…exist and are terrific.

I read them and enjoy Jeremy’s descriptors…even if I’m skeptical about his capacity to appreciate all he seems to. But, just because Superman and green lantern aint’t got nothing on him…doesn’t mean he ain’t “right”.

Hi Stuart,
I have never met Jeremy, but feel compelled to “defend” him and his reports.
Firstly, my opinion differs greatly from yours in that I feel drinking young GC Burgundy often/usually gives enormous enjoyment, and I never have a problem popping a cork on a 5-6 year old Rousseau et al if the occasion demands it. Indeed, the majority of Burgundians also enjoy an occasional young GC (at least those than can afford to open them!!!)
Secondly, Jeremy is an Aussie, and as everybody knows, the Aussie male has been gifted by God/Allah/Buddah et al the extraordinary ability to enjoy and appreciate a huge array of wines in any one sitting, far in excess of mere mortals (of which you appear to be one). It seems you have forgotten your early years’ religious education, otherwise you would be well aware of this unique ability.
I, for one, thoroughly enjoy these fantastic reports, and hope they continue long into the future.