TN: 1999 Domaine Taupenot-Merme Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru La Combe d'Orveau

• 1999 Domaine Taupenot-Merme Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru La Combe d’Orveau - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru (4/4/2016)
  Holy shit! I mean that literally, this is the most fecal Burgundy I’ve drunk in years. Not ‘barnyard’, not ‘manure’. Actual human shit. Shame, too, because underneath a simply mind-boggling amount of brett is a dense, rich, mostly-red fruited, very ripe and primary wine that’s already delicious but probably has years to go. And smells like a moist turd. (89 pts.)

Never heard of the producer. Where did you find this? (Buried under a haystack in a barn, perhaps?)

Uh, they’re kind of a big deal. Have multiple GCs (including rare Clos de Lambrays and a well-regarded Mazoyeres) and good PC holdings, including this baby moose.

Romain has posted on this board a few times and Virginie is amazing. Count me as a big fan of Taupenot-Merme. Too bad about the shit smell.

I see from a Google search that they are mentioned by a lot of merchants. Hadn’t come across them, I confess.

Where did the bottle come from? Since warm temperatures can set off brett, storage could be a factor.

Good provenance. Not the first wine I’ve had from this producer with a Brett issue, though this was particularly pungent.

Taupenot-Merme is a good producer (actually had his Lambrays 1999, and it was really nice - production usually 150 bottles), and also the Combe d´Orveau is usually very good as are the Charmes- and Mazoyeres-Ch. (bottled seperately).
He´s related to Perrot-Minot just across the “Route des Grands crus” …

Too bad about the heavy brett …

IIRC, they own a bit of Clos des Lambrays.

Good producer. I have had a few of his wines (excellent young) and have some in the cellar inc GC Bel Air, Combe d’Orveaux and Mazoyeres. Have to wait for them to mature though.

had 2010 NSG Pruliers and was really impressive.

Sounds good. I’ll have to track down a bottle of this at some point.

Are you saying that , after reading David’s “endorsement” of this wine…he’s motivated you to “track a bottle down”?

This reminds me of the era in Burgundy (before, say 1985-1988) when barnyard/merde de poulet was “desirable”…then people realized that it was all about bad hygeine…and it became a flaw. Some people loved it…and miss it, too.

Honestly, this was a pretty good wine, and if the brett had been dialed back about 50% (i.e., still bretty but not woo-boy bretty) it would’ve been terrific. I haven’t given up on the producer at all.

I love brett…a lot. I’ve tried mixing in my own poop, but it’s not quite the same.

The 1982 edition of Anthony Hanson’s Burgundy, a seminal guide to France’s greatest wine region, contains one of wine writing’s most famous sentences: ‘Great Burgundy smells of shit.’ Pinching his nose, the author pointed out that this was, ‘something the French recognised long ago, “Ça sent la merde” being a common expression on the Côte.’ By the time he came to write the second edition in 1995, Mr Hanson had changed his mind. Burgundy had cleaned up its act, favouring fruit over faeces, and the sentence was flushed away.

I had a 2007 like that, as if a comtesse wearing her finest lace fell into the loo at a music festival.

I’ll be honest, I like my burgs a little on the rustic side. Too much cleanliness, and the wines start to taste polished, and I think there are way too many polished burgs out there, today.

I know people who, to this day, insist that burgundy’s barnyard aspect has nothing to do with brett, and everything to go with terroir.

David, I am sorry about the bad experience you had and I should say we never encountered brett problems and people who know me know I put everything on table to say the truth. I have already made a few control of the cellars when I joined the Estate in 1998… What you may have experienced is the wine was in a reduction phase (99 took a very long time before opening up again). You may then have to wait at least half a day after pouring a single glass and leaving it breath without the cork on it and before enjoy it (and please don’t decant old red Burg or you would rather loose part of its complexity and pleasure). It happens to me twice with a 99 and 07 and I can tell you the wine that had bad smell at the begining turned out into such a great floral perfume side and the tanins that were drying a little at the beginning was pure silk afterwoods, the wines turned out very beautiful… The wines did not want to open up at that time right away after puting the cork away and needed oxygen! Next time try to give it more chance to let it open. When you want to have the most pleasure of an old Burg don’t be too hurry and think the wine sometimes just need some time before getting very enjoyable, your patience should be awarded …

Henry, what a beautiful contribution, you certainly elevated the debate. I have learned over years when people are getting rude without any specific reason, they usually qualify themselves, no hard feelings…

Please accept my apologies for taking a cheap shot. You put me in my place in a most refined manner.

A fellow berserker had a similar experience with a different bottle from the same source (FWIW, HDH wine). Perhaps that batch saw some poor conditions along the way from your cellars to our tables. It happens, especially with older bottles, and its unfortunate.