Last night the Cavs were eliminating Toronto and moving on to the NBA finals. I decided to open a couple of Burgundies to watch the game. The bottles were popped and poured and consumed non-blind over the course of 4 hours.
2005 Gérard Raphet Chambolle-Musigny- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny
Really great showing for this wine. Seems like it is just about ready to drink. Such a pretty wine. Light ruby in color. The nose has cherries, slight powdered cherry drink, a touch of floral notes (cherry blossoms?) and a hint of earthiness. On the palate, that feminine cherry quality comes thru. A perfumed cherry quality on the palate that is both delicate and yet persistent. Nice balance. Nice finish. This was $48 bought on release and between the vintage and cellaring outperformed my expectations. (92 pts.)
2005 Frédéric Magnien Nuits St. Georges Vieilles Vignes- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges
Somewhat disappointing, I had hoped for a better showing. $60 bought on release. Perhaps it still needs time, but it seems so monolithic. Ruby/purple in color. The nose has nice cherries, a bit of cherry juice, a sight raspberry note with a bit of spice. On the palate, juicy black cherries and cherries. Very tasty but no layering, no complexity. Slight tannins. Good acidity. Maybe this develops but at 11 years from vintage I am not betting on it. That said, no harm in waiting a few years to see. (90 pts.)
2006 Beaulieu Vineyard Pinot Noir Coastal Estates- USA, California
My neighbor brought this over. It had been lost in his cellar, so we decided to see what it was up to. It did exceed our expectations and while not great, it was certainly drinkable. Ruby in color. The nose is nice with cherries and spice. On the palate, the fruit is pretty much gone, some cherries. No tannins, slightly tart. Otoh, no off flavors either. (85 pts.)
For my tastes, this vintage is taking a long time to come around. The better Bourgognes and the village wines are just now hitting a sweet spot. I don’t drink a lot of Burgundies but sometimes its nice to open a bottle. Posted from CellarTracker
You are joking, aren´t you?
At (only) 11 years of age, a Nuits-St-Georges … 2005 … Vieilles Vignes … somewhat disapointing … monolithic … maybe this develops …
Even if this is from the negociant line of Magnien, and even if I´m no fan of this producer (and even if I haven´t tasted this particualr one) … I have no doubt that it develops …
BTW: I´m also sure the Gerard Raphet still develops (this one I know very well …) but if you like it like that, why not …
Loren–as I commented on the Vinous board, the 2005 Raphet villages wines are very showy right now, and the Chambolle is gorgeous. I usually regard them as sort of B+ wines that tend to show well early, but so far 2005 for them seems very good. I seem to remember F Magnien as wines that take a while to come around, but don’t really remember as a I can’t seem to keep all of the Magniens and Mugniers straight, except for Freddie Mugnier. I would presume as Gerhard says that it’s simply too early.
I think it’s safe to be trying 2005 village wines now, except those producers known to require extra time. But pardon us if we make fun of you a bit, as most serious burg drinkers aren’t necessarily expecting a wine to be showing it’s stuff reliably until 15 or more years, esp from a serious vintage like 2005.
The Raphet Chambolle is the bargain of that domaine … always great for the price … the 2009 and 2012 aren´t bad either …
BTW: Magnien is a producer in Morey-St-Denis, Frederic M. is the negociant line, Michel M. is the domaine.
Mugnier is a domaine (only) in Chambolle-Musigny … totally different.
(Meunier is the family running the J.J.Confuron Domaine in Premeaux …)
The 2009 Raphet Chabolle is lovely wine at a crazy bargain. Pick some up on a close out sale for $25 & more at $35. But I would lay off drinking it at this stage. Much more prefer Raphet Chambolle over Hudelot.
Perhaps, but i have had a lot of Burgs that just never do develop. They take my money, lost their fruit, and limp/wimp away into old age. There was nothing to suggest this would develop but it may. I would not bet on it though.
As I said above, perhaps. I think at 10 is a good time to be opening the better bourgognes and village wines and wines like the VV. I know too many Burg producers who forgive a wine by saying its too early. At 11 years from vintage, the Magnien was not deep, brooding, or shut down IMHO, just lacking. Time will tell, but I would be more interested in hearing from someone who actually drank the wine, the listening to what a serious Burg collector hypothesizes. But go ahead and make fun.
Loren, I suspect you know more about Burgundy than is implied in your statement “I don’t drink a lot of Burgundies”, so sorry for trying to “educate” you, but you set yourself up for that with your statement.
I’ve found a goodly chunk of 2005 Village wines are open for business (although not “mature”), and may never have shut down. But there is also a subset that are stubbornly shut down, and a subset that will never perhaps be any good (this last one is very sad, as how could anyone have made underwhelming wine in 2005?) Can’t pass further judgement on the Magnien, as you have pointed out, because I haven’t tried it, and probably never will, but I do find a lot of premature blanket judgements made about burgs on the board in general.
While 2005 is an excellent Burgundy vintage for a lot of my favorite producers, there are no shortage of clunky wines either. Magnien seems to me, like Giradin, to pull this off in most vintages, rather than just in 2005 (very much just my opinion). These are rarely wines of a complex nature, but generally show forward early, and then dwindle in the manner Loren mentioned. Obviously this is not a producer I think much of, so feel free to take my opinion with a grain of salt.
There’s also no shortage of wines from 2005 beyond Magnien that are going to have people making excuses for them, primarily the wines not being ready to drink, when the wines just aren’t that good.
IMO-it’s a thickly fruited vintage that really, really, really suits the styles of elegant producers and elegant sites: Ghislaine Barthod, Chandon des Briailles, Rousseau, LaFarge, and a myriad of others probably made wines that will set an extremely high bar for many drinkers, along the lines of the best wines those drinkers may ever have when they’re mature. The flip side is thick, unwieldy wines, that at this point commit the ultimate Burgundian sin: they’re boring wines lacking movement, structure, acidity, site specificity, etc…IMO. It’s the Burgundian version of 2008 in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Mucho hype early…and then many of the wines are just not mind-blowing the way a “VOTC” vintage should be. If in 10 more years I am wrong, I will post a mea culpa, but I am not holding my breath. I’ve been drinking Burgundy for a long time now and the four-square 2005 winesjust don’t say tightly wound, bound up, needs more time to me. As I said, there are TRULY great 05s made, but it’s not across the board IMO.
There shouldn’t really be any sides here. I’m certainly not wanting to be in the position of trying to defend a producer like magnien. But are you saying that a 2005 that’s not showing much at 11 years is not likely to ever be any good? I do get your point that some producers did manage to make dull wines in 2005. I think I actually bought some.
Fair enough. I should have said, I have drunk a lot of Burgundies in the past but have gotten away from them as I don’t find them to be consistent or reach the highs of the best Syrahs and Cabs for my tastes. I still have a 6 or 7 cases of them ageing in the cellar, but 05 was the last vintage I bought any quantity of. It had been a while since I checked in on any.
At times I’m incredibly gratified that a Burg is showing well young with delicious primary fruit, and I have no problem with folks drinking them any time they want. But then I have a 20 or 30 year old bottle that’s just glorious in a different way and realize what I would have missed. These would be bottles that I tried at an earlier age and with this later perspective weren’t really ready to show their stuff. A lot of this is producer and wine and vintage dependent, but I think there are a number of wines that leave a primary and enjoyable early stage at 5-7 or 8 years of age, and never really come out of a form of slumber for 15 or more years. (one reason that I don’t buy any Corton or Pommard anymore, as they seem to take even longer). There are certainly dud wines and dud producers that will never amount to anything, but there are also a lot of premature judgements made. (Also, this is a general discussion, not aimed at Loren, who I’ve learned already knows all this stuff)
Thanks for these, Loren, appreciate the notes. I’ve had about 4 Magnien wines and am pretty much out for them as a producer for just the reason you’ve cited—I have found a uniform lack of complexity. Granted, 4 wines isn’t a huge sample size, but as Burg prices rise, a selection and thinning process has to take place for me.
The Raphet sounds lovely. I’ve still been very cautious with opening 05s, mostly my Savignys or Beaune 1ers have been my go-tos. I may open one of my few Volnays to check in on it, but that will get some air time for sure before drinking.
Also like to see everyone else’s thoughts on the vintage at this point in time, thanks for posting.
Great post and completely true from my perspective as well. I really enjoy your thoughts (both here and regarding the Chave TN you recently posted) and even though it’s often a good value, I stopped buying Corton for the same reason.
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