A bottle of 1985 Vosne-Romanée les Beaumonts from Christophe Roumier has to be fake.
Domaine Leflaive’s Meursault 1er cru Sous le Dos d’Ane used to be a Blagny 1er cru before it got a sex-change operation.
Pierre Morey is the winemaker who has vinified the most cuvées of Montrachet.
Lalou-Bize Leroy was the first winegrower to practice biodynamics in Burgundy.
Jean-François Coche and Jean-Marc Roulot are cousins.
Claude Dugat used to be a gymnastics champion.
Vincent Dauvissat does not produce red wines.
There is no difference between the bottles labeled ‘Vincent Dauvissat’ and those labeled ‘Dauvissat-Camus.’
The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s ‘Vosne Romanée 1er cru cuvée Duvault Blochet’ is a blend of declassified grands crus.
The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s grand crus vineyards are 100% Pinot Noir.
Aubert de Villaine’s grandmother used to teach Russian to English spies.
Bernard Raveneau, Jean-Marie Raveneau and Vincent Dauvissat are not related.
Jacques Seysse’s father-in-law was a U.S. Army general who fought in WW II.
Aubert de Villaine was on the jury panel that ranked Stag’s Leap above the Bordeaux First Growths in what is now known as the Judgement of Paris.
Raveneau’s ‘Chablis 1er cru Chapelot’ is allowed to be sold as ‘Chablis 1er cru Montée de Tonnerre’ but its ‘Chablis 1er cru Montée de Tonnerre’ would not be allowed to be sold as ‘Chablis 1er cru Chapelot.’
Dominique Lafon worked for a wine merchant and bought wine from his own father (René Lafon).
9 can’t be answered w a true or false. Not every vintage of DRC Duvault Blochet is from declassified grand cru; on occasion some of their premier cru holdings have been utilized in a vintage of this wine.
Also, 8 is controversial–same wine but more oak time for one of the cuvées so not exactly equal.
16 vintages Under his name between 1975 and 1991 with the vines in métayage from Les Comtes Lafon
21 vintages for Domaine Leflaive between 1988 and 2008 (or 20 if you consider that he wasn’t in charge until 1989)
-untold vintages under his négociant label Morey-Blanc between, from purchased grapes, 1992 and 2016 (I don’t know when he first started dealing in Montrachet grapes but I’ve seen a 1997).
That has to be more than Aubert de Villaine who has been officially in charge of DRC since 1991 (he was co-manager with Lalou between 1974 and 1991).
By all accounts, Jean-Claude Rateau was the first to practice byodinamics in the Côte d’Or. This has been confirmed by many sources including Dominique Lafon, Anne-Claude Leflaive…
René Dauvissat, Vincent’s Dad, created this label by tacking on his wife’s name.
Their importer for the UK and the US wanted a different label.
In theory, the wines are identical to what was sold Under the ‘René and Vincent Dauvissat’ or ‘Vincent Dauvissat’ labels.
This is where they could differ.
Vincent does up to 3 bottlings for his biggest crus (usually the Forest) if that year’s crop is sizeable and if he thinks it won’t make a difference to the wines .
Therefore, the ‘Dauvissat-Camus’ Forest bottles could be different if there were 2 or 3 bottlings that year. So, slightly different oak time.
Vincent was at pains to explain that after a few months’ time, you can’t tell one bottling from another in a blind tasting.
So except for the Forest (and maybe one or two other big cuvées) and only in certain years, all wines are identical.
This also means that there could be slight différences, in élevage time, among ‘Vincent Dauvissat’ wines.
99 was first DRC D-B in many years, all declassified grand cru. I remember reading years later in Burghound about a later release that included not only the declassified grand crus but some premier cru juice, can’t cite the exact issue.
The 1985 was made from vines which Pierre rented from the Comtes Lafon and sold Under his name. (The Moreys had the Montrachet en métayage from the Lafons from 1963 to 1991.)
This is not to be confused with the grapes Pierre later purchased, vinified and sold under the Morey-Blanc négociant label. Regarding this, I don’t when Pierre started making it or whether he made it every year.
Are you the Eddie Milstein who gave Jacques Seysses a lift back to Europe and then invited him to visit different wine producers in late 2004? He met Etienne de Montille on your jet and that led them to purchase the Domaine Thomas-Moillard. That story was shortened in the French version of my book (please see my post about the book) but will be restored, in full, in the English version.
Ian,
I like Vincent’s Irancy but it can be a bit acidic in less mature vintages. I really liked the 2003s (his first vintage) and 2012s.
The event was presented as a tasting of California wines.
Steven Spurrier invited Aubert de Villaine because the latter had spent a year in California and written a few articles for the Revue des Vins de France on California wines.
Aubert told me the story about the whole evening. I must first translate it before posting it.
1st: DRC owns parcels in 1er Crus Gaudichots, Petits Monts and Au Dessus de Malconsorts (not Malconsorts) which is above (west of) Malconsorts.
Also in Aux Reignots (but rented to Liger-Belair)
and (owns/owned) in Suchots (either sold or rented to Prieuré-Roch).
As far as I´m concerned in some vintages the 1er Crus (or part of it) are included in Cuvée Duvault-Blochet (which otherwise consists of declassified young Grand Crus):
NOT in 1999 and 2002, but most certainly in 2004 … and possible in 2006 and 2008 … don´t know about 2009 and 2011 …
