Our last day in Burgundy before transiting to Alsace saw us at these two wineries.
MOISSENET-BONNARD
We were met by Sophie who strikes me very much as Cecile Tremblay did a few years ago, someone very serious and very quietly proud of her work at this estate. We tasted through a very nice spectrum of wines here and this was a pleasant surprise for me.
2015 Moissenet-Bonnard Auxey-Duresses Les Fosses
They use 30% oak, with Cadus and Remond as the tonnelleries. Slight pineapple to go with pear on the nose. Palate finds this very approachable, easy-drinking wine.
2014 Moissenet-Bonnard Beaune Montee Rouge
Rather attractive scents, with bits of popcorn in and out of buttertart. Light and airy, with gentle lemon and a salty note.
2015 Moissenet-Bonnard Meursault Vireuils
A site I quite enjoy, and Sophie and I chatted briefly about Jean-Marc Roulot’s wine there. She explained that it is at the top of a hill, so no clay, but it has more mineral about it. You can smell that, along with lime and pear. To taste, more depth and some nice tactile yellow fruit. It glides as other wines from this parcel have done for me. I believe Lynn and Jon bought a bottle of this.
2014 Moissenet-Bonnard Puligny Montrachet Hameau de Blagny
Rare to see one of these, in fact there are only about 5 producers Sophie says. A perfume element to the lime, mineral and light gunflint. Very composed and firmly lilting–tangy lemoncurd with stones and a subtle length. This was very tempting and if I had more room…
2014 Moissenet-Bonnard Beaune Montee Rouge
“colourful”–a hit of sweet strawberry cheesecake. light, light nutmeg. Definite cured meat side here, raspberry and currant with an edge of sweetness. We all enjoy this one.
2014 Moissenet-Bonnard Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru Les Duresses
all the reds are in for 12 months and these are 45 year vines. Nose finds rhubarb and some sweet herbs around cranberry core. Tasty and light, has a red fruit spine.
2014 Moissenet-Bonnard Pommard Les Cras
Villages diagonally across from Combes-Dessus. Blackberry sniffs with a touch of sweet cassis. Le gout is nice, a light snack with some nervosite and blackberry replays.
2014 Moissenet-Bonnard Pommard les Pezerolles
70 year vines here, chalk with magnesium in the soil. Roses and black forest cake present in the bouquet. And this has everything you would want in Pommard–length, edge of spiciness, red and black berry and cherry fruit and fine carry. Very terroir-driven and good wine, with still a freshness to it.
2012 Moissenet-Bonnard Pommard Les Epenots
This has sweeter spices with a touch more lusciousness–the 2 years and that vintage are showing. In the mouth, just beautiful round tannins, that joyous fruit, strawberry and plum and glints of chickoree and chocolate. Very, very good and deadly tempting too. Probably my #2 today.
We had our lunch at Volnaysien where the coq au vin was out of this world. Although it didn’t go with that, on its own, a glass of 2013 Jacques Carillon Puligny Montrachet was quite nice.
DOMAINE DUBLERE
I hadn’t seen Blair Pethel since my last visit 3 years ago. It was wonderful to catch up with him (and tweak his nose just a tiny bit on Carolina’s basketball win) and, even more fun, he had 6 other people there with him, all of whom were very interested and animated. I was delighted that he was willing to give us some barrel tastes, even though he lost about 70% of his production last year. So far, he’s been worried about the vines because of the cool weather but hopes things have turned the corner.
2016 Domaine Dublere Bourgogne Millerands in 2nd-use Francois Freres barrel
single lieu-dit from Meursault. Lots of nuts, plenty of apple crumble. Seems fine, quite sweet but has some grip to it. Kinda a bit like a tank sample
2016 Domaine Dublere Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Haut Vergelesses in neutral Chassin barrel
a bit reduced, just at first, it does blow off. Sulphur is there a bit too. Very bracing acidity and frame with stone fruit, citrus and nice minerality already.
2016 Domaine Dublere Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Cuvee de la Gelee Noir in 2nd use Francois Freres barrel
Humour in the face of despair—where he normally gets about 6 barrels from Vergets and 8 from Chenevottes, last year he got 1 barrel combined from both. Does have some white grapiness to the aroma along with vanilla. Interesting time to taste–it is quite creamy—because Blair hasn’t added the bit of sulphur yet. In decent shape, crispness and fruit tang underneath.
I asked him if he’s switched out tonnelleries—he says no, but he is now using zero new oak for any wines.
We then moved on to sample some 15s and a 14.
2015 Domaine Dublere Nuits St. Georges Les Terres Blanches
20 months in oak, these were bottled 3 weeks ago. 15% Pinot Blanc goes into this every year. Kind of coffee crisp scent, toffee maybe. This hits the vintage beautifully–super carry with sweet grapefruit, wood varnish, kumquat and saline finish with ginger and lemon accented at the end. Fine. Lynn and Jon got a bottle of this.
2014 Domaine Dublere Nuits St. Georges Les Terres Blanches
More bread notes, apple, some green herbs. Elegance is emphasized here, with marzipan and salt, plenty of floral to go with unripe apple.
2015 Domaine Dublere Chassagne Montrachet Les Chaumees
The first parcel he picked that year, on September 4—he chose to wait it out and wait for rain to fall on the 1st and 2nd. 3 barrels of this. Hay, pear, some light matchstick all in the aroma. On the tongue, replays with a bit of marshmallow perhaps. At a gangly stage I think. Give a couple years and I’d look to check in again.
2015 Domaine Dublere Corton Charlemagne
From 2 parcels, 40-60 year vines. Also caught the vintage well. Sweet, flowery, lilty side swiffs around delicious butterscotch, pear, old wood and vanilla. What a marvelous mouthful of wine! Flavour, elegance, long finish–hard to stop drinking it with apple, pear, citrus glints and fine cut. Really above the norm and WOTD.
2014 Domaine Dublere Chablis Valmur
Stainless steel and then his oldest barrels for the last 6 months. This smells like Chablis, herbs and limestone and shells and binned apple. Lemondrop candy, true minerality, this is licklicious to taste, seashell for sure and hint of grapefruit. The powerful grace of Valmur, one of my fave Grand Crus. #3 today and 1 bottle bought.
From here we switched to the reds and the only barrel sample that has finished malo for him.
2016 Domaine Dublere Beaune 1er Cru en L’Orme from barrel
Thanks to his relationship with his grower here—he usually gets his Beaune fruit from Blanche Fleurs, just down a number of steps, but that vineyard was toasted by the weather, so he was able to be offered fruit from here, a very small plot. It is very rooty right now, chickoree and blackberry. Good Burgundy here though—acid, some length, tannins and centred red fruit. Nothing wrong for sure.
2015 Domaine Dublere Bourgogne Les Grandes Terres
First time he decided to do a Bourgogne rouge—lieu-dit at the bottom of Volnay, bottled a month ago. Still a bit unsettled, though plenty of red fruit material, cranberry particularly. It has a suavity to it on the mouth, in contrast, cherry candy. Will be interesting to see how it knits together.
2015 Domaine Dublere Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Planchots du Nord
Precise aromatics already, with strawberry and raspberry presenting. A touch ripe, but fine flow with replays, good contours here in the early going.
2014 Domaine Dublere Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Planchots du Nord
Nutmeat scents buttress bright maraschino cherry and pomegranate, to show the difference in years. Balanced and good acidity, has the energy I often associated with SLB.
2015 Domaine Dublere Volnay Les Pitures
Nuzzie gets chestnut, bits of cocoa, but it’s somewhat closed. Good, solid wine dans la bouche though—touch of crunch, a nice purity of red plum and strawberry and a nice roundness. Promising.
2011 Domaine Dublere Volnay Pitures
Blair is quite high on this vintage which has been somewhat written off. Darker nose with plum and some blueberry fruit. It is expressing fairly well now, with again that “clarity of fruit” that I have been finding this week in the 11s. I don’t think this is a patch on the 2010, e.g., but it has nothing to be ashamed of.
2015 Domaine Dublere Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Aux Bousselots
This is GOOD. Lots of floral, velvet even on nose. 10 years, this’ll be a knockout–has all the tools; depth, clarity of red and black plum, fine sweetmeats/mincemeat to add “colour” on the breathe-back. Promise of completeness. Get some and tuck it away.
2013 Domaine Dublere Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Aux Bousselots
Blair notes this was a very difficult vintage to work with, largely because of timing of rains. And for me, the aromatics here are closed tight—really tight. Right now, starts out awkward, with the burliness and even “grumpiness” that is sometimes young NSG. But it does have length and probably just needs time to settle into itself.
I am always impressed at the steady and consistent quality level Blair achieves year in and year out with these wines. It was a happy discovery 3 years ago and remains one today.
Sante,
Mike
![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}
![[winner.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/07ec25c9fd71159fe15d7f1ba5fad64e91238d0e.gif "winner"){kind=small}