2008 Domaine Michel Gaunoux Beaune- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune (7/2/2017)
– decanted about 50 minutes before initial taste –
– tasted non-blind over a couple hours –
NOSE: “pretty” red-fruited fruit aromas; a touch leafy; medium expressiveness; simple.
BODY: ruby color with slight bricking throughout: color is of medium-light depth; light bodied.
TASTE: spicy – cigar wrapper; red-fruited; high acidity; alc. not noticeable; in prime drink window — not fully tertiary, but at least half way there; light to medium-light concentration of fruit; light front palate, most action is on mid palate, and very light rear palate; finish is dominated by tertiary flavors, and is of medium-light intensity and medium length; best to Drink Now. Many will find this too acidic!
Hi Nigel,
My answer is “both.” I always taste a wine thoroughly before starting in on the food with which I am pairing it, casually enjoy the wine with the food (and make note of any particularly positive or negative pairing), and then re-focus on the wine after the meal. If I recall correctly, this was paired with herb-rubbed pork tenderloin and a mushroom risotto.
Hi Brian,
I asked that question (of course suspecting that you did end up having the wine over dinner) because I wanted to know if you found the acidity less of a problem once you started in on your pork tenderloin and risotto.
Nigel
I didn’t find the acidity to be problematic at all. Food didn’t really change my perception of the acidity level.
I’ve just come to realize that my “high acidity” (which I quite like) is others’ “enamel-stripping, masochistic, screechy, super high acidity,” hence my closing warning.
LOL! OK, now I get it. A French friend ITB tells me that most of the Burgundy growers he talks to are huge fans of the 2008 vintage, and they’re mystified by the general public indifference or even antipathy to those wines. The market prices clearly reflect that view.
Hi Brian,
I wanted to follow up by asking which 2008 red burgs you have tried have been the most impressive. And how do you see their drinking window at 1er & grand cru level?
Nigel
Nigel,
Mostly a smattering of village and 1er bottlings from Fourrier and Taupenot-Merme. Fourrier’s Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Cherbaudes Vieille Vigne and Taupenot-Merme’s Morey St. Denis 1er Cru La Riotte are the two most impressive examples I’ve tried. I think those are easily 20 year wines — heck, we’re already at year 9! I’ll be popping one of those Fourrier Cherbaudes this weekend, so can report back thereafter. The only GC I’ve tasted from the vintage was a very young Clos St. Denis from Dujac: it was too young for me to truly “understand.” I have a couple Taupenot-Merme village bottlings from this vintage queued up for near-term consumption. I reckon I’ll have a better grasp of my drinking window opinions after drinking those and the Fourrier this weekend. Sorry to be of very little help.
