what about 2009 white Burgundy 1er Cru ? Blind tasting

WINE TALK
1

Our wine club got together to taste 11 white Burgundies from 2009 . Overall , this was a BIG success with some surprisingly good wines . I thought , going to the tasting , that the wines would be forward and clumpsy . There were just a few but others were just perfect . Was picking at the right time the critical success factor ?

  1. muted , medicinal , floral , over ripe . Don’t like this much . 86/100 = Henri Germain Meursault Charmes
  2. super nose , mineral , fresh , young so not yet complex but great power . Love this wine . 95+/100 Louis Carillon Puligny Les Perrieres
  3. Fresh and mineral , lime and citrus , not 100 % clean though , wood also . 83/100 Arn. Ente Meursault Goutte d’Or
  4. Deep yellow . Oaky . Acidic . Not good 70 Le Moine Meursault Perrieres
  5. Pure Coche nose , straw , very pure and great lenght , my star of the tasting 97/100 . Henri Boillot Puligny les Perrieres
  6. More classic and forward , more in 09 style that I expected , complex , delicious 95/100 Meursault Perrieres Pierre Yves Colin
  7. Delicate , finesse wine , pure , lovely but in a restrained style 95/100 Coche Dury Meursault Perrieres
  8. more acidic , floral , medicinal 70/100 second bottle of Le Moine Meursault Perrieres
  9. mineral and chalky , not expressive , not complex but very pure , wet stones , very young . 92/100 Auxey Duresses en reugne , Pierre Boisson
  10. Nice wine but not very exciting , well made .Floral . 90/100 Benoit Ente Puligny Champs Gains
  11. Floral , delicious aromatics , I believed this was a Leflaive Pucelles . 96/100 . Turned out to be Meursault Charmes from Comte Lafon .

Overall winner ( 10 tasters ) with 3 points for wine nr 1 , 2 points for wine nr 2 and 1 point for wine nr 3 :

  1. Comte Lafon Meursault Charmes : 23 points ( 5 first places )
  2. Henri Boillot Puligny Perrieres : 15 points ( 3 first places )
  3. Carillon Puligny Perrieres : 8 points ( 1 first place )
  4. Coche Dury Meursault Perrieres : 7 points ( 1 first place )
  5. Pierre Boisson Auxey Duresses en Reugne: 5 votes

I stopped buying Comte Lafon after almost 50 % of the wines turned out oxidized . About the same as with Domaine Leflaive . But if these buggers get it right , the wines are magnificent .
For the people who believe Coche Dury makes big oaky wines , taste this ultimate finesse Perrieres from 09 . Stunning .
Henri Boillot is also a hit or mis wine maker . I was convinced it was a Coche Dury , this Puligny was a big winner . Same for Carillon , father and now sons make great wine .

The best 09’s are still too young . But they are all you can ask for : fresh , pure and mineral .

2

Thank you Herwig for this very interesting write-up. I have had very good experiences with the white 2009 burgundies so far, I have some of those Carillon Puligny Perrières, but havent’t tried it up to now. I recently very much enjoyed a 2009 Mikulski Meursault Genevrières, a 2009 Coche-Dury Meursault Chevalières, and at Bachelet-Monnot I also really, really liked the 2009 Puligny Referts and Folatières - great wines for my taste. It’s probably not a vintage for eternal ageing, but since it’s framed by two fairly linear and acidity driven vintages, I like most 2009s I drank so far for being more accessible now and having fairly pure fruit.

I actually never heard anyone say that Coche Dury makes big oaky wines. In my perception, Coche Dury is so popular because the wines are not big and oaky.

3

I’ve also had mostly positive experiences with the vintage, although I doubt I’ll hold many bottles beyond the medium term.

I own some Bachelet-Monnot Folatieres, which is superb, and had a Buisson-Charles Meursault Cras for lunch on Monday that was delcious.

Cheers,
M

4

A very nice tasting - thanks for your notes. The PYCM wines in 09 are very good and Boillot seems to be improving year in and year out; so much so that the Puligny Mouchere is a wine I buy every year. Good to hear about the Lafon Charmes but the wines are out of my price range when I can buy PYCM and Boillot for half of the Lafon.

5

Thanks Herwig, the 09’s, 10’s and 11’s from Lafon are stunning. I think the 09 whites in general are a lot better than I thought they were on release.
Best Regards
Jeremy

6

There is such a stigma to the 09 whites that I’m afraid to buy even though the prices are significantly lower. I almost feel like it’s buying a 03 red burg.

For those that have tried the grand crus from Colin-Morey, how would you rank your preference for them between 09, 10, and 11?