2007 White Burgundy Vintage Assessment and Premox Check Dinner No 1

As many of you already know, each year in February and March I host a series of white burgundy vintage appraisal and oxidation check dinners in Los Angeles. We taste the vintage which is then 7.5 years from the date of harvest, and we usually taste 60 to 75 of the top wines from the vintage over the course of three nights. This was our tenth consecutive year of holding these dinners and this year the vintage was 2007.

The 2007 white burgundy vintage received much fanfare from the producers and critics at the time the wines were released in 2009. I tasted a good number of them on release and I thought the Cote de Beaune whites were the most exciting new vintage I had tasted since 1985. I tasted very few Chablis but the few I tasted were exceptional, even at the premier cru level. So I’ve been looking forward to doing our annual comprehensive tasting of the 2007 vintage for some time. Judging by the response to the invitations, so was everyone else.

Fourteen of us gathered in the Gold Room at Valentino to taste thirty of the top 2007 Chablis, Meursault and Corton Charlemagnes. With 420 stems required for the burgundies, we once again taxed the limits of the restaurant, but Valentino’s new sommelier, Paul Sherman, handled it flawlessly. The large rectangular table set up at Valentino is truly ideal for this type of event.

Valentino, which is owned by Pierro Selvaggio, has been a fixture of the Los Angeles fine dining scene for decades. It is well known for its Wine Spectator Grand Award winning wine cellar as well as its Italian regional cuisine. The dinner arrangements were well planned by Giuseppe Mollica, Valentino’s director of special events, and the service was top notch as usual.

The wines and food courses are set forth below. All of the wines were served blind and none of the attendees knew the identity of our one ringer for night one. This year all of the voting was completely blind with the attendees ranking their top five wines identified by the number on the glass.

My thanks to Andy Gavin for all of the great photographs he took at the dinner.

Appetizer Course
Arancinette Of Seafood, Oysters With Lemon Gelato,
Diamonds Of Mushroom Polenta, Taleggio Flatbread And Black Truffles

1996 Henriot Cuvee Enchanteleurs Champagne (two 750 ml bottles)
Two dramatically different bottles. First bottle: Peachy color; aromas of melba toast and citrus; on the palate it was a mix of toasty elements and very high pitched grapefruit/lemon citrus. Drinkable but no one was impressed. Nothing like any other bottle of this I’ve had. 87-flawed Second bottle: much lighter yellow color (more like a 96); brilliant bubbles, with lemon bread aromas; on the palate this was meyer lemon and loads of minerality, particularly on the finish. This could actually improve with another year or two of aging. 93+

Flight One – Grand Cru Chablis (and one 1er)
Crudo Di Pesce With Salmon, Ahi Tuna, Yellow Tail With Citrus & Colatura

#1 [2007 Raveneau Chablis Blanchots]
Light yellow gold color; sappy aromas with a green fruit/green herb (rosemary) element that suggests Preuses to me; quite faint on the palate at first, develops some fruit with time in the glass. Late in the tasting this was much more shrill and balanced to acidity. Dauvissat Presuses? Group Rank: 12th place, 6 points (1/0/0/0/1) 92?

#2 [2007 Ravneau Chablis Clos]
Light gold color; green apple and green herb aromas; light green apple flavors too with medium acidity; this is a light bodied Chablis with some elegance and minerals on the finish. Fevre Preuses? Group Rank:Tied for 15th, 3 points (0/0/1/0/0) 91+

#3 [2007 Raveneau Chablis Montee de Tonnerre]
Light yellow color – marginally lighter than #1 and #2 and not quite gold; aromas like lemon hard candy; only modest weight on the palate, some lemon and minerals; better finish here. Raveneau MDT? Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 93

#4 [2007 Fevre Chablis Valmur]
Light yellow gold color; very badly corked – even I can easily detect this one and I have less sensitivity than most; on the palate, this had more obvious fruit than any other wine in this flight and degree of richness and a touch of vanilla (oak), but the corked aromas make it undrinkable. I fear this is a Clos. Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) DQ - corked

#5 [2007 Raveneau Chablis Valmur]
Some odd reduction aromas, including a cheese smell – eventually lemony aromas emerged; another lighter styled Chablis; relatively lean citrus fruit flavors with some minerals; this really has great underlying structure and needs time; later it seemed to have some of the Preuses green fruit/rosemary markers in the aromas. Group Rank: 19th, 1 point (0/0/0/0/1) 93

#6 [2007 Dauvissat-Camus Chablis Clos]
Medium gold color; sweet almost tropical fruit aromas with some toasty oak tones; on the second pass it seemed even more oaky; there are some simple tropical fruit flavors that don’t match the aromas in terms of intensity, but this has a very thick viscous texture; then, at the end of the finish there’s a sweet apricot like character. Based on the color, toasty aromas and apricot flavors on the finish, this might well be advanced/borderline to going oxidized. The woody aromas remind me of the some of the Fevres from 2002 and 2004. Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 89???

#7 [2007 Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Preuses]
This is another medium gold wine almost as deep as #6; faint pear and green apple aromas with some light oak tones; very light, simple green apple flavors with moderate underlying acidity… This seems to fit the Cote de Beaune profile more than Chablis, but it doesn’t have the expected weight/depth for top grand cru Chablis. Can this improve with time? Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 91+?

#8 [2007 Fevre Chablis Clos]
Light yellow gold color; aromas of midori (lime) liquer and a hint of leechee fruit; on the palate this had medium density flavors of lime and pears; much more depth and density than the other wines in the flight; there is minerality too, but it is kind of sneaky and comes in behind the fruit; very good acidity and shows up in the finish. Lots of room for improvement I think. Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 93++

#9 [2007 Fevre Chablis Preuses]
Between light and medium gold color; aromas of lemon and white flowers tones; tight, light creamy lemon flavors; moderate acidity and some minerals on the finish. An elegant overall impression. Group Rank: Tied for 17th, 2 points (0/0/0/0/2) 92

Flight Two – Meursault
Pan Seared Scallops With Sweet Pea Sauce And Couscous

#10 [2007 Lafon Meursault Genevrieres]
Medium plus gold color (darkest of the second flight); peach aromas with hints of orange citrus; similar flavors with quite a bit of richness and density for modern Meursault; moderate acidity shows on the sweet citrus-peach finish. Not really my style of Meursault, but quite good in its own way. On my second pass, after we had discussed the flight as a group, this wine struck me as likely advanced. Group Rank: Tied for 17th, 2 points (0/0/0/1/0) 93? (late impression-advanced)

#11 [2007 Roulot Meursault Poruzots]
Color between light and medium gold; light lemon citrus and white flower aromas; this has very bright lemon flavors, considerable acidity and great structure, but it is relatively thin (at least for now) Stayed stable through the evening. Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92

#12 [2007 Roulot Meursault Charmes]
Medium yellow gold color; light key lime aromas; fairly light key lime/lemon flavors with very good acidity and then a huge finish with lime and minerals that hits like a big wave. Group Rank: Tied for 15th , 3 points (0/0/1/0/0) 94

#13 [2007 Ringer No 1—Coche-Dury Meursault (Chaumes de Perrieres)]
Between light and medium gold. Some reduction aromas here – almost like Leflaive, eventually becomes citrus and white flowers; citrus and minerals flavors; the immediate impression here was structure, and there was a bit of layering here, finish has some minerals but doesn’t quite match up to the mid-palate for me. [NB: there are at least three different cuvees of the 2007 Meursault, which come from different vineyards. This one came from Europe.] Group Rank: 3rd, 20 points (0/1/4/1/2) 93

#14 [2007 Coche-Dury Meursault Rougeots]
Between light and medium gold color; light white flowers aromas; very bright lemon custard flavors with great acidity and minerality; long mineral dominated finish; very impressive wine. My number three wine of the night. Group Rank: 5th, 13 points (0/1/3/0/0) 95

#15 [2007 Hospices de Beaune-Roulot Meursault Genevrieres]
Medium gold color; apple and pear aromas; this is a very forward, voluptuous and densely fruited wine; mostly pears on the palate; there is a decent amount of acidity that shows up late; very minerally finish. Group Rank: 14th, 4 pts (0/0/0/2/0) 94

Flight Three: Meursault Perrieres (and one Pretender)
Lobster Risotto

#16 [2007 Colin-Morey Meursault Perrieres]
Light yellow gold color; some light SO2 here, which gave way to some initially faint lemony aromas; on the palate this had some very sappy, awesomely concentrated lemon-lime citrus flavors with very good acidity; fairly tight but very minerally finish. Upside here. Group Rank: 4th, 16 pts (1/2/0/1/1) 94+

#17 [2007 Lafon Meursault Charmes]
Between light and medium gold color; white flowers aromas; starts with fairly sappy key lime, then acidity and minerals; good minerality on the finish. On my second pass this seemed to have faded a good bit in the mid-palate. But for that, I would have given this a higher score. Group Rank: 13th, 5 pts (0/0/0/2/1) 93

#18 [2007 Lafon Meursault Perrieres]
Medium gold color; prominent pear aromas here; this has very sappy pear and citrus flavors with lots of complexity and a little layering as it broadens into a nice citrus-mineral finish. I liked this more the first time through than on the second. My fifth overall wine of the night. Group Rank: 8th, 10 points (1/1/0/0/1) 94

#19 [2007 Roulot Meursault Perrieres]
Between light and medium gold color; some citrus, pears and a hint of coconut that reminds me of Coche; this is a very tight, but obviously sappy and concentrated wine; serious concentration of pear and citrus flavors with very good acidity and abundant minerality on a very long finish. Fabulous wine. My number two wine of the night. Group Rank: 1st, 45 points (4/3/3/2/0) 95+

#20 [2007 Matrot Meursault Perrieres]
Medium plus gold color; this had bizarre apple cider aromas; on the palate it had very ripe to overripe peach, and orange citrus flavors and very leesy character. Not fun to drink and impossible to finish. Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 80-advanced

#21 [2007 Bouchard Meursault Perrieres]
Light gold color with some greenish edge tones; powerful key lime and white flowers aromas; very sappy and intense key lime/lemon flavors; this has great acidity and structure and abundant minerality with a very long citrus and minerals finish. WOW! Easily my favorite wine of the night. Group Rank: 2nd, 32 points (4/3/0/0/0) 97

#22 [2007 Coche-Dury Meursault Perrieres]
Between light and medium gold color; white flowers and citrus aromas; very intense citrus and minerals flavors with considerable acidity; a great deal of structure; powerful citrus and minerals finish but with noticeable phenols in the finish. This wine isn’t quite all together yet, but it is awesome. My number four wine of the night. Group Rank: Tied for 6th, 12 points (0/1/2/1/0) 95+

Flight Four – Corton Charlemagne
Pan Roasted Napa Quail With Pancetta And Sage

#23 [2007 Bouchard Corton Charlemagne]
Between light and medium gold color; sweet green apple flavors; flavors of apple and white honey with surprisingly good acidity on the finish. Unusual. [NB In retrospect, since the Bouchard Corton is normally quite good, I’m not sure what to make of this bottle.] Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 93

#24 [2007 Colin-Morey Corton Charlemagne]
Light yellow gold color; light white flowers aromas; citrus flavors and a lot of acidity, but seems a bit disjointed—at least for now. Gives an impression this could improve with time, but I’m not sure. Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 91+?

#25 [2007 Faiveley Corton Charlemagne]
Medium yellow color; lemon citrus aromas; green apple and lemon candy flavors with lots of minerality; this really grew on me as I kept going back to it, showed more power and depth and a nice finish. The best wine of this flight and my number six wine overall. Group Rank: Tied for 6th. 12 points (2/0/0/0/2) 94+

#26 [2007 Jadot Corton Charlemagne]
Medium gold color; intense green apple aromas; very big and overly rich apple flavors with some toasty elements in the finish; this is pretty clearly advanced. Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 90? Advanced

#27 [2007 Henri Boillot Corton Charlemagne]
Medium plus gold color (darkest of the flight); very rich caramel and honey aromas – clearly advanced; fat, rich apple pastry flavors; quite drinkable despite being advanced. Group Rank: Tied for 20th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 93 Advanced

#28 [2007 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne]
Light gold color with a greenish edge; very light citrus aromas; light citrus flavors with considerable acidity and structure; very tight; some phenols on the finish here; this opened up just a little bit on the second pass. Group Rank: 9th, 9 points (0/1/0/2/1) 93

#29 [2007 Simon Bize Corton Charlemagne]
Medium gold color; light pear and citrus aromas; flavors a little more oriented to the pear side with great acidity and depth; a very nice finish. Group Rank: 11th, 7 points (1/0/0/1/0) 94

#30 [2007 Girardin Corton Charlemagne]
Between light and medium gold color; pear/apple aromas; more mid-palate depth than #28 and #29 but a little less impressive finish; some acidity and a touch of phenol on the finish. This may improve with more age. Group Rank: 10th, 8 points (0/1/0/1/2) 93+?

Dessert Course
Seasonal Fruit Tarte with Gelato

1971 Chateau Y’quem
Dark brown and this seemed quite off to me on the palate, but at least a couple of others said they liked it. Maybe I was suffering from palate fatigue ???

Postscript statistics and comments on premature oxidation:

Corked - 1/30 3.3%
Oxidation - 0/30 0%
Advanced - 3/30 10% or 4/30 with my additional late discovered bottle of Lafon 13.3%
Oxidized or advanced - 3/30 10% or 4/30 13.3%

Everyone was pleased that we didn’t have any outright oxidized wines on night one, but we’ve had this happen before only to have several on the subsequent nights. I think that the distressing thing (or perhaps the reassuring thing, depending on your viewpoint) was that the four advanced wines came from producers with a prior history of oxidation-related issues – Jadot, the number one poster child for premox since 2000, Matrot, Boillot and Lafon.

Some preliminary thoughts on the 2007 vintage at 7.5 years of age

The Meursaults performed fabulously and met or exceeded all of the reviewer’s early expectations. We all agreed that the 2007 Chablis notably under-performed versus the early very laudatory reviews which suggested that 2007 is a classic vintage. The Chablis wines did not improve over the course of the evening either.

The Cortons were generally very good (mostly 93-94 point wines) but they didn’t match up to the Meursaults, and my scores were generally one to three points lower than the early reviews by Messrs. Meadows and Tanzer.

Cheers go to:

• Roulot – 2007 is a truly great vintage for Roulot, even for his Hospice Meursault Genevrieres

• Bouchard – without any doubt the best Meursault Perrieres I’ve ever tasted from Bouchard (but the Corton Charlemagne fell well short of the early laudatory reviews from the critics.)

• Coche-Dury – Jean-Francois Coche was in great form in this vintage and his Meursault Chaumes de Perrieres from seven year old vines outclassed many of the big names.

• Faiveley – The Corton Charlemagne was easily the best Corton from Faiveley in about two decades and this bottle was consistent with another one I had in 2013.

From left to right – Erick Pangilnan, Larry Hoffman and Liz Lee, studiously working their way through the final flight of Corton Charlemagnes

Night two is scheduled for March 4 at Valentino. We will taste 25 or so of the top wines from Bienvenues-Batard, Criots-Batard, Batard Montrachet and Chevalier Montrachet.

Night three is scheduled for March 19 at Melisse Restaurant in Santa Monica. That’s our “Mostly Montrachet” night.

Sad that Jadot still seems to have issues, because I really like that wine when it’s on form.

Thanks again Don for an amazing dinner!

If anyone wants to see the pictures and wines for the 2013 and 2014 dinners they’re still on my blog. Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 1 :: All Things Andy Gavin there are links at the end of last week’s dinner for five others.

Andy, what did you shoot those with?

Very clean.

Thanks for the comprehensive observations Don.

Bouchard’s 07 Perrieres was super on release, glad to see it motoring along.

Best Regards
Jeremy

a lot of flash.

a fun night where the food shined–the Chablis were quite disappointing, the Meursaults fabulous, and the Corton Charlies a bit underwhelming. Great venue and execution as usual. A privilege to attend.

Thanks Don.
As always, a thorough job.

I am both hungry and thirsty after reading and looking at that post Don. Well done, great line-up.
The pre-ox issue I feel is still very much on the table.

DW

I just ate dinner and I am stuffed, but that food looks freaking amazing! Nice wine tasting, great info for white burgs. Thx

Once again I agree with Alan. The Chablis were just okay. The Meursaults KILLED it (especially the perrieres) and the Corton Charlies were nice, but not as good as they could be. Thanks again for setting this up Don, can’t wait for next month

Champagne Starter

• 1996 Henriot Champagne Cuvée des Enchanteleurs Brut - France, Champagne (2/8/2015)
  Slightly ironic that the champagne served prior to the start of a vintage testing premox dinner was advanced. . The bottle served next to it was apparently quick delicious tho

Chablis flight My favorite wine of the flight was the Raveneau Blanchot, I thought it was the most expressive complete wine

• 2007 Dauvissat-Camus Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  tasted blind: I thought the wine was showing a bit advanced. It had that apple flavor and a bit too flat. Not obviously advanced, but enough to notice. Had the same wine a year ago and it was fantastic
• 2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  pretty reduced initially but started to give way to fresh grass on the nose. Really ripe waxy soft fruit and the palate was silky smooth. There was this long lingering flavor on the wine but it wasn’t terribly complex, something lingered but it wasn’t anything that livened up the palate
• 2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  pretty fantastic bright nose, filled with spearmint and bright citrus fruit. The palate was filled with lemon curd and so light and delicate. Needs time to open up but that nose was awesome
• 2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Valmur - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  corked. /tears
• 2007 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  tasted blind. Really forward ripe fruit nose but the palate was a bit oaky and clipped. After thirty minutes or so, the palate was still short. It was nice but nothing impressive
• 2007 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  touch of sulfur and oak on the nose but really fragrant sweet apple. Soft and waxy on the palate but with this energetic bright zesty lemon running through that made the wine so lively.
• 2007 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: Pure bright nose, textured fat huge fruit. Took about thirty minutes for the fruit to get focused as it was just so burly and expansive initially. Didn’t have the cool acidity running through it like the blanchot, but it’s a much bigger animal
• 2007 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  It started out heavily reduced. Took about half a hour or so to shed some of the sulfur as the palate because this hugely textured and prickly on the tongue. A load of sweet pineapple on the finish. Became really nice by the end of the night
• 2007 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  Loads of vanilla oak and pineapple on the nose, some nuttiness on the palate initially, but it really shed way and opened up to this piercing lemon fruit and killer minerality

non Perrieres Meursault I really enjoyed the two coche and the roulot charmes. If I was forced to pick one, the straight Coche Dury village was my favorite followed closely by the Charmes. Different wines, power v. finesse.

• 2007 Coche-Dury Meursault - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault (2/8/2015)
  tasted blind: This one was the Chaumes de Perrieres sourced from europe. Tons of fleshy stone fruit on the palate as the fruit is so sweet and crisp. The nose is beautiful and soft. It’s almost like tasting a fresh peach Popsicle. Delicious!
• 2007 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Rougeots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: Similar to the coche village as it had that same peach flavor but was far more sulfuric on the nose and the sulfur had an impact on the texture. It was good, but there’s that tingling sensation you get at times from sulfur not fully integrating. Screamed coche. Dense flavorful wine that’ll need time to integrate in the so2
• 2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  tasted blind: Round sweet peachf ruit, texture from oak on the palate but the finish had this almost vitamin-y quality to it, where it clips and gets a little bitter
• 2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  tasted blind: I thought it was getting a little advanced on the palate. Loads of banana and a flat waxiness. Right when I tasted it I thought “must be lafon!”
• 2007 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Charmes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted Blind: On the palate the wine is incredibly rich and long, gorgeous ripe grape flavor with a clean finish just running through. Really nice
• 2007 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  tasted blind: Tight, sour lemon tart. Not expressive or impressive
• 2007 Hospices de Beaune Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières Cuvée Baudot Jean-Marc Roulot - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  tasted blind: light waxy almost central CA on the palate as it had a lushness to it but still had a nice line of acid running through. Very tasty wine but not terribly complex

Perrieres I was really looking forward to this flight. It did not disappoint (other than the matrot, but that’s like being disappointed that a 5 year old can’t dunk on a 10 ft rim, you just expect things). The PYCM showed excellent again, the Coche was really good but it missed that one little lift, but the Roulot Perrieres was omggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg delicious. I had one in Nov that was a bit more tightly wound but this one was ready to knock someone out.

• 2007 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  tasted blind: 2nd time I’ve had this wine in the past few months and this bottle was drinking so much more expressive than the last one. The wine is so incredibly rich and pure on the palate. The light touch of sour fruit mixed with rich stone fruit just expands and assaults your taste buds with flavor. The palate just goes on and on and on. Everything about it is just perfection, it’s full of flavor but it wasn’t heavy, it was soft but didnt’ lack complexity. A++++++++++ wine
• 2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: an incredible powerful and rich wine. Killer mouthfeel and so much complexity and depth. This and the roulot fought neck and neck for best perrieres of the night.
• 2007 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: I have a really weird taste analogy on this wine, it tasted like the chinese dry plum candy. A little oaky and sour. It was weird to me.
• 2007 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: initially it was the most reduced wine of the night. I let it sit there for roughly a hour and took sips throughout that time. Initially it started out with some lemon zest and custard on the palate but then it suddenly picked up with intense lemon fruit on the palate with zippy acidity racing through. Long clean finish of cool citrus. My only knock on the wine (which I still really enjoyed) was that it wasn’t that expansive on the palate, everything was good, but I felt it could have been more.
• 2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  tasted blind: Ultra ripe, no balance, just in your face fat fruit.
• 2007 Domaine Matrot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (2/8/2015)
  SURPRISE! It was as advanced as advanced gets before premox. Basically like drinking apple juice but thicker

Corton Charlie My favorite was probably the Faivieley. Never had it before but what a beautifully balanced wine.

• 2007 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: The nose is filled with crushed vitamins and tropical fruit. On the palate the fruit is lacking a bit, but it has the classic BDM silkiness as the acidity picks up real nice.
• 2007 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: Ultra rich fruit, almost too rich, needed more acidity to balance it out
• 2007 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: Really pure and pretty wine. It’s not particularly expansive and deep but it had an almost electric level of acidity that really stood out. Nice wine. Definitely don’t taste any oak
• 2007 Faiveley Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: First time having any CC from Faiveley, won’t be my last. Beautiful steely deep fruit, classic CC and the acidity from the vintage lends itself so well to the broadness on the palate. Really great CC
• 2007 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: sad times, really advanced. loads of apple on the palate with no acidity. Nothing like boillot ought to be
• 2007 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: I thought the wine was in a weird funky stage. I couldn’t get my palate wrapped around it as the flavors were kinda flyin all over the place, definitely a touch advanced though
• 2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: Big bold vanilla and fruit on the palate. Dense and powerful.
• 2007 Simon Bize Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (2/8/2015)
  Tasted blind: Thought the wine was pretty advanced, smells/tastes like sappy apple juice

Thanks for doing these, Don. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the subsequent dates in hopes that’s corner has been turned.

Just chiming in, thanks for doing these assessments Don. These reports and the wiki site is invaluable. I bought some 02 Pillot Chevalier Montrachet based on your 02 vintage assessment. Of note, 1 of the 4 bottles is noticeable darker than the others.

Don, how do those oxidation / advanced percentages compare to the last several vintages tasted at around 8 years old? It seem to me just from memory that this is a better showing overall. Though you still have another night.

I always love these write ups. Thanks for posting.

Chris:

The overall oxidation performance on night one nearly matched 2004 (the best ever). However, since we’ve seen some dramatic variations between nights of the dinners, I hesitate to read too much into one night’s performance. Also, changing one bottle with a small sample can make a difference. For example, both Charlie Fu and I wrote in our notes that we had suspicions about the Dauvissat-Camus Clos perhaps being advanced, but this isn’t a wine that was discussed with the group when we were trying to identify any advanced or oxidized wines. If we added one additional bottle to the advanced list (then 5/30), the total would go up to 16.67%, which would be just below 2002, the second-best overall performance.

1996 vintage (tasted at 10 years of age):
Corked: 2/28 (7%)
Oxidized: 5/28 (18%)
Advanced: 3/28 (11%)
Total advanced plus oxidized: 8/28 (29%)

1999 vintage (tasted at 7.5 years of age):
Corked: 1 or 2 of 4 (2% to 4%)
Oxidized: 9/44 (20%) Highest percentage of oxidized wines ever
Advanced: 3/44(7%)
Total Oxidized + Advanced: 12/44 (27%)

2000 vintage (tasted a 7 and 7.5 years of age):
Corked: 1/58 (2%)
Oxidized: 9/58 (16%)
Advanced: 7/58 (12%)
Total Oxidized + Advanced: 16/58 (28%)

2001 vintage:
Corked: 0/43 (0%)
Oxidized: 4/43 (9%)
Advanced: 7/43 (16%)
Total Oxidized + Advanced: 11/43 (26%)

2002 vintage:
Corked: 3/64 (5%)
Oxidized: 5/64 (8%) or 6/64 (by my count) (9%)
Advanced: 5/64 (8%) Tied for lowest percentage of advanced wines ever
Total oxidized + advanced: 11/64 (17%)

2004 vintage:
Corked – 1/63 (2%)
Permanently Reduced- 1/63 (2%)
Oxidized–3/63 (5%) Lowest percentage of oxidized wines ever
Advanced-5/63 (8%) Tied for lowest percentage of advanced wines ever
Total Oxidized + advanced- 8/63 (13%) Lowest total percentage ever

2005 vintage:
Corked: 1/66 (2%) [Corked bottle of Raveneau MDT replaced on night one]
Oxidized: 4/65 (6%) Second lowest percentage of oxidized wines
Advanced:16/65 (25%) Highest percentage of advanced wines ever
Total Oxidized + advanced: 20/65 (31%) Highest total percentage ever

2006 vintage:
Corked - 0/28 (some controversy about one wine)
Oxidation - 0/28 group consensus; but two partially oxidized later 0%/7.1%
Advanced - 4/28 14.3%
Oxidized or advanced - 6/28 21.4%

2007 Vintage-Night One Results
Corked - 1/30 3.3%
Oxidation - 0/30 0%
Advanced - 3/30 10% or 4/30 with my additional late discovered bottle of Lafon 13.3%
Oxidized or advanced - 3/30 10% or 4/30 13.3%

I will add that the 2004 white burgundies are still doing sensationally today. I’ve started consuming my stocks of 2004s and they are consistently excellent white burgundies with very low incidence of being advanced or oxidized. Out of something north of 40 bottles consumed since the beginning of October I’ve only had two that were outright oxidized. Many of the 2004s taste quite youthful today, while others are now ready to drink. It is easily the most reliable vintage of older white burgundy out there right now.

Don I don’t have nearly the experience that you have but I agree wholeheartedly on 04. We had a Pernot BBM a few months ago and it was spectacular. We even drank a Fontaine-Gagnard Monty last year and it was on point.
Most of mu 04s are gone now unfortunately; I drank early out of fear.

Thank you Don for the great write up and information.

Hard up imagine a better seat on March 19 than Melisse! Thanks for these great reports.

Don, thanks for these write-ups and for the wiki. I use the wiki all the time when assessing white Burgundies.

Glad to read about how good the 2007 Bouchard Perrieres was. Glad I own some of that. Would you drink it now (always the safe advice for white Burgundy) or hold it further?