When people ask me what the greatest recent vintage in Burgundy is I annoyingly ask them: “For what?”
Different vintages serve different purposes, depending on mood, company, expectations, etc.
Take tonight. Just my wife and I. No geeks. We had a couple of grilled Flannery ribeyes. I was jonesing for some Burgundy so I opted for something that seemed a bit deeper and richer to offset yummy fatty steaks. But I didn’t want to go nuts on casual Sunday dinner.
I settled on a 16 Dujac Morey St Denis 1er cru. Relatively unheralded and variable vintage. Relatively minor star in the Dujac constellation. Right?
Man I just loved this wine tonight. Perfumed and lifted. Morey meat with some finesse. Poured dark plum in decanter and it continued to brighten and soften and turn more red after 2 hours. No rough edges at all. Fruity/stemmy/piquant/balanced.
Burgundy is maddeningly variable. Sometimes you open a wine that should be all systems go — say a 2002 Rousseau Beze — and something is just off. Other times more “modest” wines win your heart for some reason. Tonight was one of those nights.
I hear you, and I apologize. Maybe some things I should just think and not type.
It just seemed like I was reading this story of how tonight this Morgon or Muscadet with a cheeseburger was the perfect thing instead of some fancy food and wine, but then it was Flannery with Dujac, and so it just threw me off.
The important thing is you found your happy place with a pull from your cellar and I applaud you. I guess this kind of story doesn’t really have to be Morgon or Muscadet. Berserker on.
And a Burg discussion to boot, which is pretty much guaranteed to elicit contrary opinions. To me, that’s what makes burg endlessly fascinating. I’m just priced out of the trophy wines now.
Regardless of the absolute status of the vintage or wine in question, I have to agree with your general point: a “lesser” wine can outshine a “greater” one from time to time.
Loved this note Matthew. The dog in the second photo is a nice touch for an underdog posting.
We often wax poetic about the grand cru stars in the Burgundy firmament, but I am disappointed as often as not considering the expectations and price tag. I had hoped to be transported, and wasn’t (even though it was a good glass).
In contrast, how wonderful it is indeed when even a hick in Georgia (or LA) can discover a great bottle that overdelivers, unexpectedly.
and you did it just right, Matthew - IMHO, the fewer the people, the better the bottle should be. Just two on a Dujac premier cru sounds perfect to me.
Glad the bottle showed well! 2016 is particularly strong in MSD (Lignier made some absolutely spectacular wines - his Clos de la Roche may be the wine of the vintage), so I’m not that surprised this showed well
No worries, @Chris_Seiber. I hope I didn’t sound thin-skinned.
I suppose opening any Dujac these days and describing it as modest IS a bit of a humble brag.
@Steve_McL: That’s Freddy staring at me, wondering what the heck I’m doing.
My wife recently saved him from certain death by throwing a frying pan (!) at a coyote who jumped our fence and had Freddy in its jaws. Left two nasty puncture wounds but he made it. Now that’s an underdog story!
Thanks for sharing your experience and your notes. Dujac has an appealing character of warmth and depth across the cuvées that is hard not to love in any vintage. And your wife was heroic in defense of Freddy!
I’m happy to read it was indeed a positive note - very posititive - as I have one lone bottle of Dujac, and it’s a '16 (Chambolle-Musigny), and I was briefly fearing it was a crap vintage for the producer by the utilization of ‘semi’ in the title, whew!
Fortunate, art thou, that your wife enjoys Burgundy!
Great note. I love the MSD 1er cru and agree it is a great “value” in the Dujac stable.
I once queried Jeremy about why it was so good year in and year out, and asked if it was declassified CdlR and CSD fruit. I’ve pasted his response:
“Indeed, we blend several vineyards for the Domaine Morey Saint Denis 1er Cru. Several of our 1er cru holding typically yield roughly a barrel’s worth of grapes and it would make for many ferments, and tiny ferments rarely turn out as well as bigger ones, so we have chosen to blend. From biggest to smallest, the wine is a blend of the following climats: Ruchots, Millandes, Charrières and Clos Sorbé. There haven’t been any declassified grapes of grand cru in that wine in several decades.
The negociant Chaffot is a very different wine. We did the elevage and bottling, but did not ferment the grapes, so a different style altogether. It was destemmed.
