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 eleventh consecutive year of holding these dinners and this year the vintage was 2008.
Fourteen of us met in the Gold Room at Valentino Restaurant in Santa Monica on Thursday February 25, 2016 to taste twenty-eight of the top 2008 hyphenated grand crus from Puligny and Chassagne Montrachet. Just in case anyone didn’t think we had enough wine to drink, Walker Strangis brought along a bonus bottle from the 1984 vintage of one of the same wines we were going to taste from the 2008 vintage. Valentino’s wine director, Paul Sherman, again handled the huge number of glasses and wines flawlessly.
Valentino did a great job with the food once again. They delighted everyone by bringing out “seconds” on the incredible Prawns and Maine Lobster Risotto served as the third course with the first flight of Chevalier Montrachet. The Risotto in its various permutations seems to be everyone’s favorite food pairing for the white wines at our dinnners. You know the food is really good when a bunch of winos get served two courses of Chevalier Montrachets and they just put down their glasses and pick up a fork and go at the food before returning to the wines. My thanks once again to Pierro Selvaggio, the owner of Valentino, and Giuseppe Mollica, Valentino’s director of special events, for putting together a great menu to go with the wines.
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 three ringers on night two. All of the voting was completely blind with the attendees ranking their top five wines identified by the number on the glass.
My thanks as usual to Andrew (“Andy”) Gavin for all of the great photos.
Andy Gavin’s Fish Eye View of the Group Hard at Work During the Fourth Flight
Appetizer Course
Oysters, Ahi Tuna Tartare, Burrata Caprese
Bruschetta With Wild Arugula, Prosciutto And Grana Padano “Schegge”
Ahi Tuna Tartare
1998 Philipponat Clos De Goisses (two 750 ml)
Medium gold color; citrus and toast aromas – rather like Krug; a champagne with fairly intense citrus flavors, good acidity and yet a sense of roundness in the mid-palate; nice citrus and minerals finish. Excellent. 94
Flight One – Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet and Criots-Batard-Montrahcet
Dover Sole Involtini With Wild Mushroom Sauce
#1 [2008 Ramonet Bienvenues Batard Montrachet]
Light yellow-gold color aromas of white flowers and green apple; on the palate, bright sappy green apple flavors with a little smokiness on the back; a big minerally finish. I liked this a lot. My rank: 6th. Group Rank: Tied for 3rd, 20 points (2/1/1/0/3) 94
#2 [2008 Jacques Carillon Bienvenues Batard Montrachet]
The color is between light and medium gold; the aromas are light green apple with a fairly remote floral note; concentrated meyer lemon flavors – almost lemon drop candy; good acidity gets more noticeable on the back end and this finishes a bit short. Somewhat odd. The group consensus (8 of 14 tasters) was that this was slightly advanced. I’m not sure whether I agree, but I’m bothered by the short finish. Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 91 – Advanced?
#3 [2008 Colin-Morey Bienvenues Batard Montrachet]
Medium gold color; definite TCA – even detectable by me , so it has to be pretty strong.; on the palate, this had some sour/bitter lemon and a quinine character; lemon rind. Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) DQ-corked
#4 [2008 Leflaive Bienvenues Batard Montrachet]
Just short of medium gold color; aromas of lemon curd; on the palate, this has bright green apple flavors and a simple slightly buttery finish. Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92
#5 [2008 Pernot Bienvenues Batard Montrachet ]
Again just short of medium gold color; finally, honeysuckle aromas – the first classic BBM nose in this flight; on the palate this had light, bright green apple and pear flavors with a nice minerally finish. Group Rank: 10th, 6 points (0/1/0/0/2) 93
#6 [2008 Fontaine-Gagnard Criots Batard Montrachet]
Medium plus gold color; aromas of lemon crème pie; very little fruit on the palate but a good deal of viscosity; buttery finish with just a touch of citrus fruit. The group consensus was that this was advanced. Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 90 - Advanced
#7 [2008 Henri Boillot Criots Batard Montrachet]
Between light and medium gold color; a very bright lemon crème aroma; on the palate the lemon crème pie continues – very rich and still has a sense of lightness; soft acidity impression on the back of the palate; nice finish. Group Rank: Tied for 8th place, 7 points (0/1/0/1/1) 93
#8 [2008 Hubert Lamy Criots Batard Montrachet]
Light plus gold color; light white flowers and green apple aromas; green apple and lemon pastry flavors; modest minerals on the light citrus fruit finish. Group Rank: 6th place, 11 points (1/0/0/3/0) 93
Flight Two – Batard Montrachet
Pan Seared Scallops “In Porchetta” Wrapped In Pancetta, White Wine Sauce
#9 [2008 Leflaive Batard Montrachet]
Medium gold color; aromas of pears and white flowers; light, brilliant, highly structured wine – a bit of ying and yang at first because of a lot of acidity in the finish. Seemed to settle down nicely on the second pass. Very nice. My rank: 7th. Group Rank: Tied for 13th, 3 points (0/0/1/0/0) 94
#10 [Ringer No. 2 – 2008 Ramey Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay]
Color between light and medium gold; sweet botrytis–like apricot notes in the aromas with a smoky/almost burnt oak top note; sweet pears and a viscous finish. Definitely at least advanced, if not more. Four of the 14 of us, myself included, thought this was advanced. Group Rank: 7th place, 9 points (1/1/0/0/0) 88-Advanced
#11 [2008 Sauzet Batard Montrachet ]
Almost medium gold color; light white flowers and pear aromas; a clean, but minimalist impression on the palate; nice bright citrus and minerals finish which is by far the best feature. Group Rank: Tied for 15th place, 2 points (0/0/0/1/0) 92
#12 [2008 Henri Boillot Batard Montrachet]
Fairly light gold color; beautiful lemon-lime citrus aromas; lemony citrus and pear flavors, bright almost distinct layers; a little disjointed, not quite there yet. Another year or so should help. Group Rank: Tied for 15th place, 2 points (0/0/0/1/0) 91+
#13 [2008 Ramonet Batard Montrachet]
Between light and medium gold color; some green apple aromas but marred by a really odd chemical aroma; the aroma just keeps getting worse – this really ruined the wine for me. A couple of people labeled this advanced but the rest of us agreed that this wine was chemically “off” or “flawed” in a really unacceptable way. Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) DQ – Very Off
#14 [2008 Jean-Marc Boillot Batard Montrachet]
Almost medium gold color; very botrytised, candied peach aromas; very sweet botrytised chardonnay with prickly pear acidity; a bit disjointed.
Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 86
#15 [2008 Pernot Batard Montrachet ]
Between light and medium gold color; sweet tropical fruit aromas; some light citrus and tropical fruit flavors with very good acidity and a bright citrus and minerals finish. Some prospect for improvement here. A few people commented this might be the ringer. Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92+
#16 [2008 Vincent Girardin Batard Montrachet]
Between light and medium gold color; green apple aromas but marred by a high degree of oak toast – reminds me of one of the old-style excessively oaky Girardins; on the palate, this bright citrus fruit but with bitter lemon rind element. A couple of people thought the aromas were from reduction, but I don’t. It’s high toast oak and it really ruins the wine for me. Others said that they thought that excessively toasted./singed oak aroma was a chemical rather than wood. The group consensus on this wine was that it was chemically off and/or excessively oaky. Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 85 – OFF
Flight Three: Chevalier Montrachet I
Risotto With Prawns And Maine Lobster
#17 [2008 Sauzet Chevalier Montrachet ]
Color between light and medium gold; aromas of lime and tropical fruit; nice citrus fruit but a bit bitter on the finish. I suspect this could improve, but I’m not sure. Group Rank: 12th place, 4 points (0/1/0/0/0) 92+?
#18 [2008 Jacques Preiur Chevalier Montrachet]
Medium gold plus color; ripe botrytised fruit aromas – peach/apricot; bright citrus and botrytised fruit flavors; no mistaking this has high acidity. Like a mix of almost underripe and heavily botrytised fruit. Not my style at all for Chevy. Group Rank: 13th place, 3 points (0/0/1/0/0) 88?
#19 [2008 Bouchard Chevalier Montrachet Cabotte]
Between light and medium gold color; very sweet lemon-lime aromas which I thought may have a bit of botrytis; very sweet tropical fruit flavors and buttery texture. Far more like Batard than Chevy. Group Rank: 18th place, 1 point (0/0/0/0/1) 92
#20 [2008 Niellon Chevalier Montrachet]
Medium gold color; light lemon, almost lemon butter aromas; tart, lemony fruit with some texture and a nice, lightly minerally finish. Group Rank: Tied for 15th place, 2 points (0/0/0/1/0) 93
#21 [2008 Girardin Chevalier Montrachet]
Between light and medium gold color; light green apple and sweet lime citrus aromas; concentrated green apple/key lime flavors with a milk fat/lactic component; intense lemon-lime citrus flavors on the finish are long and really elegant. Impressive. My No. 3 wine of the night. Group Rank: Tied for 8th place, 7 points (0/0/2/0/1) 95
Flight Four – Chevalier Montrachet II
Grilled Veal Chop With Sage And Parmigiano Fonduta
Served With Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, Haricots Verts, Carrots
#22 [Ringer #3-2008 Bouard-Bonnefoy Chassagne Montrachet “En Remilly” 1er]
Deep gold color – obviously advanced; apricot aromas; lemon and apple cider flavors. Notably advanced wine. The group consensus was that this wine was advanced. Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 87-Advanced
[Note: Two nights before the dinner I had another bottle of this which was exceptional. The color was medium gold; the aromas were green apple and lemon citrus; the flavors were concentrated lemon crème and minerals with a long citrus and minerals finish. It had grand cru weight and density. I was really impressed and gave it 94 points. Given the $45 price tag, the next day I called the importer, North Berkeley Imports, and tried to acquire more, only to find out that there isn’t any to be had. I was looking forward to an eye-opening showing for this unknown tiny Chassagne producer, but it didn’t happen. This comes from a 12 acre plot which literally abuts the northwest border of Chevalier Montrachet as the hill sweeps through tiny Chassagne “En Remilly” a premier cru, before continuing into St. Aubin “En Remilly.”]
#23 [Ringer #4-2008 Colin-Deleger Chassagne Montrachet “En Remilly” 1er]
Color between light and medium gold; some simple light lime citrus aromas and flavors which broaden into a more viscous almost citrus-oil flavor; no real finish.
Three tasters thought this was a little advanced. Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 89
Educated ringers: Chassagne Montrachet “En Remilly” a 1er at the northwest edge of Chevalier Montrachet
#24 [2008 Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet]
Deep burnished gold color; very obvious, over the top sherry-like and cornflakes aromas. Absolutely oxidized. There was unanimous agreement that this was oxidized. Group Rank: Tied for 19th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) DQ-Oxidized
#25 [2008 Ramonet Chevalier Montrachet]
Light gold color; aromas of key lime and minerals; concentrated and bright lemon and key lime flavors with ample minerality – a wow wine to be sure; extremely long impressive mineral finish. My No. 2 wine of the night. Group Rank: 1st place, 48 points (3/6/2/1/1) 96
#26 [2008 Jean-Marc Pillot Chevalier Montrachet]
Light to medium gold color; aroma of citrus flowers; brilliant lemon/lime flavors with good minerality and a rising sense of acidity on the back of the palate; lemony finish with good minerality and an almost chalkly/lemon rind element. By the end of the night this was a bit more shut down or clamped on the finish, which I think is a sign this one will age well. My rank: 5th. Group Rank: 5th place, 13 points (0/1/2/1/1) 95|94+
#27 [2008 Bouchard Chevalier Montrachet]
Between light and medium gold color; lemon/lime and light white flowers aromas; lemony fruit with good density and minerality; an impression of great power without weight; bright, sweet lemon-lime finish with nice minerality. My No. 3 wine of the night. Group Rank: Tied for 3rd, 20 points (1/0/2/3/3) 95
#28 [2008 Colin-Morey Chevalier Montrachet]
Light gold color; lemon and white flowers aromas – pretty elegant; bright lemon citrus flavors with some layers and minerality which gave it obvious but subtle structuring; there is fabulous texture on the palate and the finish is incredibly good and quite long. Even some upside here. Wow. My No. 1 wine of the night. Group Rank: 2nd place, 47 points (5/2/3/2/1) 96+
#29 [1984 Fontaine-Gagnard Criots Batard Montrachet]
A bonus wine brought by Walker Strangis just to show us what Fontaine-Gagnard used to produce. Medium full gold color; a rich white nectarine and melon aroma; this had a very viscous mid palate but not much else. Not a memorable vintage, but despite 24 years older than the 2008 version in flight one, this bottle was surprisingly not oxidized! 89
Dessert Course
Sicilian Cannoli With Pistachio And Prickly Pear Sorbet
1976 Schloss Eltz Auslese
Amber color with aromas of honey and waffles; if you can imagine, this tasted like maple syrup with light lemony acidity. 92
Postscript statistics and comments:
Corked - 1/28 - 3.6%
Other Defects - 2/28 - 7.1%
Oxidation - 1/28 - 3.6%
Advanced - 3/28 - 10.7% (4 of 28 (14.3%) by my count)
Oxidized or advanced - 4/28 - 14.3% (or 5/28 (17.9%) by my count)
Technically Defective in some manner 7/28 25%
Cumulative Group Box Score for Nights one and Two:
Corked -1 of 57 - 1.8%
Other Defects -2 of 57 - 3.5%
Advanced: 8 of 57 14.0% (9 of 57 (15.8%) by my count)
Oxidized - 1 of 57 - 1.8%
Either advanced or oxidized - 9 of 57 - 15.8% (10 of 57 (17.5%) by my count)
Technically defective in some manner - 12 of 57 - 21.1%
From Left to Right: Ron Greene, David Ramey (Ramey Wine Cellars) and Kirk Calhoun in serious reflection
At the beginning of the dinner, David showed everyone the new DIAM corks which a series of burgundy producers began using with the 2009 vintage and which Ramey began using with their 2013 vintage [corrected, per David Ramey]. David also showed us a block of production cork and six corks cut out of the block. The DIAM 10 corks we looked at were amazingly dense and, unlike conventional cork, are quite difficult to compress much by hand. David said that the DIAM corks have significantly better performance than conventional corks both in terms of measured oxygen transmission rates and from the actual perspective of tasting sample batches of wines sealed with DIAM. Next year we’ll see our first group of DIAM corks in this dinner as the 2009 vintage reaches 7.5 years of age.
Cheers and Jeers
Cheers go to:
• Colin-Morey – We’ve had six wines in the two dinners so far. Five hit it out of the park and one was corked. Colin-Morey is the clear sweepstakes winner for 2008 before the third dinner is even held.
• Henri Boillot – Improvement on the premox front in 2008. Five wines in two dinners and none were advanced or oxidized, though one was a bit too oaky for my palate.
• Ramonet – Mixed performance. Two super wines finished in the top three, but a very badly flawed Batard left me wondering what went wrong and if other bottles are similarly affected.
Jeers go to:
• Leflaive – the flagship Chevalier Montrachet was grossly oxidized for the second year in a row. There have been large numbers of reports of oxidized Leflaives from this year’s attendees and many friends – even more reports than there were for the 2007s. After three absolutely disastrous vintages in a row, it’s time for me to join many of my friends who have abandoned ship on buying Leflaive. Given the extremely high prices from the Domaine for these wines, and the absurdly high prices demanded by Wilson-Daniels for the US import versions, Leflaive is in trouble. I think Leflaive urgently needs to hire a new winemaker or to bring back Pierre Morey to teach someone how to make wines in the same way that Domaine Leflaive wines were produced from 1993 through 2001.
• Fontaine-Gagnard – This domaine demonstrated yet again why it holds the title, along with Jadot, as the “poster child” of premature oxidation. It literally takes a miracle to find a 7+ year old bottle of Fontaine-Gagnard that’s not advanced or oxidized. Buying Fontaine-Gagnard is like burning $100 bills – a completely pointless exercise. I really don’t understand why anyone continues to sell these wines.
• Sauzet – For the second consecutive year a lackluster performance by Sauzet. The big price increases for the Sauzet grand crus in the last two years just don’t make any sense from a performance context.
Paul Sherman readying the hundreds of stems before the dinner
Next Event: Night Three – “Mostly Montrachet” at Melisse Restaurant on March 8, 2016