Champagne
2002 Krug
Made in a fresher and non-oxidative style – a departure from older style Krug. It had amazing persistence on the palate and the finish lingers on and on. Really loved this Champagne.
White wines
2007 Raveneau Valmur
2007 Dauvissat le Clos
Both were amazing wines drinking so well. The group unanimously preferred the Dauvissat as it was more intense and engaging. Amazing mouthfeel. It had razor like sharpness. The Raveneau whilst very good, was a bit richer, bit broad and a tad diffuse in comparison to Dauvissat. On its own it would have shone more brilliantly.
Red Wines Bracket #1
2007 Mugneret-Gibourg Echezeaux 2
2007 Hudelot-Noellat Romanee St Vivant 1
2007 Dujac Bonnes Mares 3
2007 Folllin-Arbelet Romanee St Vivant 5
2007 Mongeard Mugneret Richebourg 4
There was not much separating Mugneret-Gibourg Echezeaux and Hudelot-Noellat Romanee St Vivant in terms of quality. The Hudelot-Noellat was an outstanding wine and by consensus the top wine. Both the wines showed extreme finesse. They lean to more red fruit and have a medium body but great aromatics and persistence on the palate. The Dujac Bonnes Mares was controversial. It was quite backward and needed almost 30 minutes in the glass to open up a bit. Initially looked a bit lean there was perhaps just a tiny green streak running through it but then opened up to reveal glimpse of the fruit lurking underneath. Also it showed more stemmy character at the moment which most believed would resolve with ageing. It was the most difficult wine to judge and its ranking was based more on future potential (3rd by the group) than on its current drinking status (5th by me personally). Mongeard Mugneret Richebourg was a nice wine too. It was very pretty wine with great balance. Very attractive and a really lovely wine. The Folllin-Arbelet Romanee St Vivant again showed a fair bit of stems but there was enough nice ripe fruit. There was some licorice on the palate. It had few attractive features but was a bit out classed by the others.
Red Wines Bracket #2
2007 Rousseau Clos des Ruchottes 2
2007 Rousseau Clos de Beze 1
2007 Marchand Griotte Chambertin 5
2007 Rousseau Clos de La Roche 4
2007 Rousseau Chambertin 3
All Rousseau wines looked great. Rousseau created a fabulous set of wines in 2007. I have tasted them quite a few times so far and they have always looked beautiful. So this showing was no surprise. They are extremely appealing and although one may argue that they many have the ageing potential of the best vintages they are so open and seductive now that for current drinking they are the best vintage. However, amongst the line up, Clos de Beze was a standout for its depth, complexity and beguiling charm. On the day Clos de Beze appeared to be the most complete wine. Unanimous WOTN. The Chambertin appeared to be the most backward and reticent to open up but one could easily see the coiled up intensity and the potential. It was stylistic difference that separated the ranking rather than quality of the Rousseau wines. Marchand looked like an outlier in the group of sophisticated wine a was a distant 5th. Initially showed a little bit of reduction. There appeared to lot of structure but less fruit to clad it.
Very nice lineup. I’m a big fan of 07 both red and white.
The 07 Dujac Bonnes Mares is the most backward and closed of their 07 lineup. It is not an early drinking 07. 2 years ago it felt like it needed another 15 years to open. Sounds like nothing has changed.
It’s too bad you didn’t have the Echezeaux instead. I think that’s the star in 07 Dujac. Amazingly open from day 1 and hasn’t shut down each time we’ve tried it.
I cannot recall whether I have tasted the 2007 Dujac Echezeaux previously but I had tasted the 2007 Dujac Bonnes Mares at release in 2010. It was a big tasting event where we tasted many white and red Burgundies from 2007. At that time I loved the 2007 Bonnes Mares. My Brief impressions back then- Big Fuller style. Intense and lots of depth +++. Super length. Must have looked expressive back then as I did not make any comments of it being closed. I also did not make note of stems/stalks etc.
That is correct. Hugely impressed by them.
I had tasted the 2007 Raveneau Valmur at release at the same tasting I mentioned in post above. But it must not have made any significant impression on me back then looking at my scribble.
Back then Rousseau were expensive but not as prohibitively priced as now. Prices went up significantly with 2005 vintage. But 2007 and 2008 were less hyped and saw the price slide down as wholesalers and retailers were not price gouging to the same extent as 2005 or 2006. And there were plenty of wines freely available.
Cracking dinner Sanjay. I was never that excited about 07s early but they do seem to deliver much pleasure. I have a few of those and now am quite keen to bust the odd one!
So I bought a 07 Clos du Tart on a whim some years back. Any of you mavens have a view as to when it might be at its optimum? I’m not in a terrible hurry but by rep 2007 seems to be an “early charm” vintage.
Edit: having just checked what the thing sells for these days, maybe I should trade it! Holy crap! I musta gotten a deal
Still not a fan of '07 despite much recent positive spin, many wines are very one dimensional, somewhat thin, and just overall pretty average in terms of pure quality as a vintage IMHO.
Many blind wines and other tastings from my (extensive) '07 holdings has shown to me that this is still exactly how I feel, but this does now seem to be against the popular group think now.
However IMHO I still feel this is one of (if not the) weakest vintages on the last 15 years…
Put up (blind) a number of lineups of (most) serious producers GC’s from '05 to say say '15 and I bet the '07’s are the weakest.
Although I didn’t buy much, this has been my take as well. Even though they have been drinkable and pleasant early, I’ve found them rather simple. My other take is that I think they will still follow a more normal burgundy aging curve, so despite sampling a few early, i’m waiting until 12-15 years of age, where I think they may be a little more interesting to me.
I would say it is a ‘crowd pleaser’ of a vintage. Perhaps that may not sit well with a true Burgundy aficionado. It may not have the intensity of 2009, structure and depth of 2005 or the razor sharp acidity of 2008 but it almost always gives pleasure. There are many times we attend tastings where despite age, we taste only ‘potential’ and we make a comment to open another bottle in 5 to 10 years to ‘enjoy’ it then. In 2007 there being not much hidden potential you tend to get it all up front and now. After the high prices of 2005 and 2006, the 2007 and 2008 vintages were priced more reasonably and were easily available. So when you factor in the cost of this ‘off vintage’ to other recent vintages, it comes up in the front.
At the grand tasting at La Paulee for the 2007 vintage this was my impression of the entire roomful of wines except for the profound 07 Roumier Bonnes Mares tasted right after unimpressive Dujacs. However, tasted on their own some 2007’s have been quite happy and satisfying, especially the lower end Rousseau’s I’ve tried. It’s a vintage of delightful rich red fruit.
Hudelot is recently making very special RSV’s.
I’m a fan of 07s at the moment and think Sanjay has hit the nail on the head - most of these wines are at peak or pretty close to it whereas other vintages close in age with greater potential are not yet ready. I’d generally prefer to drink an 07 today vs an 08 of the same producer despite the fact that I think the 08s will ultimately turn out better.
I never find myself disagreeing with you, but I sure do on this one. The 2007 whites are unquestionably my favorite white burgundy vintage since 1985 and the 2007 Chablis which I once thought were mediocre to bad and are now really good.
On the reds, perhaps you’ve had more bottles recently than I have but I have to say I’ve been extremely pleased with the wines that I bought that I’ve recently opened, including 2007 Bouchard Chambertin Clos de Beze and Bonnes Mares (incredibly good wine!), Le Moine Romanee St. Vivant, Richebourg and Clos de Beze, and Rousseau Clos de Ruchottes. Those have all shown much better than ANY 2000 grand cru I drank at the same age. Those have all shown well enough to make the prospect of bringing home some other 2007 grand cru reds something to look forward to.
I am assuming you are discussing reds. I would be really surprised if you are including whites.
It is hard discussing vintages instead of wines, but I have had a number of really good 2007s. One high point to me of the vintage is Volnay, where I have had wonderful wines from producers like Lafon, d’Angerville, Pousse d’Or and Bouchard. A few other wineries where I have really enjoyed 2007s include Jadot, Rossignol-Trapet, Cecile Tremblay and Jouan.
Comparing to other vintages, certainly the period of 2005-2015 has been a great one, with no weak vintages. Probably my least favorite has been 2011. But, I think better 2007s are in a class with 2006, 2008 and 2013. Some are more successful than some 2009s, where in my experience some are really good and others are not sufficiently fresh. But, this period is very strong with super vintages like 2005, 2010 and 2015, and vintages of a style I really like like 2014. I do not that you initially said 15 years than changed to start at 2005 because 2007 is clearly a much better vintage than the disaster of 2004 and in many cases produced better wines than the hit or miss 2003s.
But, wines from 2007 are a lot cheaper than wines from those vintages and the better ones have consistently been good values. In many cases, a 2007 Volnay premier cru would be priced like a 2005 Savigny les Beaune village wine. In many cases, the 2007 is a better buy.
Finally, 2007 is a great vintage to seek out in a restaurant as it probably is (along with 2006) the best vintage in the period of 2005 to 2015 for drinking NOW. For example, on trips to Burgundy I have really sought out 2007s on restaurant wine lists (at home, I mostly BYO and don’t care what is on wine lists). While 2005 is probably a better vintage than 2007, not for drinking now. If you have a cellar full of 1978s and 1985s, maybe you can skip vintages like 2000 and 2007, but I like having wines from 2000 and 2007 that actually are drinkable at a young age. I continue to hope that someday 2005s will reach their potential and reward us for patience, but if I am opening a bottle for tonight, I am much more likely to open a 2007 than a 2005.
I decided to open a 2007 Rousseau Gevrey Clos St. Jacques last night. It was very impressive – yes, it is somewhat lighter in style than other vintages – but it was elegant and superb. Very complex aromas, with lovely brown and red spice tones over Gevrey earth and a bit of ripe strawberry/cherry in the background. The palate was similarly complex and the finish was quite long with some lingering fruit and spice.
Sorry, Paul, but I’d be happy to drink wines like this or the Bouchard and Le Moine wines listed above any time.
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