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2015 Domaine Pierre Guillemot Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. This was one of the standouts of the wines tonight; I thought it was very restrained, but with a delicious and enticing red-fruited crunchiness that I just love in young Burgundy. Granted, as the night wore on, this didn’t seem to have as much stamina as the other wines, but this was the wine that had the most elegance and beauty. (93 pts.) -
2015 Ernest Meurgey-Perron Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. Bottled under screwcap. At the end of the day, a bit of a nondescript wine, with not much going for it. It’s easy and simple, sure, but there’s not much beyond that. All that said, there’s also nothing particularly offensive about this wine either. There’s a bit of a darker profile here, and some earthy notes do emerge after a bit of coaxing. (93 pts.) -
2015 Domaine Anne Gros Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. There’s a little bit of orange peel here that evokes for a second Rivers Marie, but that’s really the only thing that seems to be odd about this wine. Otherwise, it’s a very classic, svelte burgundy, with a generous amount of black fruit and a little bit of volatility on the nose for a second. The palate is rich and dense; this is clearly a wine of excellent raw material. (93 pts.) -
2015 Jean-Marie Fourrier Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. You know that hip term “ghosting” that all the cool kids are saying these days? That’s what this wine does. The nose and attack are promising enough, with a red fruit profile (though sweeter and candied in comparison to the Guillemot). But then the palate is just empty and hollow. There’s just a wateriness here, followed by some alcoholic heat. The more young Fourrier I try, the less I like it. (93 pts.) -
2015 Bouchard Aîné et Fils Bourgogne Reserve - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. Will you believe that this “lowly” bottle came in its own original carton? I wouldn’t. But it did. High-toned and again a little anonymous. This doesn’t show as much fruit as some of the other wines, leading to the perception that this is a little bit lean; and the acidity isn’t fleshed out by the ripeness either. (93 pts.) -
2015 Frédéric Magnien Bourgogne Graviers - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. The nose and palate here suffer from a bit of surmaturite, which was the only wine where I found that quality in the lineup tonight. There’s a slight hint of raisin here which is really not that good. The palate shows a little dirty and funky too. (93 pts.) -
2015 Domaine Gille Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Corked. (93- pts.) -
2015 Domaine Denis Bachelet Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. Well, I give up with Bachelet. The wines just don’t taste good to me. Overwrought, full-throttled, with an obnoxiously heavy amount of oak. Extracted and tiring to drink. “But you’re drinking it too young!” comes the inevitable complaint. (93 pts.) -
2015 Domaine Michel Lafarge Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Corked. (93- pts.) -
2015 Domaine Henri Gouges Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. Knowing that the house style has shifted dramatically recently, I at least knew I wasn’t on the look out for a dense tannic beast of a wine. Mostly, this was a simplistic wine, with a bit of cherry candy on the nose. The palate was a bit thin as well, and despite there being acidity, this felt a little heavy and dulled. (93 pts.) -
2015 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. An outstanding wine, and probably the highest-regarded bottle by everyone at the table tonight. This is brilliant – it has the exuberance of youth, as well as a light disposition, but under that there is certainly some serious material. It’s one of the wines tonight which had layers of complexity. A great balance of acidity and fruit, this is just splendid. (93 pts.) -
2015 Maison Leroy Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. This is quite spicy on the nose, and has a much more brooding and darker profile than other wines tonight. It’s fairly extracted, and there’s almost a hint of sweetness from the fruit here. Good heft on the palate, this is no wallflower of a wine. It’s got a bit more tannic structure than some other wines at the table too. (93 pts.) -
2015 Faiveley Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. I was quite insistent that we have some of the big negoce houses in our lineup, as I really wanted to see how they would hold up against some of our favourite domaines. This bottle held its own and then some. Perhaps a bit austere and not as generous as some of the wines with a more easygoing disposition, but this was delicious the way an everything bagel is: it’s got a little bit of everything. (93 pts.) -
2015 Mongeard-Mugneret Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Served single blind. This had a nice dose of spiciness, as well as a crunchy profile that seemed to accentuate the black fruit more than red. There’s a nice touch of earthiness here as well, and the spice seems to lead me a bit to Vosne. While the fruit concentration would make you think this has a heavier profile, the acidity helps keep this from actually feeling heavy. (93 pts.)
Nice notes. The Guillemot is underrated. It comes from vines planted just behind Grand Frais on the outskirts of Beaune, you may have seen them without knowing it.
Really digging the '15 Guillemots. Haven’t yet tried the Bourgogne, but the Serpentieres was fantastic a few weeks ago. Solid 93 pter.
Yes, the Guillemot was a favourite at the table. Since it was the first wine we tasted, we were all thrilled with what was to come, but there were quite a few wines that were downhill from there. I had the 2015 Narbantons late last year at a large retail tasting and found it to be one of the best wines that evening.
As far as the top Savigny producers go, I think I prefer Guillemot’s prettier, lighter style to that of Bize or Pavelot.
Well now I know our palates are almost 180 degrees out of sync, as I love Fourrier and Bachelet.
Agreed there. I like Pavelot, but I’ve found the wines inconsistent. I also tend to like both Bize and Pavelot most at the 1er cru level, but their village/bourgognes are underwhelming. Guillemot OTOH seems to nail it at each level. Have a bottle of his '15 Savigny VV on deck for this weekend (that, or a '13 Gouges Nuits.)
Would have been interesting to see your thoughts on the Marc Soyard.
Hudelot and Leroy are amongst my favorite BR’s. Never had the Guillemot.
Amusingly, the family purchased their plot in Narbantons to give themselves an access route to their parcel of Jarrons on the slope above! Old Pierre Guillemot was skeptical about its potential for producing first-rate vines, based on what he had tasted from other growers at the time, but was soon convinced when he tried his own renditions.
My favorite bottling in the cellar is usually the Serpentières, which shows a slightly more ‘sun kissed’ profile in its youth but ages tremendously. Over the last couple of years, I’ve had the 1947, 1961, 1996 and 1999: all really excellent.
That’s a great story, William. Guillemot is a domaine where the Bourgogne Rouge is a representative introduction to the wines of the domaine - red-fruited and lissome. It remains quite a bargain, as well. Serpentieres seems like the best candidate for long aging as William suggests, as it generally seems to have the firmest structure (acids and tannins) among the 1er crus, although I understand that the recently acquired Guillemot parcel in Gravains is prime such that when the vines are more mature it may compete with Serpentieres as the long-distance runner. Narbantons is, for me, the most charming among the Guillemot 1er crus, willowy as all of them are, but supple and round.
I see that a poster on the wine disorder site was complaining about Guillemot machine harvesting. I understand, however, that the domaine has turned much more to hand harvesting, and that Pierre’s two grandsons who are now for the most part in charge have been taking the domaine organic/biodynamic.
Unfortunately, Guillemot was devastated by frost in 2016 with production down to just 20% of normal, and I understand that after the frost they were compelled to remove their oldest vines in Grands Picotins.
Disclaimer: I sell Guillemot.
Yeah, I was part of that thread and was caught off guard. Would not have suspected, but I’ve only recently returned to these wines after a decade or so hiatus. Are you certain about the change in direction?
There hasn’t been any change. I spent several hours discussing this with Vincent Guillemot and observing the machine, will try to report tomorrow.
How does a corked wine get 93pts?
Adrian, you remind me of Phil Hendrie, who for many years did a brilliant radio show here in LA. He played the host, as well as all of his made up ‘guest’ characters who would call in with their story or problem, and then off we all went on that marvelous journey of satire that nearly all of the audience was in on, except for a handful of real callers who didn’t understand it was all made up. Night after night, for what was many years, this same shtick that always was satire, but inside of it was Hendrie’s truth and social comment on various parts of society and culture. Hendrie was brilliant, that show was pure gold. This is how I stumbled onto the Fallatacular name, from one of his characters named Bobbie Dooley.
Bob, everything Adrian scores is 93 pts. If you want to see the real scores, you’ll need to click into Cellartracker.
From what I understand, machine harvesting started in 2003, is that your understanding?
William, I look forward to hearing what you know. When I raised the issue with Kermit’s people, I received the information reported above. Although, I understand that Kermit’s perspective is more along the lines of: “Do you like the wine? That’s what matters.” I’d be interested to hear what you know of their vineyard practices also, as when I last visited several years ago I had understood Vincent, who I believe was then in viticultural/enology school, to explain what I reported above.
So, as I recall the story goes like this. The Guillemots did trials with machine harvesting in 1999. Kermit was all set to drop them, but they invited him to test the results. He preferred the machine harvested wine (and so did I when I tried them almost two decades later). In some vintages, such as 2016, they have returned to hand harvesting across the board, as they had too few grapes; and they pick by hand any fruit they wish to ferment whole cluster, obviously.
While I am intuitively opposed to machine harvesting, Vincent made a persuasive case that, by working with the latest technology and calibrating the equipment afresh before harvesting each parcel, they can get a very good result which surpasses poor quality hand harvesting. Inspecting the vines after the harvest, fruit that was unripe or rotten did indeed seem to have been left on the vine. And he argued that in fact, by being able to harvest exactly when they want to, machine harvesting represents the opposite of a compromise for them.
Now, in an ideal world one would have a picking team like DRC or Leroy, but for a domaine that sells its Serpentières for 26.50 EUR including tax, machine harvesting may be a good solution. What’s more, the wines continue to perform very well in tastings and to age very well. I was impressed by Vincent’s candor, too, as I suspect there are plenty of growers who machine harvest at least some of their lesser appellations and (understandably) simple don’t mention it.
Thank you, William. This jibes to a great degree with what I have been told, i.e., they machine harvest due to the difficulty of getting pickers when they need them but, in the recent short vintages, they have moved to a good deal of hand harvesting. Given the prices and results, I expect that most of us are willing to accept machine harvesting.
Fascinating. Over time, everything changes.
Fabulous and well priced wine. Got it for $30. For me, of the less expensive 2015 reds I have had so far (different I know from Bourgogne AC and I have not had a number of the wines you listed), my favorites have been this one and a Domaine Dublère Chorey-les-Beaune La Maladerotte