A little help? Is my Boillot Mouchere poxed or not?

I recently picked up a few bottles of the 2012 H. Boillot Puligny Montrachet, Clos de la Mouchere based on all the raves on this board about this producer and vineyard. I’ve never had it before and last night I opened up my first bottle.

At first pour, I became a bit worried. Gee, this looks awfully brassy/golden for a 6-year-old wine. Thankfully, the nose didn’t give off the tell-tale bruised fruit/apple juice notes that I associate with premox.

The wine is full on the palate – with rich white fruits wrapped around a sheen of honey. There are also nutty notes. The finish is long with some oak notes still prevalent, but an undercurrent of acidity keeps everything in check. The second glass, with more air, has a sneaky persistence that I like.

Bottom line – this really wasn’t what I expected. I thought the wine would be tighter and a bit more coiled and chiseled. The honey/almond notes make me think of Meursault rather than PM.

Which led me to think that this particular bottle is more advanced than it should be. Not unenjoyable but somehow not right.

I have to admit that my head is all twisted around now about premox. I know when a wine is dead, but I still struggle with determining if a wine is truly advanced or if it’s just on its natural aging curve based on the vintage, producer style, etc. I’ve been scared off drinking a lot of white burg, I guess, to make definitive judgments. I just don’t have the expertise.
So I’m enclosing a few photos I took last night. (Not as snazzy as Mr. Buzzini’s set dressing, I know!)

I’d appreciate people’s educated guess – unnaturally advanced or not?

Wow. . . that color is pretty “golden” for 2012 from my experience. The 2008 I recently opened a week ago is about the same color. I’ve had good, young bottles of Clos de la Mouchere that are much lighter in color. The honey and nutty notes are also not what I was expecting - for me, I’ve always associated the Clos de la Mouchere as more fresh white fruits, peaches, golden pears, and the likes.

Curious what other experienced tasters say.

I think this is just representative of the 2012 vintage, which I find to display a lot more rich and honeyed wines across the board, not just Boillot. I’m actually not particularly fond of the vintage.

What Alan said…in fact I was in the middle of saying/typing something along those lines.

looks/sounds advanced to me

FWIW:

94 points Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar
Outstanding lift to the aromas of lime and crushed stone. Silky, smooth and magically light on its feet, displaying outstanding energy and cut to its lemon, lime and spicy oak flavors. This tastes like it’s from another vintage than the Combettes. The bracing, extremely long finish hints at huge dry extract without coming across as phenolic or dry. The crop level here was just 25 hectoliters per hectare, according to Boillot. (ST) (9/2014)

93 points Allen Meadows - Burghound
Sweet Spot, Outstanding The nose is markedly reduced and I would strongly suggest decanting this if you’re tempted to try a bottle young. The intensely mineral-driven middle weight plus flavors possess outstanding mid-palate concentration with an abundance of palate coating dry extract, all wrapped in a wonderfully vibrant and highly persistent finish. I very much like the balance as this is a big yet stylish effort that should amply repay medium-term cellaring. (6/2014)

I opened a 2004 recently which was totally oxidized an the color was exactly like your bottle.

I’d be reluctant to call premox based on color without any sherry/etc character to the wine.

I know nothing about this topic, but I assume a wine can be on its way to becoming “completely” pox’d. Is that a fair assumption?

Sounds just like 12 white burg to me

The Meursault discriptor is consistent with '12 Mouchere in my limited (twice) experience drinking it.

here is a photo i found via image search of a bottle supposedly consumed 3 months ago:

+1

Thanks for input from the team. And nice detective work Mr. Ristev!

I have two more bottles. I suppose I will open them sooner than later. Hopefully, there will be a little less of the butterscotch.

Lol. The same thing happened to me recently with an older white burg that I had never tried before. In the end it was delicious but I couldnt decide if it was more advanced than it should be or not. I was happy with delicious. The more Moucheres you drink the more of an idea of what should be representative youll get. I havent had the 12 yet, but I wouldnt even hazard a guess from what you experienced because of the vintage. Id be happy it was good

Advanced. Not yet premoxed. H Boillot is a premox offender.

Color ,August 2016
wine was easy sweet at the end,but the color was not really advanced.

+1. But I still buy Moucheres yearly.