2002 Corton “Bressandes” - Chandon de Briailles
Absolutely no hint of sediment (big time filtering?).
Mature light red with onion skin at edge.
Fine nose of spice, over ripe strawberries and tomato.
Elegant, but simple, spicy cranberry fruit with a decent, slightly firm finish.
Good not great.
[89 pts]
A good enough wine, but a disappointment considering the appellation and vintage.
Another in a series of average/below average wines from this producer.
TTT
Any experience with the ‘07?
‘93 is drinking great.
Not with the 2007 Corton “Bressandes”
But their other flagship 2007 “Ile de Vergelesses” was yet another major disappointment…
Really don’t see what people see in this producer ![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}
TTT
I keep on telling my friends to avoid any Chandon de Brialiles.
There are many of his wine here in Quebec and Ontario. Buy similar wines from other producer for example : Rapet Peres et Fils.
I’ve sampled maybe 20 examples over the years.
Except for the 2006 Corton “Clos du Roi” (which was GREAT), all the rest have been average or worse.
My money goes towards other producers…
There’s three available at K&L for $100 each.
Wish it was around $75 which would tempt me.
TTT
Very little in Burgundy is static. And Chandon de Briailles has evolved a lot. In the 80s and 90s, my understanding is that wines for export markets were often subjected to serious filtration, and they were not infrequently quite marked by stems—at least, that’s what I’m told: in Europe, I have had great luck with vintages such as 1990. Today, the wines aren’t filtered. There is no pumping in the cellar — the fermenting wine is drained into a sump, which is then lifted up by forklift to do “pump overs” by gravity. The viticulture is uncompromisingly biodynamic.
That’s all to say that while style of today’s wines may not be to your taste, rejecting them on the basis of 15-year-old vintages would be a mistake. Just as blindly following domaines that were great fifteen years ago would be a mistake. All conclusions are provisional.
Maybe there’s a problem with semantics here, but in this day and age, if you’ve found a burgundy for $100 [and a GC no less], which rocks your boat, then you’re damned fool not to back up the truck.
2006 Chandon des Brailles Corton Grand Cru ''Clos du Roi'' - SKU 1350187
The economy just expanded at 4.1% last quarter.
Unless the Zombie Apocalypse is lurking right around the corner, you’re never again gonna see $100 GCs which are “GREAT”.
Hadn’t these changes happened by 2002? I know I have had wines from the early 2000s from them that were quite good. I am a fan of the domaine, but these are very structured wines and IMHO not for everyone.
I brought the 2006 Chandon de Briailles Corton “Bressandes” to a dinner recently with some very experienced Burgundy palates, and it was one of the star wines of the evening. Great purity. Among my circles of wine friends, this producer is highly regarded and the comments to the contrary in this thread are surprising.
I believe the pump over change happened more recently.
I’m planning a little article on the estate, so I will find that out definitely some time soon. Found a 1959 Iles de Vergelesses recently which may be the nucleus for a vertical.
The ‘05 version is excellent.
Perhaps this “damn fool” already backed up the truck.
And for far less money, Turkey!
TTT
I last tasted at CdB two years ago. The style of the wines did not seem markedly different from the style in the early 2000s. I am interested to see if you feel differently.
As I said earlier, I am a fan of the estate. But the wines are not easy wines. They are more structured, nuanced wines that need age. Most people like fruit forward wines that are easy to drink. These wines, IMHO, are not for most people. They are more for Burgundy freaks rather than people who like opulent California Chardonnays or even more fruit forward Burgundies. Do you think differently?
IIRC they started moving to organic farming in the 1990s and to biodynamic in the 2000s.
While I like the producer very much I’ll just add two other observations.
After 40+ years of pounding every sort of Burgundy imaginable, including stems included, lean/acidic, perfectly balanced and super ripe, I’ve come to the conclusion CdB wines, for the most part, are just too devoid of fruit to be anywhere close to balanced.
I’ve sampled from 1990s-2007s and find this to be the case with most of their wines.
There are a few notable exceptions and I don’t think I’ve consumed most of the wines too young.
I do respect some of the tasters who actually like them, but I just don’t get it…
TTT
Maybe there’s a crack starting to open. In the last 3 weeks I’ve tried 2 excellent 2002s courtesy of others: Bertheau CM Charmes and Dujac GC Combottes. Both are very fragrant, especially after about an hour open, of place, but still a tad young and developing on the palate. They were in a good place to try over several hours now.
Two examples alone don’t mean much or create a trend, but I would think this is not a bad time to start trying village wines and thinking about dipping into Premier Crus. No hurry though.
That’s funny, my experiences in recent years have been quite to the contrary. An '02 Les Caillerets I brought to dinner with Merrill Lundquist when she was in town in May had New World-like fruit – more fruit than I really wanted. And an '09 Les Vergelles two years ago was also very fruity, though that might be attributable to the vintage (notes posted here). I called it very “primary.”
The only one I’ve had that seemed underfruited to me was an '07 Iles des Vergelles three years or so ago. I posted notes and Martin Steinley was so sure I’d just drunk it too young, that he kindly sent me a replacement bottle to try in a few years.
My experience has been more like Paul’s and Howard’s, though it mainly consists in Savigny from the late '00’s (though not '09). Neither an '07, an '08 or an '11 wanted to “make nice,” so I have given the remaining ones a rest. On the other hand, a '95 Corton de Bressandes out of magnum, though also not ready, breathed up with air and prove pretty with decent typicity (though not as much as the '96 Genot Le Boulanger Corton Les Combes that was served beside it).
My impression after speaking with Claude and then visiting last year, is that this is a producer where something is always going on. A refinement, a change, an experimental barrel or two, a plan for an adjustment in the future. For example, Claude recently got a new wine press that she is excited about. That is a significant change.
As William Kelley suggested, this is a producer where what is happening today is worth tracking, because there has been an evolution.
I can tell you that there is a palpable energy in the cellar today, and I expect good things to come of it. Also, Claude is a careful taster and has a keen mind.