2010 White Burgundy Vintage Assessment Dinners – Night One – Feb 7, 2018 at Valentino

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. As we usually do, we attempted to include all of the top examples from each appellation. The one difference this year is that I’m very late in getting the notes posted about the dinners.

This was our thirteenth consecutive year of holding these dinners and this year the vintage was 2010. For the 2010 vintage, we were back to our usual three night format.

On Wednesday February 7, 2018, fourteen of us gathered in the Gold Room at Valentino to taste thirty-two wines from Chablis, Meursault and Corton Charlemagne (four flights of eight wines each). All of the wines were served single blind and all of the voting takes place completely blind (with individual written ballots) with the attendees ranking their top five wines by bottle number.

We needed 448 stems for the burgundies – and there aren’t many restaurants that can manage that. Valentino’s wine director, Paul Sherman, handled everything flawlessly as usual. The dinners at Valentino were planned by Giuseppe Mollica, Valentino’s director of special events, and the service was top notch as always.

The Gold Room at Valentino Before the Event – It takes stems in overwhelming numbers

Giuseppe Mollica [L] and Paul Sherman [R]

Valentino, which is owned by Pierro Selvaggio, has been one of Los Angeles’ premier Italian restaurants for several decades. It has been well known for its Wine Spectator Grand Award winning wine cellar as well as its Italian regional and Sicilian cuisine. Unfortunately, Valentino recently announced that they will close at the end of the year, so this years’ dinners will be the last for us at Valentino. I’m sad they’re closing. It’s been a favorite of mine for a long time.

The wines and food courses are set forth below.

CHAMPAGNE and APPETIZERS
Branzino & Enoki Mushroom Rolls, Frico, Grilled Pizza, Eggplant Cotoletta, Calamaretti Fritti

2002 Philipponat Clos de Goisses
Between light and medium gold; very round sweet citrust aromas and a touch of toast – really nice but not ultra-dry style; very nice, rounded citrus flavors with just a hint of toastiness like the best Krugs 94

FLIGHT ONE – CHABLIS

Warm King Crab Salad With Cannellini Beans And Citrus Essence

1 [2010 Fevre Chablis Preuses]
Light to medium gold color; citrus peel aromas; steely, this has the green fruit flavor that I associate with Preuses; light oyster shell minerality on the finish. Group Rank: Tied for 12th , 5 points (1/0/0/0/0) 94

2 [2010 Dauvissat Chablis Preuses]
Just short of medium gold color; showing some oak, and otherwise not that much aroma at first; light lemony fruit but much more texture. The texture and depth are pretty nice. This got a little more toasty over time but showed a little more depth of the lemony fruit. Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last) , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 94|92

3 [2010 Raveneau Chablis Valmur]
Between light and medium gold color; aromas of oyster shell and leechee fruit; a very viscous, elegant wine with some minerals on the finish. Group Rank: Tied for 20th, 1 point (0/0/0/0/1) 93

4 [2010 Fevre Chablis Clos]
Light to medium gold; light floral, lemon oil and oyster shell aromas; bright citrus, but almost buttery texture and very elegant and long on the palate. My favorite of the first flight by a narrow margin over #6. Group Rank: 10th , 8 points (0/1/0/1/2) 94+

5 [2010 Dauvissat Chablis Clos]
Medium gold color; citrus and oyster shell aromas; very viscous, only okay acidity, much less interesting than the first four wines. A few people liked this more than I did. Group Rank: Tied for 12th, 5 points (0/0/0/2/1) 92

6 [2010 Raveneau Chablis Clos]
Almost medium gold; aromas of oyster shell and fresh lime; minerally Chablis flavors but on the sweeter side with lemon-lime background; a very opulent wine. Five of thirteen votes for best in flight. Group Rank: 3rd, 20 points (2/1/2/0/0) 94

7 [2010 Raveneau Montee Du Tonnerre]
Light gold color; light floral and citrus aromas; elegant, good minerality; this is lighter in texture, but quite long with just a touch of youthful bitterness at the end. Group Rank: 15th, 4 points (0/1/0/0//0) 93+

8 [2010 Raveneau Blanchots]
Between light and medium gold; very light green apple aroma with some minerality; very bright flavors and a nice finish. Group Rank: 16th, 3 points (0/0/1/0//0) 93

FLIGHT TWO – MEURSAULT 1er

Linguine With Sea Scallops Ragu

9 [2010 Bouchard Meursault Perrieres [DIAM]]
Light gold color; very little aroma initially, then light citrus; viscous, very concentrated lemony flavors and a spicy finish which is unusual for Meursault. Group Rank: Tied for 16th, 3 points (0/0/0/1/1) 92

10 [2010 Girardin Meursault Perrieres]
Almost medium gold color; floral and light citrus aromas; very attractive citrus flavors, medium bodied, nice acidity; a somewhat tropical fruit (pineapple) note on the finish. Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 93

11 [2010 Roulot Meursault 1er (Clos de Boucheres)]
Light yellow color; floral and citrus aromas; very bright, lots of grip here and quite concentrated citrus and some underlying minerals; some youthful acidity in the finish. Pretty young and needs time. Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last) , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 94

12 [2010 H Boillot Meursault Genevrieres]
Medium gold color; some green apple aroma notes and a touch of toast; a fairly fat texture for Meursault and tastes a bit like apple cider; buttery element on the finish; it’s clearly advanced to me but the group consensus was “slightly advanced.” Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last) , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92-Advanced

13 [2010 Latour-Giraud Meursault Genevrieres Cuvee des Pierre]
Between light and medium gold; aromas of menthol and light citrus; bright, lemon pudding flavor, highly concentrated with medium-plus density; pretty powerful wine for Meursault, but I loved it.; very nice citrus and minerals finish; My favorite of this flight and my No. 3 wine of the night. Terrific. Group Rank: 7th, 15 points (0/2/2/0/1) 95

One of my favorite wines of the evening

14 [2010 Lafon Meursault Genevrieres]
Between light and medium gold color; bright citrus and calcium note that’s not quite oyster shell but something akin to it; very bright citrus and a lemon pastry element which comes across as layered; ultimately gives the impression like the previous wine of being very concentrated. Superb stuff. My No. 4 wine of the night. Group Rank: 2nd, 23 points (2/1/1/3/0) 95

15 [2010 Roulot Meursault Charmes]
Between light and medium gold color; this one has oyster shell and lemon oil aromas; viscous, lemon pastry flavors; there are some notable phenols on the back of the palate that sort of dry the finish out a bit. However, I suspect that this may be a potentially great bottle with another two or three years of age. Group Rank: 9th, 11 points (0/1/1/2/0) 94+

16 [2010 Lafon Meursault Charmes]
Between light and medium gold color; aromas of white flowers; concentrated sweet lemon pastry flavors with medium body. This wine also has a lots of phenols on the finish – even more than #15, and the phenols have a touch of bitterness. Could these be from the same winemaker? Seems to have an upside but less clear than #15. Group Rank: 19th , 2 points (0/0/0/0/2) 92+?

FLIGHT THREE – MEURSAULT PERRIERES

Risotto With Lobster And Mixed Seafood – This stuff tastes incredible. When they serve this the room goes quiet and everyone digs into the Risotto.

17 [2010 Germain Meursault Perrieres]
Between light and medium gold color; sweet citrus and tropical fruit aromas; fairly concentrated but two-dimensional, medium bodied flavors; some elegance here but doesn’t show much minerality or the usual MP markers. A very nice wine, but not a great MP. Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last) , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92

18 [2010 H Boillot Meursault Perrieres]
Medium gold color; tropical fruit, lemon pudding and hint of coconut in the aromas – odd; this is super-concentrated, with Coche Corton density and weight which makes no sense for a Meursault unless something went wrong; some of the tasters are really jazzed about the thickness and the density, but I’m skeptical. After about ninety minutes of air it was like this bottle fell off a cliff, it was still fat and dense, but the flavors were virtually gone and aromas had largely disappeared. A highly controversial wine which some tasters really liked. Group Rank: Tied for 5th, 17 points (2/1/1/0/0) 93|90?

19 [2010 Colin-Morey Meursault Perrieres]
Close to medium gold color; aromas of intense lemon pastry; very viscous texture; highly concentrated lemon pasty, but a bit simple and lots of phenols in the finish again. Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last) , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92

20 [2010 Lafon Meursault Perrieres]
Closer to medium gold, but maybe a shade or two lighter than #19; citrus and minerals aromas – much truer to form than the first three wines; citrus flavors with good intensity but a touch of lemon peel bitterness in the mid-palate; when it rolls over to the finish, there is surprising richness and width on the finish. Group Rank: Tied for 16th , 3 points (0/0/1/0/0) 93+

21 [2010 Vincent Dancer Meursault Perrieres]
Light gold color; beautiful citrus and white flowers aromas; very elegant wine, some key lime flavors, but lighter bodied than the other wines in this flight; it’s lean, but definitely an MP; exquisite minerally finish. My No. 1 wine of the night. Group Rank: 1st, 29 points (4/0/2/1/1) 95

The Group Favorite from Night One

22 [2010 Roulot Meursault Perrieres]
Very light color between yellow and light gold; aromas of white flowers and citrus; bright lemon-lime citrus flavors which are incredibly elegant and nuanced; long minerals and citrus finish. Another wine that really says MP. This was a wonderful wine to compare with #21. My No. 2 wine of the night. Group Rank: 4th, 19 points (0/3/1/2/0) 95

23 [2010 JM Gaunoux Meursault Perrieres]
Medium gold color; blood orange citrus aromas and an almost Riesling-like element in the aromas; powerful citrus flavors with very good acidity and dry but minerally finish. The very different or unusual aromas raise questions. Will this improve with time or go south? [N.B. I had this three times within a year of release and really liked every bottle. I’m wondering whether this bottle is representative as I have several more in my cellar.] Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92+?

24 [2010 Grivault Meursault Clos de Perrieres]
Between light and medium gold color; white flowers and lemon oil aromas; elegant, sweet lemon-lime flavors with some phenols on the finish again. Very nice but not great wine. Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92

FLIGHT FOUR – CORTON CHARLEMAGNE

Pan Roasted Napa Quail With Parmesan Polenta

25 [2010 H. Boillot Corton Charlemagne]
Medium gold color; fresh apricot aromas; lots of richness on the palate, apricot flavors and lots of richness – clearly advanced and soon to be oxidized. Three of the group (me included) thought this was advanced. Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last) , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92-Advanced

26 [2010 Bouchard Corton Charlemagne [DIAM] ]
Light gold color; a mix of green apple and citrus aromas; very concentrated green apple and pineapple fruit, but doesn’t really come across as Corton Charlemagne; okay finish. Group Rank: Tied for 12th , 5 points (1/0/0/0/0) 93

27 [2010 Faiveley Corton Charlemagne]
Fairly deep gold color – pretty alarming; apricot aromas and a hint of toast; rich apricot flavors make no sense in the context of healthy Corton Charlemagne – this isn’t dessert wine. Very obviously advanced. Five members of the group (including me) thought this was advanced. Group Rank: Tied for 20th, 1 points (0/0/0/0/1) 88-Advanced

28 [2010 Javillier Corton Charlemagne [DIAM] ]
Very light gold color; some pear and apple aromas with some floral highlights; bright green apple flavors with some intensity and really great acidity; very nice green apple and minerally finish. My fifth ranked wine of the night. Group Rank: Tied for 5th, 17 points (0/2/1/1/2) 94

29 [2010 Vougeraie Corton Charlemagne]
Between light and medium gold color; lemon oil and citrus aromas; intense, oily, lemon pudding flavors but with a slightly bitter phenol element on the back end; really good acidity here; a bit tight on the finish with some minerals peeking through. This might improve with another year or two of age. [N.B. Pierre Vincent, the winemaker for this wine moved to Leflaive in January 2017] Group Rank: 8th, 13 points (1/1/1/0/1) 93+

]30 [2010 Colin-Morey Corton Charlemagne]
Between light and medium gold; but a little lighter than #29; corked aromas. Group consensus: corked. Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last) , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) DQ-Corked

31 [2010 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne]
Light gold color; lemon oil and almost toasty elements in the aromas; some green apple but really bitter on the mid-palate and finish; Bad news for a 2010 in this group. Group Rank: Tied for 22nd (last) , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 88

32 [2010 Girardin Corton Charlemagne Quintessence]
Between light and medium gold color; green apple and lemon oil aromas; strong lemon oil and almost bitter phenols on the mid-palate; and finish. An impression of power somewhat tempered by the phenolic finish. Group Rank: 11th, 6 points (1/0/0/0/1) 93

DESSERT COURSE

Bis Di Mele Con Salsa Cannella: Apple Torte & Apple Fritters With Cinnamon Crème Anglaise

Our resident photographic expert, Andy Gavin, also makes some fabulous homemade Gelatos. Here’s the one he brought for night one.

1989 Chateau Rieussec

Unfortunately, I got tied up with the administrative details and tabulations and didn’t get to taste this. The wine looked beautiful in the bottle.

My overall impressions on the wines from Night One:

I found the 2010 vintage more uneven and probably less impressive overall than I had expected – at least for the Cote de Beaune wines.

The 2010 Chablis as a group were marvelous. They have prototype Chablis aromas (lots of oyster shell and green fruit) with excellent Chablis minerality/liquid rocks in the finishes. The surprise was that this came with about 50% more depth of fruit than most of the classic Chablis years. This is a vintage in a style that everyone can love – similar to 2002 but with better acidity and abundant minerality. There were lots of smiles over these wines and no one had any doubts, as we sometimes do when tasting Chablis at 7.5 years.

The Meursault wines were very uneven, and in some cases the wines seemed totally atypical and excessively ripe for Meursault. Three or four of the wines had Corton Charlemagne weight and density with none of the normal Meursault aroma or flavor markers. These bottles gave the impression of being too sweet and way too fat for Meursault. Since I’m a classic Meursault lover, I wasn’t pleased. While there were a handful of really stellar Meursaults (e.g. Vincent Dancer MP, Roulot MP, Lafon Genevrieres, Latour-Giraud Genevrieres Cuvee des Pierre, and Roulot Charmes) overall I preferred the flight of 2009 Meursault Perrieres we tasted a year ago, which were exceptional, to the flight of 2010 Meursault Perrieres. That’s certainly not what I would have expected going into the dinner. I subsequently found out from Jean-Marc Roulot that there was definitely botrytis in the 2010 vintage, although this is something that wasn’t discussed in the initial reviews. See my comments below in one of the subsequent posts.

The Corton Charlemagne flight was group’s least favorite flight on night one. Two of the wines were advanced, one was corked and the BDM seemed quite off to me with an excessively bitter phenols finish. Overall this flight of wines didn’t impress me. Some were notably sweet, even for Corton, and the acidity didn’t seem to match the ripeness and sweetness. Only the Javillier seemed to be a classic Corton.

Over the last three flights, the wines were riper and lower in acid than I would have expected at this stage based on the wines I tasted on release.

PREMOX REPORT

The overall level of oxidized and advanced wines is probably a record low for the first night.

Group Consensus DC Notes
Corked 1 of 32 3.1% 1 of 32 3.1%
Advanced: 1 of 32 3.1% 3 of 32 9.4%
Oxidized 0 of 32 0.0% 0 of 32 0.0%
Either 1 of 32 3.1% 3 of 32 9.4%

DIAM Closures - 5 bottles – none corked, advanced or oxidized

PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Gavin Thanks Andy!!

Great to hear that 2010 is showing a record low level of oxidized and advanced wines. Thank you for the superb notes!

Great notes Don , as always . I’ve had better luck with my H Boillot’s , will try them again .
Too bad there was no Coche CC , I think it is the best wine he ever made . ( Meadows agrees , see his latest tasting note ).
The fact that there were no premox wines is hopeful , agree that DIAM is a possible solution .
See you soon …

Herwig:

The Coche Corton was included in the Mostly Montrachet dinner. I’ll have notes on that one soon. It didn’t show as well as you’ve described, but certainly was a nice wine. I’ve had it twice now and I suspect there’s more bottle variation than usual.

It is always an interesting look at the vintage. Thanks, Don, for putting these dinners together.

Wonderful report; thanks.

These are so interesting and helpful. Thank you. I’m particularly interested to follow how the DIAM closures perform over time.

Also, I totally agree re Dancer. His MP is marvelous–the 2014 particularly so. For all the hype re the ascendancy of A. Ente into Roulot et al territory, I will take Dancer every day.

Don,

Thanks for the always interesting data points.

I guess I could wait and find out the answer, but does the lower premoxed and advanced results to prior vintages hold up in the other two tastings. If so, do you think this is vintage related, related to the use of DIAM (although only a few wines seem to be closed with DIAM) or other improved procedures that will improve results for future vintages.

Thanks for any insight.

this tasting made me seek out some Dancer MP.

Valentino is such a great venue, sad that it’s closing doo , after 4 decades. But Pierre will open something more casual in Newport Beach and I look forward to that.

Don does a great job w these dinners; the scope of the planning is immense, the execution faultless. He does a great service to the wine world also, filling us all in on the premox state of a vintage.

Thank you again Don for organizing these events. I loved the Fevres. They were so classic Chablis and the DIAM closures gave it more of a sulfer reductive component that suggests that maybe their premox days or over (knock on DIAM cork).

I was shocked that the PYCM MP did not show better. But that’s why these blind tastings are so valuable.

As for Dancer MP. I’m drinking the 2016 now and it is a bit riper and fatter than one would expect especially considering the vintage. But that’s another topic for another thread.

I’m also very sad to see Valentino shutter. Their seafood risottos will be missed.

Thanks, Don. This is a great service.

I only really play in the Chablis side of this for several reasons. One of my long time favorites, Dauvissat, hasn’t shown very well the last few years of these tastings, if I remember correctly. I’ve generally rationalized this as 7.5 years of age historically being still a closed up awkward stage for the GC wines from this producer. But some of the wines sound as if they are about to become advanced, or off in other ways. Anyone have a take on this?

Better late the never…fantastic as always Don! To bad about Valentino’s closing. Never been there, but I drool every time I see these notes and THAT risotto! I don’t know what I enjoy more…the notes on the wines, or the food pairing? Amazing food pics! [worship.gif]
No ringers?

Hi Howard:

The overall statistics for premox on the 2010s (based on my numbers, which are higher than the group numbers, as they sometimes are) were as follows:

All bottles, oxidized or advanced: 9 of 80 11.25%
Bottles excluding DIAM, oxidized or advanced: 9 of 71 12.68%

Based on the raw numbers, the 2010 vintage had the lowest overall incidence of premox. (And the group consensus on advanced or oxidized was a total of 5 of 80 bottles, or 6.25%, a remarkably low number.) But I think excluding the DIAM closed bottles probably gives you a better measure of performance vs the previous vintages that we’ve tasted (since DIAM starts with the 2009 vintage). At 12.68% the 2010 vintage would essentially tie with the 2004 vintage for lowest overall incidence of being either advanced or oxidized at 7.5 years. The 2004 vintage (12.70%) and 2009 vintage (12.90%) rank second (essentially tied for first) and third.

Obviously, the use of DIAM (and my point of trying to include multiple DIAM-closed bottles in these tastings) has an effect on the overall incidence of premox we encounter. For example, going back to the 2009 results, if you exclude the 9 bottles of DIAM-closed bottles (no issues on any of them), the premox incidence of the rest of the bottles as a group (either advanced or oxidized) was 15.09%.

One of the things I should have mentioned above in my comments was the impact of botrytis. I wasn’t aware of any botrytis issues on the 2010 vintage at the time we held this tasting. Once again, botrytis was not something discussed by the reviewers of the 2010 vintage at the time of their reviews, but it was notable in some appellations such as Meursault and apparently Batard and, I suspect, Corton) and the longer you waited to harvest, the greater the percentage of the crop was affected. Jean-Marc Roulot emailed me after seeing my preliminary results and said that the reason for the heaviness we experienced in the Meursault Perrieres flight was the incidence of botrytis. Roulot, which is always one of the earliest harvesters, had 5% to 10% incidence of botrytis on their Meursaults. I confirmed the botrytis issue with my friend Jasper Morris, formerly of Berry Brothers & Rudd, who conducts a tasting of the whites each year age five. I also asked some of the other Meursault producers at the Paulee in early March. They all confirmed that there was a degree of botrytis in the 2010 harvest and it varied by location and harvest date. As Jean-Marc Roulot said: “I’m not surprised about what you wrote regarding your perception of the difference between 2010 Meursault versus 2009 Meursault. 2009 grapes are cleaner and healthier than 2010 and, if not harvested too late, 2009 can show very a classic example of the appellation (it sometimes reminds me 1999).”

I’m just not a fan of Botrytis in white burgundy and the effects are all undesired ones in my view, but according to many people, botrytis may lower the incidence of premox. So, could that be part of the reason for the low incidence of premox problems in 2010? It could be at least a contributing factor.

There is also no question that the producers’ attempts to combat the oxidation problems by using more SO2, restricting batonnage, using better, longer and in some cases bigger diameter corks, and changing their pressing and bottling practices have had a cumulative positive effect. For example, for the vintages from 1996 through 2001, an average of 27.25% of the wines we tasted were either oxidized or advanced. For the years 2002 through 2009, the average incidence was 18.64%. (Before anyone asks, yes, there is definitely some selection bias too because when certain wines are consistently oxidized time after time after time (e.g. Fontaine-Gagnard, Blain-Gagnard, Matrot and starting with 2000, Jadot) we tend not to include them very often in these dinners, no matter how good the early reviews were.)

Brian:

We didn’t have any ringers in night one this year (but we did on nights two and three). There were so many wines that had gotten great initial reviews and there was tremendous enthusiasm from the group to try as many of those 2010s as possible. As it stood, we had “full” flights of eight wines each in all four flights.

You can thank Andy Gavin for the great photos of the food. Andy has some totally serious cameras and uses an amazing macro lens with its own built-in ring flash around the lens. (Unfortunately Andy didn’t attend night two this year, so we’ll be missing his great photos for that set of notes.)

Thanks Don.

I don’t think the botrytis in 2010 was evident in barrel or soon after release. It is quite evident in many '10’s now.

Best Regards
Jeremy

Thanks for the detailed response.

Tough night for Boillot.

Thanks again Don, always appreciate the insight and notes on such a broad range of wines - really does give you some insight into the vintage and how it is performing and developing!

And PYCM…tho not in a premox/advanced way thankfully.

Great/interesting notes Don, thanks.

Yes David. I almost singled them out for appropriate “jeers,” but I guess I was in a charitable mood when I added the comments.

When the Boillot wines are on, they can be spectacular, but I have to say the premox rate for this producer is disgustingly high. On the Wiki site, I list Boillot in Category 2, which is “Above-average Premox Incidence: The second category is a group of producers who have unexplainable seemingly ‘random’ oxidation but at what appears to be a clearly higher than normal or ‘above average’ incidence.” My personal premox rate with Boillot is somewhere between 20% and 25%.

We have had advanced or oxidized Boillot wines almost every year in these dinners, and I experience them at home on a regular basis. Worse yet, when Boillot has a wine that’s advanced or oxidized, virtually every bottle in the box will be in identical condition, so there’s no possibility of blaming the corks with this producer. I have tended to buy the same Boillot wines year after year (Puligny Clos de Moucheres, MP, Corton Charley, Batard and Chevalier Montrachet) though I’m buying much less than I did before because of a combination of insane prices on the grand crus [excluding Corton] and the premox problems. What I’ve noticed is a HUGE fiip-flop in performance from vintage to vintage and vineyard to vineyard (e.g. lots of oxidized 2007 Corton Charley vs. brilliant 2008 Corton Charley; lots of oxidized 2008 MP vs. yet brilliant 2007 MP). Boillot is presumably using the same corks on these wines, so about the only thing that makes sense to me is (1) he doesn’t add any SO2 until bottling and he doesn’t monitor the SO2 levels in barrel ; and (2) he fluctuates the level of SO2 at bottling by his own seat of the pants method. Boillot generally declines to discuss premox and what he does to prevent it when people ask.

My advice when I’m asked about Boillot is either to avoid buying them altogether because of the premox problems or, if you feel compelled to buy them, drink them in the range of 5 to 8 years instead of 7 to 10 years. If you own any 2010 Boillot, drink them quickly.