Comparing 2011 and 2012 white Burgundy

WINE TALK
1

Our wine club got together yesterday to taste 12 wines blind . From the 2011 and 2012 vintage . I brought what turned out to be wine 10 , 11 and 12 : those wines were double decanted around lunch . ( wines were served for dinner ). One member of the club organized the selection of wines and formed duo’s .

  1. Floral with nice acidities , round and ready to drink : 91/100 . Chablis les Clos 2011 Christian Moreau
  2. Smoky and oaky , nice nose but aftertaste has a torrefaction element I don’t like . Slightly richer wine . 89/100 Chablis les Clos 2012 Samual Biot
  3. Lot’s of chalk , nice acidities , funky in a good way , top Chablis . 93/100 Chablis les Clos 2011 Raveneau
  4. Lot’s of acidity . Fresh and a bit strict . Good but doesn’t have the complexity of the previous one . 90/100 Chablis les Clos 2011 Dauvissat
  5. Chalky , very rich wine . Ready to drink now . 94/100 Corton Charlemagne 2011 PY Colin Morey
  6. Same style but with less concentration than previous one . Lusher and slightly sweeter . 92/100 Corton Charlemagne 2012 PYCM
  7. Straw , complex , Leflaive style , some honey . 95/100 . Bienvenue Batard Montrachet 2012 Jacques Carillon
  8. Very tight , pure , very powerful , still closed but lot’s of potential . Stay away from it for another 5 years . 94+/100 . Bienvenue 2011 J Carillon
  9. Corked ( 2012 Faively Batard Montrachet )
  10. Almost like a Condrieu , honey , exotic but I like it . Different . 93/100 Batard Montrachet 2012 Morey-Coffinet .
  11. Citrus , straw and chalk . Lovely complex wine , very classy 96/100 Chevalier Montrachet 2011 Domaine Leflaive
  12. Pure , white fruit , still very young , very powerful wine , maybe not so elegant now . Very intense 95+ Chevalier Montrachet 2011 Ramonet .

When we each named our favorite top 3 , the end result was

  1. Ramonet Chevalier 2011 : 21 votes
  2. Domaine Leflaive Chevalier 2011 : 19 votes
  3. Jacques Carillon Bienvenue BM 2012 : 10 votes
  4. PYCM CC 2011 : 7 votes .

Overall , I would characterize 2012 as more exotic and 2011 as tighter and cooler . My preference goes to 2011 .

2

Nice exercise and conclusions. I had the same reaction to an '11 Dauvissat Vaillons this weekend - good, but lacking complexity. I didn’t compare to the Raveneau, which probably helped me enjoy the Dauvissat a bit more.

Cheers,
fred

3

Your results seem consistent with with my view that, while I like Chablis, even top wines from Chablis are not as good as excellent whites from the Côte du Beaune.

4

Thanks for the notes Herwig.

Tasted with Jacques Carillon a few days ago. His '17 BBM is off the charts good and '18 from barrel shows enormous promise.