My turn to host our Monday Table wine group. The Flower Drum in Melbourne was the venue and as usual service was exemplary.Tthe food didn’t miss a beat. Our mission was to explore 2017 white Burgundy in depth, and I provided a fresh packet of Quick-Eze on the lazy Susan so that attendees could get their stomachs settled before attacking it with so many youthful whites.
Baked Jade Tiger Abalone was a cracking dish with the two Champagnes we had to kick off proceedings.
1989 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Brut Millésimé: A recent Collection Crayères release. There’s a hint of toast and truffle development. It is complex and intense, with a core of orchard fruits. There’s plenty of vigour from the tiny bubbles and it is creamy and layered, with great power and poise. Length is fantastic.
2008 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut: This has really tightened up over the past few months and is now a kinetic ball of vinous energy. It has some red fruits, white peach and loads of chalk. There’s a razor-sharp line of acidity and it finishes with a huge squeeze of lemon.
One of the group’s elder statesmen, Big G, was in attendance and in fine form. After I advised that we were having 15 whites he piped up and said, on behalf of the gentleman seated to his right, ‘Sir Rod wants to know if we are starting with whites’. He was hoping for a red to go with the duck. I did put on a Nacional which is kind of like a red isn’t it? The first bracket of whites was a beauty and a lovely match with Roasted Crackling Pork and Apple Fritter.
2017 Domaine Jacques Carillon Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Some honeysuckle to the aroma along with pure white peach, aniseed and mineral. It is rich, voluminous, layered and long. A wine of great detail and authority, with superb length.
2017 Caroline Morey Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Generous and open-knit, showing some candies citrus, mango and ripe peach aromas and flavours. There’s some ginger spice and a palate that is unctuous and full. Flavours are deep and the wine’s abundant minerality becomes evident after swallowing.
2017 Hubert Lamy Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet Cuvée Haute Densité, Grand Cru: Intense nose that has a gentle tropical fruit quality along with plenty of spice and preserved lemon. It incredibly, rich, dense and intense. Compact for now in the mouth with a line of grapefruit acidity. The finish has plenty of chalky dry extract and a saline mineral character. Length is awesome.
2017 Faiveley Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: An ebullient nose of mango, rockmelon, ripe peach and smoke. The palate is rich and sappy, with an intense fruit-sweet heart. It is layered with a creamy feel and the finish is bright, clean and persistent.
2017 François Raveneau Chablis Blanchot, Grand Cru: Stony mineral and lemon fruits abound. It has a slightly milky, lactic quality and is round and fleshy in the mouth. It has good volume and length to burn.
The second white bracket included a Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Blanc, and whilst all wines are served blind, I let the guys know and asked if they could try and locate it. I don’t think anyone nailed it. Chef nailed it with the accompanying course though. Sauté Seafood with Ginger include Crayfish, King Prawn, Scallop and Pearl Meat.
2017 François Raveneau Chablis Valmur, Grand Cru: A beautifully composed wine. Stony aromas and flavours, with a hint of mint and plenty of citrus. There is pure white peach at its heart, and it is complex and fabulously long.
2017 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Le Montrachet, Grand Cru: Rich and ripe, with layers of flavour. There are some candied peel and complex spicy notes. It has the power of the vineyard but is an elegant rendition of Montrachet.
2017 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Each year we see Bouchard’s CC blind, it generally acquits itself well and so it does once again with this 2017. It has some apple and peach and something exotic. It is dense, rich and powerful, with excellent line and a long finish that has some lemon curd and spice.
2017 Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet Grand Cru: There’s smoky lift to the complex nose. It has intense white peach fruit and explosive, expansive and voluminous. Every sip reveals more fruit, more spice and more mineral. It has great power and muscle with awesome length.
2017 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Blanc, Grand Cru: The first smell if of freshly cut pineapple. It has exuberant orchard fruits too and a whiff of grey slate. The fruit is ripe and sweet as it hits the palate, building and expanding and finishing with an almost peaty taste.
I can’t go to the Flower Drum without having duck. We weren’t serving Pinot but I thought I’d see if Roasted Duck Breast with Sour Plum Sauce goes with Chardonnay. It doesn’t. Save for a cork affected Clos, the final bracket of whites shone.
2017 François Raveneau Chablis Clos, Grand Cru: I didn’t pick up the cork taint on this on opening, thinking that the wine was extremely dense and tight. It is but, in the glass, mild tca reared its ugly head.
2017 Domaine Jean Chartron Chevalier-Montrachet Clos des Chevaliers, Grand Cru: There’s ripe peach and pine lime Splice notes. It is full and supple and really builds through the palate. It draws in to a singular minerally point and then fans out again. Really lovely.
2017 Domaine Jean Chartron Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Very complex nose of candied ginger, aniseed and preserved lemon. It fills every crevice of the mouth with fruits and minerals and is showing plenty as a young Corton. The finish dries off and is precise and long.
2017 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: The nose is quite spicy and has the purest white peach perfume. It is dense and sappy in the mouth, with a touch of pickled ginger and so much cool rock minerality. The finishes is loaded with dry extract and it is so long.
2017 Vincent Dancer Chevalier-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Tight and minerally, bound up by its sulphur for now. There’s a hint of the exotic and some heady blossom scents. It is very direct and linear, with great drive and posture. It has super intensity and brilliant length. Will need plenty of time to unfurl.
By this stage Anthony was getting a bit wary about my wine and food matches. Noting that Baked Chestnut Pudding was being served with a Port, he looked more nervous than a lobster in a live seafood tank. He needn’t have been concerned, they worked well together.
2000 Quinta do Noval Nacional: This is a ripe Nacional, with loads of blood plum, ripe berry and licorice aromas and flavours. With air you get the perfume of violets. It is sweet and luscious, supremely youthful and beautifully balanced. Waves of flavour lap around the gums and the finish is lifted by gorgeously floral spirit.
For digestive purposes only, we opened a 1900 Sempé Vieil Armagnac to go with home made almond cookies. It had smoky lift to the aroma and plenty of delicate florals. There was a woodsy character and something grapey and vinous. It finished with good grip and a hint of volatility.
Just a word about corks: Both Bouchard wines, the Dancer, the Lamy and The Chartron Corton were all under Diam. The Chartron Chevalier and all other wines were sealed with cork. Interestingly, the Chartron Corton was preferred by most of the table over their Chevalier.
Our take-out from this exercise was that 2017 is indeed a very good white Burgundy vintage. The wines are ripe and there are some exotic notes, but they are clean and vibrant and have good underling minerality.