On Monday February 18, 2019 fourteen of us gathered at Drago Centro Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles for the first night of the 2011 Vintage Assessment and Oxidation Check dinners. It was our 14th year of holding these dinners. As usual, we tasted the vintage then 7.5 years from the date of harvest. We usually taste 60 to 75 of the top wines from the vintage over the course of three nights.
On night one we tasted thirty-two 2011 white burgundies from Chablis, Meursault and Corton Charlemagne in four flights of eight wines each. As usual, all of the wines were served single blind (with ringers being double blind), and all voting was completely blind by bottle number with the reveal at the end of the evening.
Sommelier Paul Sherman, who has presided over most of the dinners over the past few years at Valentino, was on hand at Drago Centro to make sure everything ran smoothly. He was assisted by Drago’s Somm Fabio Lai. As usual, the sheer number of stems for 14 people and 32 wines was overwhelming. Chef Celestino Drago and his staff did a great job of keeping everyone happy on a cold February night.
My thanks to Eric Pangilnan, who regularly attends the dinners, for all of the great photos below.
Garden Room at Drago Centro where we held Night One of the 2011 White Burgundy Vintage Assessment Dinners
Champagne and Appetizers
1998 Philipponat Clos de Goisses
Medium gold color; aromas of citrus, apricot and toast; very Krug-like, but seemed to have a little liquid, fresh apricot –overall, this was very nice 94
2002 Cazals Clos du Cazals
Light gold color; aromas of citrus and brioche; very bright, lightly sweet citrus flavors with lots of grip on the palate; this was an amazingly youthful bottle, but sadly the last one I own. 93+
FLIGHT ONE – CHABLIS
Olive Oil Poached Artic Char, Celery Root Puree, Sorell
1 [2011 Raveneau Montee du Tonnerre]
Light gold color; lemony but light aromas; lighter styled lemon drop flavors with good acidity; straight forward Chablis. One vote for best in flight. Group Rank: Tied for 24th , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92
2 [2010 Raveneau Chablis Chapelots (Ringer Ch-2)]
Light gold color; aromas of green fruit (midori liqueur) that remind me of Preuses; sweet green fruit flavors with good intensity/density on the a palate. Three votes for best in flight. (N.B. The “ringer” here, from Chapelots is a specific area within Montee du Tonnerre which Raveneau separately bottles in most years. I thought it would be fun to compare side by side the Raveneau MDT.) Group Rank: Tied for 20th , 2 points (0/0/0/0/2) 93
3 [2011 Fevre Chablis Preuses (DIAM)]
Light gold color; light oyster shell aromas; very bright lemon grass flavors with a rich underlying texture which tries to hide a bit – a Clos? Three votes for best in flight. Group Rank: Tied for 24th , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 93
4 [2011 Raveneau Valmur]
Light gold color; oyster shell and meyer lemon aromas; this is richer in texture than the aromas would lead you to expect- a bit more weight and a lingering impression on the palate but yet doesn’t have more complexity than the preceding wines. Three votes for best in flight. Group Rank: Tied for 20th, 2 points (0/0/0/0/2) 92
5 [2011 Arterberry-Maresh “Maresh Vineyard” Chardonnay (Ringer Ch-1)]
Light gold color; lemony aromas with a slight bit of light toasted bread (advanced); bright lemon sherbet flavors, but fairly simple. (N.B. I included this “ringer” because it gets a lot of comparison to Chablis. It was definitely lighter in style and had some Chablis similarities, but the advanced character (the first example I’ve experienced from multiple bottles of this, was off putting.) Group Rank: Tied for 24th , 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 90 Advanced
6 [2011 Fevre Chablis Clos (DIAM)]
Light gold color; very clean, oyster shell and faint citrus aromas; very tight citrus flavors – a lean front end and then just kept broadening on the palate with a decent finish. Very youthful One vote for best in flight (mine). Group Rank: Tied for 24th, 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 93+
7 [2011 Dauvissat Chablis Clos]
Light gold color; oyster shell and meyer lemon aromas; very bright, tight, lean lemon citrus and minerals aromas. some definite room to improve here. One vote for best in flight. Group Rank: Tied for 24th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92+
8 [2011 Raveneau Chablis Clos]
Very light gold color; sweet citrus and green fruit aromas, almost like Preuses, but more citrus; intense, concentrated fruit; this had a long finish, but some definite phenols which sufficiently marred the finish that this was really hard to assess. No votes for best in flight. Group Rank: Tied for 20th , 2 points (0/0/0/1/0) 91+?
FLIGHT TWO – MEURSAULT 1er
Squid Ink Tagliolini, Sweet Shrimps, Shrimp Jus
9 [2011 Lafon Meursault Goutte D’Or]
Light gold color; green apple aromas; intense lemon citrus and green apple flavors; very high acidity. I like the intensity, but needs more time to come together. Two votes for best in flight. Group Rank: Tied for 12th , 5 points (0/0/1/1/0) 92
10 [2011 Roulot Meursault Clos de Boucheres]
Light gold; light lemon aromas; similarly this is light and lemony on the palate and doesn’t quite seem to have the density you expect for 1er Meursault. Group Rank: Tied for 24th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 91
11 [2011 Roulot Meursault Porusots]
Light gold color; some reduction aromas which diminished with time – later showed very bright citrus aromas; fairly intense citrus flavors on the palate too; very good intensity and grip on the palate; excellent minerality on the middle and back end; minerals on the finish. I liked this but it got no votes for first in flight. Group Rank: Tied for 17th , 3 points (0/0/0/1/1) 93+
12 [2011 Lafon Meursault Genevrieres]
Light gold color; citrus and minerals aromas with hint of floral undertone; intensely mineral notes on the palate with some lemon-lime underneath, real depth here. Six votes for best in flight. Group Rank: Tied for 7th , 10 points (1/0/1/1/0) 93+
13 [2011 Antoine Jobard Meursault Perrieres (Ringer M-1)]
Light gold; very little in the way of aroma here; very tight, minerally and “clean” flavors but with definite phenols on the finish. Group Rank: Tied for 24th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 91
14 [2011 Lafon Meursault Charmes]
Light gold color, maybe one tick darker than the others (which are amazingly consistent); a reductive background note in the aromas; lemon citrus aromas; tight lemon and minerals flavors which gets slightly sweeter from front to back; nice lemon and minerals finish. Four votes for best in flight. Group Rank: 11th, 7 points (0/0/0/3/1) 93
15 [2011 Colin-Morey Meursault Charmes]
Light gold; green apple aromas; very tight, bright and a bit on the lean side; but some minerality on the back end. Group Rank: Tied for 24th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 92
16 [2011 Roulot Meursault Charmes]
Light gold color; fairly reductive aromas; there is citrus here both in the aromas and flavors but the reduction makes this pretty hard to meaningfully assess; this is very tight and minerally, but difficult to assess; an impression of depth; very hard to figure this out. Three votes for best in flight. My scoring is based on benefit of the doubt about the underling components properly coming together. Group Rank: Tied for 12th , 5 points (0/0/1/1/0) 93?
FLIGHT THREE – MEURSAULT PERRIERES
Pan Roasted Lobster And Jumbo Scallops, Mushrooms And Truffles
17 [2011 Jadot Meursault Perreires (DIAM)]
White gold color – amazingly uniform for this flight; relatively bright, intense lime citrus; fabulous intensity and minerality; really good density for this vintage; long sweet citrus finish. Six votes for best in flight. My No. 4 ranked wine of the night. Group Rank: 1st, 34 points (3/1/4/1/1) 94
18 [2011 Bouchard Meursault Perreries (DIAM)]
White gold color; green apple aromas; bright, intense green apple flavors with some background minerals that slide into a nice lingering finish. I liked this. One vote for best inflight. My No. 3 ranked wine of the night. Group Rank: 5th , 16 points (1/2/1/0/0) 94
19 [2011 Lafon Meursault Perrieres]
White gold color; white flowers aromas; slightly sweet lemon custard flavors but with an intense underlying minerality that grabs you for attention. No votes for best in flight (surprising). Group Rank: Tied for 15th , 4 points (0/1/0/0/0) 93+
20 [2011 Germain Meursault Perrieres]
White gold color; aromas of a little oak toast and lemon; lemon custard flavors with good minerals. But by the second pass it was obvious that his bottle was advanced and going fast. Ten of the 14 tasters thought this bottle was advanced. (N.B. The fact that the Germain wines have been advanced or premoxed over the past few vintages is not a good sign) Group Rank: Tied for 24th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) 93|91 Advanced
The Meursault Perrieres Flight
21 [2011 Colin Morey Meursault Perrieres]
White gold color; lemon and lime citrus aromas; similar lemon and lime flavors with a much more viscous palate than most of the others – lemon pudding with minerality in spades and a finish that goes on and on. Absolutely awesome MP. Four votes for wine of the flight. My No. 1 wine of the night. (N.B. This wine and the 2007 Colin-Morey MP are the two best vintages I have had to date from Colin-Morey.) Group Rank: 2nd , 22 points (3/1/1/0/0) 95
22 [2011 Vincent Dancer Meursault Perrieres]
White gold color; this is bizarre – medium plus reduction aromas plus oak toast – something went wrong; lemon custard flavors that literally get swallowed, sharply, by the woody and intensely reductive elements underneath; it seems there’s a nice wine hiding under some really nasty stuff. I think this likely mercaptans. A couple of people mentioned VA, but I didn’t get that. Everyone agrees this is horribly flawed by the reduction or chemically. Group Rank: Tied for 24th (last), 0 points (0/0/0/0/0) DQ –badly flawed, likely mercaptans
23 [2011 Roulot Meursault Perrieres]
White gold color; sweet green apple and light reduction aromas; bright, sweet lemon-lime flavors with very good intensity and very good minerality. Surprisingly, no votes for best in flight. My No. 5 ranked wine of the evening. Group Rank: 6th, 15 points (0/3/0/1/1) 93+
24 [2011 Henri Boillot Meursault Perrieres]
White gold color; lemon citrus aromas; very bright, lemony, slightly bitter, almost lemon peel flavors – high wire intensity here that needs time to round out. One vote for wine of flight. Group Rank: Tied for 7th, 10 points (1/0/1/1/0) 93+
FLIGHT FOUR – CORTON CHARLEMAGNE
Tenderloins Of Rabbit And Rabbit Cannelloni, Saltimbocca Sauce
25 [2011 Simon Bize Corton Charlemagne]
Light to medium gold color; aromas of lemon peel and other citrus; medium bodied, sweet fruit and minerals with good acidity. Solid wine if unremarkable. Two votes for wine of the flight – both of whom thought this was the wine of the night, which I just didn’t get. Group Rank: Tied for 7th ,10 points (2/0/0/0/0) 92
26 [2011 Henri Boillot Corton Charlemagne]
Between light and medium gold, but one or two shades deeper than #25. Nice green apple aromas, but on the palate this has weird toasty green apple fruit flavors that don’t make a lot of sense to me. At first I wasn’t sure but one other person thought this was advanced. As the evening progressed it became obvious it was advanced but drinkable. Group Rank: Tied for 12th , 5 points (0/1/0/0/1) 91 Advanced??
27 [2011 Jadot Corton Charlemagne (DIAM)]
Light to medium gold color; green apple aromas – quite perfumed. tight green apple and lemon flavors; bright, intense, chiseled fruit. Four votes for wine of the flight. Group Rank: 3rd, 20 points (1/2/0/3/1) 93
28 [2011 Girardin Corton Charlemagne]
Light to medium gold color; green apple and buttery aromas; high acid and quite tight on the palate; hopefully this will unfold with time. Group Rank: 23rd, 1 points (0/0/0/0/1) 92+
29 [2011 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne]
Light to medium gold color; banana candy aromas – what the hell went wrong here?; boring mid-palate with strong phenols on the finish. (N.B. The minute this was unbagged, my immediate thought was “oh, no, not another bad BDM Corton.” They seem to manage to make a good wine about once every five or six years. Really sad given this was once a benchmark for Corton Charlemagne.) Group Rank : tied for 15th, 4 points, (0/1/0/0/0) 85-badly flawed
30 [2011 Girardin Corton Charlemagne Quintessence]
Light to medum gold color; citrus and green apple aromas; powerful, intense green apple flavors with a lot of minerals; long minerally finish. Three votes for best in flight. Group Rank: 10th, 8 points (0/0/2/0/2) 93+
31 [2011 Colin-Morey Corton Charlemagne]
Light to medium gold color; light green apple and citrus aromas; light green apple flavors; this is lighter than some of the others bur more mrinally; the minerality really stands out, particularly in the finish. Three votes for wine of the flight. My No. 2 wine of the night. Group Rank: 4th, 19 points ( 2/2/0/0/1) 94+
32 [2011 Bouchard Corton Charlemagne (DIAM)]
Light to medium gold color; green apple aromas; very good intensity of green apple fruit and minerals; a very long minerally finish here. Group Rank: Tied for 17th, 3 points (0/0/1/0/0) 93
DESSERT COURSE
Cheese Cake, Raspberry, Almond Sponge, Blueberry, Sable
1988 Chateau Suduiraut – to me, despite the relatively light and bright color of the wine in the bottle and an excellent fill level, the aromas and flavors seemed notably oxidized. I’m just not a fan of most Sauternes. 80
The top six wines of the evening as ranked by the group (with my ratings and ranks also listed) were as follows:
1 Jadot Meursault Perreires [DIAM] 34 total points, My No. 4 wine, rated 94
2 Colin Morey Meursault Perrieres 22 total points, My No. 1 wine, rated 95
3 Jadot Corton Charlemagne [DIAM] 20 total points, rated 93
4 Colin Morey Corton Charlemagne 19 total points, My No. 2 wine, rated 94+
5 Bouchard Meursault Perrieres [DIAM] 16 total points, My No. 3 wine, rated 94
6 Roulot Meursault Perrieres 15 total points, My No. 5 wine, rated 93+
Some thoughts and comments about the wines we tasted:
The dinner included six wines with DIAM closures and again the track record on these bottles was perfect. What is especially significant is that I had made a point of including the Jadot Corton Charlemagne and MP by virtue of Jadot’s use of DIAM closures beginning with the 2011 vintage and the two Jadot bottles in this tasting finished first and third overall.
Some other notes and thoughts:
-
The 2011 Chablis as a group were more approachable/enjoyable than they usually are at age 7.5. -
The Cote de Beaune wines all had light gold color and an astonishing level of uniformity in the color, and very good acidity. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vintage from the Cote de Beaune with such uniformity of color. The critics who reviewed the wines on release suggested that the Cote de Beaune wines were medium term aging wines. While our sample size was limited to 24 bottles of Meursault and Corton Charlemagne (yes, from the top producers), given the uniformly light colors and good acidity levels of the wines, I suspect that the top level 2011 whites from Meursault and Corton will have an aging curve comparable to the 2007s (which was another early vintage). -
The 2011 Meursaults and Cortons tend to the leaner side, but are well structured and show pretty good vineyard transparency. Unlike the 2008, 2009 and 2010 vintages, none of the 2011 wines from Meursault or Corton that we tasted were affected by botrytis, surmaturite, or rot. But, at the same time, the very top wines from our tastings in those prior vintages (except for the 2010 Cortons) are most often a point or two better than the corresponding 2011s. However, the top five 2011 wines listed above can certainly hold their own against all of the prior vintages. As a group, I definitely preferred the 2011 Cortons to the badly flawed 2010 Cortons and I think I preferred to the 2011 Meursaults as a group to the 2010s -- but that is because several of the 2010 Meursaults we tasted a year ago had significant levels of botrytis. My four top-ranked 2010 Meursaults (Latour-Giraud Meursault Genevrieres Cuvee des Pierre, Lafon Meursault Genevrieres, Vincent Dancer MP and Roulot MP) I thought were better than all of the Meursaults we tasted from 2011 except for the 2011 Colin-Morey MP, which was my top-ranked wine from 2011 night one, and another spectacular wine from Pierre-Yves. -
DIAM seems to have been an extremely good move for Jadot – since the Jadot wines finished 1st and 3rd. Though we have had the occasional Jadot Montrachet that showed very well despite Jadot’s notorious premox problems (e.g. the 2002, 2007 and 2010 Montrachets), the last time there was a Jadot wine included in either night one or night two that wasn’t oxidized or advanced was the 1999 Chevalier Montrachet Les Demoiselles in February of 2007. An astonishing change, but one I had predicted would occur. -
The 2011 vintage is a good one for the late bargain hunters. The Jadot MP and Bouchard MP both finished in the top five despite having some of the lowest price tags on the list of eligible wines.
PREMOX REPORT
Group Consensus
Advanced: 1 of 32 3.1%
Oxidized 0 of 32 0.0%
Either 1 of 32 3.1%
DC Notes
Advanced: 3 of 32 9.4%
Oxidized 0 of 32 0.0%
Either 3 of 32 9.4%
DIAM Closures - 6 bottles – none corked, advanced or oxidized
We held the second night of the 2011 Vintage Assessment dinners at Drago on March 14, 2019. We tasted 32 more wines, this time from the hyphenated grand crus of Chassagne and Puligny Montrachet. I will try to get those notes posted soon.
![[thankyou.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/df165fe9c1593d19166ae7e1ffe5e272089cc07b.gif "thankyou"){kind=small}
Don…well written report - as usual.