I must sound like an old fart but I remeber with fondness the old days when you could actually buy this wine and in vintages like 2001 you could get hold of decent volumes. Managed to snare some BM, Cras and this village Chambolle from 2001.
This to me is now as close to perfect for a village Burgundy. It is so immaculately balanced, dense and weightless and has this sweet and salty unami character. It has great length and nuance - sous bois, soy, florals, there’s real dimension to the wine. Just entering prime time, but plenty left in the tank. This may sound like hyperbole but I can’t recall drinking a better village wine.
A bit after release Jay Miller (the one who posts here, not the one who briefly wrote for WA) organized a “It Takes A Village To Raise a Chambolle” offline. A great linep of village Chambolle. Roumier was clear fave (about $40 I think at time, we bought out NYC - and maybe most of country- by next morning), but Drouhin, Mugnier, Barthod, and others were excellent, one of my fave all time tastings
Nice memory Dale. Have you tried any recently? I do think that I need to check in on a few more of my 2001 village wines. It has always been a vintage that I have enjoyed.
My second most memorable Village red was the 1978 Forey Père et Fils Vosne-Romanée. It was made by Régis Forey’s father and Régis reckons it was probably a blend of Echezeaux, Gaudichots and village Vosne.
I’m beginning to see a pattern here William. I like '78’s with declassified material in them!
Declassified MUSIGNY by CdV indeed went into the premier cru. That is certainly the case. The best part of the younger vines that was. A very small part (the rest) , however, was also used in the village. So I was told. Total amount of this, however, is to be neglected.
SINCERELY JOHAN
Thanks! I don’t get to drink as much Roumier as many on this board–or who post on this thread!–but when I do, I am always struck by their classicism: remarkable balance and purity. Somehow reminds me of 1st growth Bordeaux.
Roumier Chambolle Musigny used to be my go-to favorite village wine …but no more for the last few years - since you need to wait for the allocation and buy it from SAQ in the lottery system.
Bought 69 from 2007 to 2017, drank 9 of them on the young side, all excellent, will need to wait a bit longer to taste them fully mature… Less so than for his Bonnes mares where my oldest bottle is 2008… I need to survive a few pandemies for these…
That’s a nice stash. 1995 is my favorite, but I never tried the ‘78 to my recollection, haven’t tried 2001 since it was much younger, and stopped buying for my own cellar a long time ago. The ‘95 may be my favorite village wine ever.