2009 Ilan "Charmes Chambertin" Over Several Hours

After all the talk about Sulfer and reductive elements concerning this wine, I decided to taste it in stages.
This was the first time I’ve had this wine and was eager to try it.

2009 Maison Ilan “Charmes Chambertin” - 13% alcohol

1:30 PM - Opened and decanted it using a Vinturi device to further aerate the wine. Immediately tried it.
Light-medium red color.
Spicy, slightly soapy, beety nose with some slight reductive, sulfery aromas present.
Rich, structured, spicy, slightly oaky, blackcherry fruits with a long firm, slightly tannic cherry pit finish.
A bit of reduction evident.
Even though Ray warned about excess CO2, I noticed nothing in this regard.

3:00 PM - Swished decanter to further aerate it.
Medium red color.
Spicy, smokey, floral nose. Soapy aspect gone with less oak and Sulfer replaced with slight matchstick.
Fairly powerful, firm, clean minerally cassis fruit with a long dry tannic finish.
A lot of dry extract and old viney flavors now coming to the front.

5:00 PM - Swished decanter to further aerate it.
Medium red color.
Pure spicy, floral, slightly ferrous nose. Sulfer and reductive elements completely gone!
Powerful, intense mouthful of dense, spicy, ripe fruit with hint of Ginger and plum skin. Very young and primary but sappy.
Very long finish. The level of fruit will easily soak up the remaining oak.

6:30 PM - Transferred back to bottle and had it with Rack O’ Lamb.
Medium red color.
Ripe, pure spicy dark fruited nose with that aspect carrying over to the mouth.
Nicely structured with balanced acid and ripe tannins in the long, firm finish.
Absolutely no trace of reduction, Sulfer or CO2 evident now.
Absolutely first rate Red Burgundy here.
The rich, ripe, primary fruit aspect needs time to shed it’s baby fat to show the structure currently being partially obscured.
This really needs several years for maximum enjoyment.
For now [93+ pts] with a higher score likely given several years.
Not bad Ray!!!

Given the divergence of differing tasting notes and impressions of this wine, this only emphasizes how young Burgs can change during different stages of their life. Suffice it to say that I’m pretty confident that this wine will evolve into something quite special.
But give it a decade to get there!!!

TTT

BTW, if any of you want to “Dump” your stash of this wine via a trade, I’ll be more than willing to work with you!

TTT

Thanks for the note. Why’d ya put it back in the bottle? Did you take it to a restaurant?

Because the bottle fits into my plastic wine cooler thingie…

TTT

Thanks for the notes Paul. The hardest part will be keeping my hands off of this for 10 years.

By the way, what is a plastic wine cooler thingie?

A device that you insert the bottle into and which maintains a desired bottle temperature.

This is not the one I own, but you get the idea.
Got mine at a yard sale for $8…

TTT

Thanks Paul. You are using that for a red -a Charmes Chambertin? What kind of temperature were you trying to get it to? Usually, I just keeps reds in my cellar (55) until they are ready to be drunk.

Around 60-62 degrees…

TTT

This is a very interesting note. I think your “soapy” descriptor may be the characteristic I noticed in the Chaffots. I believe that mine was more pronounced, and maybe I didn’t let it sit long enough for it to dissipate (though I did have it in a decanter for several hours). Many of the other characteristics are similar, though it sounds like the Chaffots is a little less tannic, and I gather has no new oak (though in my notes I caught a whiff of wood). It has a regal texture and the underlying fruit was rich without over-ripeness.

Does anyone recognize this “soapy” aroma and understand where it comes from?

Craig,
Understand that this “soapy” element disappeared rather quickly and completely…

TTT

Nice experiment.

How about the same execise with some other producers, who own and farm the same AOC for quite many years.

Very cool, Paul! Like the idea. The 09s need a lot of time or a lot of air.

Peter, interesting comment. Unfortunately, not many producers farm from this lieu dit of Aux Charmes (formally called Charmes Hauts). Typically (or often) Charmes-Chambertin is a collection of Lieux dits which have the right to call themselves Charmes-Chambertin…which not many wish to disclose to be frank the section is just 3ha fwiw. It is a very specific terroir, classified one tier above the rest of Charmes proper (bas) as well as Mazoyères by Lavalle in 1855.

As for the soap, we’ve dialed this back in 2010 by switching to Dove.

Thanks for the note(s), Paul. Very cool to read your details of the wine’s emergence over several hours

It’s pretty enlightening to see how much a wine charges over various short time periods.
Imagine the changes over a decade!

TTT

Me too

Ray,

I am very much looking forward in future years to learning whether the Aux Charmes really is better terroir than is Mazoyeres. It is neat that you are doing both so we can do comparisons over vintages and over time. Am I correct is assuming that you are making the wines the same from both vineyards? Is the vine age substantially different - I know that the vine age for your Aux Charmes is over 50 years old, but did not see in your e-mail the vine age for the Mazoyeres? If over time one tastes consistently better (or just different) from the other, do you think there will be any reason for the difference other than terroir. Obviously, one reason I am interested as to whether the supposed inferiority of Mazoyeres proves out is that some of my favorite Charmes Chambertins from Truchot came from Mazoyeres.

You provide the bottle, I’ll provide the extended tasting note…

TTT

Sorry…I seldom buy Charmes-Chambertin ( no offence is intended ). I just checked my inventory …the last time was by R. Bouvier for vintage 2005.

I made the suggestion because it will be interesting …

I live in Canada and access to many burgundy wines are quire limited due to control by Provincial Government.

Yes, I understand this, and in my Chaffots it was dissipating but maybe slower and we drank it sooner. I believed then and still do that it was some transient post-bottling reduction or some other effect. Just wondering if someone recognizes it and can explain the source. Your description caught my eye because at one point I went for a different glass to make sure I didn’t have some residue in the first one.

Thanks for being a good sport as we over-analyze your wines. Please don’t dock my allocation for this