2011 Pousse d'Or tasting

On Wednesday, 15 or so of us tasted through the following Pousse d’Or goodies, doubled decanted then audouzed 2 hours prior:

2010 Puligny Cailleret
2011 Volnay Cailleret
2011 Volnay Clos d’Audignac
2011 Volnay 60 Ouvrees
2010 Volnay Bousse d’Or
2011 Volnay Bousse d’Or
2011 Corton Clos du Roi
2010 Chambolle Groseilles
2011 Chambolle Feusselottes
2011 Chambolle Charmes

I was more than impressed with the overall purity and elegance in all of the wines, much more than I had expected. When I had tried all of the ‘11s out of bottle at the winery in November, they were much more surly and tasting on their structure that day. Not on this night, these were singin’. (Ain’t it funny how different wines can show at times??) The '10s had more noble austerity while the '11s charmed a bit more. Even the Audignac '11, which is often a bit surly of a character in youth, was all finesse. The Clos du Roi was so airy, mineral, and silky that it would be a great example of that stereotype-breaking aspect of Corton. There was ZERO GREEN OF ANY KIND in any of the wines. There was no detracting sense of oakiness whatsoever, 30% new oak on all wines. A few comments about a healthy dose of oak on the Puligny '10, which is a flat out fantastic bottle of pugently mineral white burg.
The Bousse wines were both my favorites of the Volnays; just has a layer of complexity that I enjoy. The '10 and '11 side by side were a treat; both are qualitatively fantastic, one more taut/tender than the other.
All 3 Chambolles were very good. People seemed to cream their pants the most about the Charmes.
Ooh la la.

Chapeau to Landanger. His '11s to me are a resounding success.

DISCLAIMER: I represent these wines, but am not a shameless integrity-less schmuck.

You are certainly not “shameless”, Rob.

Any negatives in the group?

Do you mean tasters that were haters?

Really, none of the wines had any negatives or flaws. They were all spot on in their tipicity, and it is more of a question of preference. The Feusselottes was fatter than Charmes, not as airy and mineral. Both were delorshus.
I was expecting there to be some grumpiness based on the November tastings (I tasted most out of bottle at the domaine, not the Chambolles), and was taken by how well they were showing. And that was with me picking up the wines from the port that morning (phew, just in time…). So much for travel shock.

Anybody that was there want to chime in??

How was the Bousse d’Or?

What were your thoughts on the soixante ouvrees?

Don, the Bousse was terrific. My preferred Volnays of the night, as mentioned before. The tighter wound '10 would be for the cellar, the '11 to enjoy in the medium term. Just great layered complexity.

Cary, the 60 Ouvrees had another level of aromatic and palate impact intensity vis-a-vis the regular en Cailleret. It seemed to get more oohs and aahs at the table, but to me, it isn’t as fine/complex as the Bousse is in '11. Maybe a fair assessment would be that the 60 Ouvrees offers more in flesh, and the Bousse in complexity?

Having tasted the '10’s recently I strongly preferred the Caillerets to the Bousse, the Bousse tasting fine but a little low on concentration for me. Have a few more of each, but if I had to start over I doubt I’d buy the Bousse.

Send them my way

Thanks for the great notes Robert. I really like these wines a lot but haven’t tasted the 10s or the 11s yet

Good to hear, I have some Caillerets coming from the recent JJB sale.

Rob P and Peter,
you guys talkin’ 60 Ouvrees, or regular en Caillerets?
The '10 60 Ouvrees is a great great bottle.

Regular en Caillerets…grabbed a mag of the 60 Ouvrees but that’ll be sitting for a while!

Curious about the d’Audignac as well. Seems like a great lineup top to bottom.

Yeah, to me, the regular En Cailleret (in both '10 and '11) is quite pure and lovely.
The 60 Ouvrees '10 is markedly more intense in most attributes; one friend prefers the regular to the 60 Ouvrees because of its lighter touch; I’ll take the 60 Ouvrees in '10, easy…
The Audignac is a north facing vineyard that is often less ripe/more structured. The '10 is quite structured as I recall from last year’s horizontal.

Just picked up 3 bottles of '10 60 Ouvrees from PC for $58/per. Will be great to drink when it arrives in 2020!

I was going to guess 2021

Add in the free storage and you’re basically getting them wholesale ; )

I feel that Landanger may have turned the curve with 2011 - assuming he continues in this vein. Previous vintages i hated the oak treatment, chambolle smelled exactly like volnay, which smelled like oak-toasted Bordeaux. The 11 villages were still a bit like this, but the 1ers (first time for me) showed real burgundy aromatics and a wonderful perfume - very pleased to see this (for my taste!)

No Amoureuses???

Amoureuses '11 (what’s left of it) is for my cellar…

I was at the tasting –

For me, the 60 Ouvrees was the most enjoyable… It was volnay, and kept the delicate aromatics, but, as a Rob mentions, more intense in just about every way. The Corton and Feusselottes were also top notch.

I liked both of the Bousses, but preferred the 10 to the 11.

The biggest disappointment for me were the Audignac – I did find it to be a bit green, though I believe it was underripe, not GM (though I don’t have much experience with the 04s). I didn’t like it when we visited the domaine in Feb either. The Puligny needs time and wasn’t showing too well for my palate, but I think it will come back around and it opened up in the glass. I also wasn’t as big a fan of the Groseilles.

Merci, Erich.