Fascinating. I have not had (not even seen) that wine, but it’s a wonderful story. Would have been interesting as well to have included the PYCM St. Aubin Remilly.
Thanks Don! Are any of PYCM other 2010 Chassagne close to the en Remilly?
If you look at the map, you’ll see that Remilly is uniquely situated, between Chevalier and a border of St Aubin, with otherwise bare ground around it (it’s actually kind of a rocky/hilly area that wouldn’t support a vineyard very well, if my memory is correct from walking around there). So there aren’t other plots close to Remilly (outside of St Aubin, which borders). On the other side of Chevalier is the Cailleret vineyard, which may be why it is always one of PYCM’s best wines, IMO.
Tidbit…en Remilly in Chassagne is only 1 ha, and in St Aubin it’s 20 ha.
A very reasonable question. Yes, ordinarily repeated bad experiences cause me to stop buying or to severely restrict buying (e.g. buy 1 or 2 bottles to library for tastings, as I did with Lafon for several years). Based on premox concerns I had stopped buying Boillot wines after the 2010 vintage. When the 2013s were released a friend who imports the wines convinced me that Boillot had taken steps to deal with premox. I bought six packs of 2013 Corton Charley, MP and Puligny Clos de la Mouchere, but passed on buying any of the grand crus. My intent has been to taste them starting in year five and see where they are and drink early if it seemed appropriate. I bought the same three wines in 2014 (and one bottle of Montrachet to library for a future Vintage Assessment dinner). I skipped 2015 (and I passed on buying almost all 2015s), and this past January I bought 2016 Corton, MP and Genevrieres and two library bottles of Chevalier and Batard. A few weeks after buying the 2016s we tasted the 2010 Boillots in the February dinners and, to quote Yogi Berra, “it was like deja vu all over again.” So, yes, I can’t help asking myself if resuming limited buying with the 2013s was a mistake.
It would certainly help if Messr. Boillot was more transparent about the details of his elevage and wine making.
One other point is that given the high initial reviews and the public perception that Boillot is among the top producers of white burgundy we would still be obliged to include at least the Corton and MP in these annual dinners. But that means buying 1 or 2 library bottles, not six packs or cases.
I looked on wine-searcher regarding CM Remilly. Don’t see PYCM, but see wines from other producers like Bruno Colin and Philippe Colin. Anyone have any from these producers.
Don, have you done a write-up on the 2011s yet? Or did I just miss It?
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Hi Howard:
No, I haven’t posted the notes yet for the 2011 dinners. I’ve been buried in a case going to trial later this year and ignoring my wine-related tasks. If you PM me or email me, I can at least send you the spread sheets with all of the results in the meantime before I get the notes up.
The PYCM Chassagne En Remilly is exceptionally difficult to find. Pierre-Yves’ last vintage from the vineyard (from purchased grapes) was 2011. I understand that Le Moine made the wine from those grapes in subsequent years. I own the PYCM 2009 version, which is excellent but not up to the 2010 standard. I have never seen any 2011 PYCM.
I have not tried the Le Moine version because we’ve had lots of premox problems with his wines in the past (and he just doesn’t use enough SO2 to suit me because he thinks you can substitute CO2 for SO2 - which is crazy.)
The majority of the En Remilly vineyard is owned by the Colin-Deleger family (now split between Philippe Colin and Bruno Colin.) The Colin-Deleger En Remilly was the first one I ever tried from the vineyard and I’ve had a few over the years. They were pleasant wines but didn’t seem exceptional or make me think particularly of Chevalier. I have never cared for any of the Bruno Colin wines, and as you likely saw, I included a 2010 Bruno Colin Chassagne Blanchots Dessus as ringer in the night three dinner for 2010 (because of its shared border with Montrachet) but it was notably advanced. That’s the same problem I’ve had with most other wines from Bruno Colin that I’ve tried. I have never had the Chassagne En Remilly from Philippe Colin and he is clearly the better winemaker of the two brothers. The 2010 Philippe Colin Chevalier did quite well with the group in the dinner written up above (though I wasn’t quite as fond of it as the group was).
Bouchard owns a small plot of En Remilly which spans all of the contours of the vineyard (same as Chevalier). That wine is one of the rarest in Bouchard’s portfolio because of the tiny production and is isn’t sold in the usual channels for Bouchard. Some years it appears that it isn’t sold commercially at all. I was fortunate to buy a case of 2017 pre-arrival. Based on the Tanzer review, it should be worth buying if you can find it.
Buisson-Charles owns some Chassagne En Remilly. I like their Meursault Boucheres despite their spelling issues (“Bouches-Chéres”), but I have not tried one of their Chassagne En Remilly to date. This seems to get 90 or 91 points from Burghound fairly consistently, but all of the wines are tasted on release.
Morey-Coffinet also owns some Chassagne En Remilly, but it is not reviewed much at all and I have never tasted one. This is one of my current sources for Batard Montrachet because it is always quite good and their pricing has stayed more reasonable than others.
Xavier Monnot also produces some Chassagne En Remilly. I have never seen any reviews of this wine.
There is also Bouard-Bonnefoy Chassagne En Remilly. Someone shared a 2009 En Remilly with me which was astonishingly good (and very inexpensive). So I bought an additional bottle of the 2009 and six of the 2010. The bottle I opened at the 2009 night one dinner was advanced and not close to the same wine. A couple of months after the 2009 dinners were completed I opened the first 2010. It was oxidized. So was the second bottle opened immediately thereafter. That ruled out using it in the 2010 dinners. Another bottle two months later was also oxidized. A fourth bottle opened six months ago on a lark wasn’t oxidized, but it wasn’t a great bottle either. I have two more bottles in my box of “highly suspect” wines in my home cellar.
Meadows also lists a new negociant named Maison Harbour that has produced a 2016 and 2017 Chassagne En Remilly.
FYI no En Remilly at Maison Harbour. I was there last November. Wines are lovely albeit a little pricey. I picked some Narvaux and some Corton (unbelievable as I don’t like the not so refined character of the wines from the hill, IMHO of course)
Don THANK YOU for these amazing report. The amount of effort that goes into these is simply astonishing.
Wonderful notes. Many thanks for this report. It is very encouraging.
You’re quite welcome. These dinners started in 2006. I organized what I thought was going to be a one-time event to taste the 1996 vintage at 10 years so that we could see just how serious the “premature oxidation” was. Everyone liked the concept and they wanted to make it a yearly event. We skipped to the 1999 vintage next and started tasting the wines at 7.5 years. Over the years I’ve refined the format a little and everything is now totally blind until after everyone has voted. So next February-March will be the 15th year.
My apologies. I misspoke about the vintages of Chassagne En Remilly from Maison Harbour. Allen Meadows reviewed the 2014 and 2015 Chassagne En Remilly wines from Maison Harbour in Issue 67 in June of 2017. It sounds like they quit buying grapes from that vineyard.
Thanks for all the information. From what little wine I have had from either Bruno Colin or Philippe Colin I have thought they were good but nowhere near great producers. Not surprised that the wines do not hold up.
I do like the wines of Buisson-Charles and would find that an interesting one to try if I could find the wine. I have had a number of their Meursaults and have visited the estate once. Not surprised that they do not get high scores as the wines are more elegant than big and are pretty reticent when young. They need time and I have not had any that were premoxed with age, although I have not bought their wines in a while because I don’t have the source for them that I used to have.
Bouchard is also interesting. I really like their whites. I think there Meursault Perrieres year in and year out is the best value wine from the vineyard. I have bought 2016 and 2017 for about $80. I had a 2007 in the last year that was still young and a 2014 and 2016 that I think are going to be quite good. Your annual scores seem to confirm my views in that they are ranked consistently with wines selling for many times as much.
I will pm you with my email. Thanks.
One of the wines I had bought and set aside for the 2011 dinners was the 2011 Buisson-Charles Meursault Bouches-Cheres. I was planning on including it in the second flight with the Roulot Clos de Boucheres, as I thought it would make a very good pairing. Since we were limited to 8 wines in the second flight, and we had an abundance of Meursaults for this dinner, I couldn’t slot the the Buisson-Charles in without displacing someone else’s wine contribution. So about a month later my wife and I shared the bottle over dinner. She remarked how exceptional it was – which doesn’t happen all that frequently despite having a lot of really nice whites to drink on a regular basis. Although I tasted the wines about a month a month apart, I thought the 2011 Buisson-Charles ran circles around the 2011 Roulot Clos de Boucheres (also from my cellar). I thought the Buisson-Charles was a 94 point wine (vs the 92 points I gave the Roulot). It had more mid-palate density and grip than most of the other 2011 Meursaults. After looking at my notes (Yes, I’ll eventually get them posted), I think the Buisson-Charles probably would have been in the top five or top six wines on night one if it had been included.
Interesting to see your take on the Bouard Bonnefoy. I have only this year come across them, as someone I know has started importing. I’ve tried one of the '17 En Remillys and was thoroughly impressed, have a few more for keeping. Sounds like I shall need to check in on them quite regularly to avoid premox disappointment!!
When I tasted the first bottle of the 2009 Bouard-Bonnefoy En Remilly I think it was four years old. Given the price ($40 US as I recall), I was astonished. Blind I would have sworn it was Chevalier Montrachet. I immediately thought about what a ringer it would be in these dinners. I ended up buying the only bottle of 2009 I could find at the time and bought six 2010 as well a few months later. I also contacted Fabrice Bouard, the owner and winemaker. He related that their plot in En Remilly was along the border between Chevalier and En Remilly. Like many others his family had sold their grapes to others and made a little wine for themselves. Fabrice and his wife took over the operation in 2006. It is tiny and they own no grand crus. North Berkeley Wines, who imports the wines into the US, now has some information on the website. This is a tiny operation with an old wooden press and everything done by hand including bottling. But there is one sentence which is very telling: “Wines are bottled by hand, have little added sulfur and are unfined and unfiltered.” Therein is the explanation for why the wine tasted great at age four and why the bottles of 2010 were premoxed by the time they were 6 years old.
My advice is to definitely drink them early if you buy them.
Don, have you posted the notes for the 2011 assessment dinner somewhere and I am just not finding them?
Thanks!
Robert:
Sadly, I have not gotten to it. I got way behind with a big trial I have been involved with. I’ll try to get it done because the 2012 dinners will be coming next.
![[thankyou.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/df165fe9c1593d19166ae7e1ffe5e272089cc07b.gif "thankyou"){kind=small}
Thank you in advance…
Concur----really looking forward to your thoughts—and the group’s—on the 2011s. Just had a Sauzet Puligny Perrieres yesterday and it was shudderlicious, really on point.
Haere Ra
Mike
For those of you who have been patiently waiting, I finally got the notes from the first night of the 2011 Vintage Assessment Dinners posted. You will find them here: 2011 White Burgundy Vintage Assessment Dinner No. 1 – Night One – Feb 18, 2019 at Drago Centro - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers
Thanks a lot! … as usual great insight…