A bunch of Red Burgundies from NYE and NYD (Ponsot, Dujac, Mugnier, etc.)

WINE TALK
1

2007 Dageneau Silex: Appealing and fresh nose with grapefruits and white peaches dominating. Less matchsticky quality than I remember from the prodigious yet hard to like 2005. Nice texture, full mid-palate richness, long and clean finish. I liked this quite a bit, maybe the most since the 2004. Very, very good.

2006 J.F. Mugnier Nuits St. Georges Clos de la Marechale: Ripe and resplendent dark-fruited/earthy nose. Easy to appreciate right now. Good depth of flavor with darker fruits winning the day in the mid-palate. Not especially tannic although nicely structured. Surprisingly easy to enjoy right now although there is more energy than I think a lot of people associate with the 2006 vintage in this wine and there are plenty of years left in front of this. Very good.

2003 Mugneret-Gibourg Chambolle-Musigny Les Feusselottes: This is an extraordinarily high-quality Crozes-Hermitage. I usually find Crozes to be a little more rustic than this. Tremendous ripeness, good meaty/spicy thing going on leading into a slightly earthy character at the finish but mostly just a paprika-spiced finish that is pretty velvety for Crozes. Get the drift?

Those were the non-Champagne wines of New Year’s eve. Too many Champagnes to intellectually comment on any of them. The below set was from dinner New Year’s Day and there were a few Champagnes there as well, the one I do remember was the 2002 Vilmart Grand Cellier Rubis which is one of the better Rose Champagnes I have had in awhile and a real, real treat to drink. It has the brightness, freshness one would expect from a Pinot based Champagne but it also has ramped up intensity perhaps along the lines of a really, really well made Lirac Rose that give the wine guts and dimension without overdoing it. Excellent stuff. Seek it out if you have never had one.


1989 Groffier Chambolle-Musigny Les Hauts Doix: Weird rust/blood smell that at first was a theme in the wine and quickly just took over. Kept expanding and pushing any remnant of fruit and pleasure out of this wine.

2001 Dujac Clos de la Roche: When Dujac gets it right there aren’t many better things. This is heroically awesome. Bright, crunchy red cherries, a touch of meatiness, a little iodine and all wrapped in a briny presentation make for an outstanding nose. Sweet red fruit mix with blackberry, dark bread, beef bouillon and stones for a complex and supremely layered mid-palate. Lots of assertive tannins and bright acidity on the finish speak to the utter youthfulness of this wine. Showy without being excessive in any way. A tremendous effort, a beautiful wine and something that will be a winner in the cellar for years. It will likely never achieve any sort of legendary status but this is a barn-burner of a Burgundy.

2000 Clos de Lambrays: Few things would be well-served by being placed alongside the 2001 Dujac CdlR. This came off as inelegant and rustic by comparison. This kept getting bigger and gaining mass in the glass and bottle. Very spicy red raspberry component to the nose and for awhile in the mid-palate. The flavors began veering more towards smoked spiced meat, roasted cherries and red earth the longer the wine sat open. Not necessarily a bad thing and on its own or with different wines this may have shown much better. I would call it very good if someone what of an oddball.

2006 Domaine Ponsot Morey St. Denis Cuvee des Alouettes: A pretty wine for sure. Sweet red strawberry and cherry notes. A touch of mint in there as well. Bright, zippy and medium-bodied and toned. Notes of herbal tea and pie crust along with the bright fruit. A touch simple but very tasty and good for the short-term.

2

Agreed, and they flat out nail Clos de la Roche. Always a treat to open one of these.

3

Thanks for sharing.

However, I’d just like to point out a problem with one of the tasting notes:

“2003 Mugneret-Gibourg Chambolle-Musigny Les Feusselottes: This is an extraordinarily high-quality Crozes-Hermitage. I usually find Crozes to be a little more rustic than this. Tremendous ripeness, good meaty/spicy thing going on leading into a slightly earthy character at the finish but mostly just a paprika-spiced finish that is pretty velvety for Crozes. Get the drift?”

Best regards,
Alex R.

4

Thanks for the notes on some nice wines, Jim.
I have some of the 2006 Mugnier Marechale and have contemplating killing one young, so I appreciate your notes on that one especially.
Nice wines! Cheers.

5

you didn’t get the drift?

and i disagree re: 2001 Dujac CdlR – i think it will be legendary.

awesome notes - thanks.

6

Its delicious right now.

7

Agreed.

8

If anyone has notes on the 2006 Clos des Fourches from Mugnier I would be interested in seeing them. I have some but they are buried at the bottom of my off-site storage and I have recently seen a few good deals (if the wine is what I would expect) on it but I have as of yet tried the wine. Anyone?

9

i had it last year. nice wine. much preferred the marechale normale.

10

Well, we may be just have to see on Thurs.

11

If you have any of the 2008 it’s beautiful at the moment.

12

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the great notes.

If you only have a few bottles of the '01 CLR from Dujac, when would you recommend opening the first ?

13

Hard to say when might be perfect to drink the Dujac. The wine certainly has 10-15 years of life left to it, perhaps significantly longer, so it depends on what you are looking for and what you like. I could see some positive transformation of well-stored bottles in 5 years or so. It was so great now the upside is sort of hard to imagine. I have a bottle or 2 left and I think I will try to go 5 years on the next one.

14

Just tasted from Jero a couple of weeks ago. No formal notes but even in the large format was surprisingly approachable with beautiful violets on the nose.

15

I too have a few bottles of these.
However, I thought it was pretty closed when I opened one this past summer.
Buried the rest for a long slumber.

maybe I should have used a wine clef… [snort.gif]

16

Great notes Jim. We might just have to open a few Dujacs on your visit here next month [cheers.gif]

17

My note on this from a few months ago…a really good wine…

2001 Dujac Clos de la Roche:
Simply quite lovely! Red and black soaring fruit, with an interesting earth twist. Quite big, rich fruit but in lovely balance, in a wine that is really just starting to meld and hit it’s stride. Elegant, despite the fruit weight, and quite dense, with that lovely sense of balanced structure the great ‘01’s seem to have. A really top class wine that will be better in 8-10 years, and probably live well beyond that. Still with plenty of upside development in it yet. This bottle was also the only one we completely finished on the night….always a good sign. My overall favorite wine of the night.
94++pts

18

2003 Mugneret-Gibourg Chambolle-Musigny Les Feusselottes???

I have opened a few of these and have been pretty puzzled, its pretty over the top and quite extracted, something that is a little mis-fitting for the normal plush Mugneret-Gibourg style. I’d love to say that they gave pleasure but I’d be lying.

1993 Dujac CdlR was a complete woof of a wine, so I know what it taste like when they get it wrong, OMG that was aweful and it was straight from the cellar???

Thanks for the TN’s and the Rhonie drift

MT

19

You nailed this note. Love this wine, and you are 100% correct, Surprisingly good right now. I’m buying more b/c I couldn’t keep my hands off!

20

Don’t say that! I bought a 3L for my son!