I realized over the years I have a few very good wines from Beaune but seldom the mind shattering experience that can be great Burgundy. Never a Corton, although I have had a few good ones, excellent Volnays, D’Angerville Ducs mostly, and some fine Pommards. Very good, never great.
Anyone have a truly great Cote de Beaune?
I am not really sure what a mind shattering experience is with respect to wine. My really mind shattering experiences mostly involve family and friends.
I love Volnay. There are tons of really good producers in Volnay, not just D’Angerville and not just his Clos du Ducs - his Taillepieds for example is often really good. But, I also love the wines of Lafarge and Lafon, for example, and older Pousse D’Or, when Gerard Potel was still in charge, is as good as the wines from anyone in Volnay. And, there are a lot of other excellent producers in Volnay, one I always think of is Bouchard.
While I have had some very good wines from Pommard, the style of these wines is not my favorite style.
Reds from Beaune and Chassagne Montrachet can be surprisingly good. Over the last year I had a Beaune Bressandes 1985 from Albert Morot that was really good. It had a fabulous nose. Some of the best negociants in Burgundy make great wines from Beaune including Jadot, Drouhin and Bouchard.
And, there are a lot of wonderful Cortons.
One thing I will say about the reds from the Cotes de Beaune, just like the wines from the Cotes de Nuits. They need time to be great. It is pretty rare to have a five or six year old Burgundy that is great. Great Burgundy is not about fruit or size or power. Many of the great Burgundies I have had most Bordeaux lovers would consider too light. But the haunting nose and the layers and layers of flavor make the wine great to me. Looking for size - go elsewhere.
A number of Cortons though they need a lot of time. Weren’t you at that dinner at Dale’s where I opened a Prince Florent de Merode from the '70s which showed really, really well?
I have been enjoying De Montille’s Corton Pougets from the 2006 vintage, surprisingly accessible and a sublime wine. Maybe not great in the DRC/Rousseau/Roumier sense, but outstandingly elegant, complex Cote De Beaune.
'69 actually!
Couple others I’d put in great category would be '93 Lafarge Chenes (though young) and '85 Drouhin Mouches (though last bottle I tried was showing some age). ’
Yes, there were a few really great bottles - Cortons ´59, ´62,´64 and ´69s, some fine Volnays (e.g. ´78 Champans/d´Angerville) and (now and then) a really good Beaune … but in most cases the “mind-shattering” (however you call it) magical perfume and complexity of a great Vosne or Chambolle is missing …
but I admit I drink mature (and immature) red Beaunes less often than Nuits … so I might have missed the best …
![[shrug.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/48636ebda2a440a43ad8d24c83be20ac20c53420.gif "shrug"){kind=small}
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I never could get much satisfaction from Pommards … usually too young - or too chunky and foursquare … but there are a few very good ones … however they need as much time as a Corton …
red Chassagnes can be good for “drinking” - but usually not for “intellectual” tasting …
Are you asking about true CdB’s or just anything red south of Pernand?
If only CdB’s, I had an '85 Drouhin Clos des Mouches a few years ago that was simply spectacular. I don’t have many other CdB’s that are of similar or suitable age, but I have high hopes for a few Greves & Ursules (which I believe are widely considered the best of Beaune) over the next decade or two.
I think Jadot does good things in Beaune if you can keep them long enough. Some of the '90’s (Boucherottes & Avaux) are really lovely now.
I’ve probably never had a CdB that reaches the same heights as, say, tip-top Musigny or Chambertin. But that’s also okay.
For my palate, the best wines wines from the Cote de Beaune epitomize what I love about Burgundy, and I buy more CdB than CdN by some margin. Lafarge may be my favorite producer in the whole region, and Montille, Angerville, de Courcel, Billard-Gonnet, and others are not far off.
At 30 years, I had a fantastic Grands Epenots (maybe in my top 10 all time) and was able to track a Corton Clos du Roi on several occasions from its 30th to 40th birthdays. They were superb.
I’ve had great Beaune 1ers that have fully cracked at 25 years of age. Those were awesome, but they weren’t in a lineup of heavy hitters but over dinner with friends.
I might, however, pick a top flight Cote de Beaune over a middling Cote de Nuits any day if I had to choose, especially after that 25 year point.
64 D’Angerville Volnay Clos du Ducs
78 Courcel Pommard Grand Clos de Epenots
62 Prieur Volnay Clos de Santenots
47 Bouchard Volnay Clos de Chenes
64 Latour Corton Grancey
62 Madame François Ganoux Pommard Rugiens
61 Belland Corton Clos de la Vigne Au Saint
69 Tollot Beaut Corton Bressandes
64 Potel Volnay Clos de Bousse D’or
In the last month: 1990 Michel Gaunoux Pommard Grands Epenots and 1990 Courcel Pommard Clos des Grands Epenots.
Because this was posed as mind shattering and not just truly excellent or outstanding (interpreting “great” > “excellent” or “outstanding”):
1971 D’Angerville Volnay Clos du Ducs
Close - might be there now :
1993 Lafarge Volnay Clos des Chenes
When I saw this thread title I thought it was going to be about the best AOC wines from the region.
If that were the case, I’d say Drouhin! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Yes, Dale and Jay, I forgot about that; it was a very fine bottle, and I really enjoyed it. But not quite transcendent, lacked that oomphy factor that gets the Burgundy lover so riled up.
I had an 85 Leroy Beaune Greves last Saturday which was excellent. Others I’ve had that were of first rate quality - 47 Giroud Corton, 59 Gaunoux Rugiens, 02 d’Angerville Ducs, and probably a few others I’m forgetting.
66 Leroy corton and 69 Leroy grand epenots off the top of my head are all stars.
Aside from what’s been mentioned…
In general, Drouhin’s Clos des Mouches.
'89 and '90 were sublime recently. And '93 is no slouch.
A colleague kindly invited me to his house for dinner a few weeks back when I was on a business trip to the Far East. He’s got one of the best burgundy cellars I’ve ever seen. We were chatting over a very nice pillot chevalier when I mentioned that I love his red Chassagne csj. My host smiled and mentioned that he had already opened a red village Chassagne for dinner and hoped it would be ok - if memory serves, it was a 1959 and it was as stunning a red burgundy as I can recall.
1959 Jadot Clos des Ursules (opened by Leo Jadot, who else?) several years ago was that sort of mind bending experience.
1985 Jadot Corton Pougets
1993 Chandon de Briailles Corton Bressandes
I am slowly consuming a case each of the above, they are exceptional wines.