Bunch of Burgs (mostly) inc Gouges, Fourrier, Pernot, others

These are notes from the past week or so. The mags were all consumed on the same night along with the Mugnier. Not a bad little run.

2001 Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges clos des Porrets: From magnum (I know, right?) I certainly appreciate that the Gouges can put the hurt on you but I do agree with a comment I believe Maureen made recently to the effect that the legend outstrips the reality. I would place this bottle as Exhibit A to back up that statement. This is far more friendly than one might expect especially given the format. Oh sure, it definitely has darker Nuits notes especially in relation to the Mugnier it was served with and it ha some muscle-y tannins but they aren’t out of line and are more just in keeping with what a lot of '01s present as structure these days. Mouth-filling and tinted with some sauvage notes for a little of that Heart of Darkness quality that Nuits provides at times. I’m an unabashed fan so take this with a grain of salt if you wish but this is a very good and quite drinkable Nuits.

2000 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet: From magnum. Damn. Exactly what you would want from 10 year old Puligny village. Lemon curd sunk into a fleshy mix of pears, apples and honey with a few tumbled stones thrown in for good measure. Clean and vibrant. Not wildly complex and the finish doesn’t inspire you to join the French Foreign Legion but it delivers beautifully bottle aged Puligny and I miss that these days.

2003 Evesham Wood Cuvee J Pinot Noir: From magnum. Manages to have enough sex appeal in an odd vintage to be drinkable paired with Gouges and Mugnier. It’s ripe but not hot. It’s clunky but not over-wrought. It’s full-throttle but not cloying. Will this be your favorite EW Pinot ever? No. However, it is far from unappealing and has its place in the world especially when you have a bunch of folks around that dig domestic Pinot. This would be demure to a couple of Pinots I have had recently from, um, a different state.

2007 Mugnier Nuits St. Georges Clos de la Marechale: 2 bottles side by side to match up with the magnums. Style. I could end the review at that and get away with it. I’ll add the following: Classy. Perfumed. Debonair. Silk. Mouth-watering. Maybe the last great value from this producer and site. Go long and strong here. The price has been very right on this and it’s not coming back to this neighborhood anytime soon yet the wine is utterly delicious.

2007 Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Echezeaux: First off I would introduce this wine by saying I had it, alone, at a fantastic little restaurant in Asheville, NC after a day of travel and mostly not a great day in the life. This started out distinctively funky, tart and a little lacking in the stuffung department with a trace of metallic notes on the finish. After 30 minutes it began to prop itself up and another 30 minutes it began to fully emerge. Aromatic in that Fourrier way which I think pairs wonderfully with the vintage. Fresh and rich fruit that filled up the mid-palate nicely and evolved from richly red to sprightly sappy blacker qualities over the last hour. Beautiful mid-weight texture and soft tannins that suggest earlier term drinking is just fine. Very good indeed.

2007 Arlaud Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Combottes: in contrast to the Fourrier this was en pointe straight out of the bottle. Lovely, rich aromatics that combine fruit and game in a seductive way. Speaks to the cooler nature of the site and vintage while it is not lacking for either ripeness or depth. Certianly no bruiser but certainly a lovely, lovely wine that is drinking very nicely right now. Well balanced enough to have a good 7-10 years worth of upside on it but not a problem to pull now.

2009 Jean Marc Millot Echezeaux: Certainly likeable. Is that a good thing to say? This is sort of the Louie Anderson of GC wines I have had in awhile. It’s big, it’s a bit sweet, it’s mostly playing it down the middle but it also has a little arsenal of dirty jokes to tell you that are pretty damn funny if not necessarily to everyone’s taste. This is well made Echezeaux with all the bells, whistles and trappings of the 2009 vintage. If Jim Jeffries is more your speed this is going to come off as a little corny and simple but if Rita Rudner makes you double over this will provide an extra level of entertainment. Personally, I’m a Jeffries sort of guy.

2007 Pernot Bienvenue-Batard Montrachet: I kind of dig it when GC whites are a little crazy for awhile after being opened. It’s usually a sign of good things to follow. Definitely a little pu-pu platter of oak and reduction for a good 5 hours of slo-ox. After about 20 minutes in the glass it resolved in an instant and became incredibly good. Lush BVB fruit and texture with the lift of acidity I expect from Pernot. Dances and dazzles providing hedonistic highs with a complex infrastructure. Densely aromatic by the end. Just a really terrific GC white that touches all the bases. Dynamite.

Haaa! Loved the jean Marc tasting note…very clever and creative

What I really wanted to note is how much I am enjoying the '07 burg. vintage. I’ve been drinking alot of Louis boillot 1er cru sous la chapelle from volnay, it’s lights out.

I must admit that i haven’t had a lot of Gouges, but I did have 2001 and 2002 LSG recently, and they were remarkably approachable and drinkable. I was wondering where the hurt-locker thing was coming from. Dark fruited,yes, but amazing fruit and no real tannic pain and certainly not closed down in any major way.

Jim, thanks for the great notes. You are drinking well, I see.

John, I’ve seen many teasers about this '01/'02 tasting… but no TN’s? I’m pretty sure that is against the law, or something, to taste those wines and not start a thread.

an 00 ripped my face off a couple yrs ago. They are usually quite backward and slow to develop.
alan

Thanks for the notes Jim.

“I certainly appreciate that the Gouges can put the hurt on you but… This is far more friendly than one might expect especially given the format.”. Jim, I recently enjoyed meeting Monsieur Pierre, who was assisted by his charming sister Francoise at LaPaulee. While slowly gaining Gouges experience, sometimes they seem wonderfully massaging while others deliver that right cross to the jaw. I completely agree that the darker mystique is capitvating. Are there any NSGs with similar depth? Accessible versions (like a recent 07 Vaucrains and 09 Pruliers) provide a nice snapshot, if scorned by purists.

“2003 Evesham Wood Cuvee J Pinot Noir.” Making demure wines in that vintage was no small achievement. Gonna miss him.

2007 Mugnier Nuits St. Georges Clos de la Marechale: This and the 06 were 2 favs. Is the wood disappearing?

2009 Jean Marc Millot Echezeaux: Certainly likeable. Is that a good thing to say?..This is well made Echezeaux with all the bells, whistles and trappings of the 2009 vintage. Loved the '06 version. “2009 vintage trappings” is not a turn-on IMHO, YMMV.

“2007 Pernot Bienvenue-Batard Montrachet: I kind of dig it when GC whites are a little crazy for awhile after being opened…Definitely a little pu-pu platter of oak and reduction for a good 5 hours of slo-ox. After about 20 minutes in the glass it resolved in an instant and became incredibly good.” That transition gets completely missed when speed tasting Burgs. Any insights on style differences between Pernot and Ramonet?

RT

I would say that Chevillon can produce that much more darkly themed style of Nuits. Perhaps not quite as exacerbated as Gouges but his Les Cailles and Vaurcrains bottlings are definitely in the ballpark IMO.

As I said regarding the '09 Millot, I am more of a Jim Jeffries sort of guy.

I didn’t find the barrel notes on the '07 Marechale at all overdone. Very harmonious. It did get a nice 5-6 hour slow ox though.

I love Pernot. Ramonet is, to me, a step up. I think the Ramonets usually show that oak/reduction thing for many years and for quite some time after being opened. I think that in the Ramonet as it recedes into the wine the level of complexity it provides is enormous and the wines are stunning revelations. In the Pernot it mostly melted away leaving the purity of fruit and texture from the site. Admittedly it is not as if I am slugging down much in the way of hyphenated Montrachet that often from anyone let alone Ramonet but that has been my experience. One of my wines of the year from 2010 was a '93 Ramonet Batard that was phenomenally weird upon being opened. I haven’t followed, so much, the pricing on Pernot Batards (they are no longer available in the Portland market I believe) but the '07s were around $80 wholesale so while not exactly inexpensive they were, in comparison, quite a deal.

Jim,

Great notes.

Glad to see so many 07 red burgs showing so well. I’m sampling lots of them these days and finding them quite tasty much of the time, even NSG premiers (Chevillon). The 07 vintage may get me through the next few years (decades) as I wait for all the other burgs I’ve purchased lately to come around.

Cheers,
Doug

Drank a bottle of the '07 Boillot Volnay Caillerets last night and it was delicious.

Lewis, another member of our group (I won’t mention Rick Gregory’s name) who writes better notes than I do said he was going to post, so I was demurring, but since it’s been a while, I may jump in.

Jim, regarding the 2007 mugnier: Is it really drinking great today, or is your praise looking more down the road to when it is mature? That is to say, should I drink or hold?

It tasted excellent that night with sweet primary fruit and a gracious texture. I’m sure this wine will be fine going down the road and its ability to be appreciated will largely be based on whether you like more primary wines or older wines.

Nice notes Jim, thanks. And congrats on the mention in the NYT Dining / Wine section today.