In April, I went to Cleveland as a guest to attend a huge vertical of Chateau de la Tour. Francois Labet was on hand. Bob Conrad and Michael Bowden organized everything. Sam Hartwell was nice enough to share a room in his beautiful home so that I could stay close.
I have a ton of notes but I think the best that I can do here is steer you towards the absolute best notes I have seen.
They are in the newest Burghound. Allen Meadows sat next to me for the two days. It was quite the education.
He is generous man with an incredible insight. A wonderful student of history too.
I steer you initially towards recent vintages where I think Francois has found his groove with his son Edouard. The texture now is silky. Wonderful feel in the mouth and aromatics. The management of whole cluster is judicious versus the early days. The wines are absolutely delicious. 2020/2010 are especially nice. 2022 is no slouch especially the Homage a Jean Morin which is a special selection of sentinel shoots from the oldest vines. (These wines will be reviewed in the next edition Issue 100. )
The Guy Accad wines were easy to pick out from the bunch. You have to have tasted these to really understand Even at 30 years of age, they are quite stern and depending on the vintage ungiving and begging for some food just to make sense of them. .
I found the 1962/1949/1945 and 1929 out of magnum to be as good as you could want from Clos Vougeot. Absolutely amazing wines. Texturally almost perfect. Aromatically complex without a single note of rusticity.
I hope you will forgive me for steering you to Allen’s notes instead of posting a huge grouping by myself but his collection of notes are really definitive. They completely capture the wines tasted.
It was a great time seeing alot of friends and being welcomed by the Cleveland chapter.
Alan,
Both were wonderful. The 2005 is a surprise. It is generous and not showing the stern type of structure that many other 2005s are showing. We had it with our main dinner. To me it is just a young teenager with many more years to go.
The 2009 is starting to show some development. Not all primary fruit anymore. It shows some elements of the heat of the vintage(i.e. slightly darker fruit and mild VA on the nose) but nothing overdone. I loved it.
Ah. I do understand but I think this piece by Allen is SO good. It is one reason I haven’t posted my notes. I knew Allen was going to knock it out of the park and he did. I don’t mind responding to individual years. Tasting 106 wines over 2 days can be palate fatiguing. His historical take on the Clos and the Morin family is worth the price of admission by itself. By recent vintages, I am really talking about 2000 until the present. I think there was a nice jump in quality starting in 2009/2010. Now the wines are superb. If there are specific years or specific wines, I am happy to post my notes here. Again, I think Allen’s take is really the best. (Sorry about the paywall)
Here is a little blurb on recent years of the Cuvee Classique and the Clos de la Tour. Hope it helps.
These are my notes.
The history of Chateau de la Tour dates back many years and is as old as the Clos Vougeot itself. For hundreds of years the Cistercian monks were the caretakers of this entire vineyard that was named as the Clos Vougeot around 1100AD. That arrangement continued until 1791 when the Clos Vougeot was torn from the church and put up for sale. It was bought by a single owner in 1818 by Victor Ouvrard for his nephew Jules. That arrangement continued until 1889 when the whole vineyard was bought by a consortium of 6 local negociants. Since that time the arrangements have multiplied to the large number of owners seen today.
The Chateau de la Tour is the largest owner in Clos Vougeot with a total of 10.9% of the total surface area under vines. The property was once owned by Maison Baudet but due to a health issue in WW1 by a successor/owner Charles it was sold so that he could recover from a mustard gas injury in Brazil. Monsieur Baudet then sold the property to the Morin family for Domaine that the negociant business was sold off to Jaffelin. Jean Morin bought the property in 1920 and then his daughter became the owner. Now Mesdames Labet and Dechelette are Jean Morins daughters who own the property now. It is run and operated by Pierre Labet and his son Edouard.
The part of the vineyard that belongs to the domaine is located to the north midslope. It abuts Jean Grivot (east), Joseph Drouhin(west) and Rebourseau (south). The oldest vines here are 100 years of age or more with many 70-year-old vines interspersed with some very young vines being planted due to frosts and as vines age. These young vines are not incorporated into the grand vin. A significant replanting happened in 1985 with the frosts and 1990/1991. When the old vines bottles are a special quality, they are bottled separately as Clos de la Tour VV as has occurred since 1987 or so. In recent years a special cuvee Hommage a Jean Morin has been made from the sentinel bunches in the old vine plot. (1 hectare total) when the fruit is of exceptional quality. These are hand separated and only those sentinel bunches are used. This is a special selection of the old vines plot.
The property has been organic since 1992 and uses whole cluster fermentation. The western side has a significant limestone base which extends in the northern area which abuts Grands Echezeaux The eastern section is brown soil that lies on marl rich in clay.
I was lucky enough to get invited by Michael Bowden who organized along with Bob Conrad. 106 bottles of Chateau de la Tour Clos Vougeot ranging from the 1928 to the 2022 Hommage a Jean Morin. We tasted over 2 days in 3 sessions. I only want to give impressions about a few of the wines. Allen Meadows is doing a big writeup in Burghound on the tasting. It should be wonderful. I can’t wait for that. These are my experiences with a few of these wonderful wines
The young bottles
Francois Labet started making wine with the domaine in 1984. He quickly talked with the Grivots who were using Guy Accad as a consultant. There was an abrupt change in 1992/1993 with the exit of Guy Accad who had been a consultant to Francois Labet in the late 80s until 1992 or so. These wines tended to be highly concentrated and highly oaked when young . A very different style of wine to the more elegant and aromatic style of the very old wines and the recent vintages.
Here are selected tasting notes I made on some of the younger wines from 1990 forward.
As a point of reference…
Cuvee Classique - This is a broad selection of vines that range up to 70 years of age. It is the largest selection for the domaine. For the older wines before the 1980s this was the only selection so it included all of the oldest vines too.
Cuvee Vielles Vignes- This is a selection in exceptional years of the oldest vines. These are often 100 years old. This started sometime in the 1980s.
Hommage a Jean Morin- A special election in exceptional years since 2010 to honor Pierre Labet’s grandfather. This is a selection of the sentinel berry bunch from only the oldest vines of approximately 100 years of age.
Cuvee Classique
2022- This shows intense primary pinot fruit. Red in quality. Beautifully perfumed. The mid palate shows significant tannin at this age which restrict the finish a little.
2017- Very nice aromatics. Red berry fruit with some element of spice and rose petals. The mid palate lacks a little density but the finish is very nice.
2014- Red fruited on the nose with some element of forest floor. Lighter palate. It finishes with a tannic flourish.
2012- An excellent dark red fruit nose. Forest floor type of aromas with some element of floral notes. Just beautiful. The palate is full and still shows some tannin but finishes long.
2009- Richer darker fruit on the nose. Stil somewhat primary. Lower acid profile on the palate. Very nice finish.
2007 – An absolutely gorgeous nose Red floral fruit. Rose petals. Almost Vosne type spice. Maybe lacking a little in the mid palate but the finish is satisfying and fans to show nice complexity. This is a stunning 2007.
2005- A primary focused darker fruited nose. Some element of spice but not showing the floral nature. The palate is precise and starting to expand in complexity. The tannins are precise and not at all rustic. Excellent finish.
2002- A high toned dark red fruit on the nose and palate. Some element of forest floor. Still very primary. Dense mid palate with some savory notes on the finish.
Thanks for sharing. I have a magnum of the 1978 and would love to hear your opinion on that wine? I need to open it and it’s always risky to plan a dinner around an old wine without backup bottles.
