Drinking windows for Bourgogne and satellite appellation Burgundy

WINE TALK
1

My wife likes Pinot Noir and I have finally moved her from Californian examples, some of which are fine, to Burgundy, which suit my palate better.

I do an acceptable job of working my way through Premier and Grand crus when it comes to ageing them, but have little experience when we move down the ladder and as an accused bottom-feeder that is where I’m headed.

We’ve been working through a case of 2005 Guy Amiot Santenay Comme Dessus, which was cheap and is terrific.

I wish to lay away something similar from the 2015 vintage, working on the assumption that this sort of vintage will benefit the wines I am looking at.

I am looking at the following wines, trying to keep things under $40 a bottle, which is what passes for value Burgundy these days if I’m not mistaken. I am curious when you all would expect these wines to be at peak. I’m assuming, there’s a lot of that going on, that the 2015 Bourgognes will show best if consumed over the next 5 years or so. The village wines I would expect to drink for a decade beginning in about 2020.

Yes, no, maybe, look elsewhere?

2015 Henri Perrot-Minot Bourgogne
2015 Domaine Arlaud Bourgogne Rouge Roncevie
2015 Domaine Lamarche Hautes Cotes de Nuits
2015 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Bourgogne Rouge
2015 Hubert Lignier Bourgogne Rouge Grand Chaliot

2015 Albert Morot Beaune Teurons
2015 Albert Morot Beaune Bressandes

2015 Sylvain Pataille Marsannay Longeroies
2015 Sylvain Pataille Marsannay Grasses Tetes

2015 Domaine Bart Marsannay Grands Vignes
2015 Domaine Bart Marsannay Champs Salomon

2015 Joblot Givry Clos Servoisine
2015 Joblot Givry Clos Marole

2015 Francois Lumpp Givry Brulee

2015 Chateau de la Maltroye Santenay La Comme Rouge

2015 Bouchard Pere & Fils Savigny les Beaune Lavieres

2015 Michel & Joanna Ecard Savigny les Beaune Serpentieres
2015 Michel & Joanna Ecard Savigny les Beaune Gravains

2

If you are looking for wines that will be drinking well in 10 years, i suggest the 2014 vintage in Village wines.
2015 is a riper expression and will close down in the next couple of years and might not offer that much enjoyment over the short term

3

I’ll leave a proper answer to those with wider experience.

However in my more limited experience, ‘at peak’ seems to vary significantly between drinkers of Burgundy, perhaps more so than Nebbiolo. I’ve seen countless comments that the pro critics invariably recommend drinking Burgundy at the point the writer feels the wines are closing down. Thus any thoughts you have on liking very mature vs. needing some primary fruit remaining might assist the suggestions.

4

I recommend the Lignier. Big fan of their Bourgogne and in 5 years I bet the 15 will be rolling. Just had a 2009 that was a lot of wine and pleasure and character for the price. 2015 seems like a similar vintage profile.

5

Get the Hudelot-Noellat and the Arlaud.

6

Liked the 15’ Lignier BR, and have confidence in the Arlaud, Joblot, and Pataille as well. The drink windows of 5-10+ years seem reasonable. Have had great older Bourgognes from Montille and Faiveley that have been great in the 12-18 year range, but not as confident this group and vintage will be firing at around 15 years.

7

If you are looking for earlier drinking wine, Marsannay can be a good choice, along with Maranges (Giroud and Bachelet Monnot), Chorey-les-Beaune, village Savigny le Beaune (Pavelot), and Cotes de Nuits Villages. I like Morot, but that that’s a little while longer to come around and will last decades.

8

The Morots are long agers, the 1990s kind of mature, the 1993 still a bit young … (imho)
so perfect for laying down for 20+ years …

9

Gregory, looking at your list, I had the same thought as Howard as to my picks. For 2015s, I’d be looking at the 5-10 year range to start consuming. Best of luck with that.

Cheers, Howard

10

I want to thank you all for your input.

I imagine if I had been asking about 1ers this thread would have been much longer.

I am really looking forward to getting better acquainted with inexpensive Burgundy, even if I am late to the party.

As I led with, my wife is learning to like these wines and I find them both easy to drink and intriguing.

11

This thread (Consolidated off-the-beaten-path Burgundy TNs) might be useful to you:

12

I totally agree with this advice. 2015 is a fairly tannic vintage and the fact that these are not premier and grand crus from the cote d’or does not mean they won’t also be relatively tannic and shut down

13

Disclaimer:- I work for Domaine Arlaud every harvest & have done so back to & including 2008.

I haven’t tasted the 2015s properly yet (across the vintage, not just Arlaud) although have just brought a stash back from France :slight_smile: . However, if 2015 turns out akin to 2005, then I see the Arlaud Bourgogne Roncevie as possibly being closed down at c5 years. With my 2005 Roncevies, after trying a few I resolved to leave the rest alone a few years which eventually saw a marked improvement all round. I still have 4 or 5 from the original case of 12 & am confident they’ll be drinking well when opened (might be soon !). That’s 2005 for you. I haven’t touched a village or premier cru 2005 yet.

The terroirists on here will know Roncevie is pretty much a Village, the top element of the site at least. Gevrey owner/growers bottle as Gevrey Roncevie (can’t just think of an example at the mo). Local word has it a political thing goes on with the Morey vignerons only allowed to use BR for their Roncevie unlike their Gevrey counterparts ! This year I’ve seen fruit from the younger vines Roncevie furthest away from the RN74 like I’ve never seen since 2009. Again, Arlaud followers will know elements of the 5ha Arlaud Roncevie (those furthest from the road towards the woods) were very badly frosted indeed in the winter of 2009/10 with significant vines killed off, extensive replanting required. In keeping with 2017 being a vendange of quality & volume I was (very pleasantly !) stunned by what we found in the young vines Roncevie this year as like nothing seen thus far from the young vines to this point.

Finally, bit of thread drift sorry but, again for those interested, I have great hopes/belief for the CdN 2016s, Arlaud particularly, & firmly believe they will more than surprise. Whilst some sites were ‘lost’ entirely to frost in 2016 (two of three Chambolle premiers & the negoce ‘& Arlaud’ NSG) which we never went to, and Roncevie production was circa one third of normal, those sites on (even slightly) higher ground and even the Morey Village (around Clos Solon) produced superb looking grapes - the Combottes, CdlR, and notably the negoce Vosne Petit-Monts all super impressed at picking with mental note here these will be personal buys. Cyprien is very happy with the 2016s presently as is Jeremy Seysses at Dujac - it was my great fortune whilst at Dujac on an errand for a friend the week before last to enjoy a 2016 barrel tasting hosted by JS for the Dujac harvest interns who included 3 Californian boys & girl. The Dujac reds were superb.

14

The Sylvain Pataille and Domaine Bart wines are both excellent values and hold a lot of interest for their levels, in my opinion. Marsannay in general is a great value appellation. They also should age just fine for the time frame that you mentioned. I would at a minimum get a bottle or two to check out. Also, I know this is not your question, but Domaine Bart makes a Bonnes Mares and a Chambertin-Clos de Beze that are quite affordable by comparison to other producers of wines from those vineyards. The more recent vintages are much better than earlier vintages, in my opinion, if you are planning to go looking.

15

Thanks for the write up, Mark. Always great to hear a perspective from the vineyards.

16

FWIW, all the 2014 village/1er cru arlauds are spectacular tasting. Great prices too.