Hospices de Beaune wines, oysters in the streets of Beaune, sheer joy

WINE TALK
1

What a spectacle it was to witness the 149th Hospices de Beaune auction, to taste the wines one day before and to meet other wine lovers and writers in a festive pre-holiday spirit. Beats Beaujolais Nouveau, certainly.

I had to take the train back to Strasbourg the Sunday of that crazy weekend, seeing oysters served on a half shell by street vendors, wine shops pouring Meursault, St Aubin and various whites… My girlfriend and I ended up wolfing down a pizza in Besançon on the way to Strasbourg, but not before a couple of fine lunches in Beaune not to mention a magnificent Bouchard tasting dinner on Friday …

Back in 1459, the Hospices de Beaune received their first vineyard donations. Over the centuries, numerous additional donations have enabled the Domaine of the Hospices de Beaune to acquire more than 60 hectares of vineyards: 50 Pinot Noir and 10 Chardonnay. Roland Masse directs the winemaking for the domain and was very frank about the quality of the vintage when I interviewed him for a couple of articles published later.

As most of you already know, each cuvee offered for sale is subdivided into parcels of several identical barrels – same size and description – called pièces in Burgundy. The buyer could choose to purchase a single barrel or several. The cuvee names do not represent a vineyard but rather the name of the benefactor. All the wines come from vineyards of the Domaine of the Hospices de Beaune, all are based on the donations.

What is interesting is that the tending of the wine, the elevage, will be carried out by different negociants-eleveurs according to buyer’s preferences and negociation. So you may have a Bouchard Hospices de Beaune wine or a Bichot Hospices de Beaune wine, to take two examples… Sorry if most readers already know this, but perhaps some do not…

Anyway, it was a great time!

I am just going through piles of tasting notes, and would like to share with fellow wine geeks my first-ever experience tasting Hospices wines at such an early stage - one day before the auction. Wines still in the proverbial mother’s womb, pre-malo with some containing residual sugar, not yet fully fermented. In other words: not the easiest tasting experience, and at a rapid clip to boot. Was able to taste also a number of fine Burgundies from a massive tasting at the convention hall, and will post these notes as well, at least on my website once it is after several months of waiting revamped.

Enclosed my on-the-spot notes on the Hospices wines, 2009 vintage, one day before the auction (wines particularly impressive in red):

Reds

Pernard Vergelesses 1er Cru Cuvee Rameau-Lamarosse: Nail polish, pepper, better on the palate.

Savigny Les Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Fouquerand: Darker than the above, lovely ripeness, chewy tannins, Welsch grapes aspect, very pleasing. Look out for this one?

Savigny Les Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Arthur Girard: Carbonnated, prickly, hard to taste…

Savigny Les Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Forneret: More precision on the palate, although showing its malic acid prominently, this shows fine ripeness and focus.

Monthelie 1er Cru Cuvee Lebelin: Red apple note. Rather malic, but very ripe, with a pleasing chocolate aspect.

Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru Cuvee Boillot: Very rich and ripe; bright as well, with carbon gas. Showing the most structure so far… Nice.

Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Cyrot-Chaudron: Very ripe dark fruit, although the gums are attacked by hard tannins. Too much new oak?

Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Maurice Drouhin: Suave nose, not as hard as the above, although again tannic… Good, not great.

Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Hugues et Louis Bétault: Yet another hard wine, although shows character. Not sure what’s up with the Beaunes here…

Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Brunet: Perhaps the smoothest of all the Beaunes, sappy and fresh tasting. Ripe, of course. Fine job.

Beaune-Greves 1er Cru Cuvee Pierre Floquet: This one is also austere for my taste, hitting the gums rather hard.

Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Clos des Avaux: Supple, lovely body with both sap and richness. Very nice.

Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Dames Hospitalieres: Even better than the above; the palate shows backbone, power and ripeness, with a tannic edge that does not attack the gums.

Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Guigone de Salins: Fine, although not as impressive as the two prior wines

Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee Nicolas Rolin: Very structured and fine.

Volnay 1er Cru Cuvee Muteau: Malic nose, but with an excellent structure on the palate.

Volnay 1er Cru Cuvee Blondeau: Nose marked by the malic acid, slightly better structure than the above but not as flattering.

Volnay Santenots 1er Cru Cuvee Jehan de Massol: Rich, big, fruity. Rustic compared to the next wine, but still lots of chutzpah. Nice job.

Volnay Santenots 1er Cru Cuvee Gauvain: I got more excited with this wine, as it showed a much more polished nose and focus on the palate, with chocolate aspects indicating lovely ripeness.

Pommard Cuvee Suzanne Chaudron: A more powerful palate, which is something I was half expecting, although also refined. I still prefer the above.

Pommard Cuvee Raymond Cyrot: Too much carbon gas, hard to evaluate.

Pommard Cuvee Billardet: Very smooth, fat and juicy.

Pommard Epenots 1er Cru Cuvee Dom Goblet: A distinct step up, one can taste the “breed” of a 1er cru in this case… far greater elegance and just as much power and structure.

Pommard 1er Cru Cuvee Dames de la Charité: Just as good if not perhaps a wee bit better? Broad shouldered, but elegant, and much finesse.

Corton Grand Cru Cuvee Charlotte Dumay: Wow, wow, wow, this was very refined and earned my highest praise so far in this tasting. Smooth, full and long on the finish. Yum.

Corton Grand Cru Cuvee Docteur Peste: This was more intense, more going on but I get a sense that despite its larger scale, it is not as refined as the above. And what a funny name: “Doctor Plague”…

Corton Clos Du Roi Grand Cru Cuvee Baronne Du Bäy: Is Dumay better? This is a very close call… Another exciting wine here, with gingerbread sweetness, very broad scaled palate, very subtle and smooth.

Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvee Cyrot-Chaudron: Bright and chewy, with a tannic edge and an incredibly long finish. This surpasses any of the Cortons. Marvelous, to use an adjective in vogue during the 1970s.

Mazis Chambertin Grand Cru Cuvee Madeleine Collignon: Far more refined and subtle than the above. It does not explode in the palate like the Clos de la Roche but rather finds its way to your most hidden taste buds in a very polished fashion. Just as good, but a different style.

Whites

Saint Romain Cuvee Joseph Menault: This was a new donation so the first time offered at the Hospices auction, from rather young vines, replanted in the mid to late 90s. Good and refreshing Chardonnay from Burgundy. Not too complex, but certainly not showing signs of overheat. Nice job.

Pouilly Fuisse Cuvee Françoise Poisard: Light grapefruit juice flavors and very malic feel. Hard to gauge.

Meursault Cuvee Loppin: Green apple, red apple aspect. Palate is rich, full albeit a tad hot on the finish.

Meursault-Porusots 1er Cru Cuvee Jéhan Humblot : The best white so far, with mahogany elegance, very focused with fine acidity – not the hallmark of this vintage it seems.

Meursault-Genevrieres 1er Cru Cuvee Baudot: A crystalline sweetness bon bon anglais as the French say. Spiced pineapple aspect, with lots of zing. I really like this one because it also has richness. A star of the vintage?

Meursault-Genevrieres 1er Cru Cuvee Philippe le Bon: A nuanced nose with butter aspect so typical of this appellation it seems, yes? Rounder than the above with less acidity, but not limp. Nice job!

Meursault-Charmes 1er Cru Cuvee Albert Grivault: Does this have enough acidity for the long term? Soft, ripe and fat, but where is the beef (the backbone)?

Corton-Vergennes Grand Cru Cuvee Paul Chanson: Better acidity than the preceding wine, but still rather low…

Corton-Charlmemagne Grand Cru Cuvee Charlotte Dumay: The best white of this pre-infant horizontal, and beautifully so. Fine acidity in the finish, like a nice mineral line of flavor. Excellent structure.

Corton-Charlmemagne Grand Cru Cuvee François de Salins: Hard to taste, not quite done with malo and also pre-fermented sugar.

Batard Montrachet Grand Cru Cuvee Dames de Flandres: I know this sold very well at the auction, but it was flat and one could taste the residual sugar.

2

Very impressive, Panos. While not in total agreement, my experience was not too dissimilar. Which tasting was this from? Not the trade tasting on Friday. The Christie’s event on Saturday? Did you get any wine?

3

Thanks Steve! It was the Saturday Christie’s tasting. No, I did not bid on any wine… Am in between jobs, so have to be careful about expenditures, but it seems that 2009 should be an excellent vintage for the reds, and pretty good for some whites, although perhaps a bit flabby for others.

Did you buy any wine? And how does your impression differ? Looking forward to your take!

Chrs, P

4

I did the Long March trade tasting at the Hospice cuverie on Friday and the Christie’s event Saturday. I much preferred the Christie’s event for evaluation purposes.

I thought the Savignys, with the exception of the Foneret, to be pretty weak. I liked the Auxey-Duresses. Among the Beaunes, I liked the Betault, Floquet, Clos des Avaux and the Rousseau-Deslandes - most particularly the Floquet.

I thought the Volnays were strong as a group, liking the Gauvain the best and the Blondeau and Muteau a little behind. The Massol was my least favorite of this group, but it was quite good.

I didn’t care for the Suzanne Chaudron and Raymond Cyrot in the Pommards, but did like the Billardet. I thought the 1er cru Pommards were outstanding. I know there was a lot of talk about the Epenots, but I preferred the Dames de la Charite.

The Cortons were all excellent. The Charlotte Dumay was the most elegant and the Dr. Peste more powerful, but I thought qualitatively, they were a tossup for best of three. The Baronne Du Bay was a sliver behind.

I found the Clos de la Roche to be strange, particularly on Friday. Even on Saturday, it didn’t have the stuff to match its pedigree.

The Mazis was the best red, imo. But, of course, it fetched the highest price.

The whites were, I thought, as a group stronger than the reds. They pretty much tasted in order of presentation to me. The exception were the Meursault-Charmes, where I preferred the Lanlay to the Grivault.

And I thought the de Salins Corton-Charlemagne was the star of the entire show - both red and whites. I agree about Batard-Montrachet, although it was better on Saturday than it was on Friday.

Our group bought ten barrels total: 2 Betault Beaune 1er cru, 1 Clos des Avaux Beaune 1er cru, 2 Blondeau Volnay 1er cru, 1 Gauvain Volnay Santenots 1er cru, 3 Dr. Peste Corton grand cru and 1 Meursault Goureau.

5

Thanks Steve for your detailed response. For some reason, I did not get a sample of the Rousseau-Deslandes, so could not judge. Interesting your take that the whites were stronger than the reds as a group. Do you think that the acidity overall will be enough for a long haul vintage in 2009? I was lucky to be tasting next to a Burgundy tasting veteran, Michael Apstein of the Wine Review Online.
Chrs, Panos

6

I just thought the reds were a lot more variable in quality - of course there were about 3x as many. The whites were a pretty linear path up until the Batard. I don’t know how long the whites will last but I didn’t think they lacked acidity in a glaring way. But they were so delicious, it will hard to keep one’s hands off them anyway. [drinks.gif]