I can say that I did not taste at the Commune de Meursault table but would have to spend time figuring out where else I did not taste. I know I did not taste any Beaujolais, for example, as I am not a big enough fan of Beaujolais to have spent time tasting those.
That was a great table. No crowd and much less (i.e., not) regulated by the very gregarious somm. And some of the best whites I tasted.
As per Jason’s note, I tasted with him and with Shan. I also thought Lignier’s Clos de la Roche was phenomenal and surprisingly open now. The nose on the Hudellot-Noellat RSV was spectacular (I had asked for the Vosne first and was given the RSV so was ready to rush out and buy cases of the village ![[berserker.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/8600bbd4810d342b8fbd4ffb62b4f0026275fd37.gif "berserker"){kind=small}
).
I hadn’t had Marc Morey before and was impressed. Was disappointed by Leflaive (not that it matters) and definitely enjoyed some of the bottles at the Meursault table, which are also good value. Which is fortunate since I think the vintage is better for Meursault than Puligny.
I didn’t really like the first two Clerget wines but liked the Cailleret quite a bit. Given the variance of the producers I tasted and their holdings, I don’t think I can really make a meaningful stab at describing the vintage.
He let us pour, which was very convenient! Also fun to take a picture with Lafon ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Having now had 2 premoxed bottles in a row of my Christian Moreau Clos, it has me wondering about my bottles of 2014 Clos. Glad to hear that the 14’s were quite good, but I wonder if I need to consume them before they are 5-6 years of age or age them normally and just resign myself to pouring some percentage of them down the drain.
This was from magnum. Who knows if that makes a difference?!
I have only one data point of Moreau’s Clos with a decent amount of age, which is that I had a 2010 this past year that was in great shape. I have no idea what aging white Burgundies “normally” means anymore and would not age any white Burgundies too long anymore.
Sorry, I neglected to mention what vintage of Christian Moreau Clos…it was the 2010 in the case of both premoxed bottles opened over the past few months. In light of the vintage I was surprised. That is why I am eyeing the 4 bottles of 2014 suspiciously, and it always raises the question of whether to drink them early or age them as one would in pre-plague times and take one’s chances. Sounds like the 2014 is drinking well, and so drinking them over the next few months would be safest.
I should also mention that we had a tasting of Chablis several years ago, and I loved the 2004 CM Clos so much, in fact it showed better than the 2004 Dauvissat Clos and Preuses to my taste, that I bemoaned that it was my last bottle and searched a couple more out. When I drank them a couple years ago, they were advanced. Just to point out that CM is not one of those producers that is relatively spared. But a 2004 Raveneau Butteaux tasted a couple of weeks ago was advanced…not overtly premoxed, but dark in color and somewhat advanced, and that is a producer that is supposed to be relatively spared, so maybe I just have bad luck!
Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences, for those of us a little farther away and not able to travel in/access the tasting it’s always nice to read such thorough write-ups.
Instead of posting all my notes (which is perhaps a not so useful wall of text), I thought I’d just add a few more notes to grow the discussion. The absolute great producers have already been covered fairly well. Details on a couple who haven’t below, but keep in mind these notes are necessarily brief given the format. I tasted over a 100 wines in 4 hours …
The format is pretty rough - each producer shows four wines. For Drouhin, that meant two whites and two reds (and I loved them all) but this is a teeny fraction of their entire range. For smaller producers they pretty consistently showed from Bourgognes up to Grand Crus, so that leads me to think this is a good representation of their wines. While I always look for new producers (at least to me) to get to know and hope they’ll be good, this year I was frequently disappointed. A few (Duband, Zito) surprised me with how relatively weak they were. Some showed well but didn’t inspire me to rush out and buy them (Gerard Julien, Nicolas Rossignol) though these two are on my “keep on eye on for the future” list.
Benjamin Leroux - reds much stronger than the whites.
Saint Romain Sous le Chateau 2016- tasty, short
Meursault 1er Genevrieres Dessous 2016 - short finish, nice nutty lemon, but lacking depth
Vosne-Romanee 2016 red fruit nose, good strength on palate, tasty, long, well balanced. This will be quite good.
Mazoyeres-Chambertin GC 2016 - ++intensity and length, tannic, big beautiful. V. Good.
Domaine Henri Gouges - true to reputation these were all highly structured but they are beautifully balanced and crammed with dark fruit. I will likely buy these but am concerned about how long they will take to come around.
Nuits-Saint-George 1er Clos des Porres Saint Georges 2016 - n. Dark fruit, p. Intense, long, structured, good+
Nuits-Saint-George 1er Pruliers 2016 - closed but very concentrated, balanced, structured.
Nuits-Saint-George 1er Les Vaucrains 2016 - n. + fruit, p. + structure peppery finish, nice balance
Nuits-Saint-George 1er Les Saint George 2016 - burly, intense, dark fruit spiced nose, very intense palate, good balance, lots of tannins, needs food. Excellent, wow.
I’m a bit late here, but some notes I had:
Heitz-Lochardet: Big fan of the Pommard Rugiens (and it looks like I’m the only one who bought any from HDH after the Grand Tasting!). This was the earthy Burgundy that I love. Nose of red cherry, earth. Smooth fruit on the palate. Light, delicate fruit with grippy tannin. Overall I would characterize this as a memorable wine for delicate red fruit power and strong earthiness (what some others may call a mushroom note on the nose). Much preferred the density and pour of the Rugiens over the Clos des Poutures.
Drouhin: Beaune Clos des Mouches was enjoyable, but I preferred the Heitz-Lochardet for same price. The Mouches here had more density fruit on the nose than the Heitz, with black and red raspberry and mushroom. Palate did not feel as refined as the Heitz-Lochardet. The Close de Beze was really nice… really nice… but $500 is too rich for me so I didn’t take notes… I vaguely recall bright and sweet blue and red fruit… and thinking it needed many years.
Jadot: I liked the Boudots, probably more than Drouhin Clos de Mouches and not as much as the H-N Pommard Rugiens. Very few bottles of this on CT.’
Benjamin Leroux: I thought the Mazoyeres Chambertin was a top performer of the night for me. Brambly and stony raspberry, cherry and plum. A bit thick and monotone with the fruit, but the brambly and earthy dark fruit made this really interesting. Wasn’t sweet or cloying, felt balanced. I suspected I found the “value” buy of the night, < $200, but only one offering for $250 + shipping nicks that idea. Prior vintages are like $150, so I’m tempted to try an “off vintage”. As I type this, it was a better version of the Bouchard La Mouse, although drank far apart… both are brambly plummy fruit. The Vosne Romanee was not memorable, and thus at $85 not great value to me.
Bouchard: Against stronger competition, the Clos de la Mouse did not represent as well. Earth and plum, but a bit thin it felt versus others on the night. The Benjamin Leroux Mazoyeres was a much better wine in a similar sphere (dark plum/earthy) but is 5x the price. Clos de la Mouse still decent QPR here for $49.
Nicholas Rossignol: I preferred the Pommard most out of the wines. The Cailleret was also good, but I think the Clerget took edge for his version. The Santenots lost to the Cailleret for me, albeit such different styles. The Pommard was dark raspberry and earthy. Not as earthy or light as the Heitz; less nuanced but still good. 2016 Pommard was a blend of all single vineyards due to frost damage
Clerget: Standout here was the Caillerets and the 27 year old winemaker. I preferred the Caillerets over the Versuil and Clos Vougeot. This wine wasn’t good enough to be “wow top wine of the night”, but “hey this is really great volnay, and I typically don’t like volnay".
Bichot: I tasted this relatively late. These wines were very good. Maybe they were just more approachable? The Chateau Gris is solid, but unspectacular for $80. The two favorites here… with favorite to the latter were the Corton Grand Cru Clos des Marechaudes and the Echezauex Grand Cru. The Marcechaudes had more rounded fruit, a bit flat… but so approachable. I went back to Echezeuax a couple times, and in retrospect wonder how it would taste at beginning of the night vs. having after 2-3 hours of tasting.
Gerard Julien: These wines did not impress. The Les Bousselots was the best wine of the line up, but felt a little thin and lacking to me.
Gouges: Les Saint Georges is heads above the rest of the selection here. The Porrets was OK, the Pruliers was a step ahead. Interestingly, the Pruliers 2016 to me was levels ahead of aged Pruliers I have in past vintages; I think this a testament to the quality of the wine making and how things have improved over the past 15 years… but I’m new here. Vaucrains was a bit closed to me and I preferred the Pruliers. And then boom, the LSG has it all. Dark brambly fruit without rustic or being overly dense. I’m new here, but I remember paying $125 for LSG…
Duband: His NSG felt closed down/muted. The Gevrey were a step ahead IMHO. However, the Gevrey did edge slightly too sweet. These were not sweet wines or overripe… just slightly sweet. The Gevrey village was sweeter and softer than the NSG. The standout here was the Charmes. Think dark blueberry and black cherry more so than plum. A nice blueberry note, but adds a little sweetness that other wines did not have. Would be curious to put this next to Arlaud’s Charmes and see who wins… I suspect Arlaud, but it may be close.
Hudelot-Noellat: I really like the house style. It is fresher and more red berried than other producers, but slightly sweet, slightly earthy…. Really hits on the palate what I like in a lot of burgundy noses. Vougeouts were nice, but Mugneret Gibourg sister’s Vougeot was best of show. The RSV at $800 is quite nice but out of range. I wish I could have tried Suchots and Chambolle. Or give him some more Chambolle vineyards to work with.
Mugneret Gibourg: Did not like the NSG showing of Chaignots, maybe closed, but didn’t pop as much as the others. The Vosne Romanee village was good. $50 in Europe makes sense, $140 at Crush makes no sense. The Ruchottes was a clear step ahead. I expected this to my favorite. And then boom… Clos Vougeot… to me this was the best wine of their line up and perhaps the best Clos Vougeot I’ve ever had. High toned red fruit done well. I can see this being a “$500 wine” as it was up there with Hudelot-Noellat RSV. Turns out both of those are $800… so silly me.
Comte Liger-Belair: By far the best estate of the night. These wines had everything in perfect balance… tannin, fruit, and acid… and this structure that just felt so organized… couldn’t come up with a flaw in the little pour that you got. Reignots was #1. But the one I thought was down the fairway for me was monopole Clos du Chateau… unfortunately $1200 at Cultwine…… at CT price of $250, I would definitely pay that if I could. Vinous only gave it 87-88?? Vosne Romanee La Colombiere was not as memorable as the Clos du Chateau and I can’t remember it…. but that’s only $1,000 at Cultwine. Reignots was better than Echezeaux.
Hubert Lignier: Kind of as one would expect, Roche was my favorite of the line up, followed by the MSD VV. I initially preferred the MSD VV finding the Roche to be too closed… by end of the night I was going back for the Roche and not the MSD VV.