Let's talk Chambolle

WINE TALK
41

It was a 1990 Drouhin Bonnes Mares I tried at a tasting which converted me to Burgundy. Love the vineyard.

42

Just had a 2017 Henri de Villamont Chambolle Les Feusselottes for Canadian Thanksgiving with a couple of friends. Slow-ox for 6 hours, decanted for 2. Definitely needed the air treatment, but very “silky” strawberry coulee nose and the palate is kinetic and smooth at the same time with great purity of red berry fruit and still with enough structure to carry it down your throat. Other than Chambertin itself, CM is probably my favourite red commune.

43

I love Bertheau, and have been buying by the case for years, but I think they are priced appropriately relative to their peers. The best domaines adjust in the vineyard and cellar and make excellent wine in almost all vintages, even challenging ones. IMHO Bertheau struggles a bit in cooler / wetter / inconsistent vintages. I still like them, but the difference between them and “the best” widens.

Regarding aging, I think their best wines should age well. Off-vintages, I’d take on a case-by-case basis. I also think, due to their easy structure, they suffer less than most in the window of disappointment (age 4-15) and are generally approachable.

Their Amoureuses used to be a bargain.

Please note I haven’t tried anything younger than 2017.

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44

I don’t have a lot of experience. But what I’ve tried, I liked. I drank through about a case of the '09 Chambolle AOC, each one delicious in their youth.

45

I don’t think we see much in the states, but Hudelot Baillet has been excellent since 2010. The generational change has been remarkable, and the wines are more elegant, and less oak-influenced. Keep an eye out for them.

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46

Yeah, all the '09’s I’ve tried have been excellent. Wish I had more.

I’m concerned my statement above overstates my reservations about Bertheau. I love them, and continue to buy, even in lesser vintages. I just think they are less consistent than some of their more expensive peers.

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47

Based on my limited sample set of his CM, 1er Cru and Les Charmes, I would say Bertheau performs best in years like 2014 / 2017 (warm, not hot or cold)

His 2019 CM was good, but maybe less charming and had more stuffing. I think it’s a reflection of a hotter/riper but balanced vintage.

I haven’t tried his 2018s, but was warned due to the hot year that his 2018s aren’t reflective of his usual lighter ethereal style

48

Hi Brady, Hope you are well!
My only experience with Bertheau Amoureuses has been with the 2013 in le Chambolle restaurant in Chambolle and it was a wine with very good material but disappointing as there was something wrong with it, so I get what you say… all the more that it was not very cheap…
Bonjour a ta bien aimee! Hope she does not miss London…

49

Yea, a Jadot 1990 Bones Mares was an early mind bender for me.

50

A 90 Jadot Feusselottes was actually my intro to Burgundy lo those many (25 or so?) years ago.

51

Combe d’Orveau is a lieu-dite which lies in the area classified as : g-cru ( wholly owned Prieur), 1er cru and also village.

52

Friends,

What an interesting thread. So glad to join it. Is MUSIGNY not the greatest grand cru on the planet? Had some godlike specimen from ROUMIER, Vogüé and Mugnier. The 2006 ROUMIER recently drunk was fabulous. So glad MUGNIER made his MUSIGNY again available now starting with the 2013 vintage. Roumier, Mugnier, C De Vogüé and HUDELOt_BAILLET (much cheaper if you are looking for the perfect quality-price ratio) are my absolute favorites. They easily compete and sometimes outclass many great domaines in Vosne. NO NAMES !

SINCERELY JOHAN

53

Never really been thrilled by a Musigny and had lots (Vogue, Marchand Tawse, faiveley, Roumier, Mugnier, etc). I prefer the Vosne and Gevrey grand cru even though stylistically I usually like Chambolle more. I’ve had better bonnes mares than Musigny.

Roumier is great but for the price I’d rather drink RC or 2-3 bottles of LT

54

Michael…surprised to learn that you are not a fun of Musigny [scratch.gif] . In a sense lucky for you… [truce.gif]

Given the prices for nowadays vintage for Musigny, I totally agree with you that I much prefer Gevrey [winner.gif] - where you could still find a bargain in Chambertin and Chambertin - CdBeze.

Cheers [cheers.gif]

55

It’s not that I don’t like Musigny but I think there are better values. I did buy quite a bit 19 Vogue.

56

Johan : Here is how I rated them: RC : 98 points, LT and Musigny : 96 points; and Richebourg, RStV, Chambertin, Chambertin-CdBeze, and up-part CdV : 95 points.

57

RC does poorly blind.

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58

It is an original sin to serve a RC blind or double blind - regardless how old it is.

DRC will never serve their g-crus at a release-tasting event blind. They have a very good and valid reason to do that…

I am not trying to be negative for those who are lovers of DRC wines - but given the high prices ( specially in the secondary market ), here is what Hugh Johnson said years ago :




Hugh Johnson - ( Simon & Schuster 1991 Third Edition ) :Modern Encyclopaedia of Wine - Page 120 :

*****Romanèe - Conti - A Great Burgundy Estate.
All the conudrums of wine come to a head at this extraordinary property. It has been accepted for at least three centuries that wine of inimitable style and fascination comes from one four-and-a-half acre patch of hill, and different wine, marginally but consistently less fascinating, from the sites around it. Romanèe-Conti sounds like a super-successful public relations exercise. In some way it is even organized as one. But there is no trick.
One such a small scale, and will millionaires eager for every drop, it is possible to practise total perfectionism. Without the soil and the site the opportunity would not be there; without the laborious pursuit of perfection it would be lost. A great vineyard like this is largely man-made. The practice in the days of the eighteen-century Prince de Conti, who gave it his name, was to bring fresh loam up from the pastures of the Saone valley in wagonloads to give new life to the soil. Ironically, today the authorities would forbid so much as a bucketful from outside the appellation. Does this condemn the great vineyard to a gradual decline ?
The co-proprietors of the Domain today are Mme Bize-Leroy and M. Aubert de Villaine, whose home is at Bouzeron near Chagny ( where he makes particular good Aligote ). Their policy is to delay picking until the grapes are consummately ripe, running the gauntlet of the autumn storms and the risk of rot, simply rejecting


As the prices of the Domain’s wines are so spectacularly high, one expects to find them not only exception in character but in perfect condition. They are essentially wines for very long bottle-ageing. What is surprising in that they often show sign of instability.

It is almost the hallmark of ¨D.R.C.¨ wines that they are instantly recognizable by their exotic opulence, yet rarely identical from bottle to bottle. Too often bottles are in frankly poor condition.

The same elusive quality applies to the wine in your glass. Of a bottle of La Tache 1962, which has been one of the very best burgundies for years ( at least in my view ), I noted in 1982 : ¨ Overwhelming high-toned smell of violets to start with, changing within 20 minutes to a more deep and fruity bouquet which seems at first like orange, then more like blackcurrants. The flavour was best about half an hour after opening - exotically rich and warm - then seemed to become a bit too alcoholic and lose some of its softness. Very exciting wine - not least for the speed and range of its metamorphose.¨ *****

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59

Thanks for this post. Having tasted DRC on 3 occasions, I have always wondered if the wine is fetishized in much the same way a lot of California cults were in the beginning. A very interesting wine? Probably, especially with a lot of age. But drinking the before 20 years of age? I could not really say these separated much from a selection of other great Burgs I have drank.

But dare we place this blind in a tasting lineup, or else the emperor might seem underdressed, if not totally without clothes. Given the price structure, I would never participate as an owner. Curious there has not been an equivalent “Judgment” set up for pinot noir. If done seriously, with excellent representation of tasters, that would be a pretty good story no matter how it comes out. Anyone ever ventured this and written about it?

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60

Time to do a “Judgement” between DRC and its close epigones, on the one side, and the high-end California/Oregon Pinots. Depending on the day and bottle quality, it could make a lot of millionaires and auction houses very angry.