Thinking of opening a 2004 Frédéric Magnien Chambertin-Clos de Bèze tonight for dinner.
Is it worth drinking now, or should I hold? If now, is it pp and pour or should I decant?
This was very green two years ago. I left the bottle with a friend and he said it was much better the next day.
what are you looking for in wine? Why would you want to open a 6 year old Chambertin? Look into your motivations and you can answer your own question. If it were me, I’d wait till the wine was 20 years old, but I’m patient and know what mature red Burgundy offers.
alan
Berry,
did your friend mention if the greenies went away on day 2?
Alan,
I’m a Burg newbie and picked this up at a steep discount a little while back. I figured it was an off vintage that might drink well earlier and give me a real taste of what GC Burgs can be.
Alan - Chambertin was famous and beloved for a thousand years before cork closures were even invented. Its not like young Burgundy has nothing to offer. Especially for someone exploring producers and vineyards.
Jeff- Sorry, but I do not remember.
reread my answer–I told him to look at his motivations, answer his own question, and then expressed that I would wait 20 years because of the potential otherwise missed. Where did I indicate that immature red wine had nothing to offer?
alan
A perfect answer, I think.
I apologise. I read subtext into your post that was not there.
Opened about 1 1/2 hours ago. Why not? I don’t try to many Burgs, so I figure I’ll give this a go. Will poor a glass after I finish my taste of Madeira. Will be paired with chicken with Morels in a sauce from Madeira, butter, shallot, garlic, cream, and cream fraiche. Hoping for the best. If it’s shut down and not showing well, I’ll just cork it and get to it tomorrow.
First poor a little disappointing, but I guess not a surprise. Funk, Wood/Stemmy, Cherry, and a hint of heat. More put together upon tasting, tart cherry, hints of oak, earth/funk, with a hint of spice. A pretty lush feel with a solid finish. Will be fun to follow throughout the night, both with and without food.
Jeff - never had this wine but try decanting it, you can always pour it back into the bottle if you don’t finish the bottle or it’s not improving with air.
Jeff - I think I bought on that same close out. The ‘lesser’ wines have been very nice but I haven’t opened the Chambertins I picked up. Hope you have a few more, I’m planning on starting on mine in another few years. I’ve been happy with the Magnien’s I’ve bought and part of my planning is to always have some village and premier cru wine of the same producer and vintage around to help me keep my hands off the grand crus.
Paul,
Unfortunately only picked up one. It’s really starting to open up with some time in the glass. Rich red fruits, oak still present, some earth and spice as well. Upon tasting the cherry component is a bit tart, and it’s really starting to round out on the palate with a nice finish and feel (although somewhat tannic or acidic on the end of he finish). Really wish I would have grabbed more so I could follow.
Cheers,
Jeff
Jeff, Woodland Hills still has some '07 Mugnier Chambolle Musigny Village for $73 per. I had it the other night and it was still open and very pretty. Mugnier is a great producer and '07 is an accessable year. His Grand Cru Musigny sells for around $500 -$1500 but the village is no slotch.
Freddie Magnien has been gradually making better and better stuff. Don’t know the 2004 but I bought some of his wine around 1997 to 2001. The Clos de Beze ought to be good juice but I would guess another 6 to 10 years would be appropriate. I think North Berkely still brings this in. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Craig,
Thanks for the tip. Will have to put it on my list. Currently on a buying hiatus with the move to California coming up at some point. Sorry we missed the BBQ, just a bit hectic up here lately.
Cheers,
Jeff
Definitely do, Mugnier is required tasting for anyone sticking thier toe in Burgundy. Not cheap but worth every penny for the village.
Well you’ll be close soon. I’ll stash a bottle that we can share in a few years.
Sometimes I do think wines like this are worth looking into from time to time even if a bit prematurely…I have been trying to open a number of 2004s for two combined reasons…a very reasonably priced vintage particularly now on close outs but a controversial vintage with a lot of misses.
In the last month or two I have tried a good number of 2004s including all of the Leroys, Jadot Beze and Amoureuses, a Perrot-Minot village wine and another that I cannot recall right now. While certainly all of them could stand some to a lot more time in the bottle I thought they provided me with an interesting perspective. The Jadots in particular were first rate and though I would never usually consider opening bottles from those two vineyards this young, they did provide wonderfully enjoyable drinking while at the same time giving me perspective on continued buying of 2004s when I see good ones at closeout pricing as I did with the Jadots. I even toyed with the idea of opening a Jadot Musigny but did think better of that since it was 2x the cost of the others and really figured I should wait a bit longer…still will probably open one of those within a year or two.
–Looking forward to it. Hopefully we’ll be out sooner than later. Need to sell the house in Fargo, before we head out that way.