Tasting Notes on the Top 2004 Red Burgundies -- A Ten Year Review

WINE TALK
21

Actually, it would have been a very interesting tasting, though, frankly, tasting 28 red wines at any one seating is a multiple of my limit to do justice to “tasting” such wines in such a setting, so…

22

Hi Don,
Just wondered why no Dujac - had you heard bad things about their wines in this vintage?
Nigel

23

Nothing like waking the sleeping lion…
Especially from someone who repeatedly has vowed not to bring this subject up anymore!

That said, I cannot correct their impressions because I haven’t tasted the vast majority of the wines tasted.
Even if I did, everybody has different taste buds.
I have tasted a couple of the Leroy wines.
How anyone could rate them in the high 80s/low 90s is beyond me…

Plus, these are in the top echelon and the producers have the capability of handling these wines with kid gloves and special care.

I can only say that the 2004s I have sampled have been disappointing and I wouldn’t want them.

With so many superior vintages before and after, they are beyond my notice…

TTT

24

I have recently tasted the 2004 Ponsot CDLR as well as the CSD; although not on the same evening. I found the CDLR still marked by a green tinge, and the wine was merely ok… and perhaps i am being generous. I just had the CSD the other night, and that bottle was appreciably better than the CDLR. I served it blind, and frankly I would not have been happier with how good the wine was. Great nose of red fruit, beautiful balance and nice finishing acidity. None of the tasters guessed 2004 and all were shocked when I revealed it to be a 2004. And this group has followed the 2004s since release, and all with a sensitivity to the “green meanies”.

While I did sell most of my 2004s, I did keep a few of the big guns. And I am hopeful that these wines will get better. That said, I generally only serve them blind.

I would have to concur with previous posters that the 2004 La Tache is a great bottle of wine, that I could not discern any taint. I have tasted that wine within the past year as well.

25

Thanks for the great notes.

One point that sticks out for me is that Hudelot-Noellat is a producer that is making great wines at still reasonable prices (at that level). We had a 2007 Romanée-Saint-Vivant recently that was plain marvellous. And I was blown away by a 2009 Bourgogne Rouge recently as well (at just 12% Vol.). I’ll have to stock up on Hudelot-Noellat on all levels.

26

Brodie:

I think there are some separate “lessons” here, and I suspect that a couple of them are broadly applicable and the other not. First, I think there was definite evidence that green character in the 2004 vintage tends to fade/integrate with time. I think that’s broadly applicable. However, if you started out with a wine that was grossly affected, I’m not sure that any amount of time will solve the problem and the 2004s are definitely not a vintage built for truly extended aging.

Second, I’ve always found that in marginal vintages certain villages have it better than others. To my taste, Gevrey in particular tends to be leaner and greener/more earthy in marginal vintages. Vosne Romanee tends to have that extra degree of ripeness that Gevrey doesn’t in the marginal years. Chambolle (at least the white soils portion) tends to be less fullsome in marginal years. I think that what we observed with the Gevreys being the least impressive village and the Chambolles being lighter in body probably translates broadly.

Third, the fact the top 30 really excelled vs. our collective expectations likely doesn’t translate broadly. Part of what motivated me to put this tasting together in the fashion that I did (focusing on getting the “creme de la creme” into this tasting) was to test out an observation that my friend David Wainwright (Zachys) had made after attending an earlier tasting of 2004s that included a broader range of 2004s. David said that the thing that clearly stood out from that tasting was that as one moved up the traditional hierarchy of burgundies (both the ripeness scale and the best producers) the “green meanies” character steadily decreased and that the top wines had virtually no evidence of the problem. (I also knew that with the market for the 2004s in the shape that it is, people would be more willing to bring some of the really top 2004s for a head to head comparison – a task that would probably be impossible if, for example, the vintage had been 2005.)

The 2004 growing season was a nightmare for producers – cool temperatures and excessive rain at the wrong times and totally rampant oidium – even for pinot noir, which is very unusual. While the wines eventually developed sufficient sugar such that there was minimal to no chaptalization, I’ve long suspected that only the best situated grand crus reached true phenolic ripeness in 2004. And where the growing season is too cool and/or there is insufficient sunlight the resulting wines have a higher level of “greenness” in the aromas and flavors. Sorting and triaging out underripe bunches and underripe grapes and oidium-infected grapes is also known to have been a major, major issue in 2004. Moreover, if you weren’t out in the vineyards constantly spraying and treating for oidium every two weeks throughout the growing season, your crop was probably doomed long before harvest (e.g. Leroy who was completely distracted by the fact that her husband was dying during the 2004 growing season and, by her own admission, paid very little attention to the vineyards. Those of you who know Domaine Leroy know that they do very little that’s not on the express instructions of Madame Lalou.) So while in certain vintages like 1990, 1999, 2005 and 2009 the wealth of true phenolic ripeness and healthy grapes is spread broadly across the village and 1er levels, in vintages like 2004 precisely the opposite is true.

There are usually obvious reasons why certain producers’ wines from given vineyards are generally a couple of points better than than average – those reasons are usually vine location, vine age and vine care – as well as superior winemaking skills and attention to detail. The producers who owned the very best well exposed plots of older vines had the best chance of getting truly ripe grapes in 2004. And obviously it took truly dedicated (and probably obsessive) attention to the vines in 2004.

So, while I suspect that you will find that the “average” 2004 is probably more palateable today than it was seven years ago when the wine was released, I don’t think you can expect that all of the once-tainted 2004s have magically metamorphosized into graceful swans.

27

Don,

This is all very interesting. Have you had much in the way of 2004s lately that are not wines at these exalted levels. I know that I have had a lot of wines at what normaly are very good wineries where I don’t see any indication that the green flavors (and other problems of the vintage, like lack of fruit) are not going away.

I am kind of assuming that what distinguishes these wines is that they were wines of enough quality (and enough fruit) that this integration can occur. I can think of a few producers where I like the 2004s - Mugneret-Gibourg, D’Angerville, and, as Maureen said, Truchot (where many of the wines are drinking very well right now).

Curious as to your view on wines below the level of what you had at this tasting. For me, too many of them are wines that are not going to improve.

For your next act, you should do the same thing with 2003s. My sense is that a lot of them are settling down, losing some of their 2003ness, and will in 10 more years be really good. Hate to be a broken record, but Truchot’s 2003 Charmes is a whole lot better than it was 3-4 year ago and I bet will be dynamite in a few years.

28

I was there, and I was only really impressed with Vosne Romanee. The other communes all had a vintage quality which you can think of as green. It didn’t for the most part ruin the wines, but was generally a little underripe, bell peppers etc. I didn’t find it pleasant, particularly in how it marred some of my otherwise favorite wines (like both Rousseaus). In a normal vintage I adore Rousseau Gevreys (who doesn’t?). Those that made a grapier more extracted wine seemed to balance it better (like Jadot Musigny or Luciene le Moine).

29

Nigel:

2004 was not a very good vintage for Dujac, as Jeremy himself will candidly admit. Neither Tanzer or Meadows were very impressed with any of the Dujac wines, even before the “green meanies” problems were recognized. It was probably the lowest set of collective scores either of them have ever given Dujac. I had tried the 2004 Dujac Clos de la Roche at the time the wines were released, and I wasn’t impressed. I elected to skip Dujac completely in 2004. Since I have a good relationship with Jeremy, I felt somewhat guilty excluding Dujac from consideration for this tasting, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I did the same with the Meo wines, and Jean-Nicolas is a friend of mine as well (though I might have included the Richebourg if anyone had volunteered it. It was on the list for potential contributions.) I also was originally inclined to exclude the Roumier Bonnes Mares despite its benchmark status by virtue of my three prior tasting experiences with the wine. But Michael Zadikian insisted that he had sampled the wine recently and that it belonged on the list, so we included it. I thought it was definitely the best showing to date, but I still think it is questionable whether the Roumier Bonnes Mares is a true “top 30” wine in 2004 (and I’ve been certified Roumier nut for 35 years.)

30

FWIW, I don’t think of the issue with the 2004s as “green” or “underripe”, Andy. There are lots of vintages that are like that; there used to be 2-4 every decade. The problem with 2004 is, to me, something quite different from “green” (though given the conditions Don describes, that potential is certainly there). It is vegetal/dry herbal/white pepper. (I almost gagged tasting at d’Angerville in 2007.)

I wonder if someone not sensitive to what I consider to be a ladybug/pyrazine taint…would then think the only issue in 2004 would be the traditional “green”.

It is unfortunate that the term “green meanies” was used. Other than that green peppers are vegetal…I never looked at the issue as “green”.

As I think the likely cause was the ladybugs…I also think that not all wines were infested, though looking at my notes from a 2007 visit…I found no winery that was unaffected, and only a couple of wines.

I wish I were curious enough to do some tasting at almost-10 years “on”…but…I’m not, and have sold most of my 2004 wines.

And…Andy…it sounds like you found the Rousseaus “marred”? Did you tell anyone? [stirthepothal.gif]

31

I am generally a fan of Dujac wines, but agree that the 2004s I have had were not very good. Another producer that I have found to be especially awful in 2004 is Faiveley.

32

Andy Gavin and Walker Strangis were the two people who commented on the green elements in some of the wines. We also noticed the rhubarb like elements in the Leroys. Alan Weinberg, who has always claimed to be hypersensitive to the “green meanies” in the 2004s, from memory noted ‘greenness’ issues only with respect to the Leroy wines, but Alan is probably tuned into the thread, so perhaps he can add his own perspective.

33

Had that Ponsot CDLR a few months ago and enjoyed it very much.

34
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35

True. Just recently had '04 Faiveley Latricieres poured blind for my group. Everyone nailed it as an '04 right away. It was really green and pretty awful. A significant amount was poured down the sink.

Cheers,
Blair

36

I haven’t tasted any of the 04s in this tasting, but every bottle of 04 I have tasted (around 12-18 bottles), besides one (Jean-Michel Guillon Mazis), has been extremely green and nearly undrinkable for me. Recently bottles of Faiveley Latricieres and Mugnier Fuees (both served blind) were undrinkable for me. With the Fuees, three out of eight tasters thought the wine was perfectly ok.

There is so much variability between everyone’s sensitivity and view of the issue (someone’s pleasant herbal tea is another person’s undrinkable green sewage), I doubt there will ever be anything close to even a general agreement on 2004 reds.

I have happily sold off most of the 04 reds that I had, and am now down to two bottles, which are also for sale.

37

A very comprehensive tasting and write up. Extremely thorough. Thank you.

Having tasted the DRC and Rousseau few times I agree that DRC did really well in this vintage and Rousseau did remarkably worse!

Overall, its a green vintage with under-ripenerss, rot and GM thrown in the mix. Not only all of us have different sensitivities to each of the three components I think it is also possible that there is a bit of bottle variation amongst the producers.

Also those off-characters get accentuated when a 2004 is tasted next to a ripe clean wine such as a 2002 or 2005.

Sanjay

38

Interesting tasting, thanks for posting. Like Paul, i havent had any of those wines and they could all be totally GM free. Maybe like oak in wine for some, people are repulsed by certain flavors. Id love to see a tasting of another vintage close to 2004 of identical wines, all blind,and then a tasting like this has more merit in terms of discerning ‘good’ from ‘bad.’ Knowing all were 2004 might lead some to taste a wine that might be drain pour worthy, but in the context of other ‘bad’ wines might come off as delightful. Just one guy’s opinion.

39

Yes,

This. It is far better to drink '04’s alone, or with other '04’s, IMHO.

40

It was a great and very informative tasting, Don. Thanks!

I was surprised at how many of these wines showed so well. I had had the 04 Ponsot CdlR a few times and each tasting had evidence of some greenness. However on this night, and I picked booth Ponsot wine blind, I thought they showed much better. But the wines of this night were clearly the La Tache (also spotted blind) and the Bouchard La Romanee - both with lots of fruit and no greenies and with some years left for development. The H-N Richebourg also showed well and I picked it as DRC and the DRC Richebourg as the H-N. On the other side of things I had no idea on any of the Musignys other than liking the Drouhin and Jadots.

Looking forward to next year, Don.