Thoughts on Drouhin-Laroze

I know relatively little about this producer but the prices for their multiple grand cru wines are uncommonly reasonable. I know that Rob Panzer brings them in and I am wondering how their house style is, thoughts on quality and longevity and overall reassurance that if I buy them I am getting good wine. Thanks for taking the time!

IMO Very good wines, love the Bonnes Mares, go a little hard on new oak useage but a quality producer at fair $
MT

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Noah,

I visited there in 2014 and I was impressed by their range of Grand Crus and the winemaking. They fly a bit under the radar and tend IMO to be a bit underrated. Iā€™ve recently had an '06 Bonnes Mares and an '07 CdB. They have the second largest holding in BMs and although itā€™s largely on terres rouges, itā€™s a wine I like very much.

Cheers, Howard

I bought a magnum of the 2010 Bonnes Mares just to give them a chance in a great vintage with a vineyard I rarely have had the chance to experience based on the price. While I had no basis to make the decision from, I was so pleased by the price I bought purely on impulseā€¦I hope one day that Iā€™ll be very happy based on the comments here.

I started buying D-L after a dinner in late 2009 with the owner Philippe Drouhin and his wife. They were showing older wines but said they were very proud of their 2008s, so I got some of the BM and C de Beze. Had both at a dinner in late 2014 and the Bonnes Mares stood out - a beauty. The Beze was much less giving on the night.

Glad to hear some of these comments also.

I havenā€™t had the opportunity or budget to put away many grand crus, but I was able to score some D-L 2010 Clos de Vougeot on a nice deal. Havenā€™t cracked one yet, but I understand they have some very good holdings in that vineyard, up near the chateau. Maybe I should seek out a bit of Bonnes Mares.

Like.

Recently sprung for my first bottle of D-L Bonne Mares at a great price. The reviews Iā€™ve seen for recent vintages seem very promising. Iā€™m not expecting Bertheau or Bruno Clair in quality but thinking it could be on par or better than Jadot.

I first really noticed them at the London ep tastings for the 2013 vintage where I thought their wines really stood out. Iā€™ve bought the clos de beze and latricieres for the last few years. Sounds like I need to check out the bonnes mares too.

D-L has great vineyard holdings - incl. still a tiny bit of Musigny.
IĀ“ve had older vintages (1983, 85 ā€¦) that were simply light and unimpressive.
However a 1971 Clos Vougeot was very fine.

Things got better after 2000 ā€¦ and the wines are now more concentrated, even sometimes a bit jammy, with clear oak influence ā€¦ kind of modern, but good.

As long as prices are ok, now a good source, but not top-level ā€¦

I drank an 08 DL Bonnes Mares recently and was surprised by just how good it showed. Excellent price to performance ratio.

I bid on three bottles of '11 Musigny in a K&L auction just on a lark, and my low-ball bid ended up winning them. I know itā€™s dangerous to talk about 2011 around here, but hey, the price was compelling. I love the vineyard and can no longer afford the tarif, so what the heck? I know they have a tiny well placed parcel in the vineyard but have no experience with it.

Lots of extraction, wood, tannins, not really a fan.

Good wine-and at under $100 for grand cru a good buy but over $200 not so good.

Disclaimer: I import Drouhin Laroze.
In a raw materials sense, the estate is packed and stacked, with prime older vine holdings in nearly all of their sites. Chappelle Chambertin in the original smaller parcel where the church actually was, CV up by the Chateau, a massive amount of Bonnes Mares (the largest holder along with Roumier), a big olā€™ chunk of Clos de Beze, very good Clos Prieur, very good Lavaux St Jacques.
There has been a generational passing of the baton, from father Philippe to son Nicolas (in his late 20s/early 30s), with Nicolasā€™ first vintages fully at the helm (dad is around and is consulted, but the kid is starting to move forward with his vision) being '12/ā€˜13. Even with just two years of Nicolasā€™ input, Philippe acknowledges that he extracted the wines too much, leaving them foursquare and too tannic. Historically, they were a bit hit and miss, with their best being pretty good, but the rest uninspiring; this is a relatively similar history as that of Hudelot Noellat as well.
The ā€˜13s are, without any question whatsoever, fantastic wines. Iā€™ve poured them up and down the hierarchy on numerous occasions, and people have universally responded to their precision and serious classical terroir driven stuffing. Over extracted, oaky, and tannic are not appropriate when discussing the 2013s. Nico judged his raw materials perfectly, in my opinion, and the 2013s are classic treble toned beauties that could serve as ā€œexhibit Aā€ of their respective climats.
I understand that the history of the estate has created impressions in life long burgundy loversā€™ memory, but it is important to stay on top of the fluid changes that happen with regularity as the wheel turns. To speak from a place of ā€œsame as it ever wasā€, although understandable without more contemporary direct experience, is a bit lazy and out of touch.
In '14, Nico has continued to change things up by including 50% whole cluster in both the Bonnes Mares and the Clos de Beze. The '14s are, broadly speaking, succulent and more black fruited, with a come hither sense of sex appeal while not betraying their terroir signature. I tasted both components of the BM and Beze, the fully destemmed, and the whole cluster cuvƩe (they were aged separately). Whilst the crystalline quality of the destemmed offered a transparency and purity that was eye poppingly good, the whole cluster portion was a cloudier picture/tougher read. I have not yet tasted the assembled blend, but I imagine it to be rather complete based on the stuffing in the raw materials.
When I tasted the '14s in November, I was accompanied by enthusiast/blogger Greg Love. He had a similar historical impression to some of the commentators here, of irregular and middle of the pack quality, with ā€œgoopy tanninsā€ (a phrase of his) from too much extraction and oak. By the time we got to the middle of the tasting, not yet to the grand crus, he was leaning in to tell me, ā€œI see what you meanā€¦ā€. Things are certainly not the ā€œsame as it ever wasā€, and Burgundy lovers would be remiss to judge the new chapters of this book based on the writings of the father, who himself already regrets the stylistic choices that he made when contrasted with the concrete results so palpable in the young generations brief tenure in a new directionā€¦
I am happy to answer any questions as time allows.
santƩ

same. Even in great vintages from top vineyards Iā€™m not impressed. But maybe like Robert said thereā€™s a changing of the guard.

So Robert, my 2011 Musigny is ā€œgoopyā€ or four square?

Have sampled one bottle from this domaine, a 2006 Latricieres, which I enjoyed very much. FWIW I did not detect too much oak at the time. I have some 2006 Beze and Bonnes Mares which I have not tried yet but am excited to open in the next few years. Nice feedback on this thread.

Cheers,
Doug

Robert Panzer,

Can you tell me anything about the 2010 Bonnes Mares that I have a magnum of? Have you tasted it? Any feedback you may have would be greatly appreciatedā€¦

Iā€™ve also noticed a lighter touch.
Rob, Do they still operate the little lunch restaurant at the winery?
Christine is a very good cook.