Kirk, I’ve not tasted the '10 Bonnes Mares.
Scott, Dunno about the restaurant.
Bruce, neither. :0
As good of raw materials as one could hope for, and a new chef in the kitchen (who starts first and foremost in his vineyards). It is going to be fun seeing him really hit his stride…
Hmmm. That’s not the impression I got.
But Robert, I thought you said that Nicolas was first “fully at the helm” in the '12 and '13 vintages. Did he have a hand in the 2011s too, and were they successful and influenced by his new approach?
That was the impression that I got when tasting from barrel in 2014.
If the domaine ever sold I can only imagine how much it would go for…LOTS of great property.
I was quite impressed by the '99 Musigny that I drank ~2 years ago, although it was too young. That Musigny will age well for decades. A powerful wine, no excess oak in this one.
Agree.
The ones I had in the past were too oaky for me. Interesting to hear about the change in style.
[tt][/tt]
Robert, with due respect, I don’t believe that this is a fair comment in the context of the remainder of your post. It sounds as if the winemaking is just now changing, so those with an impression of the wine based upon recent past experience are not “out of touch.” Also, even though the prices of this producer’s wines are attractive, one is not “lazy” when one chooses not to throw $150 at a bottle of the 2013 Bonnes Mares to check it out. I am offered these wines every year at attractive prices from a source I really like, and want to like them and to sell them, but the domaine’s reputation has made it difficult. The change you describe sounds promising.
I certainly hear you, Martin.
However, I feel that when someone is asking for input on a producer, to make catchall statements in five words (with no qualifiers) that are based on impressions of who knows which vintages, none of which are from the past three years, is out of touch and lazy; the laziness has nothing to do with dropping bucks to try the current vintages, it has to do with not qualifying one’s own statements. Typing on the computer is free.
If somebody asked me, “how is martin doing”? And I said, I haven’t seen him in half a decade, but he is xyz, with no qualifiers, that would be out of touch, glib, and lazy.
Try the wines if you can.
Anybody else here try the '13s? Chime in if you can.
Robert, I will buy some 2013s and try them with some friends. Please provide some recommendations from top to bottom of the range, say 4-6 wines.
Beze
Bonnes Mares
CV
Chapelle or Latricieres
Lavaut
Chambolle “villages” (1er Baudes below BM and Veroilles, the ol’ high-low combo)
Even the '13 villages is a beaut.
But if I were to go straight for the serious…
Trying painfully young le Musigny is not worth it, fwiw.
The '12s are also quite good, but are pretty shut down based on my last few check-ins.
Glancing back at some notes for the '13s:
20% new wood for villages
40% for 1ers
50-80% for Grand crus.
A few pages later I noticed Cathiard '14 notes.
50% new wood for villages
2/3 new wood for 1ers.
And that’s with Sebastien dialing back oak year after year…
And then always worth mentioning:
DRC: 100% new oak.
Quantity of new oak shouldn’t be a fixed point conclusion for folks. It is about what kind of oak/cooper/toast, and how the balance comes off in the finished wine’s potential for aging.
Too often, the dare-I-say lazy shorthand of x amount of oak is used as a merit/condemnation in its own right is misguided in its statistical oversimplification. Brings German wine stats come to mind, where people isolate the residual sugar without the context of how is the actual taste perception.
All of that being said, I am not looking to defend Drouhin Laroze’s historical use of oak.
In perfect candor, I don’t even know the older wines, just hear about their reputation second hand.
I met Nico Drouhin through our mutual friends Maxime Cheurlin and Nico Groffier.
I went and tasted his '13s from cask and his '12s from bottle.
The wines were f’in terrific.
Simple.
:0
In Quebec, Canada we used to have Drouhin-Laroze (domaine) and Laroze de Drouin (negoc - operated by daughter Caroline ).
His best domaine-reds are Musigny and CdBeze; the nest are his B-Mares and CdVougeot and then…Latriceres. They were priced extremely reasonable…and I love them.
Sadly…the 2012 are no longer here.
I think that part of the success in '13 for Nico (and similarly for others) came from treading lightly in extracting due to the cool, long season, out of fear for marginal phenolic ripeness. The material was actually quite phenolically ripe with such late picking, so the combo of ripe tannin, gentle extraction, and relatively high acidity proved to be a great combo.
The '13s are, in my not so humble opinion, classic examples of each climat.
Quantity of new oak shouldn’t be a fixed point conclusion for folks. It is about what kind of oak/cooper/toast, and how the balance comes off in the finished wine’s potential for aging.
Yes - I agree with your comment. How about : there is no over-oak wine but only under-wine wine ![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}
Has anyone actually tried, either and barrel or in bottle, the 2010 grand crus? Would love impressions
So you prefer the 13s to the 12s?
I do prefer the '13s, personally.
But I can see how some folks who prefer denser mid palate fruit may prefer the '12s.
Qualitatively, both are quite good.
Thx