TN: 17 Different Serious 2007 Whilte Burgs at Various Times

WINE TALK
#1

At the urging of my colleague Peter Funsten, I’m posting a series of notes I took on seventeen different 2007 white burgundies over the last year. I have to say that I think that 2007 has made the most impressive showing I can remember since the 1985 whites. I think it will be a monumental white burgundy vintage and easily the best vintage of the last two decades.

Saturday, April 10, 2010 — First Look at Top 2007 Chevalier and MP and Coche at The Lobster in Santa Monica (All wines served single blind—served in reverse numbered order. I would also note that Francesco and the chef at The Lobster did an amazing job with the food that went with these wines, though I didn’t save a menu.)

#9 [2007 Colin-Morey Chevalier Montrachet]
Light yellow green color; Light to medium gold color; very light lemony aromas; tight, lemony flavors which expanded a lot in the mid-palate and had good acidity and grip; very long citrus and minerals finish. Seriously impressive. 95+

#8 [2007 Ramonet Chevalier Montrachet]
Light yellow-green color; white flowers and pears aromas with a very faint hint of mint; bright, indeed brilliant citrus with very strong minerality on the mid-palate and fabulous acidity; the finish is quite long and very minerally. Superb wine [Ramonet?] 95+

#7 [2007 Niellon Chevalier Montrachet]
Light yellow color; aromas of SO2 and meyer lemon; great acidity and grip here; again lots of minerality, but this wine is slightly angular and yet viscous – ever so slightly disjointed at the moment; with considerable time in the glass, this improved a lot, and developed a nice citrus and minerall finsh. Hence the split score. 94+/95+

#6 [2007 Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet]
Light yellow-green color, closer to gold than the others; the aromas are more floral than most and there’s some citrus as well; this wine seems bigger, fatter and softer than the others [N.B. for Leflaive, not what I expected] yet has good acidity; after about two hours this was showing some meyer lemon and good minerality and length in the finish. 95+(?)

#5 [2007 Sauzet Chevalier Montrachet]
Yellow-green color; white flowers and fresh pineapple aromas; the most fat of the entire group; an “easy” wine; very nice rounded fruit with good acidity and some minerality. Very nice. Later: acidity is now becoming more apparent in the finish. 94+

#4 [2007 Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne]
Light yellow color, a little less green than the others; some sappy green apple aromas and sweet oak (Coche Corton?); on the palate this was unbelievably concentrated green apple and citrus flavors with excellent acidity; the finish was initially concentrated green apple flavors and after about 3 hours of air it started to get a buttery apple pie texture. WOW. Best young Coche Corton I’ve ever had. 96+

#3 [2007 Coche-Dury Meursault Perrieres]
Light yellow-green color; aromas of white flowers and lemon zest; on the palate, intensely concentrated lemony flavors again with the slight bitterness of lemon zest; superb minerality and acidity. Seems to be MP, but which one? 95

#2 [2007 Roulot Meursault Perrieres]
Light yellow-green color; sweet white flowers with some sappy green apple aromas; very tight; incredibly good acidity here is hiding very concentrated meyer lemon fruit; a ton of minerality in the finish here. The raw material is so awesome here that this might have a major upside. [Coche MP?] 95+

#1 [2007 Bouchard Meursault Perrieres]
Light yellow-green color; light, clean, white flowers aromas; good acidity and concentrated meyer lemon flavors again with an impression that this is a very clean wine; very nice minerality in the finish. A little less concentrated than the two preceding wines, but it suffers only in that comparison. 94

Tasted at Wally’s In-Store Tasting and Dinner with Allen Meadows and Wilson-Daniels reps on March 16, 2010

2007 Leflaive Poligny Clavoillon
Light yellow-green color; some sweet lemon-lime aromas and flavors; 7Up for 2007 vs. pineapple juice for 2006; a better finish on the 2007 vs. the 2006. Good but not great. 90-91

2007 Leflaive Pul. Folatieres
Yellow with hints of green; white flowers and pears aromas; bigger and deeper than the 2006’s; surprisingly forward vs my expectations; some acidity but this wine strikes me as surprisingly open and soft. 91-92

2007 Leflaive Bienvenues Batard
Yellow-green color; prominent honeysuckle and sweet green melon (Midori liqueur) aromas; fresh lime and green melon or almost lee chee fruit flavors; very good acidity and decent minerally finish; again surprisingly forward but great balance. I liked this. 94

2007 Leflaive Batard Mon
(tasted at store and again at dinner)
Light yellow-green color; some light S02 here (Allen Meadows noticed this too and we both agreed that this was slightly reductive); citrus and sweet basil aromas; surprisingly forward and supple for a Batard, doesn’t have the power I expected; very good acidity and a long finish. My separate notes at dinner were almost verbatim identical. Allen says he thinks the 2007’s will be open for business early but will live for a long time. 94(+?)

Tasted with the Blain-Gagnards, Christophe Roumier and Michael Zadikian at Cut on 3/10/2010:

2007 Gagnard-Delagrange Chassagne Montrachet Caillerets
Light yellow gold; sweet citrus aromas with some faint honeysuckle (reminiscent of Pucelles); some substance here; pretty good mid-palate density for a 1er with good acidity and nice lemon drop candy and fine lemon/lime minerally finish. 92-93

2007 Blain-Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet Morgeots
Light yellow color; sweet green apple aromas with a hint of white flowers; this is a meatier and fatter wine than the Caillierets; it is a bit fatter and fuller wine but it is also more four-square and less elegant and less minerally than the Caillerets. 91

Tasted with Michael Zadikian at his home on 8/8/2009–our first look at some 2007 whites purchased from Europe

2007 Boillot Chevalier Montrachet (open 2 days)
Light yellow color; aromas of white flowers and meyer lemon; this had a wonderful density to it—strong minerality, citrus and power yet with a viscosity not unlike Batard in a great vintage; very long minerally/citrus finish. Really impressive for a two-day open wine. 95+

2007 Boillot Corton Charlemagne
Light yellow color with some almost greenish tones; this one has floral tones, but they are sweeter, almost like some of the Hawaiian blossoms; on the palate, this has a lot of density, some white nectarine flavors, a bit of fat or white honey, a good dose of minerality; there is acidity here but it’s not the thing you notice first; seems to have excellent overall balance for Corton; long nectarine and minerals finish. 94

In short, the 2007 vintage is one you don’t want to miss, but it seems to be a vintage where the top year-in and year-out performers have something extra special going.

#2

Wow,

Thanks Don for the really informative and valuable notes…

We had 4 Boillot GC’s last night which reinforced again to all of us just how good the '07 whites are…

#3

Paul:

Thanks. Which Boillots did you have and how did they perform?

#4

I haven’t had any 07 Grand Crus, but I had an 07 Sauzet P-M Combettes recently that was really profound. Just stunning, intense, focused juice.

#5

Don,

Super notes. Thanks.

I have a couple of these wines and I wonder how they will unfurl over the years.

By any chance did you have the Niellon Batard or the other Meursaults by Coche?

Al

#6

Al:

No Niellon Batard or other Coche wines to date. We talked about maybe tasting a few more 2007’s and specifically the Batards and other Cortons and Lafon MP separately, but I’m unsure whether or not that will actually happen. I think most of the guys were well convinced of the greatness of the vintage and figure that they don’t need to engage in any more infanticide to reach a conclusion on the vintage or aging potential.

And now the 2008’s are starting to arrive and several of us have a lot more question about the 2008 whites, even though we’ve bought some. The disappointment of 2006 is too recent in our memories.

#7

Don,

We had the Criots Batard, Bienvenue Batard, Batard, and Montrachet…These were the prelude whites to 10 vintages of La Tache…would have really loved to have seen the Chevalier with these as well…

I will write them up when I get a chance later this week, but they were all very good, the Bienvenue probably last, and this seemed to be slightly coarser than the rest of the wines, the Criots was very fine, the Batard very, very good, and the Montrachet was a sneaky wine that took some time to open up, the just got better and better in the glass…probably from 92pts (Beinvenue) to 96+pts range…really fabulous wines.

#8

I haven’t had any of the '07s, but when they’re on form (not oxidized), Sauzet’s wines can be very, very good. IMO.

#9

Don- I agree 2007 burgundy is quite special (Niellon Batard is mind-blowing, more worth having young than Chevalier though both deserve it. And the Chenevottes as well- one of Niellon’s best premier cru bottlings ever.)

But with all due respect, Ramonet Chevalier, Bienvenue, Ruchottes, Caillerets (tasted twice) and Morgeot all suck. Ramonet got a pass in 2006 at the top levels with me- but in 2007 these wines are shit compared to what they could have been. Tasty- yes, but trainwrecks compared to their peers.

Sorry, but this angers me a great deal. So much genius has been lost forever, and for the most mundane of reasons.

On more positive news- try Jadot Corton Charlemagne if you have not yet. It is truly astonishing with all the verve and magnificence of the vintage. Had it a few times already and I plan to drink it often. You need to go 4-5x the price to do better, and even then it is not guaranteed.

#10

how is 07 Ramonet Batard? I ask because I just took possession of a case . . .
alan

#11

Never got around to that one- but based on what I tasted I would say sell it. Someone will surely give more than you paid- and focus that money on Niellon. It was an incredible year for him. Don’t miss that Chenevottes if you can find it.

After what I experienced with Ramonet as noted above, I sold all I had which included a case of Montrachet and Batard- plus 5-9 bottles each of all their other wines.

#12

Don,
I love '07s but I think some '08s are even better. Watch out for the '08 Leflaives!!

#13

Tom:

I’m really surprised to hear that because the bottle of 2007 Ramonet Chevalier we had was extraordinary. I own Batard, BBM and a couple of bottles of Montrachet as well, but haven’t tried any of those yet. The reviews from Tanzer and Meadows are also quite good. When and where did you taste them? Were these all from the same source?

On Jadot, they are completely on my embargo list – no matter how good the reviews from others. Why? Go look at my wiki site. Jadot has extremely low oxidation rates in 1995, 1996 and 1999 (I’ve had 33 bottles of Jadot grand crus from 1993 through 1999 and only two were oxidized – and one of those was a 1993 at 15 years old.) But then in 2000 almost every bottle is oxidized (which duplicated my experience), in 2001 every bottle tasted at 7 years or older is reported as oxidized, and in 2002 two of the three bottles at my dinners in Feb and roughly half of the wine reported on the wiki site are oxidized. Then there’s four early reports on 2004 Jadots which are all bad. 2004 is the last Jadot vintage I bought and its likely to be the last one I’ll buy for some time.

#14

Tom,

Those are some pretty strong sentiments on this topic! In fact, the strongest I’ve ever read from you and I’ve been reading your notes ever since you joined up with the other board. I’ve been out of the white Bourgogne game for about three years as the result of having to flush most of my '96 Ramonets through the sink, but I am hoping you could elaborate some, as the general topic of the p’ox is still a pet project of mine.

#15

Since I missed the Zadikian/Movich tasting at The Lobster overlooking the Pacific ocean, I am appreciative to receive an excellent crib sheet on high end white burgundies from the 2007 vintage. Don, are your notes in line with the majority of the tasters that day? Any controversal bottles? Maybe Ron could chime in as Michael rarely posts. You guys only drank the best, and wonderful to get an early just out of the bottle view of the 2007 vintage. Don your updates on white burgundies and the premox issues are greatly appreciated by the wine community. Your wiki site is invaluable and a great service to all.

#16

Peter:

You’re embarassing me. blush

The tasting at The Lobster was a remarkable event in that there were no controversial wines at all, unless you would consider a 94 point wine controversial. Lots of pretty amazing grins that day. It probably wasn’t fair of us to include the Bouchard MP in that crowd, but I must say that it did remarkably well despite the much more esteemed company and it was really a substitute for the Lafon MP which nobody had in hand yet. Most people stayed quite a while and Zadikian and I stayed pretty late just going back again and again and looking for new developments in the wines. Some of them changed quite a bit between when they were poured and when we left about four hours later.

The only “controversy” comes not from that day at the Lobster per se but in looking through my various notes, there’s a consistent theme on the Leflaive wines – surprisingly forward/soft. The Leflaive wines usually exhibit slightly reductive aromas across the board, but this year only the Batard did. And the Leflaive wines are usually more reserved/structured than their counterparts. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the 2007’s. I’m not sure whether this marks some kind of change in the winemaking at Leflaive or not. Still, there’s no question that the Leflaive grand crus are extraordinary wines. It will be very interesting to follow the evolution of these wines and see how they perform vs. their usual competitors.

#17

Glad to see your notes on the 2007 Bouchard Meursault Perrieres, I’ve gone long on this one (at least for me). Plan to try it this weekend.

#18

Don,

do you think this calls into question the Leflaive ageing ability?

#19

Tom - we’ve drank two bottles of this already. I can confirm you will not be disappointed. [welldone.gif]

#20

Nick:

I think it would be very difficult to make that claim at this point. To me these wines were noteworthy because they were collectively a departure from the norm for Leflaive vs. their competitors. The grand crus certainly seem to have the density and acidity to support at least a “normal” grand cru aging curve (such as that has been redefined in the premox era, i.e. 9 to 11 years) But as to whether the 07 Leflaives have the extended aging ability of earlier Leflaive vintages like 95, 96, 99 and probably 2002? I’m not quite sure.

Allen Meadows and I tasted most of these wines together and he told me that his take on the Leflaive vintage was that they would be open for business early and live for a long time. There’s no doubt about the first part of Allen’s statement and the second part is certainly a reasonable assumption based on Leflaive’s track record. However, I’ve never known Leflaive (in the Anne-Claude Leflaive era) to be close to leader of the pack in being soft/forward at this early stage (although you could make a similar statement for the Sauzet Chevalier we tried.)