TN: 2010 Bouchard wine dinner organized by Panos

WINE TALK
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2010 BOUCHARD WINE DINNER ORGANIZED BY PANOS - Lavandou, Washington DC (1/16/2013)

Panos kindly invite fifteen DC area wine lovers to taste the 10 Bouchard wines. A few years back, I had one of the most memorable dinners at the domaine that included the 1865 Clos Vougeot. It was a generous gesture for the domaine to donate these wines.

All the whites showed well, demonstrating the greatness of the 10 whites with pure fruits, bright acidity and incredible mineral expression. The 10 Le Montrachet for me was flirting with perfection, especially with an hour of air. The reds were also quite good; pure red fruits and bright acidity. For me, the gap between red village wines to 1er crus is a clear way to demonstrate the importance of terroir and it was quite evident in this event. All village wines, although showing the pure fruits associated with the 10 vintage, were relatively simple and short compare to Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot and Beaune 1er Cru Grèves Vigne de L’Enfant Jesus. I am sure there are some good village wines, perhaps declassified 1er crus but at least for Bouchard, they were good restaurant wines.
10 Whites

  • 2010 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault Les Clous - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault
    A hint of flint, limestone and white fruits. Refreshing, bright acidity, not too complex. (89 pts.)
  • 2010 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru Clos St. Landry - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru
    Bubble yum, yellow fruits, displaying more acidity than Les Clous. Round and warm mouthfeel. Not terribly complex. (91 pts.)
  • 2010 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
    A great example of big scale Corton Charlemagne displaying piercing acidity and incredible minerality. Lime, white fruits, white flowers, sesame, wet stone, flint and smoke. Excellent fruit depth, air and mineral yet unctuous and sweet palate ending with piercing acidity. Lovely wine that will improve with cellaring. (95 pts.)
  • 2010 Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
    Upon pour, just darn impressive, massive scale wine that reminds me a batard. White pear, white peach, lime, rose, sesame, limestone, sea salt and white pepper. Unbelievably dense and concentrated palate yet remains precise and delicate. With air, the nose opened up displaying more delicate fruits. The palate remains almost chewy yet light and precise with just perfect amount of acidity. A great great example of Le Montrachet. (98 pts.)

10 Reds

Mature Burgs

Climens

  • 1975 Château Climens - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
    It is an extremely fresh bottle with the color that is as light as the 04 that was served side by side. Perfectly ripe apricot, honey, burnt caramel, vanilla and oolong tea. Medium concentration, steely, nice tension but slightly lacking in complexity. This ain’t no D’Yquem but still very enjoyable. (93 pts.)
  • 2004 Château Climens - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
    This is a surprisingly good Climen that is so tasty. Good concentration, fresh ripe tropical fruits, vanilla and ginger. It is drinking nicely and will last. If sub $50, I am a buyer. (93 pts.)

It was a great fun. Thanks goes to Panos for organizing the event.
Posted from CellarTracker

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Thanks for the notes Kevin. I have drunk all my Genevrieres from 2002 already. I remember it being as you described it “oily”. Montrachét is really something special isn´t it. Structure like a red wine.

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Last night was a fun evening. Thank you Panos for making this possible. With respect to the 2010s, I liked the Meursault better than the Beaune Clos St. Landry. The Meursault was kind of a puppy dog wine, easy to drink and just fun. Did not matter that is was not too complex, it was just easy to drink and tasted good. The Beaune, while theoretically more serious, just did not have the beautiful fruit of the Meursault.

The Corton Charlemagne and the Montrachet were just outstanding wines. The Corton Charlemagne was a bit closed, but certainly the potential was there. The Montrachet was just great.

The three village wines I thought were good, but I liked the Beaune Teuron more. It had a wonderfully pure nose and some beautiful what I will call “2010 fruit.” There was a bit of toughness in it that I think of as being young Beaune, but I thought this was excellent for something I think would not be too expensive.

The Volnay Caillerets and the Beaune l’Enfant Jesus were clearly the class of the reds and are excellent wines.

I thought the 2002 Beaune Clos du Chateau and the 1981 Chevalier Montrachet were over the hill and not that good anymore. The 2002 Genevrieres was quite good and an excellent example of a 10 year old white Burgundy.

We had two German wines from Hochheimer, but unfortunately I did not write down the names. [help] Both excellent wines. Surprisingly, the 99 was fresher than the 96.

Then, I am a lover of Climens and it was a treat to have two of them. I love the cleanness and the acidity of Climens. Really good. I am not sure why there is a comparison with D’Yquem. If one had an excellent Chateau Canon, I would not expect a comparison with Ausone, or an excellent Lynch Bages a comparison with Mouton or Latour. Climens and D’Yquem are just so different.

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To be clear, I was referring to the 75 D’Yquem. I also love Climens and am keenly aware of the stylistic differences. I am strictly comparing the 75 where D’Yquem produced far superior wine.

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Panos, thanks again for organizing this tasting. It was a treat for me to taste these wines. As good as the Corton-Chalemagne, Volnay Cailleret,Beaune Greves Vigne de l’Enfant Jesus were the Montrachet was in its own league.

Howard, the 1996 was a Weingut Himmel, Hohchheimer Kirchenstuck Riesling Spatlese, Rheingau. I believe the 1999 was the Hochheimer Holle but I didn’t quite catch the name and the bottle had no label. Perhaps Christian will chime in.

Aaron

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I’ll repeat the thanks to Panos (and Henriot, which provided the 2010s). My ordinal ranking of the 2010s was exactly the same as Kevin’s, except that I’d put the Clous a notch lower and don’t think I had the Clos St. Landry. My “what to buy” list coming out of this was no surprise - L’Enfant Jesus, Caillerets Carnot, Corton Charlie, and 04 Climens. Also, I completely agree that if I had a restaurant I’d be backing up the truck on the Savigny-les-Beaune. It was a very pretty wine - not for the long haul, but quite tasty and a good deal at its likely price point.