TN: Bad to the Beaune

BAD TO THE BEAUNE - Tung Lok Signatures, Central (17/2/2012)

This was the first Cote de Beaune themed Burgundy dinner we have had in a long time. All blind and BYO as always, we strangely ended up with a lot from South-Central Cote de Beaune with plenty of Meursault and Volnay in the line-up. The irony was that the best wines of the night were not from the Cote de Beaune at all - we had a great off-theme Chablis, a lovely Echezeaux and a really good Alsace Gewurz SGN. A fun night as always.
OFF-THEME WHITES

  • 2010 Azienda Agricola Plozner Friuli Grave Sauvignon Blanc Quattroperuno IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Friuli Grave
    This wine represents excellent value. It had a really nice nose with a touch of green grass and daisy flowers sprinkled amidst ripe citrus fruit scents and some smokey, earthy notes. The palate was really bright, fresh and zippy, with citrussy lemon and green apples notes weighted down by some creamily textured depth with hints of apricot at the edge. I liked the finish too, with its lacy touch of mineral and earth. Nothing spectacular, but this was a very nice, refreshing drink and a lovely food wine. (90 pts.)
  • 2008 Egon Müller/Le Gallais Wiltinger Braune Kupp Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
    This was passably good rather than great. In spite of an hour or so in an open bottle, it was still rather tight and one-dimensional. The nose was nice enough, with little petrol hints and some exotic Indian spice scents floating around a subtle core of pear and apple flesh aromas. I thought this had quite a bit of power for a Kabinett with a sweet green apple underlayer on the palate, but this was girded by a super strong stream of citrus acidity that flowed through the spine of the wine into a kalimansi and green lemon finish. It had a nice grip to it, but I found it just a bit too acidic, so that the citrussy spike stood out even when the wine was served with some fried seafood. Still very young and it should improve, but I have had far better bottles of this bottling from other vintages. (88 pts.)
  • 2009 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru Séchet - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
    I thought this was a lovely 1er Cru. It was off-theme, but it turned out to be my favourite white of the night. It had a nose that could have been ripe enough to have come from the Cote d’Or, with sweet lemons scents, white apple flesh, a bit of spice and slighty honeyed undertone. But with time, there were enough saline minerality and earthy nuances that swirled out on the bouquet to pin this down as a Chablis. Very pleasant, but it was actually the palate that got me, with its chalky, seashelly attack with some beautiful smoky minerality forming a frame for a midpalate of rich white fruit, think pears and apples, lanced by a spear of lemony citrus notes. The finish had a nice length too. Mid-weight rather than powerful, while kissed with some of the sweetness of the vintage, this was accompanied by all the beautiful foucs, definition and balance you expect from a good Dauvissat bottling. Excellent - this should show really well over the short to medium term. (93 pts.)

A TRIO OF MEURSAULTS

  • 2007 Maison Leroy Meursault 1er Cru Les Boucheres - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
    Really good. It had a rich nose, with sweet oak notes wreathed around a core of lemon curd, ripe stone fruit and flowery scents, with a little minerally earthiness hanging around in the background. The palate was surprisingly rich for a 2007, with lots of sweet green apples and ripe lemon flavours and, again, a waft of flowers hanging around a midpalate with plenty of creamy, buttery Meursault-ness. The powerful finish lingered nicely in the mouth, with the fruit giving way to a lovely, stony minerality. I really liked the fact that there was a lovely cut and focus to the wine in spite of its voluptuous fleshiness. Good stuff. Still really young and a quite obviously oaked, but it should definitely improve with time. This has the structure and weight to age for a long time to come as well. (92 pts.)
  • 1996 Jean-Philippe Fichet Meursault Les Tessons - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault
    This was lovely. Given the difference in age, it may not have been a fair comparison, but this more than held its ground against a very good 2007 Leroy Meursault 1er Cru Boucheres that preceded it. This wine had a beautiful nose, with sweet kumquats and red apple aromas dancing around some matured scents of earthy undergrowth, pickled Japanese burdock and just a tiny hint of dried flowers. Really intriguing. The palate, on the other hand, was very youthful - fresh and lively, it had beautiful citus acidity and lovely minerality lancing through its ripe lemons and green apple flavours. There was a wonderful sense of purity and elegance - typical Fichet one might say - augmented perhaps by the energy and tingly tension of the vintage. A beautifully long finish with bits of minerality rounded the wine off very nicely. At a good place now, I really enjoyed this. (92 pts.)
  • 2006 Jacques Prieur Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
    This should have been the best of the three Meursaults that we had by quite a distance, but it was my least favourite. Not that it was bad, it was pretty decent as far as generic Meursaults go, but it was just a bit too big and blowsy for a Perrières, which should never be just a generic Meursault. The nose was rather sweet and ripe, with sweet lemon curd, spiced apple and stone fruit scents shading into tropical, almost pineapple-like hints. This was a big, fruity nose, and rounded off as it was by layer of sweet oak, anything but subtle. The palate carried on in the same vein. Rich, buttery, with tons of depth to its big fruit flavours of sweet lemons, apples and musky peach, with tons of toasty oak at the long finish. This had lots of power and pretty decent balance to back it up, but it is not my favourite style of Chardonnay. It may calm down and loose a bit of its overt fleshy fruitiness with time, but at the moment, just a bit too much for me to be a great wine. (89 pts.)

REDS

  • 1990 Hospices de Beaune Beaune Cuvée Maurice Drouhin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune
    Wow - from a magnum, this was really impressive for a Beaune village. It had a beautiful nose, with bits of herb, dark cherries and berries, some spice and a touch of dried earth. Very classicaly Beaune. The palate had softened into lovely velvety textured mouthful of dark cherries, plums maybe and blackberries seasoned with herbs, spice and earth in a long finish. Wonderfully integrated and possessing a gorgeous fresh balance, this was a beautifully drink. I would have liked it even more if not for the fact that it dropped off in the glass really quickly, with the fruit noticeably thinning out within half and hour and becoming increasingly herby. A pity, because I loved this wine apart from that. A beautifully village. (92 pts.)
  • 2008 Sylvie Esmonin (Michel et Fille) Volnay 1er Cru Santenots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru
    I have not always been a fan of Sylvie Esmonin’s bottlings, but this was actually very good. Far too young, but it is an impressive wine with a lot of promise. This had a lovely sweet Volnay nose with a slightly modern twist, with violet flowers, sweet red morello cherry scents and a touch of oak along with some smoky wood spice. The palate was still a bit tight, showing primary flavours of sweet dark cherries and raspberries patted down on the midpalate with a little bit of earth and mushrooms. There was plenty of depth and power here, but this was held in place with a fine structure of slightly woody tannins and a nice amount of lovely fresh, almost juicy balance that gave the wine a nicely focused feel. The long finish had quite a bit of grip to its earthy, minerally accents. This is a very good wine. Still young and rather too primary now, but it should come together very nicely after a decade or so. (92 pts.)
  • 1996 Domaine Potinet-Ampeau Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru
    Quite by coincidence, this was the second really nice Volnay on the night. Unlike the 2008 Santenots though, this was actually quite ready to drink. It had a far more matured nose, with a gentle waft of savoury herbs, earth and funky undergrowth drifting alongside sweet dark cherry and flower scents that were so very Volnay. The palate had a rather dark fruited character to it, with stewed black cherries and slightly drying berry flavours with almost a touch of licorice on them. There was a nice sappiness and good rich depth here along with a great juicy balance that was lent to the wine by a bit of 1996 citrus acidity. Fine powdery tannins left a bit of firmness in an otherwise nicely rounded finish with some orange peel and a tangerine lift to its earthy character. It was long and quite superbly balanced. Not the most refined wine, but this was quite delicious. At a good place now, although it could easily do with a few more years in the bottle. (92 pts.)
  • 2005 Jacques Cacheux Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
    Excellent. Another off-theme wine and, like the other off-theme Chablis which was the best white, this was quite clearly the best of the reds. The nose showed subtle, rather buried notes of sweet black cherries and blackberries nestling in notes of earth, wood spice and smoke. A bit tight, but with very deep aromas, and all quite nicely suggestive of its Vosne-neighbouring terroir. The palate had tons of Grand Cru depth to its rich flavours of black cherries and dark berries with a bit of meat and some damp earth in the background. Wonderfully integrated and balanced., this was all cloaked in a beautifully fine, noble structure. A long finish rounded the wine off with more hints of wood spice. After four bottles of this, it seems to have almost completely shut down. It appears to need another 20 years at least given the way it showed - as a beautifully packaged but uber-tight Grand Cru, a bit tame, a bit simple even at the moment, but generously proportioned and complete in every way. This is a wine that requires patience, but one that should reward it amply. (93 pts.)

SWEET

  • 1986 Hugel et Fils Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive SGN Sélectionneé par Jean Hugel - France, Alsace, Alsace AOC
    Quite beautiful. This started off a bit slow, a bit simple, but it opened up quite beautifully with plenty of time and air. It had a wonderful nose - lush, full, with beautiful little nuances of mushrooms and earth running alongside aromas of dried longans and lychees, dried figs, yellow sultanas and dollops of honey. Gorgeous. The rich, creamily textyred palate had a wonderful balance. Juicy and mouthwatering, it opened up with notes of brown sugar, honey and fanned out into a midpalate that had suggestions of dried longans seasoned with orange peel and earl grey tea. A bit simpler than the nose maybe, but really nice nonetheless. The finish carried on quite nicely indeed, with a well-integrated mouthful of dried figs, orange peel and little bit of toasted spice at the very end. A lovely wine at a beautiful place now. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

2006 Jacques Prieur Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
This should have been the best of the three Meursaults that we had by quite a distance, but it was my least favourite. Not that it was bad, it was pretty decent as far as generic Meursaults go, but it was just a bit too big and blowsy for a Perrières, which should never be just a generic Meursault. The nose was rather sweet and ripe, with sweet lemon curd, spiced apple and stone fruit scents shading into tropical, almost pineapple-like hints. This was a big, fruity nose, and rounded off as it was by layer of sweet oak, anything but subtle. The palate carried on in the same vein. Rich, buttery, with tons of depth to its big fruit flavours of sweet lemons, apples and musky peach, with tons of toasty oak at the long finish. This had lots of power and pretty decent balance to back it up, but it is not my favourite style of Chardonnay. It may calm down and loose a bit of its overt fleshy fruitiness with time, but at the moment, just a bit too much for me to be a great wine. (89 pts.)



The palate carried on in the same vein. Rich, buttery, with tons of depth to its big fruit flavours of sweet lemons, apples and musky peach, with tons of toasty oak at the long finish. This had lots of power and pretty decent balance to back it up, but it is not my favourite style of Chardonnay. It may calm down and loose a bit of its overt fleshy fruitiness with time,

Prieur’s Meursault - Perrieres needs a minimun of 10-12 years to come around ( as they harvest late or very late ).


This should have been the best of the three Meursaults that we had by quite a distance, but it was my least favourite.

Well said [cheers.gif]

If you own any J. Prieur - Meursault - CdMazeray 01 or 02…try one NOW. That being said…there is a possibiliy that Nadine Gublin’s style is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Thanks Peter - I will definitely try to get my hands on an older bottle to see how it ages. I think the vintage has something to do with it as well. Late-pickers in 2006 often got huge wines.

Ah, Jacques Cacheux Echezeaux - a wonderful bottling from that vineyard that I almost never see mentioned anywhere. I was last able to get ahold of 2002, and I am happily cellaring what little I have for another decade.

Hey Jim. Cacheux really punched above his weight for the 2005 Ecehzeaux. We did a vertical of his Echezeaux bottlings from 1999 to 2005 a few years back, and the 2005 really stood out.

Here are the notes if you are interested: Jacques Cacheux, Echezeaux (1999-2005) vertical dinner - CellarTracker

I was eying this bottle off at AA, then I finally pulled the trigger and it was sold, now I know who beat me to it!

haha… wasn’t me! But someone in the group :slight_smile:

We should meet for dinner soon!