This was the second stage of our exploration of the Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet Grand Cru vineyards. We started a few months back with an all-Montrachet/Le Montrachet blindtasting, and dishes specially cooked to match, at Stephen Gold’s home. The wines that night amazed us with their power and depth across the board, and we were particularly surprised that none of the wines that night were oxidized or flawed. That flaw-free luck did not hold for our Bienvenues, and we had a particularly bad run with our '96s–a vintage that, of course, is one of those that has been plagued with premox–three out of four of ours were oxidized. Our Leflaives and Pernots were the stars of the evening, with the '97 Pernot coming in as the group’s #1 for the night; the '00 Pernot, with its longer finish and racier acidity, was my WOTN. The '99, '96 and '02 Leflaives garnered virtually all the rest of the votes for WOTN. All of our Bienvenues were poured blind, in random order, and we did not unveil the wines until the end of the last flight.
Bienvenues is usually said to be the most approachable of the Montrachet vineyards in their youth (and to follow a faster maturity path thereafter), and we found this to be generally true of our set of wines. They also clearly lacked the power and, in most cases, the depth, of the Montrachets we had in our prior tasting. Clive Coates describes the typical Bienvenues as having “a fatness, a honeyed or honeysuckle fragrance and a certain delicacy.” I definitely picked up a honeyed or honeysuckle nose on several of these wines, and they were certainly more delicate than our Montrachets. If Coates is correct about the typical nose and palate fatness, then our Latour, the '00 Pernot and the '02 Leflaive may have been the most “typical” Bienvenues in our tasting.
Kudos to Stephen for launching this Montrachet exploration, which we’re planning to continue on a quarterly basis, and for organizing this dinner. Special thanks to Joe for his contribution of two Leflaives.
Fleury Champagne Flight
This is a very unusual Champagne in that it contains Pinot Blanc (a third of the cuvee).
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1996 Fleury Champagne Brut - France, Champagne, Côte des Bars (Aube), Champagne
Light orange color; light citrus, orange, caramel, peach, ginger nose; focused, tart citrus, tart orange palate with a touch of caramel; meidum-plus finish (1/3 Chardonnay, 1/3 Pinot Noir and 1/3 Pinot Blanc) (93 pts.) -
2000 Fleury Champagne Cuvée Robert Fleury Brut - France, Champagne, Côte des Bars (Aube), Champagne
Light golden yellow color; ripe lemon, ripe peach nose; tart peach and mineral palate with tangy acidity; medium-plus finish 91+ pts. (1/3 Chardonnay, 1/3 Pinot Noir and 1/3 Pinot Blanc) (91 pts.)
1st Bienvenues Flight
By random chance, we ended up with three of our Leflaives in the same opening flight. Despite all being from the same producer, there was remarkable difference, showing the influence of the vintages. Our dish for this flight was a fish consomme.
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1999 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Light medium golden color; reduction, tart lemon nose, that takes on a nutty character after 30 minutes in the glass; youthful, focused, creamy textured, tart lemon,mineral palate; medium-plus finish (group’s WOTF and second place for group’s WOTN) (93 pts.) -
1998 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Medium yellow color; vanilla, floral, ripe lemon nose; lovely, hazelnut, mineral palate with good extract and balance; medium-plus finish 93+ pts. (93 pts.) -
1996 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Light medium golden color; mineral, vaguely savory, tart lemon, baked lemon nose; tight, elegant, tart lemon, mineral palate with racy acidity and depth; long finish (group’s 2nd WOTF; my WOTF) (94 pts.)
2nd Bienvenues Flight
This flight contained our plurality WOTN, the '97 Pernot, and a very good '99 Latour, along with a weak, somewhat oxidized Ramonet and a badly corked Remoissenet. Our dish for this flight was a Croustillant de Camembert, warm camembert in a crispy Moroccan crepe with black truffle oil.
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1999 Louis Latour Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Light medium apricot color; honeyed, light tangerine, vanilla nose; tart tangerine, mineral, dried apricot palate with a touch of honey; medium-plus finish (93 pts.) -
1997 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Medium golden yellow color; baked lemon, nutty nose; mature, nutty, hazelnut, tart baked lemon palate, at its peak; medium finish (unanimous WOTF and group’s WOTN) (94 pts.) -
1996 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Slightly cloudy, golden orange color; oxidiation, tart orange, hazelnut nose; sherried, tart orange, hazelnut palate; medium-plus finish (89 pts.) -
1996 Remoissenet Père et Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Light medium orange color; badly corked on nose and palate NR (flawed)
3rd Bienvenues Flight
This was another strong flight, despite an oxidized '96 Pernot, and a rather simple Sauzet. The '00 Pernot and '02 Leflaive were both stunning. My dish for this was Cabillaud Dijonnaise, California black cod and warm potato salad w/chives, shallots & mustard vinaigrette.
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2000 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Medium canary yellow color; lovely lemon, mineral nose with a touch of honey; tasty, concentrated, tart lemon, mineral, ripe lemon palate; long finish (group’s 2nd WOTF; my WOTN) (96 pts.) -
1997 Etienne Sauzet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Light medium orange color; orange, oxidation, tangerine nose; better on palate, tart tangerine, mineral, but simple in comparison to most of our wines this evening; medium-plus finish (91 pts.) -
1996 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Medium orange color; oxidized, almond nose; tart orange, rather oxidized palate with good acidity; medium finish (84 pts.) -
2002 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Light yellow color; ripe lemon, honey nose; youthful, ripe lemon, mineral, structured palate, shows great potential; medium-plus finish (group’s WOTF) (95 pts.)
Sweet finish
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2003 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Sélection de Grains Nobles - France, Alsace, Turckheim, Alsace AOC
From 375 ml - medium orange color; rich, apricot, baked apricot nose; rich, concentrated, rounded, ripe apricot, almond palate, but lacks acidity; long finish (94 pts.) -
1996 Château Tirecul La Gravière Monbazillac Cuvée Madame - France, Southwest France, Dordogne, Monbazillac
Medium orange color; VA, tart orange, clementine nose; tart orange, clementine, mineral palate with good acidity; long finish 94+ pts. (94 pts.)
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