EPIC BURGUNDY, 20-35 YEARS ON - Langdon Hall, Cambridge, ON (3/29/2025)
A few like-minded wine nerds got together on a cold and rainy March day for an increasingly rare glimpse into some of the greatest producers in Burgundy, hoping most bottles would offer prime early drinking. We thought, surely in this murder's row we would have some epic bottles, all tasted single blind, to compare and contrast producer styles, and eliminate bias.
Canapés with Champage
Note to self: must get my hands of the truffled devilled eggs again.
- 2008 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut - France, Champagne
This pours medium straw in the glass. The nose is initially a tad reduced showing quite a lot of onion/garlic character eventually showing candied lemon, green grape, kiwi, and light touches of toffee. The palate enters on green grape and honeydew melon notes, quite broad and round with significant fruit showing. Dosage is present and in in check, feeling like 5-7 g/l. The finish lingers quite nicely here with the broad and expansive yellow fruit. All in all this is quite enjoyable and really nicely balanced. I thought this was offering up some enjoyable drinking yet with clear room to improve (94 points)
Beginning with Vosne
This flight was single blind and nobody suspected these were the two Vosne wines. What they had in common was that they were relatively mute on opening, but on second pour both featured a lovely fruit forward impression.
- 1996 Bouchard Père et Fils La Romanée - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Romanée Grand Cru
[Tasted Single Blind] This pours light ruby in the glass with light bricking. The nose shows an initial whiff of VA, but then opens up to show a mellow and mature profile of red cherry, bright strawberry, mushroom, rose petals, light whisps of spice, some cool green minty notes, and old furniture rounding things out. The palate feels a tad stern entering on dried red fruit with an iron note. Tannin is medium, as is the acid again showing a touch of iron. The structure here feels like it's holding the overall profile back a tad, and is certainly clipping the finish. It was quite unclear what this was. I certainly didn't have it as the La Romanee. (93 points) - 1993 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
[Tasted Single Blind] This pours quite light ruby in the glass with very light bricking, quite pale overall. The nose shows another more mellow profile with red cherry, sassafras, dried cranberry, cola, strawberry, and beetroot. The entry shows red cherry, turning to firm medium tannin and medium plus acid. The finish goes quite tart here and fizzles out a little short. All in all this was another one that came across to me as nice, but fairly straightforward. I think other tasters had this one rated a little higher than me and even one rating is classic at 95 Points. I wasn't quite experiencing the complexity to merit that score but I have to admit that the second pour showed gorgeous purity of fruit. (93 points)
Two Early 2000s from Rousseau
Again Single Blind here so we didn't know these were the two Rousseau from the early 2000s. Initially wine #4 (02 Charmes) stood out as the better wine, but with time it really pulled away from the pack and was one of the better wines of the night. To the point that many (me included) suspected it was the Beze. Quite an over performer.
- 2001 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
[Tasted Single Blind] This pours light ruby in the glass with medium to light bricking. The nose is notably devoid of fruit with a profile that isn't particularly appealing of burlap, peanut shells, animal fur, sweaty socks, raspberry, and just a hint of pleasant seaweed. The entry shows the tart red fruit with medium acid and medium tannin. The finish fizzles out a little short with quite a lot of structure. A good wine but behind the expectations you'd have for the producer. Looking up and down the line-up, the group collectively felt the 01 Rousseau CdlR was most likely to be the weakest wine due to vintage and thus this was unanimously correctly identified by the group. (90 points) - 2002 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru
[Tasted Single Blind] This pours light ruby in the glass with light bricking. Here we have the first true aromatic fireworks of the evening with extremely bright and expressive red cherries, rose petals, cedar, hazelnut, a touch of VA, cinnamon, and pomegranate. One of those noses you could smell for days. The palate enters on the lovely floral tinged red fruit with medium minus tannin and medium acid, total silk. The finish is lovely and complex built on the red cherry and rose petal of the nose. All in all, this came across as a gorgeous bottle of red burgundy which has entered peak drinking and will be on a long plateau for decades ahead. Because of the purity of fruit I had this pegged as the 96 Beze, which is a testament to how this over delivered. In fact, I know at least one taster had this as their WOTN. (95 points)
The remainder
By this point in the evening we really moved away from flights and poured everything out for comparative tasting. From the moment these hit the glass they each had a very distinctive character. Wine #5 (05 Rousseau CSJ) showed extremely young with loads of tight young purple and blue tinged fruit, making it easy to identify. Wine #6 (96 Beze) and #7 (95 Dujac) both exploded from the glass and had people grinning. Calls for Vosne spice and WOTN erupted from the room with these two. I think overall more had the 95 Dujac ahead of the 96 Beze, and while I think it was splitting hairs, I do think there was more aromatic complexity from the Dujac than the Beze. On #6 and #7 there were loud voices in the room insistent these were from Vosne and thus must be the La Romanee and the DRC. While I did agree that one of these two was likely the DRC, I figured Dujac was definitely one of these two. Sadly wine #8 was clearly very corked and didn't even have enough showing to make an impression except that it might have perhaps been a little young.
- 2005 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
[Tasted Single Blind] This pours light purple in the glass. Visually, this is easily the most youthful wine of the evening. The nose shows youthful black raspberry, purple licorice, violet, nutty high quality oak, and crushed rock. The palate enters on the purple and blue tinged fruit of the nose with medium plus tannin and medium acid. The finish here shows potential but comes across a tad clipped by the structure. In the end this was quite easy to identify as the 2005 Rousseau Clos St Jacques, with it being both the youngest wine of the night but also from a vintage known for slow development and it's backwards character. There was some debate around the table about the potential this wine is showing with some feeling it was clear this would be the best wine at the table in due time and others feeling more unclear. I personally found this painfully young. I really try to rate what I'm experiencing today, so I fell on the more uncertain side of this debate. (93 points) - 1996 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin-Clos de Bèze - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru
[Tasted Single Blind] This pours light ruby in the glass with a lovely tinge of orange toward the rim. One of the more pale colored wines of the evening. The nose brings intense fireworks from the first pour, wowing the table and immediately getting mentions of Vosne spice. Aromas are of peppery spice, cardamom, pomegranate, star anise, nutty oak, peonies, fresh ginger, dried orange peel, and rose petals. The palate enters on the gorgeous, focused red fruit with a somewhat austere structure. Tannin is firm and medium with medium plus acid. The finish however is unencumbered by the structure turning quite ethereal and floral with fabulous length. After becoming clear this was an extremely special wine and thinking about the pale color and intense aromatics, I figured this was likely either the DRC or the Dujac. The peppery and spicy notes had me feeling this was be a producer with heavy use of stems, so it was surprising to see this was Rousseau. Yet I was also pleased to see that this wine which was the centerpiece of the evening did deliver. I think this was #2 WOTN across most tasters, if not a close #3. While the current pricing for this wine is hard hard to justify, its always pleasing when the class of the wine oozes through in a blind setting and provides an otherworldly experience. Easily the best Rousseau I've ever had. (96 points) - 1995 Domaine Dujac Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
[Tasted Single Blind] Similar to the previous wine this pours pale ruby in the glass though not quite as much orange at the rim. Here we have another banger that absolutely leaps from the glass in an aromatic blaze showing red cherry, ripe macerated raspberry, chai tea, mushroom broth, miso, fresh ginger, fresh orange peel, and white truffle. A nose that you can sit with and smell all night long watching it evolve and become more and more compelling with each passing moment. A taster near me said this was "like a spice from another dimension" which I couldn't agree more with. The palate is pure silk with medium tannin and medium acid, closing out beautifully with Roobis and Chai tea lingering for minutes. In the end this was WOTN for me and also for most at the table. This was another bottle that some felt had Vosne spice and thus the most common guess was here was DRC, though some felt it was likely to be the La Romanee. While there were some who were very surprised this was the Dujac, I felt strongly this or the previous wine were the Dujac given the stem signature. In the end this was a flat out stunning bottle that shows the incredible highs of this producer from this era, from a bottle in perfect condition. Despite this being far from their top terroir and not even really a top vintage, this was still absolutely singing tonight. Dare I say this is reasonably good value at today's market price if you can find a bottle as well stored as this. (97 points) - 1999 Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Clos Vougeot - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru
Corked (NR/flawed)
A substitiute
I had brought a bottle of the 91 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands-Echezeaux, thinking it could be substituted in single blind if we had a flawed bottle. The wait staff thought everything seemed sound, but as we poured the wines out, it was clear wine #8 (99 MG CdV) was corked. Without thinking I shouted out the substitute I had brought and had it opened by the wait staff, but people knew exactly which wine it was (added to the end of the line-up), so this was in fact not blind at all. It may not have gotten the attention it deserved but I personally had it as the fourth best wine this evening.
- 1991 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands-Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru
This pours light ruby in the glass with light bricking. Impressive color considering the age and vintage. The nose is lovely featuring prominent orange peel, red cherry, hazelnut, whisps of chai spice, animal fur, charcoal, and bay leaf. The palate enters on chai tea accented red cherry with medium minus tannin and medium plus acid. Texturally, this is one of the nicer wines this evening, caressing the palate. The finish here is long and ethereal. All in all, again I'm not sure this wine got the attention it deserved. While it may not have leaped from the glass like some of the top wines did, it was texturally one of the best of the evening. The palate certainly is where this wine separates itself from the pack. I think I had expected this might be further developed than this, being the oldest wine of the evening and from a "weaker" vintage, but I think it fit right in. This is offering prime drinking right now. (95 points)
The Night Cap
We had gotten an early start to this tasting and by this point in the evening folks opened up Langdon's deep wine list to consider what else could be ordered. We settled on the 08 Mugnier Marechale which I had enjoyed here previously. This bottle came across to me as enjoyable even though I'd even admit something was slightly off.
- 2008 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos de la Maréchale - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru
This pours light garnet in the glass with notable bricking. The nose is wildly complex showing a very rustic profile that some found too wild and even a little bretty. Others thought it could be lightly corked. I enjoyed it but did wonder if a light bit of papery TCA might have been muting the fruit a little. The nose was of seaweed, cedar, mushroom, cinnamon, grilled pork, dried ginger, animal fur, a touch of red cherry, and thyme blossom. The palate enters on tart red fruit with medium minus tannin and medium acid. Again the light papery note does show up on the finish, clipping things a little. All in all I was able to appreciate what was in the glass in front of me, though it's possible it was a tad flawed.