Tn: Faiveley Corton Charlemagne 2006 and Bouchard Chambertin Clos de Béze 2004

Opened these both great bottles last Friday. I gave them both about 2 hours of decanting before I started to dig in.

Faiveley Corton Charlemagne 2006. Very distinct yellow color (typical for Faiveley Charlemagne). The nose was on the tropical side with bananas and pineapplebut vey subtle. In the mouth the wine was thick and unctuous with dense fruit and limestone characters. Super balance and an aftertaste that went on for several minutes. Great wine indeed and no hurry to drink, but there is also no reason not to. 96p.

Bouchard Pere&Fils Chambertin Clos de Bèze 2004: Slightly evolved color. Distictive 2004 aromas, but in a good sence. Liquorice and minerals. In the mouth a wine with great structure and balance. Quite a bit of nice tannins to support the structure. Absolutely no signs of greenness. Long after taste and class. This is what you are looking for in red Burgundy. A super wine. I wish I had more bottles of this. 97p.

A couple of great wines. Had some good 04’s recently with no overt green character - 04 Drouhin Musigny, and last night the 04 Mugnier Clos de la Marechale - just gets better and better.

Also if you consider that you can buy the Bèze for about 160 USD. That is quite a QPR !

Thanks for the datapoint on the Marechale. I have two of these and was hoping the greenies went away!

I too had a Bouchard 2004 Clos de Beze last week: I was quite nice. The GM was not distracting.

Nice to see your note re the faiveley CC - always a special wine that repays a bit more ageing.

2006 was the first year when Bernard Hervét had influence on the wine making at Faiveley. From 2006 Faiveley is no more using Remond barrels. This and a number other things have really changed their wines to the better at the domaine. I remember tasting the 2006 from barrel and had the opportunity to compare the Corton-Charlemagne from Remond and from the new barrels ( I think it was Francois Frère ) and the difference was phenomenal. With the new barrels the wine was a lot more transparent. All flavors were so much easier to define. It was like adjusting the focus on camera lens.

Mike…are you sure that the 2 Drouhin 04 red are getting better and better ? They are only barely 8 ! [cheers.gif]

Hans- Any thoughts if the difference is more attributable to the toasting levels selected by the prior regime? I ask only because I would think that a high-level (ie, tight-grained) oak staves aged 3 years in the Remond yard ought to react to wine “about” the same as FF staves. I have talked to a couple of winemakers who track their various tonneleries via a “best barrel” program, and I don’t recall any saying the differences were phenomenal, to use your word.

Oak and wine, especially Burgundy wine, is a very complex subject, IMO. I know a number of very highly regarded domaines use Remond, and a number use Francois Frere, and several other coopers I am sure. There was an extensive discussion about this, and I think it was in the 2010 Burg appellation series Vosne-Romanee thread.

I am not a wine maker, so I don´t have a clue, but the difference between the barrels was very significant. I think there was an issue of too much wood tannin in Remond which was the reason for the change. Users of Remond e.g. Vogué are using less new oak in their wines. I guess for some reason?