TN: Grand Cru Burgundy

Notes from an interesting dinner tasting of Grand Cru Burgundies.

1999 Delamotte Brut Champagne – young, lots of spritz, good acidity, clean and tasty, too young to have developed any secondary interest buy promising.

2000 Henri Boillot Corton Charlemagne – the two whites were very different wine, each excellent in their way. This one had some sulfur in the nose, but below my personal rejection limit and it abated with time in the glass. Once you got past that, there was some nice vanilla and hints of pear, and in the mouth excellent fruit and acidity. Very nice.

1991 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne – the nose on this one wasn’t nearly as forthcoming nor interesting as the previous wine, showing only a bit of lime and maybe a hint of toffee, but we forgave it (I did anyway) when you got it in your mouth. Lush tropical fruit on palate and more body, finishing well with good acidity and length. Good bottle!

1998 Groffier Bonnes Mares – the first staff screw up was this pair where they got the person presenting it wrong, so we ended up thinking this was either a rather weak DRC or one of the best Grofiers we’d tasted. Medium body and colour, excellent cherry fruit, soft tannin and a very slitht astringency in the finish. Good.

1993 DRC Echezaux – darker wine with a very decent nose with vanilla and red fruit, marred only by a slight volatile acidity that somewhat abated with air, at which point some Asian spice kicked in and made itself known. In the mouth medium body, excellent concentration and rounder and fuller than I usually expect from this vintage with very good length.

1999 Girardin Corton Clos du Roi – darker wine with an excellent nose of earth, mushroom and raspberry, with a funkiness at first that passed with air. In the mouth, tons of acidity, bordering on the brink of excess, moderate tannin, some warmth and sweet fruit. nice and still on the way up.

2001 Jadot Corton-Pougets – this was the one I’d told them would be lighter and to serve it early. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be bizarre. The nose was very stewy/swampy, but that did go away with air. Unfortunately what it left behind wasn’t what one would look for - light fruit on palate, elegant but lacking concentration, and someone suggested (and I couldn’t disagree) a very faint hint of TCA. I buy this wine because it is the least known of Jadots Grand Crus and often offers good value, but there was something wrong with this bottle. Not clearly corked (though it probably was, mildly) and otherwise just downright odd. Hadn’t tasted it before, but had checked up on good reviews by others, so must conclude that this bottle was a bad one.

2004 Jean Michel Guillon Mazis Chambertin – another middling vintage, but a wine that showed well. Dark, excellent red fruit nose, sweet in the mouth, good with and very well balanced.

2005 Nicholas Potel Ruchets Chambertin – very good vintage but sadly a less convincing wine, for me. Lighter in colour, with a nice briary fruit component to the nose, but on palate I thought it a bit light in fruit and a bit simple. Pleasant, but I was surprised to learn the vintage.

The restaurant was a mixed success. The food was excellent (I only took issue with a sweetbread course, where they had over floured/breaded the sweetbreads, making them a tad doughy. I flour them and get a nice crisp outside with a nice soft inside that does them better service, IMO).

The wine service was a bit of a joke. Fortunately the person that organized the event insisted on proper Burgundy glasses. We brought our wines, as usual, in brown bags with our name on them and gave any instructions we thought would enhance the order of service. The staff listened, and then totally disregarded all they had been told, throwing out the bags and not keeping track of whose wine was which. The also ignored advice (I had indicated that my Corton would be a lighter wine and should come early in the dinner) and simply put wines of like origin together regardless of weight or advice. I give them a 9/10 for food and a 4/10 for paying attention to the customers wishes.

Good event, thanks to the organizer.

Thanks for posting - Bill in BC.

Very interesting TNs.

I live in Montreal, Quebec. When I do wine event in BOYW Restuaruants here, we ( the participants ) do the wine services for ourselves - which solves lots of problem.

You live in a civilized area that allows that; unfortunately we don’t out here in BC [swearing.gif]

Normally we brief the servers and have no problems.

A pet peeve of mine is servers that refuse to listen. I’ve told them to let us pour the wine ourselves when we are jusr ordering a bottle, and they mindlessly, on autopilot, keep coming back and topping everyone off. They’ve lost their potential tips a couple of times from me over that - we often designate a lady to drive and so they only want a taste of wine, but the idiot servers keep topping up their glass.

I’ve even seen one incompetent individual uncork a bottle of wine and pour it all out into the first four oversize glasses and then tell me they ran out and should they open another bottle. I told them to take it all away and that we weren’t paying for it as they weren’t able to serve properly and we left with our orders already in, so hopefully they didn’t repeat that with other customers.

Hmmm…sorry to hear more abourt wine-Rest-life in BC.

One small thing, I always bring my Burgundy Baloon Glasses to the BYOW here. Dountful I will move to BC … houses are too expensive there.

No kidding! I do real estate law in one of the most expensive communities in Canada - just did a $10 million mortgage on a client’s home here!

You could always move to the BC interior - the small towns offer nice houses for what the bare land under them costs. [cheers.gif]

****just did a $10 million mortgage on a client’s home here! ****

Lucky you - doing Real Estate Laws in BC which is getting to be more like or similar in HK.

$10millian business deal lately - guess why you are celebrating with Burgundys. 10 million house is very rare in Montreal ! Like a Faiveley Musigny.

****the BC interior - the small towns ****

Guess it will be far away from any liquor stores [wow.gif] . Thanks… I stay in Montreal and drink my Burgundy as I am the president of the 2 Ms Club in Montreal ( Ms for Mercurey and Marsannay ; unlike to the 2 Ms club in Signapore which stands for Musigny and Montrachet ).

BTW…DRC 1993 never smile with me [swearing.gif] . I still have my last bottle DRC G-Ech 1993 ( out of 3 ) in my cellar. I will open it in 2013( at age 20 ) or if not 2018 when it will be 25.

  • 1999 Delamotte Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut - France, Champagne, Côte des Blancs, Champagne
    Lighter yellow in colour. Youthful nose with mainly citrus notes and just a hint of green apple and yeast. Fresh and clean in the mouth, slightly creamy, with great acidity and flavours of citrus, green apple, toast and minerality. Quite enjoyable now but there’s more to come with a few more years in the cellar. Very good. 89+ (89 pts.)


  • 2000 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
    Opened and served right away. Light to medium yellow. The nose here jumped from the glass with loads of sulfur that at first seemed to mask everything else, but within a few minutes the sulfur notes lightened and revealed beautiful notes of smoke, cheesy funk, citrus, well-integrated oak and hints of floral and spice. In the mouth this was round and balanced with more citrus and oak notes wrapped in a mineral and acidic framework that kept it fresh and lively. Medium bodied. This is drinking quite youthfully and probably could have used a solid decant or many more years in the cellar. As good as this is now, this will be even better in 3-5 years if premox stays away. Excellent. 92+ (92 pts.)
  • 1991 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
    Tasted blind – This was slightly darker than the ’00 Boillot—medium yellow. Quite a difference coming from the Boillot to this as this wine was very tight on the nose and clean of any sulfur. After some time in the glass and vigorous swirling the nose starting opening a bit giving notes of coconut, tropical fruits and floral. Richer and weightier in the mouth but with good acidity and freshness that made this seem more youthful than the Boillot. This, just like the Boillot, could use more time and based on this bottle, will improve with another 3-5 years in the cellar. While the Boillot seemed to have more complexity going on (especially on the nose), this offered perhaps a bit more generosity and richness and in the mouth so it’s really hard to pick a favorite…but on this night, I’d give a slight nod to the Boillot. Excellent. 91+ (91 pts.)


  • 1998 Domaine Robert Groffier Bonnes Mares - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
    Tasted blind - Medium red with a bricking hue moving towards the rim. Wow, what a crazy good nose! Right from the first sniff this grabbed my attention and never let go. A pronounced, pure and elegant nose of mature red pinot fruit, raspberry, hints of sweet tobacco and caramel, floral and earth. In the mouth this was pure, silky and velvety. Fully resolved with wonderfully balanced acidity and a powerful, yet light weight and graceful texture. A long mineral finish. I guessed Chambolle…could this be anything else? This is drinking perfectly right now. Outstanding. (94 pts.)
  • 1993 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
    Tasted blind – Medium red with some bricking, although slightly darker than the 98 Groffier. The nose here had some VA at first with sweet vinegar, stemmy notes with some spice and red fruits trying to poke through, but I figured the VA may blow off so I focused on the Groffier and came back to this 15-20 minutes later. The VA was still there, but starting to subside, so I kept swirling and gave it more time. Another 15min or so later, with most of the VA gone, this wine started to shine. Beautiful Asian spice, sweet and sour dark pinot fruit, floral and a little sous-bois emerged from the glass. On the palate this was weightier and rougher than the Groffier (but by no means rough or rugged, just more so than the silky Groffier) with dusty tannins, more pronounced acidity with rich pinot and earthy flavours. Based on all the Asian spice and the palate profile, I guessed Vosne. This needed a ton of air to really show its stuff and well-stored bottles like this one have a long life ahead of them. Outstanding. 93+ (93 pts.)


  • 1999 Vincent Girardin Corton-Clos du Roi - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
    Opened, recorked, and served 3 hours later. This wine brought the funk! Great nose of sweet funk, mushrooms, dark raspberries and hints of spice. The richest and sweetest flavour profile so far and showing quite youthfully. Lots of depth in the mouth with earthy, dark and spicy flavours. A well balanced wine with fine tannins, solid acidity and good length. While very approachable and utterly delicious at this point, I will wait 2-3 years before popping my next bottle as there is more to come from this beauty. Excellent. 92+ (92 pts.)
  • 2001 Domaine des Héritiers (Louis Jadot) Corton-Pougets - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
    Tasted blind - Swampy nose. Boiled cereal. Very weird. Mike said right off the bat he got very slight hints of TCA, but no one else did. After some time in the glass, the TCA became more apparent. Corked. NR (flawed)


  • 2004 Jean-Michel Guillon Mazis-Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru
    Tasted blind – medium to dark red. Gevrey nose with darker red fruits, meatiness, hints of spice and poopy funk. In the mouth the wine rich, deep and masculine with solid acidity and fine grained tannins. Young but approachable and no signs of the mean greenies here—just a wonderful young burg that should continue to develop nicely over the next 5-7 years. Excellent. 91+ (91 pts.)
  • 2005 Nicolas Potel Ruchottes-Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Ruchottes-Chambertin Grand Cru
    Tasted blind – medium red. Tight and weird nose of dill, pepper and subtle red fruits. Better on the palate with ripe and deep red fruits, lots of structure and acidity, but even then it’s very tight. This is fast asleep. It seems to have the parts to develop into something really nice, but it’s just not showing well tonight. Judgment reserved.

Thanks for the notes, Bill and Devin.