We had a nice get together with a couple local families and a great visit with Ray Walker of Maisan Ilan.
2001 Gaunoux Beaune – This was shut down as tight as can be when first opened. A few hours of decanting and some slow ox afterwards finally coaxes it to life. It has mature and complex aromatics of fall leaves, tea and fried flower incense. Its very light but has a nice level of fruity cherry sweetness. Earlier in the night the finish had a bit more generosity but it’s a bit tart now.
2008 Bruno Clavelier Vosne Romanee Aux Brulees 1er – The aromatics at this point have elements of cooking herbs (stems?) and intense spice attributes but earlier in the night there was some beautiful red fruit. The medium weight flavors are fresh and succulent with luminous and pure red and dark berry and floral notes. The finish is energetic with complexity derived from the intense spice. There is some oak-like sweetness that lingers. A first time for me with this producer and Im very impressed. Good power without weight.
2006 Bertheau Combolle Musigny 1er – This was pretty tight at first and took a long time to come around. The aromatics have a savory element with spice and plum attributes. The medium+ weight dark fruit flavors are deep, rich and fairly powerful but there is still an overall sense of lightness to it. Its racy and tart with a nice mineral component. The finish has energetic fruit and some savory elements.
2010 Maison Ilan Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru (barrel sample) – The intense aromas have elements of dark fruit, sweet floral incense, minerals and a complex savory* element . It has sneaky yet powerful palate-staining succulent red and dark fruit flavors. A real power-without-weight type wine. Its very well balanced with a roundness and even a gentleness to it. The finish is impressive with sweet fruit flavors lingering for a long time. My type of wine. It improved significantly with air.
*likely a short term effect of lees contact as it dissipates fairly quickly
2007 Mugneret-Gibourg Bourgogne – No one paid much attention to this presumably because of its appellation but this was quite nice. It has aromas of pine, spice and some dark fruit. The dark fruit flavors are surprisingly rich and vibrant and it has a vosne-like quality to it. It lacks some punch to the finish but that is just a minor quibble.
2009 Maison Ilan Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru (half bottle) – [Note that this didn’t have a great tavel history and Ray says it tastes a lot different in Burgundy] Like the 2010 the aromas are quite intense with notes of roast meat and some spice. The flavors are sweet, powerful and intense with a roast coffee note on the finish. I like the 2010 better but this might be my favorite 2009 so far. I did not detect the confected powdered sugar-like notes that I notice with most 2009s.
2002 Fourrier MSD Clos Salon – Here the medium intense aromas are fully tertiary with nice complexity and notes of fall leaves, pine sap and gilled beef. The medium weight dark fruit flavors are surprisingly rich with a tangy finish that is a bit short when compared to some of the higher appellation wines.
2007 Drouhin Musigny Grand Cru – Man there is just something about Musigny. The aromas were just so intense, beautiful and complex it quite literally brought a tear to my eye. Thankfully nobody noticed. This has just so much floral goodness. The flavors didn’t quite match the wonderfulness and the aromas but they were still deliciously rich yet weightless, nuanced and sophisticated. We drained this too quickly and likely didn’t give it enough time to fully open. Clearly this is infanticide but I have a soft spot in my heart for young Drouhin Musigny.
2002 Jadot Beaune Theurons 1er For me, the aromas and flavors were a perfect mix of age-derived autumnal elements and dark rich fruit. The concentration and richness were quite impressive. For my subjective tastes Beaune can be very underrated. Its worth noting the Ray thought he may have noticed some TCA on this but anything there was under my threshold.