Some Notes from the 2012 La Paulee Grand Tasting

Westin St. Francis, San Francisco
Tasted Saturday, February 25, 2012 by drwine2001 with 1,279 views

Introduction

What an absolutely wonderful, memorable event. Between seeing and meeting an incredible array of Burgundian producers and proprietors, getting to taste a fantastic range of wines, and nibbling on great food in between, this was a pretty overwhelming afternoon. Congratulations to the organizers for flawlessly running this mammoth undertaking, and thanks to all for coming to San Francisco this year. My palate reached a saturation point after about 2 hours, so there a few other great producers that I did not taste, but below are some rapidly scrawled impressions of those that I did.

Flight 1 - Bubbles (2 Notes)

Flight 2 - Domaine Louis Michel (4 Notes)

Flight 3 - Domaine William Fevre (4 Notes)

Flight 4 - Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey (4 Notes)

My admiration for this domain only continued to grow after sampling this set of wines.

Flight 5 - Domaine des Comtes Lafon (3 Notes)

Flight 6 - Domaine Roulot (4 Notes)

Flight 7 - Domaine de Montille (2 Notes)

Flight 8 - Commune de Meursault (4 Notes)

Flight 9 - Domaine Bonneau du Martray (2 Notes)

  • 2008 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

    Lemon, creamy lactic notes, great acidity. Fabulous feel and length. Perfect degree of ripeness and extract to buffer the acidity. Stunning and probably the best white wine of the tasting for me.

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  • 2009 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

    Despite the difference in the vintages, the structure is surprisingly similar to the great '08 with wonderful mouth feel, zesty acidity and some leesiness. However, it comes across as sharper and shorter than that wine.

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Flight 10 - Domaine Bernard Moreau et Fils (4 Notes)

Flight 11 - Benjamin Leroux (4 Notes)

I found the reds to be much more interesting than the whites.

Flight 12 - Domaine Michel Lafarge (3 Notes)

Wonderful set of Volnays-light, fine and unmanipulated

Flight 13 - Domaine de la Pousse d'Or (4 Notes)

As opposed to Lafarge, the degree of ripeness and extent of the wood used caused me some concern.

Flight 14 - Maison Louis Jadot (4 Notes)

Flight 15 - Maison Joseph Drouhin (4 Notes)

Flight 16 - Domaine Faiveley (5 Notes)

Flight 17 - Maison Camille Giroud (4 Notes)

The first 3 wines were prime examples of the overripeness that can be the Achilles heel of the '09s.

Flight 18 - Domaine Henri Gouges (4 Notes)

Impressive line up that gave a strong hint that the Gouges wines from recent vintages might actually be drinkable and mature before we all die!

Flight 19 - Domaine Meo-Camuzet (4 Notes)

Very textural wines

Flight 20 - Domaine Fourrier (4 Notes)

I must say that this was one of the disappointments of the tasting for me; the wines are supple and scented, but I found them a bit diffuse. However, a friend who is a Fourrier afficionado strongly disagreed with me.

Flight 21 - Domaine Ponsot (4 Notes)

Stupendous wines with amazing depth, texture and balance. They stole the show and demonstrated the heights that 2009 reds can reach.

  • 2009 Domaine Ponsot Corton-Bressandes

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

    A little brett at first, but plenty of fruit underneath. Round, long and already pretty pliant.

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  • 2009 Domaine Ponsot Chambertin-Clos de Bèze

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru

    Lighter color and weight than the Corton, but oh my, just full of expansive earth and iron. Supple, gorgeous texture. One of the top 5 reds at the entire event.

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  • 2009 Domaine Ponsot Clos St. Denis Très Vieilles Vignes

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos St. Denis Grand Cru

    Again, what a glorious, harmonious feel in the mouth. Loads of perfectly ripe fruit with more acidity than any of the other wines and real Chambolle/Morey tanginess. Gorgeous finish that just does not stop. These last 3 Ponsot Grand Crus were all very great and the pinnacle of what we tasted today.

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  • 2009 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru

    Tremendous depth of sappy yet fresh black and red fruit despite lower acidity than the Clos Saint Denis. The height of seduction with the material to last for a very long time. Great, unbelievable length, in fact, probably would win the award for the most lingering finish of the day if such an award existed. More so than any other bottle, this one made me really sad that I have been priced out of Burgundy at this level.

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Flight 22 - Hospices de Beaune (4 Notes)

Closing

Reflecting upon this extraordinary cross section of the 2009 vintage, I would say that I found many more wines that were delicious than ageworthy and truly great. That is certainly not a bad thing over the short and intermediate terms, and the mouth feel of many of the whites and reds was absolutely alluring. However, it was rare to find the level of acidity in the Chablis and Cote de Beaune whites that predicted graceful development over many years. Even the very best of the white wines were surprisingly flattering now. As for the reds, there is also variability ranging from New World overripeness to fairly profound wines. Unlike the 2005 vintage, I don't think that the '09 reds lower in the hierarchy were as elevated by the vintage conditions, and even for the top wines, it would be a mistake to bury them in the cellar without evaluating them carefully over time.

Some highlghts: Whites-'08 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne, '09 Colin-Morey and Roulot Meursault Perrieres. Reds-'09 Gouges Nuits Vaucrains, Lafarge Volnays, almost everything Ponsot.

Relative underperformers for me were Fourrier and de Montille.

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