Westin St. Francis, San Francisco
Tasted Saturday, February 25, 2012 by drwine2001 with 1,279 views
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.
My admiration for this domain only continued to grow after sampling this set of wines.
I found the reds to be much more interesting than the whites.
Wonderful set of Volnays-light, fine and unmanipulated
As opposed to Lafarge, the degree of ripeness and extent of the wood used caused me some concern.
The first 3 wines were prime examples of the overripeness that can be the Achilles heel of the '09s.
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!
Very textural wines
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.
Stupendous wines with amazing depth, texture and balance. They stole the show and demonstrated the heights that 2009 reds can reach.
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.
NV Delamotte Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut
France, Champagne
Third time tasted recently. See prior notes since absolutely lovely and consistent bottle to bottle.
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2002 Delamotte Champagne Blanc de Blancs Millésimé
France, Champagne
As much as I love the NV bottling of this, the 2002 had a level of freshness and exuberant orange peel aromas that took this style to another level. Perhaps a bit drier, the scintillating fruit sits atop a wonderful chalky foundation. Vibrant, dynamic wine that is outstanding.
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