Twenty Appellations of Burgundy

A fun idea to drink Twenty Appellations of Burgundy, 10 white then 10 red.

• 2009 Domaine Anne Gros Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Cuvée Marine 81 Points

  France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits

  Slap of spicy oak on the nose. Really heavy on spicy bits, as this is nearly aggressive and angular in its oak sensation. The palate is similar, but smoother, showing some lemon and brightness. However, the intense fresh new oak barrel flavor is certainly the dominant play. Butter with pickles in it and an odd minerality. Similar finish to the palate, with just too much of new wood influence for me. Spicy acids, but it just doesn't feel good on the palate in the end and just not enjoyable.

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• 2009 Hubert Lignier Fixin Blanc 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Fixin

  Much light nose than the previous wine. Seems light and very creamy, with some marshmallows and sweetness. Very nice exuberance and vibrant acidity on the palate. Fresh and creamy, with nice caramelized marshmallows. Nice dial up on the finish, with a nice long, balanced, evolving finish. Soft presence. Mild fruit and some general white grape flavors. Nearly delicious. 90+

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• 2009 Dureuil-Janthial Rully Blanc 86 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Rully

  Strange mix of aromas here, as this smells deserty, but that's coupled with dried grass. It's like a dried grass flavored fun-dip powder or something. Candied hey. Soft entry with some initial oak but spice and acid dial up as its held. Quite bright. Tart and nearly cutting on the finish, but also some odd off balanced nature after 5 seconds. It appears its going to be good but then gets awkward with strange acidity and not much depth.

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• 2010 Domaine Jacques Carillon Mercurey 1er Cru Champs Martin Blanc 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Mercurey 1er Cru

  Fairly high intensity. Nice richness and complexity on the nose, showing some rubber mushroom component. Fairly interesting stuff, with very mild oak. Nice brightness of sweet lemons on the palate, but it retains a sense of creaminess and coating nature. Really soft, mild oak. Great finish, with a dial up of acid. Really rich tartness and very creamy and soft. Very nicely balanced. Nearly elegant but not much complexity. Impressive, meditative finish. Very calm. This is 91 points on the finish, but the nose and palate don't quite deserve that, so we'll call this 90+.

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• 2010 Domaine de la Meuliere Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume 84 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Very creamy and sweet smelling. Almost floral, nearly dandelion aroma. Nice, but not too much going on. The palate is soft and light on entry, showing mild flavors and presence. Dial up of acid at the end, but throughout this is straight forward Chablis without much distinction.

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• 2009 Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  A little funky on the nose, with something quite awkward, though it's subtle and underlying. Distracting. The palate is more elegant, with nice peach flavors, mild acids, and mild tartness. There's a good dial up of richness and acidity on the finish. Nice and intensity and decent depth. Nice balance but not too complex. Certainly will grow from here. 90+

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• 2009 Yves Boyer-Martenot Meursault en l'Ormeau Cuvée Unique 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault

  Creamy and perfumey, like laundry detergent. Very nice, soft, and fairly pretty aromas. Nice and creamy on the palate, with pleasing texture and interesting notes. Tart, soft, with good acid. Soft and nice. Very nice finish with very good balanced nature and good acidity. Tart, soft, and elegant. Nice and really rich. Again, more pleasure for the future. 90+

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• 2007 Domaine Jean-Marc Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  Very forward of intense oakiness which is overpowering on the nose. Nice intense entry of good acid but then oak. As its held, flavors are mellow and are very soft and fairly nice. There's a dial up of acidity and intensity at the end. Quite nice finish here, but for me the unintegrated oak is unpleasant and really coats the mouth in a displeasing way. Folks who appreciate oak more than myself will enjoy what's going on here much more.

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• 2009 La Pousse d'Or Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Le Cailleret 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru

  This is very serious and very good. Very nice, integrated oak spice here. Overall a really impressive presence to it, but somehow confuses my nose as I go between the grace of the aromatic texture and a feeling of too much oak. I think this will integrate smoothly with time, though. Again, this is a wow with its creaminess on the palate and shows a different level of elegance and palate presence that's absolutely seductive and what I seek in white Burgundy. Rich, intense fruits at thee end with intensity and balanced grace. Very soft and deep, though it's still tight. Good now but this will be way better later. Pretty impressive wine. 92+

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• 2009 Maison Albert Bichot Bâtard-Montrachet 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

  Very very rich and thick aromas; viscous, if that's possible. Like a caramel candy corn. The palate is very impressive, showing nice elegance, with soft mild acid and good richness and tartness. Quite big dial up of acidity on the finish and quite clean and unexpected compared to the lush aromas. Lots of people complained this was too oaky, but it didn't come across as raw, untamed oak to me. Nice throughout, but definitely not a QPR winner.91+

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Definitely 2009 dominant, and overall I must say that the 2009ness of them was far more noticeable than I expected. That is to say, they were definitely fruit forward in nature. I was hoping for more balance throughout, but the scale of the wines were generally distracting to the whole picture for me. Further indication for me to focus on the 2010 wines instead.

• 2009 La Pousse d'Or Santenay 1er Cru Clos Tavannes 86 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Santenay 1er Cru

  Smells very fresh, young, and ripe. Aromas of intense, artificial acidity and strong sulfur. Hard to get past those notes. The palate offers forward fruit, more sulfur, rich acidity and quite a huge grippiness. It's a big boy. Soft and more elegant finish, but still some grippiness. This feels a bit modern or new worldy to me.

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• 2009 Domaine Arlaud Bourgogne Roncevie 86 Points

  France, Burgundy, Bourgogne

  Softer, still forward, with slightly modern extract of fruit, but there's a rubber ball/band aid thing there too which throws me off. Nice lightness on the palate, but again this tastes like it could be from Oregon. Mild rubber band coupled with soft, nice elegant fruit, but there's nothing particularly distinguishing here. Intensity spiced on the finish, showing some light earthiness with forward fruit dominant. Better finish at first, but then it just seems to disappear.

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• 2009 Hubert Lignier Pommard Les Chanlins 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard

  Smells like bubble gum, but nice and a bit more elegant that this suggests. Rich and thick palate, with nice balance of fruit forward and grippy tannins. Good balance throughout, with some apple skin poking through as well. The finish is rich with more bubble gum, but even sweeter here. Feels like the right darkness of fruit, with good balance of structure.

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• 2009 Forey Père et Fils Vosne-Romanée 85 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée

  Strange aroma, like fermenting apples and general earth funk, coupled with a tartness of aroma. The palate offers rich fruits coupled with the funk and some sulfur. Tartness and quite gritty and grippy. The finish is puckering, deep, and intense. Really gritty for a Village wine, nearly painfully so. Too much puckering right now for this to be enjoyable.

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• 2009 Gérard Raphet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru

  Someone said this smells of Worcestershire sauce and it definitely does. Beyond that and generally, the aromas are really nice and rich, and quite large in scale (yet balanced). This is a WOW palate, with really yummy and balanced fruit that's crazy delicious with an incredible softness and pleasing acidity cutting through that fruit as its held on the tongue. This big fruited wine wound up tart at the end of the palate; nice. The finish is again big and tart, with great depth and lingering presence. My top red wine of the night. 91+

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• 2009 Domaine Arlaud Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Ruchots 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey St. Denis 1er Cru

  Soft aromas and lighter than the previous G-C, offering rich aromas of bubble gum. Good freshness to these yummy aromas, coupled with some soil. The palate is soft and light, with mild fruit, but nice intensity of fruit, though it doesn't quite match the scale of the massive body. Still good flavors, just not too balanced. Soft, daft acidity. Nice with mild fruit and funk, but not much depth or complexity.

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• 2009 Frédéric Magnien Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Borniques 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Soft mild aromas, but ripe and large fruit is noted, coupled with some spice. Big and robust fruit on the palate, which is soft textually and really creamy. Despite the texture, things are exceedingly tight, nearly grippy with its tannin profile, with light soil tones. It's smooth, but very tight. The finish is soft, tart, and puckering, but again light offering light soil tones. An interesting paradox with its textural scale yet lean flavors.

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• 2009 La Pousse d'Or Corton-Bressandes 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

  More big fruit noted on the aromas here, with a soft tartness. Fairly large palate with tons of structure building and really over taking the palate with a tannic clout. Nice transitions of flavor though, with a near grace and softness to the fruit despite the massive structure. Tart finish with impressive balance for such a young wine. 91+

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• 2007 Domaine Anne Gros Clos Vougeot Le Grand Maupertui 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru

  Really nice leanness and fantastic balance of aromas. The palate was really intense and high toned, with seamless balance and great structure. Though, it's that pure fruit complexion on the palate that's really impressive and at the fore. Really mellow finish, but still in great balance. A yummy wine. This was a huge welcome after the large scaled 2009 we were drinking all night, and a reminder not to forget to dive into 2007s.

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• 2009 Frédéric Magnien Echezeaux 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

  Mild tartness of aromas, but pretty forward in its sweetness of fruit. Pretty decent fruit on the palate, though it's certainly fairly forward in nature, with a nice softness to it. Nice pretty fruit, if not too much depth. Nice balance on the finish as well, with mild earthiness and some spice. Still, it's not quite all there. Crazy to think I paid just $39 for the 2004 version of this wine shortly after release, and I actually prefer that wine to this. Amazing how prices have crept up, as the asking on this was $148.

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