Chicago Wine Flock...Burgundy Al Asks "Is it Grand Cru?"

I tend to find Grand Cru Burgundy to have more weight and concentration vs 1er Cru or Villages wines. Other variables obviously influence as well - vintage, producer practices, vine age, etc., but often good Grand Cru is recognizable with enough experience. Tonight was intended to test the group's abilities.

• 2012 Domaine Michel Niellon Chassagne-Montrachet 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet

  Served blind alongside the 2012 Champs-Gain 1er and Bâtard-Montrachet. I knew the 3 wines, but not the order. Fleshy and ripe pear and apple. Very balanced, very pleasurable, even if slightly simple. Very good Villages, and drinking wonderfully today. Half the group enjoyed this wine most in the flight!

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• 2012 Domaine Michel Niellon Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champs-Gain 89 Points

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

  Served blind alongside the 2012 Chassagne AC and Bâtard-Montrachet. I knew the 3 wines, but not the order. Bits of peach, ripe apple and key lime with spice hints. Forward and enjoyable, with a well textured and elegant finish. More complex than the Villages, but more accessible than the Bâtard, making it straightforward to identify this in the lineup.

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• 2012 Domaine Michel Niellon Bâtard-Montrachet 92 Points

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

  Served blind alongside the 2012 Chassagne AC and Champs-Gain 1er. I knew the 3 wines, but not the order. Ripe apple and baked apple with a firm structure that made it seem almost austere, even with clearly ripe. This had the greatest concentration of the three, making me think it the Grand Cru. Needs time, 2020-.
  
  Postscript: I noticed the bottle had almost 2 ounces remaining, almost 30 hours after it was opened. The bottle was open at room temperature the entire time. It was better (richer, fatter, longer) vs when poured and served Friday night.

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• 2007 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Ruchottes 91 Points

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

  Served blind to the group in Grandes Ruchottes flight. Ripe fruit throughout, showing lemon curd, peach and gingerbread. Slightly more mature than I would expect/ prefer, but very good weight and mineral textures.

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• 2007 Domaine Bernard Moreau et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Grandes Ruchottes 93 Points

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

  Served blind to the group in Grands Ruchottes flight. Ripe orchard fruit throughout with slightly sweet spice. Excellent length, excellent balance. My favorite of the flight.

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• 2012 Domaine Bernard Moreau et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Grandes Ruchottes 93 Points

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

  Served blind to the group in Grandes Ruchottes flight. Most correctly identified these as Burgundy 1er Cru. Peach and some ripe apple. Very good concentration, very mineral-driven finish. Consistent with another recent bottle in Burgundy earlier this summer.

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• 2009 Domaine Dublère Corton-Charlemagne 92 Points

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

  Served blind to the group in 2009 CC flight. Plenty of orchard fruit start-to-finish with subtle spice and VG concentration. Very elegant and energetic, those of us preferring a more classic, leaner style really liked this wine. Better than another bottle from the same case opened last summer.

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• 2009 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot 92 Points

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

  Served blind to the group in CC 2009 flight. Opulent and very powerful, this shows lots of ripe apple and baked apple with both savory and sweet spice. Very 2009. I certainly liked this wine a lot, but most of tonight's group liked it even more.

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• 2009 Lucien Le Moine Corton-Charlemagne Flawed

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

  Served blind to the group in CC 2009 flight. An od bottle that seemed slightly reductive (no surprise for LLM not decanted) but also slightly oxidized. Oh well. Inconsistent with previous bottles.

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• 2009 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne 93 Points

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

  Served blind to tonight's group in what turned out be a CC 2009 flight. Lots of ripe apple with some peach. Rich spice gave this an opulent feel to start, but there was so much energy and brightness keeping this fresh. My favorite of the flight, as well as the group's favorite. This was 1/2 of a magnum poured into a clean bottle, the rest re-corked for being served blind (again) with cheese 3 hours later.
  
  Bigger and more powerful when revisited several hours, but slightly less opulent and less vibrant.

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• 2005 Louis Jadot Montrachet 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

  Served blind to the group, this was correctly identified as the Montrachet (vs the Villages). Floral with ripe apple and excellent concentration and power. Everything in great proportion and balance. Open only 30 minutes before serving, this kept getting better in glass.

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• 2006 Arnaud Ente Meursault La Seve du Clos Plus Vieilles Vignes 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault

  Peach and a broad cross-section of apple aromas and flavors with some marzipan hints. Very dense and concentrated, with a minute-long finish. That tre vieilles vignes character and intensity really comes through here.
  
  Served blind to the group, this was correctly identified as the Villages (in contrast to the Montrachet in the next glass), even though most preferred this over Montrachet.

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This flight exceeded my own expectations, with the group mostly correctly identifying it as Grand Cru from Gevrey, and thinking these most likely Chambertin-Clos de Beze.

• 2007 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru

  Black and red berries here with great floral notes and elegant whole cluster spice that I really enjoy. Very good weight and length, also very finessed. Served blind to the group in what turned out to be Charmes-Chambertin 2007 flight. Very good now, with upside from here.

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• 2007 Camille Giroud Charmes-Chambertin 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru

  Black and red cherry with some roast beef and slowly cooked spice. Moderate weight and length. Definitely good, but at the level of the other two wines in the flight. Served blind to group in what turned out to be Charmes-Chambertin 2007 flight.

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• 2007 Gérard Raphet Charmes-Chambertin 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru

  Great start with black berries, braised meat and a nice dollop of new oak spice. Very fun and enjoyable, coming across as nicely modern while also showing terroir. Served blind to the group in what turned out as Charmes-Chambertin 2007 flight, this was most people's favorite of the flight, but I slightly preferred Dujac.

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• 2006 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques Domaine Louis Jadot 89 Points

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

  Served double blind in Jadot (mostly) CSJ flight. I knew the wines, not the sequence. Rich and powerful, just slightly awkward and faint cola hints. Needs time? This was my least favorite of the flight.

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• 1997 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques Domaine Louis Jadot 92 Points

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

  Served double blind in Jadot (mostly) CSJ flight. I knew the wines, not the sequence. Very dense powerful, with lots of nicely mature black cherry grilled game. I liked this more than group tonight.

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• 1997 Louis Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Domaine Louis Jadot 95 Points

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

  Served double blind in Jadot flight, mostly CSJ. I knew the wines, not the sequence. Powerful black fruit with meaty, savory spice. Ripe and rich, but incredibly elegant structure. Long and finessed. My favorite wine of the evening. 11/13 people thought this the best in the flight, which is good as it was the Grand Crus alongside 3 vintages of very good Jadot CSJ.

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• 2003 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques Domaine Louis Jadot 93 Points

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

  Served double blind in Jadot (mostly) CSJ flight. I knew the wines, not the sequence. Rich black cherry and berry aromas and flavors with braised meat spice with some sweet elements in reserve. Very easy, very long. My favorite of the 3 CSJs in the flight, group agreed.

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Most people thought this was a pair of related Grand Cru Burgundy wines.

• 2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

  Served double blind to the tasting group. I can easily see how some would think this Grand Cru Burgundy with its baking spice and ripe red and black cherry aromas and flavors. Lots of structural elements here as well, but silky tannins and charming balance. Very good now.

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• 2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Swan Terrace 91 Points

  USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

  Served double blind to the tasting group. Lots of rich black, red and blue fruit aromas with some baking spice. Similar flavors, but less forthcoming and slightly masked by firm tannins. Similar to the Swan Terrace in the next glass, just less harmonious. Needs time.

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• 2007 Domaine Alain Burguet Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Rouges du Dessus 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Red cherry aromas and flavors with savory spice. Very well balanced, wonderfully elegant and finessed, with moderate weight and length. Should drink well for years. Served blind to the tasting group alongside the 07 Beze.

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• 2007 Domaine Alain Burguet Chambertin-Clos de Bèze 92 Points

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

  Black and red cherry with dried herbs, licorice and cooked mushroom. More elegantly styled vs most Gevrey Grand Crus, with very good length and balance. Very good now.

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• 2009 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne

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

  Served blind a 2nd time to tonight's group. This was the 2nd half of a magnum, The 1st half of this magnum was poured into a clean bottle and served with dinner; this latter half re-corked to be served blind (again) with cheese 3 hours later.
  
  Bigger and more powerful when revisited several hours, but slightly less opulent and less vibrant. Still lots of apple and some peach, just less complex for me.

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• 1997 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Clos du Bourg 89 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Wonderful fresh and dried apricot aromas and flavors, but I found this slightly simple other than fruit and moderate sweetness. Slightly better, richer, deeper when retasted a couple of days later (corked, refrigerated in between).

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• 1997 René Renou Bonnezeaux Cuvée Zenith 90 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Bonnezeaux

  Apricot jam, butterscotch and honeycomb with some spice and floral hints. Good length and weight. Better now vs what I recall from when last time tasted, 10-15 years ago.

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