Wines Tasted at the La Paulée Verticals Session

The Maybourne, Beverly Hills
Tasted Friday, March 1, 2024 by drwine2001 with 132 views

Introduction

As always, this was a highlight of the La Paulée events. This year, it was a bit more flexible in that some producers showed 3 different wines rather than 3 vintages of the same cuvée, and there were many great things to taste. So many, in fact, that the following notes comprise about half of the wines poured. In other words, it is a highly selective slice of wines that were most interesting to me rather than a comprehensive recounting. On any other day, I would leap at the chance to taste some of the wines I skipped, but I am too old to run around and taste 90 wines just to say that I tried everything. Apologies for the omissions.

Flight 1 (50 Notes)

  • 2016 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses

    France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

    Magnum. Pale. Orchard fruit. Round, sweet pear, moderate concentration. A bit of salinity and soil, but average acidity and very little tension. Mediocre.

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  • 2015 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses

    France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

    Magnum. Ripe, bright citrus aromatics. Excellent feel, glycerine, and concentration. Sweet orange balanced by excellent soil and very good acidity. Relatively open. The best of these 3 Preuses but not at the level of the best vintages.

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  • 2013 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses

    France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

    Magnum. Deeper yellow. Funky aromas with acetate. Medium to light weight but little depth. Honeyed, dull, and woody. Why did they even bother showing this?

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  • 2018 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Murgers des Dents de Chien Blanc

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru

    Magnum. Pale. Reductive scents. Excellent weight and texture. Ripe orchard fruit, good acidity, salty but woody finish. Very good if the sulfur abates.

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  • 2016 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Clos de la Chateniere Blanc Vieilles Vignes

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru

    Magnum. Medium yellow. Medium bodied. Yellow orchard fruit, stronger acidity, fine stony base, and a more measured amount of wood. Also very good and a step up from the 2018 poured, but it still doesn’t have the precision or minerality I’ve come to expect from Lamy.

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  • 2017 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Blanc

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru

    Light tulip. Airy, herbal nose. Medium weight, wonderfully supple feel. Pear and soil atop a light base of oak. More convincingly mineral finish. Excellent and as it usually is, the classiest of the bunch.

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  • 2018 Esprit Leflaive Corton-Les Grandes Lolières

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

    Pale. Lighter weight. Red fruit, fine acidity, and light soil. Bright for the vintage. Clean, well mannered Corton but not memorable.

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  • 2013 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes

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

    Pineapple aroma. Exotic flavors, oaky foundation, little tension or acidity. Plodding.

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  • 2008 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes

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

    Full yellow. Honey and oak vanillin. Medium to full bodied. Blurry fruit but excellent acidity and soil, fairly good energy and length. The best of the 3 vintages but hardly exciting.

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  • 2005 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes

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

    Healthy yellow color. Nothing but wood on the nose. Sweet, exotic, rich entry, excellent soil, good acidity. Then, a harsh, bitter, woody finish. None of the Leflaive Pulignys were completely right, and they all seemed clumsy and mixed up.

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  • 2018 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots

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

    Pale. Herbal. Light to medium weight, fluid but lacking concentration and verve. Apple and citrus, some wood, lower acidity, slightly bitter finish. Not very good.

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  • 2016 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots

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

    Yellow. Oak scents. Ripe, loose pear and citrus, average acidity, excellent soil, and light wood. Dilute and unimpressive.

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  • 2013 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots

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

    Slightly deeper. Quite glycerine. Not sharply defined, but better acidity and stronger fruit than in the earlier 2 vintages. Dry, woody finish. These Poruzots were far behind the Charmes and Genevrières poured at the Jobard dinner the other night. An underperforming trio.

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  • 2014 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Bouchères

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

    Rich, ripe pear, well modulated wood, outstandingly succulent glycerine feel with excellent citrus and acidity. Properly taut, dry finish. Outstanding, and honestly, the only white I found the least bit exciting at the Verticals this year. Thankfully, the pickings were not as slim on the red side of things.

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  • 2017 Pierre Morey Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières

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

    Pale. Herbal. Crystalline pear fruit, medium concentration and weight, lower acidity, fine soil. Good.

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  • 2014 Pierre Morey Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières

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

    Medium yellow. Some wood present. Lovely glycerine medium weight, moderately oaky base. Citric and dry. Excellent acidity, not quite as mineral as the 2010 poured the other night. Excellent but not an extraordinary 2014.

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  • 2013 Pierre Morey Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières

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

    Full yellow. A touch of botrytis and tropicality. Crazy combination of rich feel and puckery acidity. The wood is poorly integrated. Another strange 2013 that is all over the map.

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  • 2018 Domaine Didier Fornerol Côte de Nuits Villages

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Nuits Villages

    Ruby. Ripe cherry and soil. Lots of wine, very good at this level.

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  • 2017 Domaine Didier Fornerol Côte de Nuits Villages

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Nuits Villages

    Light ruby. Green tones. Light sweet red fruit. Elegant and bright.

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  • 2014 Nicolas Rossignol Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets

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

    Ruby core. Floral, green aromas. Discretely ripe tart red fruit and soil, light to medium bodied. Dry finish. Typical elegant Volnay. I liked the energy and lightness.

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  • 2010 Nicolas Rossignol Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets

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

    Light ruby. Medium weight, sappy. Sweet, crisp candied black fruit with chocolatey depth. Bright acidity, fine soil through mid-palate and finish, still quite tannic. Youthful, beautifully balanced, outstanding wine. Best of the 3 vintages.

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  • 2009 Nicolas Rossignol Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets

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

    Maturing ruby. Rounder, riper, more glycerine than the 2010. Mixed black and red fruit, some green, and ground coffee. Fine acidity, drier tannins than the younger wine. This too is excellent with more to come but is a step behind 2010 in harmony and balance.

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  • 2018 Domaine Y. Clerget Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens

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

    Purple. Ripe, succulent black fruit of great purity. Good acidity and soil with salinity. Round tannins. Okay, this will always be New Worldish and lead with the fruit rather than complexity, but the quality and concentration are joyous, and it is not overdone. Enjoy over the short and intermediate term. An exuberant sip today.

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  • 2017 Domaine Y. Clerget Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens

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

    Light ruby. Cool green herb, the polar opposite nose compared to the 2018. Gently sweet red fruit and citrus. Excellent acidity and soil, dry tannins. Already delicious, this should be special given another 10+ years. Refined, elegant Pommard.

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  • 2016 Domaine Y. Clerget Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens

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

    Ruby with paler edge. Nose somewhere between 2018 and 2017 in ripeness. Light to medium bodied. Subtle interplay of soil and gently sweet mixed fruit with a real citric lift. Fine grained tannins, earthy finish. This may be bit farther along than the 2017 in terms of drinkability yet retains excellent aging prospects and is another gorgeous, finesseful Rugiens from Thibaud Clerget. This was a superb trio from different style vintages.

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  • 2017 Domaine des Croix Corton-La Vigne au Saint

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

    Light ruby center. Brambly aromas. Medium to lighter weight with a bit of sap and flesh. Supple, smoky dark fruit, light herbs, excellent acidity and soil. Tannic finish with apparent whole cluster notes. Serious, sophisticated Corton that is very much for the future. Impressive refinement and complexity.

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  • 2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Le Corton

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

    Magnum. Mature looking. Medium weight. Briary but nice residual sweetness of dark red fruit followed by properly dry tannins and a long finish. Serious wine. Excellent but would probably opt to drink this over the next 5 years or so, especially from normal format bottles.

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  • 2017 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Le Corton

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

    Ruby core. Subtle herb tones. Lighter weight than the 2015. Naturally sweet, unforced red and blue fruit, fine acidity, and later soil and assertive dry tannins which put the appellation’s stamp on the wine. Elegant and relatively open on the attack, but the back end urges more patience. Excellent wines that really speaks of Corton. Very fine if not quite the depth of material that the 2015 possesses.

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  • 2015 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Le Corton

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

    Magnum. Medium ruby. Rounder, sweeter, more supple red and blue fruit compared to the 2012. Citrus and a noticeable layer of oak. Tannic, soil filled finish. Inviting modern style, but its outstanding depth heralds several decades of potential.

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  • 2017 Louis Jadot Clos Vougeot

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

    Light ruby. Perfumed green tones. Medium weight, nicely sappy. Tangy dark fruit, citrus, and soil with a mildly austere, tannic finish. For the future. Excellent Clos Vougeot.

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  • 2009 Louis Jadot Clos Vougeot

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

    Light ruby. Medium to light weight, very elegant feel. Classic soil/black fruit blend, excellent acidity, and tannins that reach the gums and stay there. Still needs at least 5 years. This too was excellent.

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  • 2001 Louis Jadot Clos Vougeot

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

    Healthy light ruby. Secondary high toned camphor. Light to medium weight. Still some sweet dull black fruit, long soil base, excellent acidity. Classic dry finish. Very good but not at the level of the 2 younger wines. Drink up before it becomes astringent.

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  • 2018 Domaine d'Eugénie Echezeaux

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

    Dull ruby. Ripe aromas with a touch of green. Powerful, dense, deep blueberry fruit and spice. Light wood, very good acidity, and a long, earthy finish. Wow, what a wine from this less loved vintage. This should be super in another 10-12 years.

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  • 2017 Domaine d'Eugénie Grands-Echezeaux

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru

    Slightly lighter shade than the 2018 Echezeaux. Cooler, more complex aromas combining fruit and perfumed savory elements. Spicy black and blue fruit that is electric and more elegant than the younger wine. Excellent acidity, discrete, light oak, a swirl of earth, and well integrated tannins. Outstanding, already complex and deeply satisfying, beautiful length, and decades of aging potential. So reflective of both site and vintage. A real knockout.

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  • 2016 Domaine d'Eugénie Clos Vougeot

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

    Lightest color of the 3 wines shown. Poised dark fruit/soil aromas. Fine, flowing black and blue fruit, less oak than the GE, great, perfectly integrated acidity, very fine tannic structure and soil drenched finish. This is pretty enough to be highly pleasurable now, but the appropriately austere feel on the aftertaste leaves no doubt about how great it will be far down the road. These 3 Grand Crus from Eugénie were show stoppers and warranted a second stop at the table to "confirm" my findings :)

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  • 2016 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots

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

    Light ruby. Spicy, high toned fragrance. Elegant medium weight. Earthy, tangy black and blue fruit with a gentle texture but perfect background acidity and tannin to provide shape. A drier finish indicates that it is not yet totally mature, but it's not that far away from its peak. Delicious, that's all. The best of the 3 vintages poured, and for me, a prototypical, mind's eye Vosne Premier Cru which I would drink every day if I could.

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  • 2015 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots

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

    Light ruby. Something estery and off about the nose. Medium bodied but round, glycerine feel. Smoky black fruit, some green tones, excellent acidity, long vein of earth, and a somewhat harsh, tannic finish. I wonder if this was a pristine bottle. On the other hand, I had a similarly difficult time with it last year. Certainly bigger than the 2016, but not better, at least at this point. Its hard to be sanguine about its long term prospects as it may have some problems.

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  • 2012 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots

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

    Pale with browning. Secondary high toned perfume and spice. Lighter weight, delicate wine. Hard to pick out the primary fruit. Full of soil and ground coffee, excellent acidity, and overly dry, puckery finish given the modest volume of this wine. This is the third time I've had this. It seemed pretty much at its apex in 2017 and now seems on a fairly rapid downhill slope. Drink.

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  • 2018 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes

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

    Based upon tastes from 2 bottles. Deep color. Ripe aromas. Quite glycerine, rich, powerful black and blue fruit with solid acidity, a good dose of soil, and substantial penetrating, persistent tannins. Marvelous volume and feel. Very early days. It could be outstanding if the fruit tones down a bit and more complexity ensues.

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  • 2017 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes

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

    Based upon tastes from 2 bottles. Light ruby. Aromatic mix of pyrazines and soil. Much more elegant weight than the 2018. Supple texture. Excellent combination of light red fruit (more berry than cherry), gentle soil, and citric acidity. Tannins unobtrusive now. Potentially excellent in 10+ years, but this needs to flesh out from here.

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  • 2010 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes

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

    Based upon tastes from 2 different bottles. Paler red. Feels slight for a wine from this great cru. Light, sweet red fruit entry, but an off flavor right in the mid-palate, excellent acidity, and a grainy, earthy finish. It was the performance of the first bottle of this that made me return to taste second pours of all 3 Ponsot wines. I'm sad to note that the second bottle was no better than the first. This is grossly disappointing and an inexplicably poor, stripped 2010.

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  • 2015 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart

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

    Pale ruby. Obviously stemmy. Lovely lighter weight. Subtly sweet red and blue fruit, significant char, excellent acidity and soil, moderate drying tannins. At least very good, but I think that the whole cluster treatment is overdone in this wine compared to the more judicious handling of the 2 subsequent vintages. Needs a lot of time in any case.

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  • 2016 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart

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

    Slightly deeper color than the 2015. Much less stemminess in the aromas. Medium weight with an exhilarating, enveloping feel. Sweet, ripe red and blue fruit, a light touch of wood, light char (less than the 2015), terrific acidity, and here, an uplifting dollop of green from the whole cluster. Incredible balance, texture, and finish. Absolutely superb wine that is already exciting. Unlimited potential development over the next 15-20 years. This is a strikingly finer, lighter style than Clos de Tart wines from the late 1990's and early 2000's.

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  • 2017 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart

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

    Pale color. Light weight. Bright, lively, supple red/black fruit, great acidity, fine soil throughout, less noticeable char than the earlier vintages. Fine, earthy tannins. The epitome of fragrant, elegant Grand Cru wine. Completely seductive and again, outstanding.

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  • 2020 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Cherbaudes Vieille Vigne

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

    Beautiful ruby color. Lush glycerine feel. Mixture of black and blue fruit, smokiness, excellent acidity and soil, and buried tannins. Wow, the depth of fruit, verve, and sap make this one sexy wine. Will it shut down or just continue to seduce?

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  • 2019 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Cherbaudes Vieille Vigne

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

    Lighter ruby. Very different aromas than the 2020-more complete with a combination of some cooler tones plus the incredible fruit and some citrus peel. Slightly less plush, more elegant weight. Penetrating sweet blackberry, bitter chocolate, fantastic acidity, and furry tannins. Definitely the more structured wine, not that that really detracts from its immense early appeal. I think this may be the greater wine over the long term, but who can choose at this level?

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  • 2017 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Cherbaudes Vieille Vigne

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

    Paler ruby, cooler green nose with much less upfront fruit-earth and wintergreen > background strawberry. More typical light Gevrey body. So different than the 2 younger Cherbaudes with a more subtle, understated, elegant style. Still wonderful fruit/soil balance, supple, fine red fruit, excellent acidity, and a dryingly tannic, soil filled finish. Excellent but in need of 5-7 years of bottle aging at this point. Of all of the Fourrier Premier Crus, I knew least about the Cherbaudes but really enjoyed the trio. They differentiated themselves very well according to the nature of the vintages.

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  • 2017 Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin

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

    Light ruby. Menthol notes on the nose. Light weight. Core of ripe pure red fruit in a pas de deux with the fine soil. Some flesh and a properly firm tannic finish. So Drouhin in its elegance and subtlety, and a beautiful example of an outstanding lighter weight Gevrey Grand Cru. Delicious, so enjoyable even now but will last very well. It seems like its hard to find a 2017 that isn't open and forthcoming now.

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  • 2015 Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin

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

    Same color saturation as the 2017. Only slightly larger scaled than that wine. Riper red fruit, more sappiness, but still medium weight at most. The beacon of red fruit is complemented by citrus and a deep core of earth, then it finishes with drier, slightly grainy tannin. Also lovely and prototypical of the domain even in a warmer vintage. I would bury this for at least 6-8 years to let it soften the sharper edges.

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  • 2009 Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin

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

    Lighter red. Herbal aromas. Delicate, piquant, discretely sweet red fruit, pure earth, and a surprising dose of tannin at the end. I've had this 3 times over the course of 15 years (all at La Paulée) and loved it each time. These Griottes shown tonight are epitomes of the supremely elegant Drouhin style and make me so sad that I did not buy a broader range of their wines.

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Closing

Finally, a few general thoughts on recent vintages that were represented enough to evoke a comment:

2018-Welcome to the New World, baby, but the fruit in the reds can be astoundingly succulent and downright tasty
2017-Gorgeous in both colors, and the reds remain open and delicious
2016-Still seriously underrated for reds-I generally loved the ones that were shown, and some of these outpaced their 2015 stablemates
2015-A little easier to read the reds than last year when they were closed, but they were often not the best of the 3 vintages of a given wine
2013-Often wild and wildly bad, reflecting the challenges of the vintage

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