Burgundy Night at Martin and Joyce's

Sasi was back in town, so Joyce hosted a get-together at her place. Theme, chosen by our guest-of-honour, was Burgundy wines. We had a mixed bag, all BYO and blind - two great whites, more than a smattering of Gevreys, two D. Laurents, two D'Angervilles and some extras brought by Choon Yee (the Babaresco) and Chad (a port). By consensus, Peter's two wines, the Echezeaux and the Batard, were the wines of the night. Notes are in order of the wines we had.

One thing I picked up from the evening, more or less confirming an impression I have been slowly forming over the past few months - I think many of the 1996s and 1999s from the best vineyards and decent makers are still far too young to drink.

• 2002 Jean-Philippe Fichet Meursault Le Tesson 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault

  This was entirely excellent. Burghound says it is easily the quality of a 1er Cru, but most of us where wondering whether it was a lesser Grand Cru when served blind. My only issue with the wine was that it did not speak of Meursault - I picked it as a Corton-Charlie. Still though, a top-notch Burg. Lovely nose had just the slightest hint of flowers, a touch of musky earth, a little chalk, some gun-flinty smoky notes and a noce kumquat and yellow fruit undertone. Expressive without being showy, this was very nice. Same thing on the palate - lots of breadth, but all in a nice, poised, classy package. I got a light honeyed note, with clean flavours of ripe limes and lemons, interplayed with a little savoury undercurrant and touches of orange peel and smoke. Plenty of fresh acidity to go around here. Finish was rich and sappy, with yellow fruits, and sweet kumquat notes. Excellent.

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• 2001 Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Poissenot 90 Points

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

  I did not like this at first, but it got better through the evening. In the end, I would say a nice wine, but nothing spectacular. Nose was rather reductive at first, with rubber band notes and pebblely stones dominant. That blew away quickly enough, to show dark cherries, savoury meat and floral notes, along with some earth and tons and tons of spice. All very high-toned, with quite a bit of glyceryl swimming around. The palate was just super-tight at first. A bit volatile, a bit tart, with little flavour saved for lots and lots of peperry spice. Not the nicest wine to drink at that moment. With time, a sweet underlayer emerged, with gummy dark cherries, some herbs and a faint whiff of cigarette smoke riding on a bed of fine but rather firm tannins. Finish was decent, with more perfumed fruit emerging, a whiff of menthol, herbs and again, more spice. As the wine clamed down, it was actually very decent.

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• 1999 Antonin Rodet Pommard 1er Cru Les Épenots 89 Points

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

  A decent wine, but not in a style that I like. Nothing really to fault, but nothing stood out for me either. Nose showed preserved fruits galore - quince paste, strawberry preserve and raspberries especially - along with perfumed violet-like flowers, some earth and spirnkles of anise and fennel like spice-tones, all riding on a bed of funky, barnyardy scents. Interesting enough. Palate was a bit of a let-down though. Clearly less developed than the nose. Also clearly extracted, with some alcohol swirling around sweet raspberry and cherry notes firmly hled up by chewy tannins. There were some very 2003 roasted notes, especially going into the finish where some roasted coffee grounds came to the fore.

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• 1995 Dominique Laurent Echezeaux 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

  This was first class. Lovely nose. Animale, meaty, barnyard bass notes intermingled with higher-toned flowers and dark fruit notes, with complex nuances of pomelo, broiled white asparagus and smoke - all in a rather umami mix. Lovely. Superb integration from the nose, to the attack and into the finish as well. The bouquet just flowed onto the palate, which showed lovely red fruit with some ripeness, more roasted asparagus. mineral notes and, moving into the long, fresh, open finish, meat and dried cherries. There was just a lovely sense of balance and texture throughout, with fresh acidity wed to fine tannins, giving the wine a lovely backbone. So well was this integrated that it provided a great sense of structure without ever being obvious. Any oak regime was not apparent at all either. Instead, we got a clean, complete and open wine with a lovely sense of purity - delicious.

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• 1999 Dominique Laurent Mazis-Chambertin 91 Points

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

  A good enough wine, but like chalk and cheese when compared to the 1995 Laurent Echezeaux. One can only hope this goes the way of its older cousin in a few years' time. At the moment, the Laurent stamp of extraction and oak ws still quite evident. Nose had a whiff of sweaty socks that (thankfully) blew off to show sweet, darkly fruited tones - like kirsch and stewed cherries - along with plenty of wood spice. Almost Southern Rhone-like. The palate attack with an explosion of cassis, and a nice does of acid before showing more kirsch and sweet cherry notes. Tons of density here, with lots of extract. I liked the concentration, but was not too sure about the Grenache-like viscosity and overt hedonistic sweetness of the wine - it was just a bit too obvious and lacked the class and purity of the previous wine. This has the structure to last though, with good freshness and firm but fine tannins. Finish had really impressive length as well. Too much wood and spice lingering in the mouth at first, but that slowly faded into a lovely pure cherry expression with little touches of earth. The most Burgundian part of the wine I though. There is some quality here. Hopefully it will calm down into a slightly less in-your-face wine with time.

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• 2004 Philippe Pacalet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru La Perrière 88 Points

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

  This has not been stored well. Still enough of it left to give pleasure, but people were blind-guessing it as a Burg from the early 1980s. Nose was nice enough - good Gevrey notes of red fruits, cherries and preserved red dates, along with lots of 2004 ginseng, angelica root and sweetly wilted flowers with whiffs of winter melon. Nice enough, and very interesting. Palate was a real let-down after the last two bottles though. The richness of texture was there, as was the lovely balance and integration, alogn with the complex secondary notes. Unfortunately, the fruit had really faded away. After an initial hint of sweet red fruit on the attack and dried cherries on the mid-palate, it more or less disappered into stewed tea, herbs, eathy mushrooms and touches of spice towards the finish. Still okay drinking to my palate, but not what it is supposed to be.

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• 1996 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs 91 Points

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

  I was sorely, sorely disappointed when the identity of the wine was revealed. Not too good at first, but really quite decent when given time - just that this was a far-cry from the absolute blockbuster I had in 2008. Nose was rather OTT, and almost new-world. Super sweet, with crushed. slightly wilted violets and roses and talcum powder, along with sticky red fruit - all very perfumed, with a little funky, earthy note undertone. Pleasant enough, if a bit in-your-face. What I did not like though where whiffs of glyceryl that stuck out awkwardly at bits. Palate had some lovely red fruit and tons of 1996 acidity, with almost citrus orange and lemon flavours, along with orange peel accents. Strangely though, it was very primary. Obviously some depth here, decent length, ;lovely silky structure, but hardly any complexity to speak of. All I had was rather primary fruit and lots and lots of fresh acidity. A far cry from the layer and layers of flavour in the last bottle. Still a long way to go with this wine, but this was a let-down.

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• 1999 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Les Fremiets 91 Points

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

  Started a bit slow, but really opened up with time, so that it was a rather nice wine by the time we finished the last of the bottle. I actually thought this was just a better than the 1996 D'Angerville Clos des Ducs on the night. Very tight on the nose - some meaty sausages and ham, along with spice and winter melon, slowly unfolding into cherry notes. Same meaty ham note on the nose, again with spice, but a lot more expressive with its sweet cherry fruit. Rather dense, velvety texture. I had some problems picking this out as a Volnay. Still thought, it was nice drinking. Finish had a good length, with spirnkles of spice and earth rounding the wine off.

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• 2001 Terre da Vino Barbaresco La Casa in Collina 92 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Still very young, but the quality of the vintage shone through. Nice enough nose. Sweet candied cherries were paired with some fhunky earth and hints of leather, along with rose petals and rubbery notes with just that inflection of tar at the edges. More sweet, ripe cherries on the palate were carried on fine but firm tannins and fresh acidity, all lending a sense of balance and elegance. Still very primary though. Finish had a nice length, with spice, stewed tea and an unusual touch of baked bread. Some quality here, but the wine is really still a baby. Another 10 years would do it a world of good.

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• 2002 Gagnard-Delagrange Bâtard-Montrachet 94 Points

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

  Woah - this was good. Nose was a tight and little dumb, with hints of cream, touches of yellow fruit, kumquats and orange peel and a little bready note. Obviously lots of depth and some buried complexity, but not giving too much. The palate was a whole other story though. Layers and layers of creamy flavour unfolded seamlessly in the mouth - mushrooms, honey, lemons, limes, yellow fruit, chalk and rocky mineral moving into an astoundingly long finish with inflections of nuts, spice and mineral. Lots of size and concentration, but aboslutely balanced, with fresh acidity just zooming through the entire palate, so much so that the wine almost seem light on its feet. Most of us were quite sure it was a Grand Cru, but I called it a 2001 Batard given the lovely freshness and elegant litheness. A lovely wine.

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• 1966 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage 93 Points

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  Chad left the label-less bottle behind for us, and we did not know the identity of the wine until he emailed us a couple of days later. We all guessed it was a vintage port, but I would never have called it a 1966 in a million years - it tasted like something from the late 1980s or early 1990s. Nice, but oh so young. Nose showed subtle shades of cigar, smoked nuts, wood, raisins, preserved plums and coffee. Palate was rich and thick, with sweet raisins and kirsch and tons of stewed tea. Complex, and superbly balanced, moving into a long finish with spiced tea and sour plum notes. A nice wine.

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