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Michael Schuster Fine Wine Course Day 5

Headspace, Hatton Gardens, London

Tasted March 1, 2017 by Andrewbdc with 288 views

Introduction

Fascinating tasting of White Burgundy, with a particular focus on the problem of premature oxidation (premox). Several of the wines opened for the evening were showing significant premox - particularly the 2008 Grand Cru wines, which are of course the most expensive.

As an example, we tasted one wine that was very far gone: Deep lemon gold, even a tinge of orange. Pronounced nose dominated by acetone, baked bruised apples, yeast and nuts - almost like an amontillado sherry. Short and astringent on the palate.

Michael had to open 6 bottles of the Les Preuses to get 2 that were drinkable and 2 out of 3 Batard-Montrachet were undrinkable. Really quite extraordinary.

Flight 1 - Chablis (3 notes)

White
2014 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis France, Burgundy, Chablis
87 points
Pale lemon green. Clean nose, medium intensity simple aromas of lemon, lime zest, green apple, with a hint of nuts. Developing. Dry palate, likely high acidity, medium alcohol, medium body, pure clean lemon fruit and mineral, medium finish. Good benchmark, village Chablis.
White
2014 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
90 points
Pale lemon. Medium (+) intensity aromas of lemon, apple, pear, hint of smoke and nuts. Developing. Notably richer and denser nose than the village chablis. Dry palate, lively high acidity. medium alcohol and body, much denser fruit, very mineral, medium (+) length.
Very good benchmark Chablis Premier Cru.
White
2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
93 points
Medium lemon. Medium (+) intensity aromas of fresh apple, stone fruit, lemon, vanilla, toast, smoke, nuts. A "long" nose, rich and dense. Developing. Dry, high acidity but a little softer than the premier cry and village examples from 2014, long finish, saturates the mouth, pronounced flavours similar to the nose, medium alcohol, medium (+) body.
Outstanding Chablis Grand Cru, however shocked by the incidence of premox - had to open 6 bottles to get 2 that were in good condition.
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Flight 2 - Mâcon and Côte de Beaune (6 notes)

White
2012 Dominique Lafon Bourgogne Blanc France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Blanc
85 points
Medium lemon. Medium intensity aromas of ripe fruit - lemon, nectarine, apple, peach, hint of nuts. Developing. Dry palate, medium soft acidity, medium alcohol (13%) and body, medium intensity flavours similar to the nose, medium (-) length. Rather simple but good quality regional white Burgundy.
White
2014 Olivier Leflaive Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Chatenière Blanc France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
89 points
Pale lemon. Medium (+) intensity aromas of tangerine, nectarine, apple, cedar (from oak), and white flowers. Youthful. Dry palate, high acidity, nice energy and vitality, crisp, very pure, medium alcohol (12.5%) and body, medium (+) intensity flavours similar to the nose. Great length. Very good quality wine - not dissimilar to a village Puligny Montrachet but much better PQR. Should age well - has the concentration and acidity to support development.
White
2008 Franck Grux Meursault Les Meix Chavaux France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault
91 points
Medium lemon. Quite restrained nose but some vigorous swirling reveals stone fruit, vanilla, cream, hazelnuts, a hint of vegetal note. Developing. Dry palate, medium (+) acidity, medium (+) alcohol (13.5%), medium (+) body, medium (+) flavours similar to the nose and a long finish. Great weight and breadth in the mouth.Very good quality.
White
2008 Jean Noel Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
91 points
Medium lemon. Pronounced aromas of ripe stone fruit, coconut, nuttiness. Developing. Dry palate, medium (+) acidity, medium (+) alcohol and body, pronounced flavours, ripe fruit, evident oak, mineral. Generous. Long finish. Very good quality, let down only by the overt oak character. Still plenty of life left in it so the oak may integrate with more time. No sign of premox.
White
2008 Blain-Gagnard Bâtard-Montrachet France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
89 points
Medium gold. Ripe stone fruits, coconut, vanilla, toast, smoke, nuts, but sadly a hint of acetone from oxidation. Dry, medium (+) acidity, pronounced concentration but a little short on the finish - just starting to dry out. Definitely showing early premox - suggest drinking up as the other bottles showed greater premox.
White
2008 Etienne Sauzet Chevalier-Montrachet France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
95 points
Pale gold. Tight, backward nose, that took time to open out to show stone fruit, honey, nuts, cheese, cedar. Developing. Dry, high acidity, rich, ripe, generous fruit, mineral, full body, very long finish. Quite forward for a Grand Cruise, drinking very well now. Is it worth waiting longer given the risk of premox? I'm not sure it is.

Closing

Tasting has made me realise that I was drinking too many White Burgundy wines that have are past their best. Although I love the flavours that develop with time - the Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru and Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru show what is possible, they do need time to show at their best, and these wines are simply too expensive to take the risk that they will show premox. From now on I will be sticking to wines that develop gracefully earlier (village, 1er cru) or perhaps will go for New World alternatives.

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