2001 Burgundy Dinner

In the constant quest to find a Burgundy vintage that is actually drinkable, it was time to sneak a peek at a few of these wines.

Oh well, this eclipsed the featured wines.

• 1995 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Healthy light yellow. Superbly complex aromatics-floral, cheese rind, oyster shell. Relatively light, lemony, and very focused. As the owner of the bottle said, Grand Cru complexity if not quite the weight. This was excitingly good and the best and freshest of the 4 bottles I've had of this over the past 2 years. Not fat in the least, and again, if you had told me that this was from a higher acid year, I would have saluted and said "Yes sir". Still kicking? Absolutely. This turned out to be the wine of the evening, white or red.

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One young and really good, one neither

• 2001 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet

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

  Still pale. Restrained nose, even with coaxing, but pristine, pure, and well structured in the mouth. Lovely orange peel note at the end. Has more to give, but a really attractive combination of delicacy and incipient explosiveness.

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• 2001 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets Flawed

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

  Deep golden. Oxidized.

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Variable but nothing spectacular at this point

• 2001 Domaine Dujac Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes

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

  Moderate ruby, youthful looking. Crunchy, slightly brambly fruit with an interesting top note of baby powder. Not particularly stemmy smelling. Discrete wood. Tight at first but opened nicely adding some spice. Proper medium weight, subtle earthiness, strong, in fact tart acidity. Very good now, probably better with a few more years of age.

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• 2001 Domaine Maume Mazis-Chambertin

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

  Fairly resolved looking light ruby with tawny edge. Much more earthy and rustic than the Dujac although not frankly barnyardy. Completely unimpressive in the mouth-lightish, monochromatic, on the verge of being underripe and dry. If forced to guess, I would have picked the Dujac Combottes as the Gevrey Grand Cru, not this. In my experience, Maume almost always disappoints, delivering less from their respective terroirs than other producers.

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• 2001 Domaine Jean Grivot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru

  Full, youthful ruby. Much more berryish fruit than the other 2 reds. Lusher, rounder, more modern palate feel imparted by the volume of fruit and a definite oaky base. Younger but simpler than the others too, but nice finishing core of black fruit. This needs time but is anomalous in the context of the vintage.

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