Burgundy Focus Dinner: Meursault, Gevrey, Chambolle
Pera Restaurant, San Francisco, California
Tasted Wednesday, March 16, 2011 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 810 views
Introduction
Our gang returned to Pera, the restaurant that Keith found for us that does such a great job of accommodating 10 or so of us around a square table in a quiet room. This time we chose to focus on a few favorite Burgundy villages: Meursault, Gevrey-Chambertin and Chambolle-Musigny. Within this theme, we got try three side-by-side versions of the same vineyard: Meursault Les Charmes from both Henri Boillot and Leroy; Meursault Les Genevrières from Bouchard and Jean Boillot; and Lavaux St. Jacques from both Denis Mortet and Maume.
All in all, our wines showed very well. My wines of the night were the '03 Coche-Dury Meursault, the '01 Henri Boillot Meursault Les Charmes, and the '99 Denis Mortet Lavaux St. Jacques. The flight of the night, for me, was our Meursault round, but our Lavaux and Clos St. Jacques flight was also stunning. We started with a lovely Jacquesson, the 734, and ended with a delicious '01 Suduiraut that was provided for us by one of our group who had to be out of town for the evening. For my detailed tasting notes, comparisons between the wines and more background on the vineyards we sampled in this tasting, see below:
Flight 1 - Champagne Starter (1 Note)
This latest version of Jacquesson's numbered cuvée got us off to a very good start. I'm a fan of Jacquesson's wonderful Champagnes, and wrote a post about a tasting with one of the owner/brothers, Jean-Herve Chiquet, which can be found here: http://www.rjonwine.com/champagne/jacquesson-jean-herve-chiquet/ One of the great things about Jacquesson is how much detail they give regarding the cepage and production of their wines, in great contrast to the traditional secrecy of major Champagne producers. The 734 is a blend of 54% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir and 26% Pinot Meunier. Wines from the 2006 harvest were completed with reserve wines from 2005 (22%) and 2004 (5%). Vinification, as usual for the numbered cuvées, was in large oak barrels, with weekly battonage.
Flight 2 - Meursault Flight (5 Notes)
This was an unexpectedly satisfying Meursault flight, with the exception of our disappointing Maison Leroy Charmes. Charmes and Genevrières, along with Perrières, are considered the three best of Meursault's 17 premier cru vineyards (and the village has no grand crus). Both of our Genevrières were minerally and poised. The '02 Jean Boillot was delicious, and the best for drinking now, but the '05 Bourchard had a longer finish and should also be quite delicious with another two or three years of bottle age. Charmes is the largest of the Meursault premier crus, at 31.12 hectares. The '01 Henri Boillot version was rich and creamy textured. The '98 Maison Leroy, by contrast, was flabby and slightly oxidized. The WOTF for most of us, including me, was the luscious Coche-Dury, from the ripe Burgundy year of 2003. Jean-Francois Coche-Dury reported that yields were basically normal in '03, and that he used much less batonnage than usual, and a little more new oak.
It should be noted that the '02 Jean Boillot and the '01 Henri Boillot were both by the same winemaker, Henri Boillot, who bought out his siblings in 2005 and put his own name on his father Jean's domaine, so that it is now known as Domaine Henri Boillot. Our '01 Henri Boillot was one of his negociant wines, on which Henri's team did all the vineyard work.
Flight 3 - Lavaux and Clos St. Jacques Flight (3 Notes)
On to reds and Gevrey-Chambertin for our next flight. We decided to start with our premier crus first, from two fabulous vineyards, saving our grand crus for the flight to follow. Lavaux St. Jacques is a 9.53 hectare vineyard that tends to be red fruited and elegant. Clos St. Jacques is considered the greatest of Gevrey's premier crus, and a candidate for grand cru status if any of the current owners were inclined to seek the promotion. Each of the five current producers, including Jadot, have strips running from top to bottom of the vineyard. Our '96 Jadot was a very appealing and complete example. The Mortet Lavaux St. Jacques, from the ripe and balanced '99 vintage, was my wine of the flight, with a wildness about it that was quite appealing. It was much more sumptuous and rich than a bottle I tried a couple years back that was fairly bretty. The '96 Maume was more rustic, as is typical of the producer, and tannic, as is to be expected from the vintage.
Flight 4 - Chambertin Flight (2 Notes)
These two grand cru bottlings, while fine, were overshadowed by both the Mortet Lavaux St. Jacques and the Jadot Clos St. Jacques in our prior flight. Both showed the structure and length one expects from these two vineyards, although the Esmonin was much more poised and complete. The Jadot is a negociant bottling, while the Esmonin was from that producer's tiny .14 hectare portion of the 9.10 hectare grand cru Mazis-Chambertin.
Flight 5 - Chambolle-Musigny Flight (3 Notes)
We concluded with a trio of Chambolle-Musigny, including a grand cru that it shares with Morey-St. Denis, Bonnes Mares, although the vast majority of the vineyard lies in Chambolle. Each were appealing, but very different in style. Bruno Clavelier owns the largest chunk of the premier cru La Combe d'Orveau. According to Jasper Morris's wonderful new book Inside Burgundy, Clavelier feels the vineyard could have been classified grand cru Musigny, as it shares its neighboring grand cru's geology, but that his grandfather did not push for that designation since it would have meant higher taxes. Our '96 was showing significant maturity, even from a magnum format, and good minerality. Even better, though, was the '00 Frédéric Magnien Les Hauts-Doix, from a vineyard that lies just to the north of Les Amoureuses. It had a very intense nose, and delicious, minerally red fruit. Best of all was our '93 Latour Bonnes Mares, a negociant bottling from a terrific year that was showing very well.
Flight 6 - Sweet Finish (1 Note)
Thanks to the generosity of our missing buddy Sang, we finished with a delightful bottle of the '01 Suduiraut. One can't go wrong with an excellent Sauternes from a terrific year, and this wine is definitely showing beautifully now.
NV Jacquesson & Fils Champagne Cuvée No. 734 Brut 93 Points
France, Champagne
Light golden yellow color; lightly yeasty, beeswax, honeyed nose; tasty, a little tight, ripe lemon, baked lemon, mineral, beeswax, tart pear palate; medium-plus finish 93+ points (even better than the 733)
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