Burgundy 2011, Day 0

Arrived in Beaune after a mega-24 plane, train and car trek from Singapore - tired, but happy. I cracked open a welcome bottle of Louis Carillon's PM Perrieres at Magnum with W, G and Anne-Marie, which turned out to be disappointing. However, this was well made-up for by a nice dinner and wines at Auberge de Chaval Noir. The food was a just a touch on the too-heavy side, but had a certain fineness to it - very yummy.

• 2009 Louis Carillon Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Perrières 91 Points

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

  First bottle in Burgundy bought from the Magnum Caveau and drank streetside in Beaune. Good but a bit disappointing given the pedigree of the bottling. I wonder what the aging trajectory of this will be like. It had beautiful nose for one thing. Lots of mineral, flinty, stony, seashell smells wed to honeyed fruit scents, some citrussy hints, a layer of toasty oak and smoky nuances. Very attractive. The palate was rather troubling at first though. Very nice on the attack, tons of stony mineral again, and then some semblance of freshness in its red apples flavours spiked with citrusy lemons. Nice weight, seemingly nice proportions. Past the midpalate though and it went almost flabby, with heavy weighted ripe fruit, a rather discocncerting amount of pain grille and an uncharacteristically shortish finish that swirled with bits of alcohol. Thankfully, it did get much better with time. The alcohol seemed to go down, some freshness peaks out, but for all that, this bottle did not hit the heights of other vintages. It just lacked the precision and focus I would normally associate with a Carillon Perrieres, and the fruit did always remain a shade overweight. This has always been one of my very favourite bottlings in Burgindy, but this particular one was a disappointing bottle, perhaps underlining my early impressions that 2009 is not a great white Burg vintage.

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• 2009 Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon Mâcon-Milly-Lamartine Clos du Four 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Mâcon-Milly-Lamartine

  A very impressive Macon indeed. I liked the nose - plenty of flinty, earthy scents, a bit smoky at the edges, with an underlayer of white fruit flecked with yellow fruited ripeness. The palate was fresher and crisper than the large body of 2009s that I have tried so far, but it had clearly ripe fruit flavours in shades of apples and pears. It lacked the weight of a Cote d'Or village, but this was certainly no lightweightm with plenty heft. Very nice. Only issue was that a bit of 2009 warmth and a bit of heat shows up right at the finish. This was never flabby though, always remaining poised and balanced. Very nice.



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• 2009 Domaine Capitain-Gagnerot Ladoix 1er Cru Les Grechons et Foutieres Blanc 92 Points

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

  Wow - this was really surprising. Excellent stuff, even better than an already surprisingly Macon from Lafon. Really nice nose, a bit reserved, with an elegant touch of oak, sweet appley scents, pears, white flowers and some fresh herby notes - almost like sprigs of thyme and sage, and just the lightest hint of mineral. Again, there was a sense of 2009 ripeness on the bouquet, but this was pretty well controlled. There was a lovely feel on the palate, with well-integrated acidity giving a lovely sense of poise and balance, good body with plenty of depth, and rather delicious white fruited notes with bits of citrus. The finish weighed in with just a twist of oak, sprinkled of spice and almond nuts at the very end sprinkled with a bit of spice. This was a notch up fro the Macon - more complex, more structured than the Macon. Excellent stuff.

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• 2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault

  An excellent Meursault village. This had all the richness of Meursault paired with the lovely acidity of the vintage. It had a lovely deep nose - deepest of the three whites we had, with reservoirs of white fruit, wheatgrass scents, sweet white flowers, some cream and a whiff of honey. With time, some earth and chalk hints and even a bit of toast came out. Very nice, and very complex for such a young wine. Lovely on the palate too. Here, mouthwatering acidity framed a rich, weighty, buttery textured mouthfull of yellow fruit tinged with some citrus freshness. There was an impressive amount of power, extract and structure for a village, but it was the precision and focus underlying it all that I really impressed me. The longish finish had just a touch of green herbs adding a lift. Lovely stuff. This showed even younger and tighter than the pair of 2009s that we had alongside! Lovely stuff, which should age really, really well.

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• 2006 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Chorey-les-Beaune Piece du Chapitre 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chorey-les-Beaune

  This was a very nice Chorey. The nose was typical of something coming out from the north of the Cote de Beaune, with lots of flowers and sweet spices, funky earth and some meat playing on a backdrop of strawberry and cherry scents. There was a nice streak of stony, metallic mineral in there as well. The palate similarly showed very nice typicity. Light, nicely fruity stuff, with bright strawberry fruit bolstered by good clean acidity and fine, deftly handled tannins that gave a nice the wine a sense of structure leading in a nice round finish that showed a ring of sweet spice. This punched above its weight - very nice.

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