Burgundy 2011 Day 4: The Big Dinner aka Singapore Night in Burgundy

We were fortunate enough to rent a Gite which happened to be a former restaurant (named the Auberge de Vieux Presoir). This meant that we had a well-equipped industrial kitchen at our disposal. The trip was winding to a close, and the time had come for our big dinner party where most of the loose bottles we picked up on the way were to be popped. A couple of wine-maker friends were invited, and we had a night of feasting and drinking with a whole series of Singaporean dishes spanning from Bak Kut Teh, to Rendang, from Herbal Tea Eggs to Cantonese Stir-Fry. We finished close to 3am, exhausted, wined-out, but boy, this was a night to remember!

Wines were kindly arranged by William and all served blind. I have arranged the notes in the order the wines were served.

• 2001 La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  This very nice. Strange thing is that we popped it in Pouilly-Fuisse, in the Macon of all places - talk about bringing coal to Newcastle. However, although this was not the greatest Chablis Grand Cru in the world, it still provided a real Grand Cru experience, and highlighted the gulf that may still exist between the top wines of Macon and those of Chablis. This wine opened up with a very nice nose - Lots of honeyed notes, then spice, musk, apples and melons, mushroomy aromas, earthy mineral with saline Chablis hints. Great complexity here. The palate had lovely weight and heft, but was certainly not cloying or flabby in its yummy honeyed flavours, with yellowing fruit, ripe apples, and a little toast note as it moved into a long metally, minerally finish with a sprinkle of flowers. With some time in the glass, it opened up even more, fanning out with a beautiful lemony freshness lined with a streak of warm, stony mineral. It lacked a bit of the verve and energy or even finesse of say a Les Preuses or a Les Clos, but it was a very nice wine indeed.

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• 2001 La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  Excellent. Lovely mineral and chalk aromas on the nose were accompanied by floral accents along with white fruit and apple scents. The palate had good concentration but also lots of finesse and poise, with fine chalky mineral, lemons, apples all very pure. This wine was certainly weighty, but somehow managed to pull of the trick of seeming weightless with its fresh, effortless elegance. It wafted along into a long, defined finish which showed the linearity and focus and the same incredible balance that marked the rest of the wine. This was really lovely stuff, and still very young - I can only see it getting better and better over the next 4-5 years.

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• 2006 Domaine Bernard-Bonin Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières 92 Points

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

  This was greatly enjoyed. Very attractive nose here, with spice hints, some mushroom, a touch of cream and plenty of flower and apple aromas. Very pretty. The palate was really fresh, making it a bit difficult to guess that it was a 2006, with white apple flesh at the foreground, a nice ring of purity here, and then some cream, fresh lemony citrus notes, more of those pretty flowers picked up on the nose and buttery Meursault touch right at finish. A very well put-together wine, and one that was a pleasure to drink.

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• 2001 Domaine Alain Michelot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru La Richemone 90 Points

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

  Not quite ready yet, but this wine showed a nice bit of promise. It had a beautiful nose - earthy, gamey, meaty, with plums and dark cherries strewn with violets. Glorious stuff. The palate was not quite as giving and expressive unfortunately. It was really fresh, with the finely shaped tannins giving lots of back-end grip, so that one noticed the lovely pure dark cherries on the attack, but past the midpalate, it was hard to get over how grippy and tight the wine was. So grippy in fact that it seemed have ended a bit short and a touch woody on the tannins with just a whiff of florals squeezing out. Great on attack, not so great on finish. Lovely quality of fruit, but this is so structured that it needs a lot of time still. Overall, a good wine, but not anywhere close to the standards of the 2009s we tried at the Domaine earlier in the week.

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• 2006 Domaine Bertheau (Pierre et François) Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Wow - this knocked our socks off. Served blind, everyone on the table, winemaker and layman alike, was trying to guess whether it was a Les Amoureuses or a feminine Bonnes Mares. What a nose. Absolutely brilliant, sexy, seductive stuff, with full-on violets, dark cherries, blackberries, lots of petit fruits noir, a touch of loamy earth - lots of depth and complexity, but in the midst of all that, it was the beautifully floral perfume that stood out. Woah. Glorious palate too, melting, silky tannins, still having some grip, provided a frame for lovely sweet dark cherries, more petit fruits noirs, all pure, transparent and seductive. This was met by some mossy earth on the mid-palate, a sprig of fresh mint and then the wine set into a long finish with lots of perfumy flowers and spice. Beautiful balance with delicious freshness here, and still quite a structured grip despite how silky the wine felt. Wow. A complete wine - M. Bertheau really outdid himself here.

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• 2002 Roc d'Anglade Gard 92 Points

  France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Gard

  Another wow - this was a real surprise. You know that there had been some winemaking alchemy somewhere when a Southern blend of 40% Carignan, 20% Syrah and equivalent 15% portions of Mouverde and Grenache is done so elegantly that even the Burgundian winemakers who we served it to thought it was a good 1er Cru from the Cote d'Or. Lovely nose here - flowers, earth, plums, dark cherries and blueberries, a layer of loamy soild. The palate had some ripe sweetness that really should have put as on notice, along with plenty of depth and weight to its delicious flavours of blueberries spiked with brighter red fruit and a little floral note. What fooled all of us though were the super fine tannins and silky elegance of the wine. There was some firmness at the back-end, but as a whole, the structure was so well-shaped that it came across as a Pommard rather than a Rhone. Right at the back, we got some earth, a bit of meat and a dash of white pepper in a long, juicy tail. An excellent wine.

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• 2005 Albert Ponnelle Beaune 1er Cru Bressandes 93 Points

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

  An excellent wine - not for the first time on the night, we were all stunned when we found out that this was a Beaune 1er made by Pierre Ponelle from the same biodynamically farmed plot that he showed us a couple of days ago. If anything, this was a wine that was clearly punching above its weight class. Really forward and very approachable for a 2005, it had an incredibly sensual nose of cherry filled chocolate, flowers, violets, sprigs of herbs and a whiff of dried earth - I was quite convinced it was a Chambolle or Volnay on the nose alone. The palate picked up the same theme - really floral on the attack, with juicy acidity everywhere wed to beautifully silky tannins and a pure, transparent expression of dark cherries sprinkled with licorice root all the way in a so long, long finish. Lots of persistence here, and it was clearly very structured, with typical 2005 firmness on the back-end, yet it was so eleganct and drinkable that I barely noticed it until half the glass was gone. A lovely effort.

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• 2005 Domaine Alain Michelot Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Les Charrieres 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru

  In a bit of an awkward stage, but this has developed in such a manner to show some really solid potential. It had an incredible nose for one thing - a dose of earth, lots of pretty scents of blueberries, cassis and flowers - just lovely. The palate was still really tight though, and slightly tough, especially in the way the firm tannins coated the mouth, so that the structure was still rather overbearing at the structure. Beneath that though, there was lots of fresh acidity framing nicely pure flavours of dark fruits - cassis and dark cherries here again I thought - lots of depth and clarity and with a long finish that showed bits of earth and stem. This is a heavily structured wine that needs tons and tons of time yet, but there is a quality of freshness and fruit there that promises much for the future.

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• 2003 Domaine Alain Michelot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Porêts Saint-Georges 87 Points

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

  Even tougher than the 2005 Morey 1er that preceded it, this was very hard to judge indeed. It had a feep, dark nose, with plums, cassis and dark cherries dominant. Not unattractive, but a bit dense and difficult to unpack. The palate took on the tones of the bouquet, showing a mouthfull of deep, concentrated dark fruit, but this was wrapped with lots of oaky tannins at the moment - so super tannic as it coats the mouth and teeth that it was hard to drink at the moment. At the rare moments that I got past the tannins, the finish showed a touch of wood spice and dried herbs. Perhaps the fruit will one day outlive the tannins, but at the moment, that is just about impossible to tell. A difficult wine.

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• 1999 Comte Armand Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux 90 Points

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

  Far, far too young even after a longish decanting. The nose was pleasant, but a little tight, with some woody, spicy notes wed to maturing earth and mushroom scents and a nice amount of dark cherries and berries. The palate, on the other hand, was a study in contrast. It was very nice on first sip - rich, deep, with tons of material and lovely pure dark fruit all held in good balance. Past the mid-palate though, it went into shut-down mode, with the fruit clenching up and too much woody oak at the end, with flavours of wood spice and tannins swimming around the mouth. There is obviosusly real quality of fruit here and solid structure, but it needs a lot of time yet. This is one 1999 that shows no indication of coming ready any time soon. If I had any in my cellar, I would keep it locked up for another 4-5 years at least.

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• 2007 Domaine Taupenot-Merme Mazoyères-Chambertin 92 Points

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

  A nice wine, but not quite up to the standards I have had with other vinatges of the Domaine's Mazoyères. Still though, it was a very nice wine. The nose started with a bit of reductiveness, but with some air, it became positively pretty, with sweet scents of strawberry compote and violets wed to loamy, earthy aromas and sprigs of herb. The palate was extremely silky on the attack, with red fruited Gevrey flavours of strawberries and cream, raspberries and some cooler blueberry fruit flavours. Clean, elegant and velvety across the mid-palate and blessed with a lovely freshness, it finished with a nice roundness, showing more red fruit laced with a lick of mineral. It had quite a bit of depth in spite of the vintage, but when blind, we all thought it was a top-notch 1er Cru rather than a Grand Cru.

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• 2008 Domaine Bertheau (Pierre et François) Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  I loved this wine. What a bouquet here - almost like liquified flowers, with pure violet scents mixed in with cherry flesh and sweet strawberry aromas in a heady swirl of deep, yet somehow lifted aromas. This was pure perfume, incredible, seductive stuff. The palate had such wonderful tension and nervosity too, with tingly acidity running through a mouthfull of naturally sweet flavours - pure, high-toned sour plums, cherries and strawberries, lovely stuff sashaying its way into a long finish with a haunting linger of fine tannins and a final kiss of strawberries. Not quite Grand Cru depth, but certainy no lack of concentration either. This was not a perfect, it seemed to miss a beat every now and then, but it was seductive, so haunting, so feminine. Like a beautiful woman that you know will not be good news - flawed, but incredibley alluring. Wow.

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• 2009 Domaine Bertheau (Pierre et François) Bonnes Mares 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

  A very fine wine. Not showing quite a well as the 2008 Amoureuses on the day, but this had more impressive substance for the long run I would think. The nose was very nice, with typical Bonnes Mares aromas of black cherries and bluberries augmented by buts of spice, earth and a nice meatiness in the background. The palate had lots of lovely layered depth, with rich flavours of blueberries and dark cherries held by a fine structure made out of firm but very refined tannins and tannins and beautifully balancing acidity. A long persistent finish rounded the wine off. A very complete, but so young at the moment. It is a lovely interpretation if just a bit light imterpretation of the terroir which should age effortlessly over the next decade or so before hitting its stride. A really nice wine.

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• 2005 Château L'Escart 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur

  As with any 2005 from Bordeaux, one would expect some level of competency, and this wine delivered decently well. When blinded, it showed a nose somewhere between the left and right banks, with dark cassis wed to softer plum scents, and some spice and earth notes bringing up the rear. The palate was nicely fresh, with simple but nice flavours of cassis and dark cherries. The finish was less than long, but showed a firm grip of fine but very present tannins. Still rather primary and simple, this needs some time yet.

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• 1966 Château Montrose 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

  A great bottle, and a great way to end a great night. This just about blew the much younger 2005 Bordeaux Superieur we had alongside out of the water, and pretty much put another bottle of '66 Montrose we had a couple of days earlier in the shade. The ullage was not too different, but this bottle was in far better shape. It had a beautiful aged St Estephe nose full of earth, tobacco and cigar ash scents swirling around aromas of dried cherries and dried flowers. Very alluring, very Bordeaux. The palate was surprisingly fresh and so very alive, with a spectrum of lovely cherry fruit, red dates, dried sour plums, even dried longans spanning the attack into the mid-palate, and then nuances of dusty earth, tree bark, more cigar and long pull of tobacco smoke at the finish, where the wine produced a final kiss of fine tannins that reminded one of the vintage. A complete wine at a beautiful place, at 45 years of age, still fresh, clean and pure, and drinking wonderfully. A great wine.

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