A night of White Burgundy and Champagne at Helsinki

Classic Wine Cellars, Helsinki, Finland
Tasted Friday, October 28, 2011 by VHJV with 700 views

Introduction

A group of 11 people gathered to taste some wonderful wines. Mainly white Burgundy with some Champagne to get going.

Flight 1 - Champagne (3 Notes)

  • 1996 Henriot Champagne Cuvée des Enchanteleurs Brut 93 Points

    France, Champagne

    This was a champagne of great style. Powerful and with a very fine balance. Clearly a Chardonnay driven champagne, even though almost half of it is Pinot Noir. Young still, but drinking very well from the go. This has all the wonderful qualities of the 1996 vintage in a fine package. Glad to have some more of this for the coming years.

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  • 2001 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée 92 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

    Fresh and powerful with some oak showing through. A bit strange and a bit unbalanced at first. The development of this wine was like the letter U. After about half an hour it seemed to have lost the freshness and become a bit dull. But then it pulled itself together and after about two hours it was again kicking with intensive fruitiness in a style that had almost liqueur-like qualities to it. A very interesting champagne and a great success for the vintage.

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  • 1999 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Cuvée Creation 94 Points

    France, Champagne

    In the beginning this had a very interesting and even a bit strange nose that had all kinds of fruity and oaky aromas, including wet socks. Very powerful on both the nose and in the mouth. The balance was a bit lacking at first and this was more interesting than enjoyable, but it pulled together with about two hours of air. In the end it arrived at a very good point where all those disjointed bits had integrated nicely and the whole was very complex and utterly delicious. If I had given the judgement on this wine with just the first hour's performance in mind, the points would have been much lower.

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Flight 2 - Lesser appellations (3 Notes)

  • 2008 Domaine Leflaive Bourgogne Blanc 91 Points

    France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Blanc

    A very nice nose of flowery scents. In the mouth smooth with medium strenght, good intensity and a long aftertaste. It sat in my glass for over 3 hours and kept getting better and better. This would go for a very good Puligny villages. An absolutely incredible Bourgogne Blanc.

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  • 2008 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault Les Clous 88 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault

    A nice nose. In the mouth this is a bit aggressive at first. Becomes smoother with time and finds a decent balance. Nice Meursault character, but lacking finesse.

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  • 2008 Paul et Marie Jacqueson Rully 1er Cru La Pucelle Blanc 90 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Rully 1er Cru

    This has been my go to QPR white burg for some time. Again it performed very well showing excellent balance, nice complexity and depth. Even though this is not an especially powerful or the most complex representative of its genre, it is outstanding for what it is and a great value.

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Flight 3 - 1er Cru (3 Notes)

  • 1998 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 94 Points

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

    This was the most positive suprise of our tasting. The nose has an extremely nice, even intoxicating, perfume of a mature white burg. In the mouth this has medium-plus intensity with a great balance and a wonderful mouthfeel. It sat on my glass for almost 3 hours and got just better and better. A great wine from a not so great vintage. Incredible 1er Cru.

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  • 2000 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Ruchottes 93 Points

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

    Noticable spearmint on the nose. Another very fine 1er Cru here. With some time in the glass it finds an excellent balance and becomes very expressive. In the mouth harmonious with abundant fruit and even a bit sweet. Very nice complexity. This was the bottle tonight that I was the most worried about premox-wise having had a premoxed bottle earlier this year, but it turned out to be in perfect shape and drinking very well. A very fine 1er Cru.

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  • 2002 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières 92 Points

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

    A bit disjointed at first. Gets better with enough air and finds a good balance after about an hour. Very intensive with great fruit and florality. This wine was still on the young side and would probably benefit from at least a few more years in cellar. In the end, though, it did deliver a very nice expression of Puligny-Montrachet.

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Flight 4 - Grand Cru (3 Notes)

  • 1996 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet 98 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

    A very deep minerally nose that is wonderfully stylish and pure. In the mouth this is incredibly intensive and smooth with a very long and intensive minerally aftertaste. Amazingly complex. Still pretty young, but drinking absolutely great. I'm not going to try to describe this wine in any more detailed manner, because I'm sure I won't be able to catch the extraordinary nature of this experience. This was probably the best white wine I've ever had. Truly exceptional.

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  • 2001 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet 96 Points

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

    A strong Ramonet spearmint on the nose that is powerful, opulent and very complex. In the mouth this has great intensity with very complex fruit and fine terroir elements. Recognizable as both Ramonet and Batard. This is weightier than the Leflaive Chevalier, even if it doesn't quite match the crazy intensity of the Chevy. This is a wonderful wine drinking very well tonight and a really fine Grand Cru. Strenghtens my belief that the 2001 vintage can be really excellent on the Grand Cru level.

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  • 1996 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot Flawed

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

    Corked.

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Closing

Before the tasting I was a bit nervous as to the condition of these bottles. Premox has been widely talked about and I have had my share of experience about this phenomenon. However, there were no premoxed bottles tonight and the one corked was clearly youngish under the taint. A great tasting with some great people.

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