Domaine d'Angerville 2007/2008 Taste-off

The group wanted to get together to taste these wines (single-blind for everyone but me because I was point-man consulting on order of service), because Seth and I had recently had some impressive 2007 Volnays and other Cote de Beaune wines, love d'Angerville's wines, and both vintages are well-priced and available. We mostly tasted in flights of 2 to conserve glassware, in mini-verticals of the various crus. The '08s were double-decanted and recorked 6 hours before the tasting. The '07s were well aerated about 1-1/2 hours before drinking.

• 2010 Ceritas Chardonnay Heintz Vineyard

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Pale, greenish straw. Big, sweet (reminded me a bit of Riesling), crystalline nose -- reminds me quite a bit of a PNW Chardonnay. A very inviting nose. The palate had little evident oak and was pleasingly refined, not at all overripe or manipulated. Fairly classic Chardonnay fruit, leaning to fennel. The wine reminded me of a fine Macon. Shows a little oak on the good finish. Nicely balanced and a tasty bottle of wine.

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• 2007 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Champans

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

  Deep ruby. Extremely meaty, gutty, and full nose. Earth, rose, massive graphite, essence of cherry, and blood (iron). The palate, in some contrast to the nose, is creamy, round, tender; good body, mellow structure. Terrific length, though, wow! Ending notes run to meat, blood, and some leather. Good stuff.

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• 2008 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Champans

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

  Deep ruby. Nose earthy, dust, rose, a little lacquer; very transparent on the nose, but also decidedly more reserved than the '07. Palate has excellent cut, nice acid; pure cherry. Medium body, good length. The wine is very minerally; searing acidity on the end adds billowing purity.

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• 2000 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne Domaine

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

  Goldish (very dark room). Reticent nose: applesauce, cabbage, butterscotch. Rich and somewhat simple, monolithic, on palate; copper and toffee/butterscotch. OK length. Pretty good, certainly tasty, but drink up.

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• 2007 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets

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

  Blood ruby. Nose bursting with brambly, sauvage berry fruits -- boysenberry gets pretty close to the character; a little tequila (heat); peppery and exotic; stony red fruits; baking spices; again a little heat. Palate diffuse and uncertain of itself, more tequila; something a bit rotten like cherries forgotten in a car's trunk for a week after a summer picnic. I don't love this wine… Fairly dense, but meh. Not my flavor profile.

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• 2008 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets

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

  Blood ruby. Purest herbs, concrete dust, cherry pits, cherry pie, pomegranate. Palate a little too green for me; tart cherries and baking spices, but too green. I liked the green on the nose, but not on the palate. I much prefer the Champans. Like the '07, this is not my flavor profile.

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• 2007 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs

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

  Deep ruby. Nose bottomless with rich velvet, a Victorian treasure box. More reticent than a bottle tasted last fall, when the nose of this wine was nothing short of paradigm-shifting in my appreciation for Volnay. Here: roses and cinnamon. Lovely nose. Palate denser and more brooding than the '08; deeper, more mysterious. Cream, stones, cherry liqueur. Dense and long. I wrote "very med-full bodied," whatever that means… Great wine! The only wine pairing tonight where one of the two was substantially bigger than its mate. Fantastic wine. Extremely long!

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• 2008 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs

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

  Lighter in color than the '07, transparent-er ruby. Big lacquery nose, full of curry (thanks Alan C.), cumin, then lots of red fruit; coffee (I often get this in Clos des Ducs), mocha, cream; a beautiful herbal line; a little tequila, but here more as pepper than as heat. Incredibly, unbelievably mineral; phenomenal. Cherry forever. Palate rosy and pure, obviously terribly young. Medium bodied with quite good length. All it should be, but put it away for a decade.

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• 2007 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Château des Ducs Flawed

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

  Corked.

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• 2007 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds

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

  Blood ruby. Nose incredibly like a young Barolo -- rosy, tarry, and dense. Primary, but a fine, pure, "silky" nose. There is also a deeeeep iron note, like being in an iron forgery surrounded by molten metal. The palate is simply incredible; silken and glorious. Fabulous. Cherry, cherry, cherry. Good weight with terrific length. Incredibly good. WOTF. (It is possible I got which wine was which in this flight wrong, but I don't think I did).

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• 2008 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds

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

  Pale ruby blood. Right off, I think this is the '08. Nose crystalline, pure, rosy. Spicy, too, with cinnamon sticks and gingersnaps. Palate very pure, cherry, strawberry. Primary, but a little easy, medium bodied and not especially tannic, but good length. Fantastic wine, but it doesn't strike me as a really long term runner, as it is not particularly sappy. (It is possible I got which wine was which in this flight wrong, but I don't think I did).

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• 2007 Domaine de Montille Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds

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

  Blood ruby. Extremely deep, gutty nose, bloody, mineral, iron; intense. Palate very modern, noticeable oak, char, but not overt, just present. Very finely textured and high quality, but a tough read for me on the palate and finish. Not really my wine, at least tonight. (It is possible I got which wine was which in this flight wrong, but I don't think I did).

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• 1964 Monimpex Tokaji Aszú Essencia

  Hungary, Tokaji

  Mahogany with a tinge of red. Mellow nose, spicy, soil, coffee grounds, seawater, toffee, a few mothballs. Seriously saline. Not at all old on the nose…! Spicy again, nutmeg, now some brightening orange peel. Palate nicely tangy, lots of orange peel, dried orange blossom. Good length, with dried rootstock and cola on the finish; also some barley, and beetroot carrying through; pretty dry at the end. Billowy, spherical nose. TERRIFIC wine. (A comment is due on "rootstock." It's a curious word, one I've never used in a note before, but it was apt at the time, and I remember choosing it. I think I was trying to allude to some of that earthy, but creamy, starchy, and sweet aroma of raw celery root and other root vegetables. That's how I got to beetroot, and I think rootstock, cola, barley, and beetroot are all capable of being conflated-related by flavor-memory.) (From .500, I'm pretty sure)

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• 2006 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Flawed

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Goldish straw. Very prickly, angry grapefruit nose, zest and arsenic, piercing and sharp; fearsomely mineral. I find it painful to smell, literally. With time it moderates to, even worse if anything, acetone. Palate like overripe bubblegum, if that is imaginable. Yuck. Very sweet, rotten, dirty, like a cabbage-creme brûlée at a prison elementary school for inmates' offspring. Yuck. Hate it. FLAW (From .750, I'm pretty sure)

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• 1989 Müller-Catoir Mußbacher Eselshaut Rieslaner Auslese

  Germany, Pfalz

  Amber. Hugely saline on the nose, smoked fish (like the aroma of Russ & Daughters' shop, quite nice, really!); guava, some smoky papaya. Love it! Guava paste. Palate, though, all tangy, searing passion fruit. Extremely aggressively acidic -- yikes! Short, stalky, angry, schadenfreude finish. Full grade of A on the nose, but C to C- on the palate. Very odd showing. (From .375, I'm pretty sure)

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My takeaways are: (1) I tended to like the '07s more than others in the group did. I thought they were mostly equivalent in quality to the '08s, but obviously quite different in style. (2) Taillepieds is a rock-star vineyard -- of grand cru quality in my mind, and perhaps my favorite cru in Burgundy, along with Griotte Chambertin. The clarity and precision with which its wines convey terroir is always exciting. That said, there are a lot of really good winemakers who make Taillepieds so that helps. For me, Clos des Ducs is more masculine, with darker fruits, and frequently coffee, flavors that don't convey the same transparency as Taillepieds, on my tongue. That said, I LOVE Clos des Ducs, too. In particular, the '07 Ducs is out of this world.