Burgundy 2012 Day 6: Celebratory Dinner

One great week of travessing the Cote d'Or as it was clothed in its beautiful autumnal colours had finally come to an end. As per tradition, we hosted a few of our Burgundian friends - Phillippe, Sasha, Nicolas and Fabrice - for an Asian cook-out at the Gite. As always, food, wine and conversation flowed freely, only punctuated at points for us to guess our way through the bottles, which had all been blinded. It was well into the wee hours of the morning that we turned in on our last night in Burgundy, well-satiated after a wonderful dinner.

• NV Domaine Laurent Cognard Crémant de Bourgogne Blanc de Noir 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Crémant de Bourgogne

  This was quite a delicious Crémant. It had a lovely nose, with a touch of yeast, some flowers and green apples galore. Very yummy on the palate too. This had a nice roundness to it with ripe lemons and sweet green apples lined with a lively mousse and good, fresh acidity. Nothing really complex, but this was very nicely balanced and had a touch more grip than you would normally expect of a Crémant. Charming finish too, with a nice mix of floral and mineral nuances. Delicious. This will be great with simple meals or to start a party with. Have bought myself half a dozen.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 1979 Lanson Champagne Red Label 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  This was really interesting. Lanson is a house that had a great reputation in the 1970s, and the Red Label was considered its "prestige cuvee". From a magnum, this was really yummy. It was obviously quite a matured Champagne, with nicely developed notes of yeast and white meat, some honeyed aromas and dried flowers on the nose, along with fresher tones of red apples with a citrusy lift of lemons and limes. I would never have put it earlier than the late 1980s though, especially on the palate, which still seemed so young, with a lively mouthful of limes and juicy lemons, along with another touch of dried flowers, all still wrapped in juicy acidity and a nicely textured mousses. It had a lovely, long finish too, with a good lick of mineral at the tail. This was neither the most profound not the most complex of vintage Champagnes, especially given its age, but it was brilliantly integrated and really yummy. Excellent stuff, and it probably had the chops to go on for another decade quite easily.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 1995 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 94 Points

  France, Champagne

  This was a beautiful Champagne, just about entering its drinking window, and it was quite easily the stand-out wine of the dinner for me. It had a beautiful nose, with nutty, yeasty aromas floating around fresh lemons and apple scents, a touch of earthy minerality and a pretty waft of honeysuckle and chrysanthemum flowers. An entrancing bouquet. It had a wonderful palate too. Full, fleshy and powerful, this showed rich flavours of apples and sweet lemons wed to really fine mousse and a brilliantly bright balance that lent the wine a nice cut and focus. While still very youthful, it was also starting to take on nice signs of development and complexity, with a lovely whiff of roasted macadamias and brioche, some flowery accents, and little streams of spice that layered the backpalate, along the way to a beautifully long, minerally finish. This particularly well-stored bottle probably needed another 3-4 years to really hit its stride, but even then, it was a great Champagne. Lovely stuff.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2007 Domaine Françoise André Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Sous Frétille Blanc 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru

  A nice little bottle that reminded me of just why I like the 2007 whites so much. The nose showed a nice amount of mineral and spice notes running through white fruited scents. The palate had a lovely, textured feel to it, with sweet white fruit and apple flavours underscored by that same earthy, spicy minerality picked up on the nose, before a slightly ripe, almost pineapple and yellow-fruited finish set in. Young, a bit simple, but this had a lovely sense of grip and extract, with a nice focus and precision that made it a delicious drink.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2011 Domaine Laurent Cognard Montagny 1er Cru Le Vieux Château Blanc 86 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Montagny 1er Cru

  This was just so-so, not something I liked very much. It had a nice enough nose, very flowery, almost perfumed, with some limes and lemon aromas and a bit fresh cream making up the rest of the bouquet. The palate echoed the nose with more creamy accents and sweet flowers, then a lemony midpalate with a fresh, minerally feel. It was alright, but just a touch of the sweet side for me, almost as if there was a bit of residual sugar. The finished was a bit awkward too, showing a bittersweet suggestion of fruit pips. All in all, a drinkable wine, but not great.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 1996 Dureuil-Janthial Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champs-Gain 91 Points

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

  My favourite of the whites, this was a very pleasing wine. It was just starting to take on slightly oxidative tones, which is a bit of a pity. I can imagine it being quite a bit better when fully fresh.The nose showed very Puligny notes of white fruit, lemons and touches of honey and spice, with some white meat aromas hovering in the background. The palate still carried much of the freshness of the vintage, with yummy flavours of lemons and green apples just showing a hint of oxidative browning at their edges. Even then, this was nicely enjoyable. Decent finish too, with a kiss of spice and mineral. Good, but it was high time to drink this bottle up.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2010 Derey Freres Marsannay Les Champs Perdrix 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Marsannay

  More backward than either the 2011 that we had in the domaine of the 2008 that we later drank in Paris, this was a decent wine, but rather too young to enjoy. The nose was expressive enough, showing strawberries and cream aromas sprinkled with some bramble and herbs. The palate was still very much marked by its structure though, with juicy acidity and firm tannins running a deep groove through fresh flavours of sweet cherries and strawberries with a slightly candied edge to them. The finish was still a bit tough, with some dried earth pulling away from the fruit on a bed of tannins. Not bad raw material, but this really needs time - one to try again in say 5-7 years.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2006 Huguenot Père & Fils Marsannay Les Champs Perdrix 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Marsannay

  Once again, I thought this was a pretty good wine. Given its similarities to the 2010 Derey Freres bottle that preceded it, I was quite sure that this was a Marsannay Champs Perdrix when blinded, but this wine seemed to be drinking rather better than its younger cousin. It had a pretty nice nose, with a floral tone to its dark cherry, earth and bramble aromas. The palate had a good amount of firm, fine tannins and bright acidity, but there was a nice purity to its simple but pleasing flavours of dark cherries and berries traced by a little brambly note, with some earth and mineral tones pulling into a slightly hard, slightly spicy finish. With all that austere, slightly rustic structure to it, this really could use another 4-5 years in the bottle, possibly lasting quite a long time beyond that. However, it was certainly decent enough to drink on the night, especially when paired with one or two of the meatier dishes. A decently good wine.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2010 Derey Freres Fixin 1er Cru Hervelets 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Fixin 1er Cru

  Really quite nice - this was quite a revelation after the more reticent, rather less pleasant 2010 Marsannay Champs Pedrix from the same house. The nose here was a lot more perfumed, with a nice melange of flowers and cherries, earth and spice. I liked the palate too, with its pure notes of black cherries and strawberries littered with more floral nuances. Like the Marsannay, this was also rather sweet, almost a bit candied, but it was so very nicely balanced that any overt sweetness was easily overlooked. Good finish too, with notes of peppery spice and earth perched on a stream of fresh acidity and fine tannins. Darn good for young Fixin I thought, and one that should get better over the next 6-7 years as well.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2007 Domaine Pierre Gelin Fixin 1er Cru Hervelets 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Fixin 1er Cru

  Not a bad wine, but this paled in comparison to the 2010 Derey Freres Hervelets that preceded it. I must say that this had a lovely nose, very 2007 in its pure, high-toned aromas, with melting scents of cherries and raspberries wed to a nice earthy, sous bois note, some herb and spice, some floral accents and a hint of menthol. Very pretty. The palate started out quite pleasantly, with a round, fleshy feel to its sweet flavours of cherries and berries, but it soon got less pleasing over the midpalate, with the fruit showing a touch sugary and very extracted, so that wine's structure of bright acidity and firm tannins seem a little rustic and pedestrian as they marched out from beneath the sweet fruit. All in all, not a bad wine - I especially liked the nose on this - but it came across as a bit clumsy. May get better in time, but I am not sure by how much.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2009 Domaine Taupenot-Merme Mazoyères-Chambertin 91 Points

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

  A decently good wine, but this was disappointing for what it is. We could only surmise that there was either something a little off with this particular bottle, or that the wines had shut down hard, as some 2009s have been threatening to do. The nose was alright, with a nice bit of black peppery spice, earth and bramble floating around a core of black cherries and berries, and a little waft of dried flower aromas. The palate was really grumpy, almost monolithic though, with deep but rather simple flavours of sweet black cherries with cola-ish edge wed to some earth, meat and pepper notes. There was certainly a good amount of depth here, and decent length in the finish too, but the wine seemed to lack the usual verve and elegance that I have come to associate with Taupenot-Merme's wine, with the acidity coming in rather low and flat at points. A strange, troubling bottle. I really need to try another one in a few years' time to gauge where this is going.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2009 Aurelien Verdet Nuits-Saint-Georges 86 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits-Saint-Georges

  

This was probably the wine I enjoyed least on the night. It was obviously very young from the nose, which showed lots of cool fruits, with sweet scents of black and blueberries srinkled with spice and bramble. The palate flattered to deceive at first, giving pretty enjoyable flavours of backberries and blueberries lined with juicy acidity on the attack, but all that melted away on the midpalate, where the wine became a tightly clenched package, full of hard, teeth-coating tannins, with the thinning layer of fruit barely able to cover the hard texture and structure towards the finish. Given the lack of depth here, I would never have guessed it as a 2009. A strange wine. It does need lots of time to soften up, but I am not sure there is enough fruit to last the long-haul

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 1976 M. Doudet-Naudin Savigny-lès-Beaune

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune

  This wine was way past it unfortunately - dead enough not to merit a rating. The nose actually gave us a bit of hope. Smelling quite dead on first pour, with balsamic vinegar, and soy sauce smells dominating at first, along with some wood and cardboard notes, it opened up quite surprisingly into fresher aromas of cherries and blackberries, with some cracked pepper and earth. The palate, unfortunately, was long gone. This was a tired wine if there every was one, with thin notes of dark cherries stretch over a none-too-pleasant core of soy sauce, alcohol and salty anchovy flavours, petering out in a touch of grumpy tannins.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 1969 Edouard Delaunay & Ses Fils Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens 88 Points

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

  An okay wine, but not a great Rugiens - this had obviously seen better years. The nose smelt really old, with a light core of blackcherries swathed in lots of tertiary notes - meat, earth, undergrowth, with a touch of soy sauce and balsamic tones. I feared for the life of the wine with that nose. Thankfully, the palate was a rather better, with rich, warm notes of sweet raspberries and cherries, even jammy strawberries on the midpalate, petering out into sweet dried fruit flavours in the finish. Pretty decent I thought, only rather marred by lowish acidity that made the wine seem a bit limp towards the end, and some rather harsh tannins where the fruit had faded but the structure had not mellowed in tandem. All in all, an decent wine, but certainly not great.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 1986 Patriarche Père et Fils Chambertin 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru

  Not a great Chambertin - blind, I would never have guessed this was a Grand Cru. The nose showed an over-aged balsamic edge to it, but it was still rather younger and fresher than a couple of the wines that preceded it, with fragrant notes of dried cherries and berries flecked with some sweet spice and dried flowers, and good deal of meat, earth and undergrowth notes. Not bad. It was the on palate that this was really disappointing though. The same tones of sweet berries and cherries were there, along with a good dose of earthy sous bois. However, this lacked the depth and presence of any Grand Cru, let alone a Chambertin, sliding away in a rather harsh end of drying, powedery tannins and a twang of metallic mineral. It may have been better a decade back. On the night, it was not a bad wine by any means, nor was it undrinkable, just not quite up to specs.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 1970 F. Hasenklever Morey-Saint-Denis 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey-Saint-Denis

  On a night where quite a few of the bigger names were disappointing, this wine was a revelation. A humble Morey village from a decent but unspectacular vintage, it was drinking beautiful and turned out to be one of the the favourites reds of the evening. It a nice, warmly attractvie nose, with plums and red dates tossed up with some earth and dried flower accents. The palate shared those same warm tones, with a chocolatey, toasted cocoa note layered over still sappy flavours of plums and dark cherries. This was surprisingly full in the mouth for such an old village, and it was still supported nicely by fine tannins and a good, fresh balance leading into a nicely integrated finish, with notes of mineral, spice and black tea drifting out alongside the fruit. Drinking well and really enjoyable - this was such a pleasant surprise after a few less than impressive wines.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 1991 Domaine Thierry Mortet Clos Vougeot 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru

  A pretty enjoyable wine. It was just about starting to go downhill I think, but we caught it at just the right time. The nose showed sweet scents of preserved cherries and raspberries sprinkled with a touch of spice. Simple, but pleasant. Much the same on the palate, with its nice flavours of dried berries and dark cherries, amybe even a touch of raisins, showing quite a bit of richness, but also a nice drop of fresh, juicy acidity. Towards the finish, the fruit gave way to earthier tones riding on a bed of frimish, slightly drying tannins. Certainly not the greatest bottle of Cos Vougeot, but all said, this was a pretty enjoyable wine.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 1970 Domaine Drouhin-Laroze Latricières-Chambertin 93 Points

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

  A nice way to end the evening - this very nice Latricières was our best red by some distance. It had beautiful nose which was pure Gevrey in its lovely aromas of dried red cherries and raspberries with touches of toasty earth and dried flowers at the sides. Great stuff. I really liked thhe palate too. This had a lovely deliciousness to it, with notes of spice and earth hovering around a core of sweet cherries and raspberry flavours. This was very mellow, with soft tannins and integrated acidity making it such a joy to drink. And wheil the acidity may have been on the lowish side, the wine somehow managed to maintain a nice balance and a lovely sense of purity to its red-fruited expressions. Great little finish too, with more of those clear cherry flavours seasoned with a touch of spice, earth and a twist of black tea. A lovely wine at a lovely place for drinking, and quite a wonderful pairing with Epoisses as well. Yummy.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No