Mazoyères-Chambertin Dinner

Our Chicago Lieu-dit Cru got together for our first 2014 dinner, continuing our clockwise "ring cycle" visiting the Grand Cru vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin. Our last dinner focused on the wines of Charmes-Chambertin and tonight we focused on its twin vineyard, Mazoyères-Chambertin. We focused on four producers - 2 producing their wine exclusively from Mazoyères-Chambertin (Roumier Charmes-Chambertin and Dugat-Py Mazoyères-Chambertin), and 2 blending their Charmes-Chambertin from both vineyards both with a majority from Mazoyères-Chambertin (Dujac and Rousseau). Great night with lots of great bottles and no clearly flawed bottles. As our custom, all the Mazoyères-Chambertin flights were served single blind, so we knew the producer and vintages, just not which vintage was in each glass.

• 1995 Maison Leroy Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières 89 Points

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

  Tasted double blind alongside Leroy 99 Genevrieres. This started with lots of spice and intensely ripe, mature apple aromas. Equally mature flavors with very good density. Not as exciting as another bottle from last summer.

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• 1999 Maison Leroy Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières 93 Points

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

  Tasted double blind alongside Leroy 95 Perrieres. Ripe apple, good spice, lots of nutty character. Very long, elegant and powerful. Probably the 5th or 6th time I've had this wine over the past few years, and it's been sensational every time.

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• 1996 Jean-Pierre Mathieu Charmes-Chambertin 95 Points

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

  Served single blind in Roumier Charmes flight. Second time I've had Roumier Charmes-Chambertin in the past few years and once again this is a stunning bottle. Open ~90 minutes before serving, quickly double decanted when opened. Intense black fruit aromas with anise, cloves and perfumed notes. Slightly mature blackberry and black cherry flavors with great density and concentration. Very long, perfectly balanced, beautifully textured and integrated.

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• 2007 Christophe Roumier Charmes-Chambertin Aux Mazoyeres 93 Points

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

  Served single blind in Roumier Charmes flight. Strawberry and red cherry aromas with background spice. Same fruit flavors with hints of black cherry as well. Incredibly bright, forward and accessible with a weightlessness I find in the best bottles of Roumier. This was open but not decanted ~90 minutes before serving. Great already, but with the substance to evolve interestingly for decades.

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• 2001 Christophe Roumier Charmes-Chambertin 90 Points

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

  Tasted single blind in a Roumier Charmes flight. Open ~90 minutes before serving, quickly double decanted when opened. Started with a slightly reductive character that took 20-30 minutes in glass to dissipate and the wine to brighten. Meaty and earthy with lots of cooked mushroom, this wine had more classic "Gevrey" character than the others on this great flight, even if it was the least exciting. From the same case as a slightly corked bottle I opened a few weeks ago.

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• 2002 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin

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

  Served single blind in Rousseau flight. Open 2 hours before serving, quickly double decanted when opened. Very backward, somewhat dense and brooding with a very firm character and just modest fruit complexity. Perhaps a slightly flawed bottle, this wasn't at the level of previous bottles I've tasted.

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• 1996 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin 89 Points

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

  Tasted single blind in Rousseau vertical. Open two hours before serving, quickly double decanted when opened. Fleshy red and black fruit with good spice and earthiness. Not super complicated, but very pleasurable and interesting.

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• 1976 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin 93 Points

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

  Served single blind in Rousseau vertical, this bottle was opened 60 minutes before serving but not decanted. Great fill, great color, in fact it was tough to tell which of the 4 glasses was the '76 just from the color, even with the others 20+ years younger. Lots of advanced red fruit and meaty spice aromas. Lacy and elegant with very good textures and moderate weight. Thanks, Gary!

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• 1999 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin 91 Points

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

  Tasted single blind in Rousseau vertical. Open 2 hours before serving, but not decanted. Very charming overall with mostly black fruit and a subtle gamy, smoked meat character. At a great place right now.

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• 2002 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin 93 Points

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

  Tasted single blind in Dujac vertical. Open ~3 hours before serving. Explosive, spiced aromatics with lots of red fruit followed with some black cherry hints along with some chocolate. Great balance and everything in perfect proportion, with moderate weight and a medium-long finish.

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• 1997 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin 91 Points

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

  Tasted single blind in Dujac vertical flight. Open ~3 hours before serving. Very forward and nicely perfumed, unmistakably Dujac. Red and black fruit with very good balance. I was surprised this was the 1997, a great success for the vintage. Better tonight than when last tasted 2 years ago.

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• 2000 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin 90 Points

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

  Tasted single blind in Dujac vertical. Open ~3 hours before serving. Mature mostly black fruit with very good spice, slightly warm on finish. Nice now, I don't think this will get more interesting going forward.

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• 2004 Bernard Dugat-Py Mazoyères-Chambertin 86 Points

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

  Served single blind alongside the 2005. Obviously easy to tell which vintage was which, this had good black fruit density but lots of bitterness. This was only open ~45 minutes before serving because of my experience with 2004s. At first I regretted that decision, thinking it slightly backward, but the wine was less interesting after 30 minutes in glass than when first poured.

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• 2005 Bernard Dugat-Py Mazoyères-Chambertin 93 Points

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

  Open and decanted almost 4 hours before serving. Tasted single blind alongside the 2004 vintage. Obviously easy to tell which was which, this showed beautiful black fruit aromas and flavors, slightly brooding and very dense, structured and meaty. Really massive in every way, this wine was more interesting than fun today, with great potential in the future.

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