Ruchottes-Chambertin Grand Cru Dinner

This was a really special dinner - one of the very rare times we could explore a single vineyard deeply, with each person contributing a bottle of Ruchottes-Chambertin from our own cellars. We ended up with quite a sizeable representation across several vintages.

Ruchottes-Chambertin has the highest and coolest terroir amongst the 9 Grand Crus of Gevrery, tucked away as it is just above Mazis-Chambertin, towards the North of the appellation. In the right hands, it can produce wines of both charm and substance, with easygoing deliciousness wed to an effortless sense of Gevrey's structure.

Tonight was a real eye-opener for all of us though. Given the quality of winemakers represented - mainly Rousseau, Roumier and Mugneret - we were expecting solid wines. It is fair to say though that we were uniformly blown away. This turned out to be one of the strongest line-ups in sheer quality that we have had in a long time. And not just quality too, but sheer deliciousness and enjoyment.

These were lovely wines to drink on the night - fresh and focused, clean and almost delicate for Gevrey, with silky tannins and fine acidity that lent them a rounded and gentle feel with a bit of age. Almost a more feminine expression of Gevrey I would say, with an emphasis on minerality and florals along with the appellation's red fruit. For all that though, they offered more precision than say a Charmes-Chambertin, and more strength and depth than say a regular Chapelle-Chambertin. In other words, they were everything a Burgundy lovers would like - not wines of outward power, but more of finesse, elegance and purity, with a quiet strength and persistence almost veiled behind their silky, floral charm.

• 1999 Pierre Gimonnet & Fils Champagne Premier Cru Extra Brut Oenophile 92 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

  A very pretty Champagne. This had a charming nose of white fruit, cream and flowers with just the tiniest hint of spice at the sides. The palate had a fine, polished feel to it, with a refined mousse and lovely crisp acidity wrapped around a nice tight flow of fleshy white fruit and a touch of cream, and juicy lemons, all this leading into lightly mineral finish. Plenty of depth, yet so focused and balanced. Lovely - a really stylish showing.

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• 1986 Michel Bonnefond Ruchottes-Chambertin 94 Points

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

  A Roumier wine by any other name - this was absolutely beautiful. It had a gorgeous nose of red fruit, flowers, spice and a hint of earth. Really perfumed. The palate had barely hint of the hardness one would expect from a 1986 - it was smooth, silky and absolutely seductive, with beautiful fresh flavours of red cherries laced with mineral and the lightest spice, and a hint of flowers around the edges. Fresh, focused and balanced, leading into a gently long finish with notes of orange peel and spice. Such a lovely mouthful. Fabulous and drinking absolutely on point.

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• 2010 Christophe Roumier Ruchottes-Chambertin 93 Points

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

  Very good. This had a typically Roumier nose, really expressive and in-your-face, with a blast of ripe cherries, earth and meat, and a bit of brambly herb at the back. The palate was quite open for a 2010 - the great big fruit and the acidity of the vintage were there, but not in a disjointed way. It had some of Roumier’s fleshy, ripe expression in the red fruited attack, and then lovely mouthful of spice with a bit of bramble and minerality moving into a long, long finish. Way too young of course, but this was readily impressive, with a subtle power and depth wed to a real focus and definition. 93+

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• 2010 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes 94 Points

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

  Really really fine - this was a gorgeous wine. It had a sweet nose of red fruit and perfumed florals backed-up with little savoury touches of meat and earth. The palate was still marked with a little robe of powdery tannins and bright acidity, but there was a lovely midpalate of pure, crystalline tones of red cherries and florals wrapped up in a perfume mouthful. Effortless and graceful, with a beautifully soft, long finish. Beautiful in its youth, this lacked some of the power and definition of the 2010 Roumier Ruchottes in the same flight, but it was so very seductively beautiful even in its youthfulness that I could not help but like this just a tad more. Super stuff.

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• 2010 Domaine Marchand-Grillot Ruchottes-Chambertin 92 Points

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

  Pretty good. This held-up decently well next to 2010 Roumier and Rousseau Ruchottes, which is saying quite a bit. It had a lovely nose of red cherries, earth and then light touches of meat, spice and earth. The palate showed very nicely for something so young, with velvety tannins and fresh acidity racing through fresh flavours of red cherries with touches of earth and a subtle meatiness, all in a beautifully integrated mouthful. Lovely long finish too. Not quite as refined as the other two big-named wines, but this was delicious nonetheless.

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• 2006 Christophe Roumier Ruchottes-Chambertin Flawed

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

  A little corked, but tragically so - this was all perfume and fruit scalped by just a bit of cardboard, and then a slight drying out on the palate.

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• 2006 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes 94 Points

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

  Another superb Rousseau Ruchottes. There seemed to be a touch of brett on the nose - strange for a Rousseau, but this was very nice otherwise. The slightly sweaty hints on the bouquet did blow off eventually though and then sweeter tones of red fruit, meat, earth and spice started drifting out with a bit of florals. The palate was lovely throughout though - fresh, pure, velvety, with the finest tannins wrapped around a beautiful core of red fruit touched with earth and mineral and spice, with a long, gentle drift of orange peel and sweet dried cherry peel at the end. Wow. What a wine. Drinking wonderfully now as well.

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• 2006 Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Ruchottes-Chambertin 95 Points

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

  Wow - this was seriously good. It takes something to best a Roumier AND a Rousseau on the same flight, but this probably just about did. The nose was the most subtle of the trio, but was lovely nonetheless, with gentle drifts of dark cherries, earth, spice and violets. Dark and seductive. The palate was drinking absolutely beautifully - soft and seductive, with velvety tannins and soft acidity flowing through a beautiful midpalate of gentle dark cherries, earth, meat and spice, all beautifully integrated into a wonderful, gentle finish. Yummy - this was drinking just beautifully now. What a wonderful wine though. Gentle and insistent - this had a quiet profoundity to it that really crept up on you.

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• 2001 Christophe Roumier Ruchottes-Chambertin 96 Points

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

  Wow. I was floored by this. Probably the wine of the night amidst a rather ridiculously good line-up; this was an absolutely wonderful bottle. It had a peacock’s tail of a nose, with spice and bramble and sweet red fruit and earth and flowers. Beautiful. It was the palate where this really shone though. Powerful and pure, with punchy flavours of red cherries, earth and spice wrapped into a perfect whole, and then a spine of fine tannins and integrated acidity pulling away into a powerful, insistent, effortless finish. Power and delicacy, depth and transperancy, all in a beautifully put together package. It was stunning. This had everything.

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• 2001 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes 95 Points

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

  Fourth time round with the 2001 Rousseau Ruchottes in a decade, and this was the best showing yet. 2001 Rousseau. Just lovely, lovely stuff, if perhaps a little half-step behind the monumental 2001 Roumier Ruchottes on the same flight. The nose here was a beguiling mix of dark red cherries, earth and spice laced with a nice floral kiss. Pretty. I loved the palate too - clean, clear and wonderfully pure, as would befit a Rousseau Grand Cru, but also with a nice sweet red cherry lilt alongside earth and spice notes trailing into a long gentle finish with a flush of red cherry fruit. Lovely stuff. If not for the Roumier, I would have been blown away by this.

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• 1996 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 97 Points

  France, Champagne

  Superlative. I have had this a couple of times before, but this was the first mangum - and wow, what a difference. An already amazing Champagne was elevated to greatness. Lovely, and so still showing plenty youthful in a quickly maturing frame. The nose certainly seemed the cusp of maturity, with toasty, brioche and biscuit notes, a touch of caramel, cream and then lovely sweet white fruit. Smelt just a bit like Speculos cookies I thought. Really alluring. The palate, like the nose, was starting to mature, and it was mindblowing good. Soft, velvety and palate enveloping, this just unfolded and layers of gentle but insistent depth - white fruit, toast, brioche, caramel, florals, lemons, earth, wonderful complexity, but all integrated into a perfect, harmonious whole. Superb persistence and depth, yet so effortless focused and defined and precise. Wow. The finish was breathtaking too - long, effortless, graceful, power in a silken robe. incredible on the night. This was right up there with the best Champagnes I have ever had.

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• 1999 Christophe Roumier Ruchottes-Chambertin 94 Points

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

  A super yummy wine. This had a seriously sexy nose right from the start - red cherries, toast, earth and spice, some sweet floral accents - absolutely lovely. The palate was wonderful too. Sweet and fleshy, yet pure and transparent at the same time, with beautifully deep flavours of red cherries seasoned with spice and violets. An absolutely lovely mouthful. Not quite as complex as one or two of the other Ruchottes bottlings on the night perhaps, but this was pure deliciousness - a wonderfully drinkable, almost sexy expression of the terroir. Yum! This was just about the right time to drink the wine I think - unusually for a 1999, I am not sure it has the chops to really age into the long term.

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• 1999 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes 94 Points

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

  This was marverlous. Far, far better than the competent but unspectacular bottle I had about 8 years ago. What a nose this had tonight - just layers of flowers and red fruit floating along gentle drifts of earth and spice. Wow. Pure seduction. The palate was beautiful too. Red cherries, red dates, orange peel and just a touch of earth, all this wrapped up in a beautifully integrated mouthful, with fine acidity and velvety tannins leading the way into a long, juicy finish lifted by flecks of citrus peel. Truly lovely stuff, drinking nicely now. This may not have the immediate in-your-face expressiveness of the 1999 Roumier Ruchottes served alongside, but it certainly was not far behind on that front; on the other hand, it more than made up for that with just a touch more seriousness and depth, which bodes well for further improvement in the bottle over the next few years. Super stuff.

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• 1978 Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Ruchottes-Chambertin Flawed

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

  Lightly corked unfortunately. The nose had a touch of cardboard and dusty swirling around otherwise pretty notes of dark cherries, earth and spice. The palate was still absolutely lovely though, with savoury kisses of earth and meat underpinning clean, fresh flavours of dark cherries and berries and just that bit of spice swirling into a beguilingly long, complex finish. Absolutely wonderful to drink even now, but I hesitate to score this because of that hint of TCA hanging around.

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• 2009 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes 93 Points

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

  Delicious, but this felt a bit different from the other Ruchottes in the line-up - somehow sweeter, bigger, more obvious; still yummy in its own way though. The nose was a fragrant melange of sweet red cherries, earth, spice, rubber and a drift of florals. Very attractive. Great palate too - surprisingly really fresh and lively for the vintage, with bright acidity and the finest tannins caressing lovely flavours of red cherries, mineral and spice. While somehow lacking the effortless authority that the best bottles of the night showed, this was nevertheless a lovely, tingly and energetic drop, with a beautiful spine of fine structure leading into a an effortlessly elegant finish - a demonstration of coolness of the terroir beautifully married to the fleshy voluptuousness of the vintage. Still in its adolescence at this stage, it should continue to age fairly well over the next 5-6 years and beyond.

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