Antoine Jobard/Hudelot-Noëllat Dinner at La Paulée de Los Angeles

This was a 2 domain dinner featuring the wines of Antoine Jobard and Charles van Canneyt. The venue was Kato, a very well regarded Taiwanese tasting menu restaurant, and the food was delicious, if not always perfectly matched with the wines.

• 2014 Delamotte Champagne Blanc de Blancs Millésimé

  France, Champagne

  Light weight, crisp, puckery citrus, and a strong ginger note. Only moderate intensity.

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• 2021 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Charmes

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

  Medium weight. Succulent tart citrus and yellow fruit. Tangy acidity and a bit of herb. Wonderful glycerine feel without any obvious wood, then a snappy finish. After tasting the other 2 vintages, one can appreciate a bit less intensity here, but this is no weak sister. Verging on outstanding, delicate for Meursault.

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• 2011 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Charmes

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

  I’m not smelling well today due to the lingering effects of a cold, but others found an off note in the nose. Medium weight, rounder feel than the ‘21-quite textural. Terrific acidity, palate penetration, and sense of soil. The finish is a bit harsh. Still, another excellent wine and a real success for the year.

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• 1993 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Charmes

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

  Deeper yellow with an orange tinge but very healthy. Wow, one hardly expects the freshness and vibrancy that this shows in the mouth. Long and layered yet not overdone and extremely elegant. Like all of these Charmes, hard to detect a trace of oak, and even at 30+ years of age, none of the nuttiness that Meursaults can have. Poised mellow roundness but it still has great energy and a lively lemony finish. It also grew beautifully in the glass over 90 minutes. The oldest wine I will taste at this year’s Paulée and really a fantastic bottle. It makes me appreciate the wines of the prior generation even, calling to mind how lean and tart they could be early on.

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• 2019 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières

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

  All 3 Genevrières were deeper in color than the Charmes. First wine to show oak aromas. Concentrated, rich, lovely sweetness of fruit. Woody base with a tropical note upfront, but then excellent back end acidity and citrus. This starts out feeling a little heavy compared to the other wines, but it is rescued by fine acidity for such a ripe vintage, and it gains focus with air. Not my favorite of the bunch, but balanced and impressive in a bigger style than seems typical for the domain.

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• 2015 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières

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

  Noticeably cooler, more herbal aromas with some wood mixed in. Lighter, not as concentrated as the ‘19. Citrus and orchard fruit, lots of soil, and the lowest perceptible acidity of the 6 wines shown. At least very good, but somewhat blurry and a step or 2 down in palate impact and presence. Like some of the other Jobard’s, it came on nicely with air and had more satisfying shape and structure by the last sip.

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• 2009 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières

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

  Deeply colored. Low pitched bitter citrus scents. Medium weight, sappy. Beautiful mix of complex fruit (pear and citrus), soil, and discrete oak. Crisper with more tart acidity than the ‘15, and overall a much more successful warm year wine. Outstanding, and it must be at or close to peak. The finish is touched by a little drying astringency from the wood.

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• 2019 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Magnum. Deep ruby. Large scaled and deeply concentrated. Brambly mix of dark red and blue fruit that slowly cracks open with time. Lots of green and soil in the middle. Massive but ripe tannins, clinging finish. Highly structured, old fashioned Burgundy that does not make any concessions yo early approachability. This is packed but forget about it for another 25 years. As with all of these Malconsorts, I would have wagered on a goodly percentage of whole cluster, and I would have been wrong as they are completely destemmed. Charles stated that he has experimented with this but doesn’t like the decreased acidity that stem inclusion brings.

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• 2016 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Magnum. Light ruby. Forward fragrance of menthol more than fruit. Much more elegant weight and feel than the huge 2019. Gentle sweetness of fruit balanced by soil, herb, and substantial tangy acidity. Less overtly tannic, but there is still a lot of buried structure that will take 15+ years to resolve. Already complex and delicious-gorgeous wine.

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• 2011 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Magnum. Similar in color to the 2016. Less piercing green aromas. Medium weight, probably the most supple and fluid of the 3 vintages. Briary black fruit with some green elements, chalky and saline. Earthy, chocolatey finish. This doesn’t clobber you with its power like the 2019, but the more you sip, the more you appreciate its sneaky length and surprising clout. Powdery tannins frame the wine and again should give decades of life.

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• 2017 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Romanée St. Vivant

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

  Ruby. As a group, the RSV’s did not match the color saturation of the 3 Malconsorts. Open green aromas. Lovely elegant weight, alluring mix of soil and dark fruit, excellent acidity, cocoa, and a long fine tannic finish. This gained in fragrance while continuing to exhibit a strong earthy core. As much of a heart throb as it is now, this really deserves another 10+ years in bottle to show its best. Wonderful Grand Cru primarily about finesse.

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• 2015 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Romanée St. Vivant

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

  Slightly deeper ruby. Ripe, powerful nose. More weight and sap than the 2017. Pungent citrus, blue and black fruit, less pyrazine imprint than the younger wine, fine grained tannins, long finish. This is clearly the biggest and most powerful but not necessarily the finest of this trio. Compared to a tasting in 2018, it was less open and floral, and it continued to shut down in the glass, with drying tannins coming to the fore. At least excellent potential with a lot more time needed. It will never be as seductive as some other vintages, though.

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• 2013 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Romanée St. Vivant

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

  Deepest tint of the three wines in the flight. Lovely combination of herb and red fruit. Excellent cranberry acidity, chock full of soil, round, earthy tannins. The most open of the trio. Succulent, tart, plenty in reserve for short to intermediate term drinking. A highly successful 2013.

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• 1996 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Romanée St. Vivant

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

  This was not part of the official lineup but purchased from the wine list and poured by a generous attendee. The wine was made by Charles van Canneyt’s grandfather. Vigorous ruby with little fading. Burgundian nose of cranberry and soil. Some green perfume joins as it opens. Medium weight, earthy core strict black fruit, and structurally framed more by high acidity than tannin. Old school, very dry. This could still go on for a long time given its backbone, but this seems like a 1996 that may always be cranky and never be fleshy or as seductive as the younger examples we tried.

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I started drinking Meursault from François Jobard, Antoine’s father, over 40 years ago, and I’ve wondered whether this generation’s wines matched up to the older regime. On the basis of this sample, I would say that any doubts were erased. The wines were pure, subtle for the appelation, and above all imbued with a beautiful acid backbone. The staying power and ability of the wines from cooler to add texture over time were impressive, while the 3 warm vintage wines that were shown had enough zest and lift to maintain their shape without seeming overly heavy.

My experience with H-N Malconsorts had been limited to examples from before Charles van Canneyt started to make the wines in 2008. The 3 contemporary wines he showed were beasts-full of material, incipient complexity, and structure, not hard but in definite need of substantial bottle aging. They were bigger and more strapping than the Grand Cru wines, which in comparison were exemplars of finesse and seduction. While the lacy beauty of the Romanée St. Vivant has been apparent during early tastings, trying some slightly older ones gave me more of an apprecation for their hidden structure and aging potential. Two very different expressions of Burgundian Pinot Noir from the same producer.