1983 and 1985 Meursault and Chablis Blindtasting

Introduction by Ross Bott, tasting organizer
The 1983 and 1985 in Burgundy vintages were studies in contrast. 1983 was a very difficult year, with a promising spring, but severe hail storms came in June, causing vineyard and grape damage. The summer was very hot, and the reds out of the barrel looked quite promising. However, the fruit fell away quickly in the bottles, leaving many of the reds tannic and unbalanced. It was a very different story for the whites, many of which were outstanding, with ripe, forward fruit and great concentration. Some of the white grapes came in with a bit of botrytis, which gave the resultant wines a tropical edge. The Chablis were much richer than normal (a stark contrast to the lean, steely 1984s), and some were enormous, resembling more Meursaults or Montrachets than typical Chablis.

On the other hand, 1985 was a classic vintage, with a warm, uneventful summer and a relatively dry autumn allowing the grapes to be harvested at optimal ripeness. The Wine Spectator rates the vintage 95/100, tied for their highest White Burgundy vintage rating with 1996 and 2002 in the last 30 years, with the comment (in 2007): "Bold and powerful, yet elegant. Some remain youthful".

Tonight we'll have a chance to look at white Burgundies from these two vintages to see how they've evolved with a couple decades of age. We'll try four Chablis and four Meursaults from the 1983 and 1985 vintages, with a particular emphasis on the premier cru Genevrieres vineyard in Meursault. Here's the lineup:

1983 Chessimont Chablis Premier Cru "Vaillons" (12.5%)
1983 Chessimont Chablis Grand Cru "Vaudesir" (12.5%)
1983 Dauvissat-Camus "La Forest" (12.5%)
1983 Charles Jobard Meursault-Genevrieres (12.5%)
1983 Francois Jobard Meursault-Genevrieres (12.5%)


1985 Francois Jobard Meursault-Genevrieres (12.5%)
1985 Dauvissat-Camus "La Forest" (12.5%)
1985 Michelot Buisson Meursault-Charmes (12.5%)

A bouquet of gracefully aging white Burgs that proved very popular amongst our 16 tasters tonight. Many of us had a much harder time ranking these wines than usual. No real bad wines in the lot, but a few stood out to me as particularly youthful (the '83 Chessimont "Vaudesir") or nicely balanced and structured (both the '83 and '85 Francois Jobard Meursault-Genevrieres). For the group, two of the Chablis ranked at the top, with the Meursaults bunched in the middle and the other two Chablis last. A couple of the wines—the '83 Chessimont "Vaudesir" and the '85 Michelot Buisson Meursault-Charmes—proved polarizing, with equal numbers of first and last votes. My 2, 3 and 4 place wines were all Genevrieres, with 2 and 3 being from Francois Jobard, and my 1st place was our one Grand Cru, the "Vaudesir." It was also interesting to see that the '83s in this lineup didn't perform poorly at all compared to the '85s, despite the fact that critics have been fairly dismissive of '83 White Burgs. In Clive Coates '97 Cotes d'Or, for example, he rated '83 Whites at only 13.5 (on the 20 pt. scale), noting they were "past their best," while he rated '85 Whites overall at 17.5.

Thanks to Tom and Christine, we had an especially great bunch of cheese to finish with. For my money, both the Abbeye de Belloc and the Chaourse paired memorably with these mature Chablis and Meursaults.

• 1983 Dauvissat-Camus Chablis 1er Cru La Forest 87 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Group's #1 (my #7) – 37 pts; 4, 2, 6, 0 – golden yellow color; piercing, oxidized sherry and VA nose; big, full, tart, mature palate with sherry notes and hint of botrytis; medium finish 87+ pts.

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• 1983 Domaine de Chessimont Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Group's #2 (my #5) – 54 pts; 2, 3, 2, 0 – bright canary yellow color; nice, minerally, earthy nose with a hint of goat cheese; a little one-dimensional on the palate, with chalky, tart lemon fruit and creamy texture; medium-plus finish 90+ pts.

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• 1985 Domaine Michelot-Buisson Meursault 1er Cru Charmes 89 Points

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

  Group's #3 (my #6) – 61 pts; 2, 1, 1, 2 – bright canary yellow color; notions of white and dark chocolate on the nose, with hints of sherry and Marsala; tasty, solid, mature palate with mineral notes, a little light toward medium-plus finish

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• 1983 Domaine Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières 92 Points

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

  Group's #4 (my #2) – 64 pts; 1, 4, 0, 1 – darker golden yellow color; earthy, mineral, mature white Burg nose; nice, rich, balanced with some sweet citrus fruit, creamy lemon; medium-plus finish (There's a very informative profile of Dom. Francois Jobard in Remington Norman's The Great Domaines of Burgundy, at pp. 200-01. There Norman describes an '83 Genevrieres tasted in the mid-90s as "remarkable, honeyed, decadently overripe.")

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• 1985 Domaine Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières 91 Points

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

  Group's #5 (my #3) – 67 pts.; 0, 1, 3, 2 – bright canary yellow color; intriguing, pointed, mineral and sherry nose; tart lemon entry with big mineral, nutty and chalk mid-palate; tangy long finish 91+ points

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• 1983 Domaine Rémi Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières 91 Points

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

  Group's #6 (my #4) – 69 pts.; 1, 1, 1, 2 – golden color; intriguing pink grapefruit and kumquat nose; mature creamy, sweet lemon and kumquat palate with strong mineral tone and botrytis notes; juicy medium-plus finish

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• 1985 Dauvissat-Camus Chablis 1er Cru La Forest 86 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Group's #7 (my #8) – 73 pts.; 2, 2, 0, 4 – bright canary yellow color; vaguely sweet, somewhat sherried, oxidized nose; a little thinner in body than the others, but nice mature, earthy, faintly mushroomy palate; medium finish 86+ pts.

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• 1983 Domaine de Chessimont Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  Group's #8 (my #1) – 75 pts.; 2, 0, 0, 2 – bright canary yellow color; lovely, defined grapefruit, sweet lemon and mineral nose; sweet lemon fruit, with creamy texture and remarkably youthful tasting yet, also a hint of botrytis; medium-plus finish

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