Burgundy Corner

This tasting offered a great mix of vintages, appellations, and producers. I believe most of the wines were double or triple decanted as needed. Even with that several of the wines seemed quite closed and obviously hard to judge.

• 2007 Domaine Séguinot-Bordet Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Pale platinum yellow with thin legs. Delicate yet expressive on the nose which has a nice touch of sweetness and aromas of lemon oil, melon, and stones. Solid yet elegant on the palate with flavors of citrus and slate leading into great persistence on the finish. Great effort and value for this price point.

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• 2007 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bourgogne Blanc 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Blanc

  Pale silver gold with medium thin legs in the glass. The nose on this comes across as more tropical with aromas of pineapple and honey. The palate is medium bodied with smooth texture, good citrus fruit concentration, smoky undertones, and a solid finish. Rich yet balanced, another great value.

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• 2007 Domaine Jean Chartron Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Murgers des Dents de Chien Blanc 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru

  Light gold with medium thin legs. This opens up with a distinctive high-toned nose of mint and cinnamon in a more botanically driven style. The palate shows much of the same with concentrated and unique flavors of mellow coffee, mint, and crushed stones. Utterly unique with a tremendous earth and spice infused personality; may be too much if you are looking for pure fruit but I love this.

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• 2006 Louis Carillon Puligny-Montrachet 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet

  Pale gold with medium legs in the glass. Quite powerful on the nose with aromas of nuts, flowers, and underlying tropical fruit. The palate shows a wonderful glossy texture along with elegant fruit, pure stone extract, and a great lingering finish. I think the texture really sets this wine off and that combined with the gorgeous nose makes for a great packaged attack.

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• 2006 Domaine Robert-Denogent Pouilly-Fuissé Les Carrons 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Pouilly-Fuissé

  Pure gold color with medium legs. This is the most obviously oaked wine of the bunch as it is apparent on the nose. Overwhelming toasty vanilla aromas with underlying citrus and melon fruit. There is great fruit density and persistence on the palate with flavors of melon, tropical fruits, and coconut. This wine saw 50% new oak for 15 months; hopefully it integrates with time. 90+?

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• 2006 Thibault Liger-Belair Bourgogne Les Grands Chaillots 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Bourgogne

  Pale red core thinning at the rim with medium legs. Pure fruit explosion on the nose with cherry, flowers, and hints of herbs. This is more mineral driven on the palate with background red fruit and a chewy stalky toned finish.

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• 2005 Denis Pere & Fils Pernand-Vergelesses 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses

  Dark red core with medium thick legs in the glass. High toned but somewhat monotonous on the nose which shows black cherry. There is good red fruit and crushed stone flavors on the palate but it is somewhat impenetrable and structured with high acidity and a perfumed grippy finish. This wine needs time. 89+

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• 2005 Louis Jadot Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Clos de la Croix de Pierre 88 Points

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

  Pure red purple throughout with wonderful aromas of raspberry, flowers, and herbs. The palate is high toned with red fruit and good minerality. This seems significantly closed on the palate so give it time. 88+

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• 2005 Nicolas Potel Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Hauts Jarrons 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru

  Dark red core with a captivatingly deep and brooding nose of forest floor and blackberry. There are gripping red fruit flavors such as cherry on the palate along with a slightly stemmy tone and an attractive lingering finish. Very good.

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• 2005 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Aloxe-Corton Vieilles Vignes 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Aloxe-Corton

  Soft red purple throughout. The nose seems somewhat reticent with red fruit buried under mineral and earth overtones. The palate also comes across as somewhat closed but does show delicate herb tinged fruit. Structurally this has plenty of stuffing and balance between the acidity, tannins, and underlying fruit. Shows potential. 91+

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• 2005 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Beaune 1er Cru Coucherias Vieilles Vignes 92 Points

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

  Dark red to the rim with great expression of fruit on the nose including notes of black cherry and raspberry. The pure fruit expression continues on the palate, which offers red fruit flavors, violets, stone undertones, and herbs through the finish. This wine has a nice fruit/stone coupling along with ample acidity and tannins for great overall balance.

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• 2005 Nicolas Potel Pommard Les Vignots 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard

  Deep red purple core with a nice dark toned nose showing notes of licorice, baking spice, and boysenberry. This seems much more closed on the palate with ample acidity, some subtle red fruit, and ruby grapefruit on the finish. Could definitely use some time, hopefully this gains a little fruit density with age. 90+?

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• 2006 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Champans 93 Points

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

  Red purple core. Utterly unique and perfumed on the nose with aromas of raspberry, cherry, forest floor, and floral undertones. The palate shows massive structure with firm tannins and acidity; the most gripping and persistent wine so far. Like many of the wines the fruit is somewhat buried under the structure but it seems to show plenty of density with a complex mineral/earthen style. Put this one away for a long time. 93+

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• 2006 Domaine St. Martin Marsannay Champs Salomon 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Marsannay

  Dark pink red with a high-toned perfumed nose of soft cherry and flowers. This has attractive herb infused red fruit on the palate with decent acidity, tannins, and a short finish.

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• 2006 Domaine St. Martin Fixin 1er Cru Hervelets 92 Points

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

  Deep red purple throughout. The nose on this is quite expressive with notes of spices, earth, cherries, and wild berries. The palate offers great fresh fruit with flavors of wild cherry and crushed stones. Great structure with ample tannins and acidity to support the fruit.

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• 2005 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges Vieilles Vignes 92 Points

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

  Dark purple ruby core with a gorgeously complex bouquet of wet earth, plum, cherry, and a touch of funk. This wine is quite structured on the palate with firm tannins and acidity. The dark red fruit is present however, especially on the very attractive cassis laced finish. 92+

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• 2005 Domaine Rossignol Trapet Gevrey-Chambertin 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin

  Garnet purple throughout. Somewhat reticent on the nose but it does offer sweet red fruit and herbal tones. On the palate this is slightly more expressive with herb infused red cherry fruit. Overall this seems closed as it does not reveal much, the structure is there though so I expect good things in the future. 90+

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• 2006 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Clos de La Bussière 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru

  Soft red watermelon core. Wow what can I say about the nose? The first thing that comes to mind is extreme crystalline delicacy. So complex, yet so soft with aromas of spices, fresh cut flowers, crushed wild berries, cherries, and concrete. The palate as expected is more forceful but very pure and lifted with flavors of fresh sweet cherries, raspberry, and hints of oak on the generous finish. This is quite different from the others in that it is structured but the firm tannins are underlying and seem to be balanced more by the fresh acidity and fruit density. Drinking gorgeously but I can’t help but think this will improve with time as well. Kills you with delicacy. 94+

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• 2006 Mongeard-Mugneret Echezeaux Vieilles Vignes 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

  Deep translucent red purple throughout. Delicate and soft on the nose with notes of red berries, smoke, and watermelon. Very unique and explosive on the palate with flavors of sweet fresh berries, crushed stones, and a hint of oak. This comes across as quite structured and brutal with firm tannins and acidity, yielding a heady gripping finish. Obviously needs a lot of time but it was great to taste this alongside the Roumier as it offered great contrast. Kills you with brutality. 93+

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The whites really blew me away by how vastly different they were from one another, which was readily apparent, especially on the nose of each wine as you went down the line. This is the type of flight that should be used to convince a non-believer of the compelling uniqueness of Burgundy.

As for the reds, during the tasting I was not paying much attention to the vintages but now looking back at my notes it seems most of the closed wines came from 2005. I do not follow the characteristics of Burgundy vintages all that much but I assume that is to be expected. For me the 2006s were great, in fact my favorite wines of the tasting were from this vintage. Granted they are wines from top producers and terroirs. This brings up something I often hear when people discuss Burgundy: is it not better to buy on the quality of the terroir and grower over the quality of the vintage?

All in all a great tasting with no duds and some truly fantastic wines.