Domaine Dujac's 2007 red Burgundies

After my very favorable experience tasting some of the 2007's from Lucien Le Moine, I was very eager to explore some of other 2007. I did a quick search of some of the local groups/retailers who do tastings and found this event with the wines of the much respected Domaine Dujac at Liner and Elsen. Turns out I discovered it just hours before the event, and immediately signed up. While I arrived to a fairly empty house, though some had glasses, I was greeted to a, "Can I... help you?" Uhhh... "yeah, I signed up this morning." Seems this is a bit of an old boys club here, so my face was a surprise, as it seemed most knew each other. Anyway, with the négociant Puligny-Montrachet in hand, I found my seat and proceeded through the first flight... I think the nature of the group helped me really concentrate on the wines and not the social aspect, and I much enjoyed that.

• 2007 Dujac Fils et Père Puligny-Montrachet 86 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet

  Fairly light aromas, with hints of light oak and some spice. Soft mid-palate, showing quite a bit of saline solution. Some good spice carries deep into the finish with some orange rind. There is some heat in the end that's a bit off putting.

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• 2007 Dujac Fils et Père Morey-Saint-Denis 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey-Saint-Denis

  Soft floral notes on the nose, with just a light tinge of some oak funk along with gravel. Pretty, but there's also something awkward about it. The palate shows some bright, generic Pinot fruits, lightly green in nature, with soft texture and acid building. Nice acidic grip on the finish with gravely tannins. Not the smoothest effort, but pleasing structured elements with acidic, under ripe raspberries. Further sips show some alcohol coming through on the finish.

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• 2007 Dujac Fils et Père Gevrey-Chambertin 87 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin

  More subdued nose than the previous wines, showing some barrel rasp and light gritty cranberry. Overall though the nose is quite soft. Medium red fruit presents itself on the palate (cherry and strawberry), with some greenish tannins building. Finish shows larger scale, deeper cherry and strawberry, and more acid and tannins building. Overall though the finish is a little off balanced.

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• 2007 Dujac Fils et Père Chambolle-Musigny 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny

  Also tight on the nose, showing some burnt rope, a water well made of stone, and only the slightest semblance of red fruits. On the palate, some briar, nice candied fruit (red vines), building tannins, and some pleasing barrel funk. Overall, pleasing and soft on the palate. Really great, pure red fruits (some of which are candied) carry into the finish, but mainly it's just pure, barely ripe real raspberries. Pleasing dryness whereas some of the others left a slightly bitter taste. Certainly the best of the négociant wines.

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• 2007 Domaine Dujac Chambolle-Musigny 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny

  The darkest wine of the flight. Smells of a model airplane, freshly glued and painted. Along with that, I get a strong aroma of pulling a large piece off of some red cabbage and then smelling the inside. Mainly, though, this has quite a bit of the mechanical plastic bits, but I do like it. Some funky barrel fruit on the palate, a bit larger in mouth than the négociant Chambolle-Musigny, with bigger tannins building. Quite a bit greener and more harsh on the palate as well. Quite tannic into the finish. This shows quite a bit more structure than the négociant version, but not as tasty today. A little reduced on the finish, and shows some heat with consecutive sips. Really, not much descript on the finish, as it's primarily just the structure showing through. This may wind up in a better place than the Dujac & Fils Chambolle-Musigny, but I'm not convinced; and certainly for drinking today, I'd go with the négociant wine.

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• 2007 Domaine Dujac Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Gruenchers 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Also quite dark. Shows some funk with noticeable larger structure than the village wines, but there's also more pretty fruit here. Very soft and pretty on the palate, showing pretty red fruits, quite a bit of floral character, some building berry, big structure, but also some green stems seem to be here. Good balance on the finish, which leaves the tongue quite soft, expressing lots of herbal flavors. This is a very big wine in structure, with big flavors, but they need to evolve and integrate a bit to be more delineated. I'd love to try this in 10 years.

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Overall I was surprised by the gritty nature of all of these Village, and the one Premier Cru, wines. None of these were soft, nor anything near what I would call elegant. Almost all of them showed a bit of alcohol, which surprised me. The structural elements were there, but none of the wines were as approachable as some of the other '07s I've had. A discussion arose after the flight as to people's favorites, but overall everyone seemed a bit disappointed, I'd say. Certainly for the price points, I'd say all of these are major passes as well. Sure, they will resolve with additional time, but I'm not convinced any of them will be worth a buy at $60-70, or $130 for the Gruenchers.

The meat of the program... I was much excited before signing up due to some very favorable notes I had read from both Stephen Tanzer and John Gilman, the two critics I respect most in Burgundy. However, after the previous flight, I had questions about how much I'd enjoy these...

• 2007 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin 90 Points

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

  The first thing I noticed here was a surprising slight bit of heat coming through. This expresses itself as some rubber cement and rubber band components. There's also cranberry juice showing, but it's almost like fake juice on ice with some vodka added. You know, kind of like when you go to the club and order a drink for the misses. Smells like that. It is still overall soft on the nose, but still not very pretty compared to most Charmes-Chamertin's I'm used to. It is better on the palate, but still a bigger wine than what I'd expect from this vineyard. Some pretty red fruits and mild tannins build on the grippy palate. Nice red fruits carry into the finish, but it's dominated by its structural elements today. Fairly good length on the finish, but honestly nothing very exciting here at current. I can see this resolving with 10+ years. 90+

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• 2007 Domaine Dujac Echezeaux 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

  Some green notes on the nose, with a light bit of cottage cheese, and some barrel noise. Kind of strange nose overall. But wow... once the palate comes on, finally a Grand Cru worth tasting. There's much more up front, bright fruit here, with fairly fantastic colorful red fruits, deeper strawberries, with a nice vinous touch, some green in nature, but delicious. Nice texture. The finish carries through with some Christmas spices, nice harmonious red fruits, some barrel funk, ferns, and nice length. Still a bit hard, texturally, throughout, but the flavors here are quite good.

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• 2007 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru

  The lightest nose of the Grand Crus so far, but does have some complexities here... I get some light aromas of a bowl of strawberries with a few drops of lighter fluid on top. Not too distracting is this lighter fluid, as it's just on top of the berries. Overall it's actually quite pleasing, as more aeration in the glass shows more raspberry and cranberry pie building. Fantastic mouth feel... really, absolutely beautiful feeling, with an explosion of pure, real fruit extract. I love it. Very nice texture. This is a bit grittier on the finish than the palate would lead on, with big tannins that linger on the finish. It still has the best mid-palate of the bunch, even if the finish looses me a bit. My favorite wine of the night.

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• 2007 Domaine Dujac Clos Saint-Denis 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru

  Softer than the previous wines; a bit more feminine in nature, with some light green fruit notes, but overall is quite closed. On the palate, this feels like I'm searching for fruit in a rabbit hole before finally seeing it deep down... there's definitely some soily components here, with fruit berried deep in the hole; more of a background function, is the fruit. There's some green briar notes on the palate, which opened up to be quite a bit softer with some additional air. Great structure on the finish, with good soft, but heavy tannins building into the finish, with nice cranberry acidity. Not very open overall, though quite soft in texture... 91+

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• 2007 Domaine Dujac Bonnes Mares 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

  Tightest nose of the Grand Crus initially... after an hour it finally began expressing a bit more, brighter red fruits, but still fairly monolithic and tight. Brighter, softer red fruits are present on the nose, with some more rubber band. The softest palate of the day, almost sensual in nature. Still some grippy tannins on the palate, though. Most of the palate elements carry into the finish, which is very soft and pretty, but still has this massive structure. Probably the second best wine of the bunch, but with 20 years would likely be the best.

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Overall this is not what I expected. These wines are all much larger in scale than the other 2007s I've had, and I think all would benefit from 10 years in the cellar. Particularly the Lucien Le Moine 2007s were tasting FAR better last weekend than these were today. While the scores of the Grand Crus in particular are in line with the Lucien Le Moine wines, the Dujac scores are more based on potential. For early drinking, and as protectors for my 2005s, I'd much rather have the Lucien Le Moine's in the cellar than the Dujac. These Dujac wines have some potential, but they do not currently have the silky beauty of Lucien Le Moine.

A surprising conversation broke out after this flight with the group, as many people seemed to be putting down the 2007 vintage as a whole. While I haven't had too many, the ones I have had, and everything I've been reading, implies that this is quite a decent vintage, with approachable young wines. Gilman, Tanzer, and Meadows all seem to find quite a bit to like here. Several times people would comment how a wine was a bit hot, or reduced, or light, and the owner would comment on how that's just a factor of the 2007 vintage. I don't know... but that's not what I'm garnering from what I'm tasting and reading. I was most excited about this tasting because I'm reading that 2007 is a very transparent vintage; that is, the terroir shows through more than many previous vintages (assuming the wine making is proper), and that while these wines may be more approachable while young, they are still fairly traditional in nature. Covering up what the land gave you with oak and extract is not leading to good wines in '07, but the better producers seem to know better and produce what the vintage gave them, which hopefully would be elegant, traditional wines. There was quite a bit of disinterest mentioned with many of these wines, and the vintage as a whole. While I would agree the wines were overall a let downs for me, compared to my understanding of the vintage and the scores in the press, I think that speaks more of these particular wines than the vintage as a whole. And that's not to say these are bad wines... they are very good, young Burgundies. But they are young. They just aren't the open for business 2007s that I expected. These are all fairly large wines, and I don't feel they are out of balance... they are just tighter than I expected. The texture is what bothers me most about the wines, and perhaps that's just a Dujac trait... they simply do not have that sexy, silky texture that so entices me about Burgundy.