Burgundy 2002 tasting hosted by Bibendum. Notes by Carl McCarthy
Where: Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, London
When: 13 January 2004, 5-8 p.m.
Admission was £25


Introduction: Bibendum is a big London wine merchant. This tasting was done in conjunction with the sale of their 2002 Burgundy collection. Their sales brochure ishere .

I have never tasted barrel samples. Furthermore, I have drunk little burgundy in my life. My point of reference is Bordeaux for red and German Riesling for white. Obviously, neither is very similar to burgundy. My notes should be read with that in mind

To guide me, I relied on Jancis Robinson’s tips on tasting young Burgundy. Clearly they apply more to reds than white. The key snippets from her guide are as follows:

• “such embryonic liquids with their high levels of acidity and tannin rarely caress the palate - they are more likely to assault it. You are strongly advised to spit everything out - should you ever be tempted to drink a wine, then buy it!”
  
• “Do take special note of how the first few wines strike you because once you have become accustomed to that particular vintage's dominant character (particularly high or low acidity, for example) it will be very difficult to assess the vintage character.”
  
• “wear dark clothes”
  
• “Aroma: At this stage one is just looking for primary fruit aromas and perhaps some secondary aromas as a result of fermentation… aromas I might expect would mainly be in the red and black fruit spectrum with perhaps sometimes some spice, something autumnal (leaves, moss, occasionally mushroom). If there is leafiness this suggests the fruit may not have ripened fully. If there are coffee flavours the wine may have evolved too fast.”
  
• “Palate: Here you are looking for the intensity of fruit but also the balance of the relative ingredients. It is natural to experience as excess of acidity and, especially, tannin at this early stage, before the various fruit components have knit together to form more complex and more significant elements to distract from the youthful acidity and replace the tannins which will eventually be precipitated out. The key question is really whether there are enough pleasant fruit components to see the wine through to an attractive middle age while the tannins disappear.”
  
• “Tannins: You should try to assess the tannin quality and point at which it makes its impact. Tannins can be anything from green through rasping to sandy and grainy and finally almost gentle and ripe. They can dominate the tasting experience from the moment you take the wine in your mouth (bad) or they can just gently insinuate themselves towards the end of the tasting experience (good). If the wine is really painful to taste because of its high tannin level and has a very deep colour, it has probably been over-extracted - never a positive attribute but really horrid with a grape as delicate as Pinot Noir.”

Speaking of Jancis Robinson, I saw her tasting wines here at the Hubert De Montille table.

Now for the notes:
(*) Indicates wines that I particularly liked, either in relation to their price or just generally. (-) are wines I did not like. Nearly all the unmarked wines are excellent – a “*” probably reflects my personal taste more than anything.

After tasting forty wines, my palate was tired. Therefore I skipped about a dozen wines, mostly big Grand Cru reds. Wine of the Night for me was Bonnes Mares Grand Cru by Drouhin-Laroze.

Prices are per case “In-Bond” (before VAT and customs duties). Multiply by 1.85 to get U.S. dollar price.

PART I - WHITES

Domain Des Forges

St Somain Clos sous le Château « Monopole »(£117)
Pale onion color. Lemon-tangerine notes. Pebbles. Full finish. A nice refreshing summer wine. Nice.

Domaine Laroche

(*)Chablis 1er Cru Vaudevey (£125)
Onion color. Bright nose of green pear, grapefruit. Palate of grapefruit, wet stones. Refreshing but with some backbone.

Chablis 1er Cru Les Fourchaumes VV (£155)
Onion skin color. More body than its colleague. Light vanilla nose. A steeliness/slight bitterness on the finish.

Jean-Paul et Benoit Droin

Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons (£125)
Mouth of tangerines/grapefruits and pear. High acidity. Good finish.

Chablis 1er Cru Vosgros (£125)
Nose has some of the notes of a Mosel Kabinett Trocken( !), grapefruit and peaches. Sharp acidity, with wet stones and minerals. Some florals. Slightly grainy finish.

Chablis Grand Cru Valmur (£235)
Onion skin color. Good body. Not much nose showing. Palate of dry oak, vanilla, butter, slate. Seems muted relative to the body – it could be a lot bigger. Perhaps sign of future greatness?

Domaine Thierry Matrot

Mersault (£189)
Nose of clarified butter. Acidic on the palate, with lychees and white fruits. Not all that much there – a summer wine.

Mersault 1er Cru Blagny (£250)
Muted nose. White fruit, lychees on palate. Absolutely no oak detected. Refreshing and balanced. Fresh and lively, but generally insubstantial.

Domaine Michel Colin-Deleger

Puligny Montrachet (£200)
Light golden color. Light-medium body. Creamy nose. Steely palate.

Domaine Jean-Marc Boillot

(-)Bourgogne Blanc (£99)
Bleh! Powerful vanilla-oak nose. Some simple citrus on the palate, but the vanilla oakiness overpowers all. Typical overoaked new world chardonnay but in a French bottle.

Santenay (£250)
A mouth of tart pears and fuzzy peach skins. Some butteriness to balance fruit. Light but nice.

(*)Puligny Montrachet (£405)
The best drinking Puligny Montrachet villages of night. Creamy nose, with hints of green pears, apricot, citrus. Rich creamy palate of vanilla-oak, bright textured fruit.

Domaine Marc Colin

(*)St. Aubin 1er Cru Le Charmois (£165)
A nose of cream, citrus and wet stones. Light oakiness on palate, with white fruits. Acidic frame. I like it. The St. Aubin appellation is not a household name. Probably drink now.

Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru La Garenne (£308)
Creamy-stony nose with a hint of vanilla. Full in the mouth – fruit and floral notes. Good finish.

Domaine Bernard Morey

St. Aubin 1er Cru Le En Remilly (£180)
Nose of lychees, oak and gunflint – interesting. Some floral notes too. Fairly full in the mouth, white fruits and oak. A lot of acidity. Slightly bitter aftertaste. A lot going on, but seems slightly rough.

Domaine Michel Morey-Coffinet

Chassagne Montrachet (£185)
Nose mostly closed. Rich hazelnut toast on the palate, decent finish.

Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets (£275)
Rich nose of hazelnuts, butter. Nutty flavors, hint of vanilla. Full finish.

Domaine Tollot-Beaut

(Did not taste any of their wines on offer.)

Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard

Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru La Boudriotte (£275)
Nose of buttered toast. Nice complex palate of pears, vanilla, chestnut.

Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru La Maltroie (£275)
More acidic, fruitier, less oaky version of the La Boudriotte. Very nice.

PART 2 – REDS

Domaine Marc Colin

(*)Santenay Rouge (£99)
Medium red color. Burst of blackberries and sweet cranberries on the nose. Acidic – dances on tongue. Darker, more complex fruits at finish. Hint of bitterness at end, a touch of tannins. A lot there but probably needs two years to come together. Gets a star for value.

Domaine Hubert De Montille

(*)Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds (£440)
Color light-medium red. Nose of red berries and darker fruits – blueberries and blackberries(?). Also some richer aromas. The mouthfeel is silky and the palate sophisticated. There are significant tannins on the finish but they are oh-so smooth.

Domaine Jean Chauvenet

Nuits St Georges (£150)
Color medium-dark red. Red fruits and oak on the nose. Palate: big red gravy. Creamy fruitiness. Tannins creep in at end. All around pleasant. Probably a young drinker judging by its current charm.

(*)Nuits St Georges 1er Cru les Damodes (£250)
Color medium-dark red. Complex red fruits, darker aromas on nose. Drier than the Nuits St Georges villages, but even more fruit. Complex and silky palate. A lot of smooth tannins creep up at the finish. Long- term wine.

Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Rue de Chaux (£250)
Color medium-dark red. Big blackberry nose. Oakier, with rougher, more forward tannins than the les Damodes. Rustic.

Ghislaine Barthod
All wines poured by Ms. Barthod herself.

(-)Bourgogne Rouge (£85)
Light garnet color, thin body. Nice big nose. Dances on the palate like fizzy pop rocks. Some cherry candy flavor. Reminded me of a German spätburgunder, which is probably not a compliment.

Chambole Musigny (£220)
Light red color. Some body, legs obvious. Palate of creamy red fruits, tannic bite at the end.

Chambole Musigny 1er Cru Aux Beaux Bruns (£340)
Light red color. Pretty floral nose. Tannins, although not rough, dominate quickly. But there is a lot of acid and fruit to provide balance. A lot of depth despite its light appearance.

Drouhin-Laroze

Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru (£225)
Light-medium red. Nose of raspberries, light oaky notes. Palate of berries, red pomegranate! Fruity and charming. Lighter tannins, medium finish.

(*)Latricieres Chambertin Grand Cru (£395)
Medium-dark red. Pretty, open nose. Thick layers of fruit on the palate. Blackberry, cranberry, light oak. A lot of acid. Tannic bite on the finish.

(*)Chapelle Chambertin Grand Cru (£410)
Medium-dark red. Full nose, oakier than the Latricieres. Complex red fruits, vanilla, treebark. Tannic bite on the long finish.

(**)Bonnes Mares Grand Cru (£465)
Dark red. Surprisingly dense for a burgundy but does not seem at all over-extracted. Nose somewhat closed. Most elegant, rich palate. Voluptuous is what Bibendum sales brochure says – it’s exactly the right word. Or seductive. Layers of berries, spice, clove. Smooth tannins slide in at the end and dominate the finish.

Nicolas Potel
Wines poured by Potel himself.

Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Combe aux Moins (£240)
“From vines high on the slope” and “racked yesterday” said Potel.
Silky on the front, with big berries. Rough tannins at the back.

(*)Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru (£400)
Blackberries and red candy cinnamon on nose. Creamy, raspberry ice-cream palate (!), notes of dried herbs and spices. Good acidity, smooth tannins at the back.

Domaine David Duband

Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers (£240)
Deep ruby color. Acidic bite. Fruity, oaky, less complex. Medium tannins on finish.

Echezeaux Grand Cru (£475)
Dark red. Complex fruits on the nose, layers of red fruit on the palate with notes of vanilla, rich earth. Very elegant. Smooth tannins dominate the back end. Tasted a second time at end of night: very nice.

Domaine Emmanuel Rouget

Nuits St Georges (£300)
Medium red color. Big cherry-blackberry nose. Good acid and fruit on the palate. Balanced and sophisticated. Medium tannins creep in at end. Everything with this wine is subtle. Probably best Nuits St Georges village wine of night.

Vosnee Romanee (£350)
Medium red color. Full red nose with some meatier scents. Medley of berries and floral notes, with an earthy undertone. Drinks very nicely now, despite very tannic finish.

Echeazeaux Grand Cru (£850)
Drank with the Duband Echezeaux (above). Medium-dark red. Nose somewhat closed for such a prestigious wine; hints of berries, fruit, cinnamon, earth. Rich mouthfeel. Subtle layers of rich fruit, vanilla, cloves. Very tannic yet so smooth on the palate. The nicest Echeazeaux of night, but not quite worth the price IMHO.

Domaine Vincent Girardin

(unfortunately did not try any of his wines)

Domaine Rene Engel

Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru (£475)
Medium-dark red. Complex palate, but flavors somewhat muted. Acidic bite, bitter tannins toward middle and end – a bit of coffee flavor. I tried to get an allocation of this wine from Berry Bros for £410, but now I am somewhat glad they passed me over.

Domaine Jean Grivot

(*)Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru (£475)
Medium-dark red. Creamy raspberry ice-cream palate, similar to what I picked up in the Potel Charmes Chambertin. Powerful secondary flavors – cloves, birch beer(?). Very tannic at end, but without the coffee-bitterness of the Engel Clos de Vougeot.

Cbmac, you are truly supplying this forum with excellent wine information since joining. Really a credit to the board. Thank you for the excellent info and keep them coming.

Do I smell a POTW? I think so.

jb

cbmac,

Sounds like a fantastic tasting! Thanks for the terrific notes.

Just curious, did you make any purchase decisions based upon what you tried?

On a separate note, I may be in London the weekend of Feb 27/29. Maybe we can crack a couple bottles again, if you're interested and available. I'll send you a PM or an email once my sked becomes clearer.

Cheers,

Otis

Cbmac - Thank you, thank you for posting on these. It's so hard to get TNs on burgs and I'm a buyer of 02s to shore up a weak point in the cellar.

This is great information - thank you cbmac.

1. Otis, I'll be around then. Just email me.

2. I have not tried many burgundies; maybe a dozen whites and a dozen reds, before this. I had an excellent 1996 Chassagne Montrachet at a business meeting, but don't remember what it was. Basically, I can't judge whether these wines taste like other vintages because I am still a burgundy novice!

3. So far I have bought the following

Domaine Chandon de Brailles, Corton Clos du Roi, Grand Cru
Domain Yves Boyer-Martenot, Mersault, Les Perrieres, 1er Cru

I bought them blind because I got them at a good discount as part of an allocation to regular customers of Berry Bros. However, I already blew my budget!

If I could afford it, I would buy all the wines I put a * next to on my tasting list.

Another huge thanks from me as well.

PS: For a more experienced burgundy drinker's notes of the same wines, lookhere .

As stated above, I am an amateur, particularly when it comes to tasting Burgundy barrel samples. So in order to learn more about tasting, and about my own palate, I compared my 2002 Burgundy notes with Jancis Robinson’s which were just published.

Generally, I didn’t do that badly. Half of my favourites seemed to be in her favourites – the notes on these five are below. I was interested to see differences in the descriptors. For example, in the Valmur, what I described as “dry oak” (as opposed to vanilla oak) she called “young oak.” We both noted a tremendous amount of fruit in the Drouhin-Laroze Latricieres Chambertin Grand Cru. Generally, I think I “got” a lot of these. Also, more or less the other thirty odd wines that were relatively more middling.

But it was the five wines that we most differed on that left me scratching my head. Were we drinking the same wines? Do I just not get some wines? For example, I thought the Jean-Marc Boillot Bourgogne Blanc was overoaked rubbish whereas she loved it. And I found the Engel Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru to be underwhelming, whereas she lauded its charms. Also, she did not really like my WOTN, the Drouhin-Laroze Bonnes Mares Grand Cru (although she really liked all their other wines).

Anyway, it was a good educational experience. I put comparison notes below if you are interested (her notes are “JR”).


WINES THAT WE BOTH LIKED A LOT:

1. Jean-Paul et Benoit Droin
Chablis 1er Cru Vaudevey (£125)
Onion color. Bright nose of green pear, grapefruit. Palate of grapefruit, wet stones. Refreshing but with some backbone.

JR: Lively, tense, driven, and racy. Good stuff!

2. Jean-Paul et Benoit Droin
Chablis Grand Cru Valmur (£235)
Onion skin color. Good body. Not much nose showing. Palate of dry oak, vanilla, butter, slate. Seems muted relative to the body – it could be a lot bigger. Perhaps sign of future greatness?

JR: Quite a bit of young (not old) oak. Sleek cross between Chablis and Côte d’Or. Seems oaked. Satin. Penetrating.

3. Domaine Jean-Marc Boillot
Puligny Montrachet (£250)
The best drinking Puligny Montrachet villages of night. Creamy nose, with hints of green pears, apricot, citrus. Rich creamy palate of vanilla-oak, bright textured fruit.

JR: Full and smoky and tense. Dry and minerally. Geat combination of tightness, tautness, and richness. Really exciting. Not that expensive for the quality.

4. Drouhin-Laroze
Latricieres Chambertin Grand Cru (£395)
Medium-dark red. Pretty, open nose. Thick layers of fruit on the palate. Blackberry, cranberry, light oak. A lot of acid. Tannic bite on the finish.

JR: Heady, winning, seductive scent. In this case, the fruit overwhelms the tannins. Relatively silky and certainly nerveux. Lovely, sumptuous stuff. Very flashy, but lots of pleasure there. Tannins underneath and a bit oaky, but a good stab. Dry finish still.

5. Domaine Jean Grivot
Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru (£475)
Medium-dark red. Creamy raspberry ice-cream palate, similar to what I picked up in the Potel Charmes Chambertin. Powerful secondary flavors – cloves, birch beer(?). Very tannic at end, but without the coffee-bitterness of the Engel Clos de Vougeot.

JR: Deep red. Exciting nose! Deep red fruit cocktail. Round and sumptuous. “My wines were almost sophisticated in 2002”, Etienne Grivot told me! It is certainly his very best year to date, and his 2001s were moving in this more user-friendly direction. Gorgeous interplay of defined elements. 19 points out of 20!!


WINES THAT WE HAD TOTALLY DIFFERENT TAKES ON :

1. Domaine Jean-Marc Boillot
Bourgogne Blanc (£99)
Bleh! Powerful vanilla-oak nose. Some simple citrus on the palate, but the vanilla oakiness overpowers all. Typical overoaked new world chardonnay but in a French bottle.

JR: Sweet and beguiling. Lots of spice. Much better, and especially more attractively textured, than most wines at this price. Quite long.

2. Domaine Jean-Marc Boillot
Santenay (£250)
A mouth of tart pears and fuzzy peach skins. Some butteriness to balance fruit. Light but nice.

JR: Raw apple skins. No!

3. Ghislaine Barthod
Bourgogne Rouge (£85)
Light garnet color, thin body. Nice big nose. Dances on the palate like fizzy pop rocks. Some cherry candy flavor. Reminded me of a German spätburgunder, which is probably not a compliment.

JR: Very pale. Typical Barthod earthiness and depth. Chestnuts. Very good concentration and interest for the AC. Solid. Will never be elegant, but a great buy for Barthod followers. Slightly grating tannins but real concentration without expense. Bravo!

4. Drouhin-Laroze
Bonnes Mares Grand Cru (£465)
Dark red. Surprisingly dense for a burgundy but does not seem at all over-extracted. Nose somewhat closed. Most elegant, rich palate. Voluptuous is what Bibendum sales brochure says – it’s exactly the right word. Or seductive. Layers of berries, spice, clove. Smooth tannins slide in at the end and dominate the finish.

JR: Very, very deep crimson. Much ‘flatter’ nose than Latricières. Big whack of rather over-the-top fruit. Inky tannins. Full, almost fizzy. Dense and taut. Very, very concentrated. Dry finish. Much less impressive at this stage than the wine above – and the J&B sample seemed pretty inexpressive. 17 points.

5. Domaine Rene Engel
Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru (£475)

Medium-dark red. Complex palate, but flavors somewhat muted. Acidic bite, bitter tannins toward middle and end – a bit of coffee flavor. I tried to get an allocation of this wine from Berry Bros for £410, but now I am somewhat glad they passed me over.

JR: Absolutely gorgeous, deep, subtle, layered nose already. Undergrowth and liquid sparkling rubies. Bravo! Iron fist almost hidden. (Bibendum’s samples were less impressive than Berry’s and M&V’s.)