Short notes from France

These are miscellaneous wines tasted during our trip to Burgundy from 18-26 November 2017, outside of visits to various domaines…

2013 Domaine Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Clos de La Chanterie VV, plucked from the list of L’Asperule in Auxerre, en route from Paris to Beaune, 18 Nov 2017. Lovely hue, exuding rich overtones of creme de la crème, chalk and incense whilst the palate possesses a very clean feel of clear crystalline quality and gentle floral lift, finishing in a lengthy minerally glow. Excellent.

2013 Domaine Bart Chambertin-Clos de Beze Grand Cru, plucked from the list of L’Asperule in Auxerre, en route from Paris to Beaune, 18 Nov 2017. Good colour with a delicate lovely fragrance of raspberries, dark cherries and rose petals. Medium-bodied, surprisingly open and gentle, slightly recessed initially, gaining better weight and intensity after some aeration, finishing with good balance and refinement.

2011 Hospices de Beaune Beaune 1er Cuvée Guigone de Salins, courtesy of Vincent Martin of La Terre d’Or, drunk at its premises in Beaune, 18 Nov 2017. Raspberries, mulberries and strawberries dominate on the nose, medium-bodied with good acidity but missing in true depth and layering, tinged with traces of green.

2012 Vincent Girardin Saint-Aubin Les Murgers des Dent de Chien 1er, from the list of  Bistro de L’Hotel, Beaune, famous for its whole roasted chicken Bresse, 19 Nov 2017. Crème, icing and complex minerals dominate with expressive richness, tight at first but loosening up to reveal excellent fullness, detail and structure, turning more minerally over time with fair intensity. Excellent.

2014 Benjamin Leroux Saint-Aubin Murgers des Dent de Chien 1er from the list of  Bistro de L’Hotel, Beaune, famous for its whole roasted chicken Bresse, 19 Nov 2017. Compared with the Vincent Girardin (albeit from different vintages), this wine is more poised and reserved, more minerally with good concentration of clear citrus, rounded and crisp with smoky tones. Very well balanced.

2013 Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 1er, poured from magnum at Bistro de L’Hotel, Beaune, famous for its whole roasted chicken Bresse, 19 Nov 2017. Deep tone of ripe dark cherries, camphor and earth, carrying good weight with tight tannin structure. Rather straightforward in character, though.

2015 Domaine Pierre Amiot et Fils Bourgogne Blanc, over a home-cooked dinner at La Terre d’Or, Beaune, 21 Nov 2017. Lifted notes of pears and gentle tropical fruits with lychees, open with good body and presence, showing reasonably good depth and freshness.

2016 Domaine des Lambrays La Rose Du Clos Bourgogne, over a home-cooked dinner at La Terre d’Or, Beaune, 21 Nov 2017. Reticent, showing just some gentle orangey tones and grapefruit. Unremarkable.

Fabrice Amiot with his 2009 Montrachet Grand Cru

2011 Domaine Pierre Amiot et Fils Morey Saint Denis Les Millandes 1er, over a home-cooked dinner at La Terre d’Or, Beaune, 21 Nov 2017. Deep red with an abundance of dark fruits, stern minerals and crisp acidity, highly intense, though rather dry, shorn of fat.

2011 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru, poured from magnum over a home-cooked dinner at La Terre d’Or, Beaune, 21 Nov 2017. Gentle aromas of deep dark cherries and wild berries. Fleshy but lacking in opulence on the palate, marked by dry intensity, spice and earthy tones. Better over time but still uninspiring.

2009 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Montrachet Grand Cru (courtesy of the domaine owner and winemaker himself, Fabrice Amiot, who came in person), over a home-cooked dinner at La Terre d’Or, Beaune, 21 Nov 2017. Rich tones of creme de la crème with some chalkiness and early complexity on the bouquet, though there is an unexpected disconnect with the palate that is still tight and reticent with fruit that is set rather backward, showing mainly minerally tones and icing but not much else, rounded with regal elegance but aloof. Probably going through an awkward phase. Needs time to unravel itself.

2013 Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Clos de la Marechale, over lunch from the list of Le Millesime, 22 Nov 2017, located adjacent to Domaine J-F Mugnier itself in Chambolle-Musigny. Deep purple, slightly opaque. Medium-bodied. Fresh, open and supple with excellent concentration of ripe raspberries and cherries. Delicious.

2014 Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Clos de la Marechale, over lunch from the list of Le Millesime, 22 Nov 2017, located adjacent to Domaine J-F Mugnier itself in Chambolle-Musigny. Delicious aromas of red fruits with a prominence of delicate tangerines and lemon, more minerally on the palate than outright fruit, displaying good balance, freshness and depth, exuding a beautiful glow after some time, finishing with fine detail and supple tannins. Lovely.

Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier

2011 Domaine Francois Coche-Dury Meursault-Caillerets 1er over dinner, plucked from the list of Le Conty, Beaune, 22 Nov 2017, a bistro with a superb wine list strewn with all the great burgundies. Expectations are high for any Coche-Dury and this wine doesn’t disappoint, proffering a rich bouquet of crème de la crème, white flowers and icing with gentle gravelly minerality, displaying lovely concentration and focus of clear delicate citrus held in fine balance with characteristic fine fleeting intensity that seems to be a hallmark of this producer, gaining steadily in weight and proportion over time with glowing detail, almost ethereal, maintaining well its delicacy and depth throughout, finishing with great length. Truly outstanding.

2007 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart Grand Cru over dinner, plucked from the list of Le Conty, Beaune, 22 Nov 2017. Lovely bouquet of rosy fragrance that led to a rich oily mid-body, showing very good concentration of fruit with gentle intensity, highly elegant, becoming more lifted and aromatic over time. Excellent.

2015 Domaine du Château de Meursault Clos du Château, drunk over a home cooked meal, 23 Nov 2017. Great freshness with attractive crème and chalky tones, showing plenty of fat in the mid-body underscored by crystalline minerality.

2011 Chateau de Meursault Volnay Clos des Chenes 1er, drunk over a home cooked meal, 23 Nov 2017. Generally dark in tone with a generous spread of dark plums, supple with good acidity.

2012 Domaine Dureault Mercurey 1er Clos Voyens, 24 Nov 2017, drunk outdoors at a picnic at the hilltops of St Romain in the countryside surrounding Beaune. Fresh in cool dark cherries and strawberries, soft and rounded with supple acidity and subtle tannins. Delicious.

2015 Domaine Roulot Meursault Meix Chavaux, over lunch from the list of Le Cellier Volnaysien in Volnay, 24 Nov 2017, a spacious and charming venue. This wine displays a lifted bouquet of light tropical fruits, rich in creme, delicate citrus and finely-grained minerals, open, well-layered and rounded, developing good complexity by the final pour. Excellent, as usual, from this producer.

2015 Alex Gambal Saint-Aubin Les Murgers des Dent des Chien 1er, over dinner from the list of Ma Cuisine, Beaune, 24 Nov 2017. This wine proffers soft floral aromas that grew in intensity over time with a deep minerally streak, matched by notes of pomelo, clear citrus and bitter lemon of fine intensity, opening up with good detail though losing a bit of focus at the short finish.

2005 Remoissenet Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru, over dinner from the list of Ma Cuisine, Beaune, 24 Nov 2017. Good colour, exuding lovely aromas peaches, lychees, nectarine and aged crème, showing some evolution with good concentration and depth of fruit, subtle in intensity with fine definition, more expansive over time, culminating in a spicy glowing finish. Excellent.

1967 M. Dudet Naudin Corton Grand Cru (courtesy of Dr Ngoi) over dinner from the list of Ma Cuisine, Beaune, 24 Nov 2017. Still quite dark in colour, exuding great pungent earthiness along with aged red plums and game, still fullish with good concentration and fine acidity, better over time with further notes of tangerines though still short.

1967 Louis Voilland Corton Grand Cru (courtesy of Dr Ngoi), over dinner from the list of Ma Cuisine, Beaune, 24 Nov 2017. Equally dark as the Dudet Naudin above, remarkably similar in character as well though more pronounced in earthy pungency, slightly sharper in focus, displaying an evolved tone of dark plums, lychees and sweet melted tannins, short initially but gradually growing in lovely intensity and breadth. Excellent, and what a privilege it has been to have tasted these two grand dames side-by-side.

2013 Domaine de Haut Marchand, at the bar of Les Pavillon des Lettres, Paris, 25 Nov 2017. Hailing from Montagne, Saint-Emilion, this wine proffers dark red plums, wild berries and dark fruits on the nose and palate, showing good concentration and intensity with fine acidity and balance, slightly dryish in texture, finishing with gentle sweet tannins. A good drop.

2014 Domaine Jean Claude Bachelet & Fils Saint-Aubin Les Charmois 1er, over dinner from the list of the 2-Michelin-starred La Clarence, Paris, 25 Nov 2017. Rich and creamy with a gleaming tone, quite glorious, displaying superb concentration and intensity of delicate clear citrus, excellent in depth with well-defined minerals and some early complexity, maintaining great power, delicacy and poise throughout. Outstanding.

2013 Claude Dugat a La Gibryotte Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru, over dinner from the list of the 2-Michelin-starred La Clarence, Paris, 25 Nov 2017. Deeply aromatic with a forward balance of ripe dark cherries and raspberries, layered with glorious fruit and graphite minerals of fabulous intensity with seamless acidity though yet to develop. Excellent.

The cellar of La Clarence, Paris Notice the large format bottles hanging from the ceiling.