FICOFI: Bouchard, Drouhin & Prieuré Roch

These are notes from a generous promenade-cum-dinner featuring Bouchard Père et Fils, Joseph Drouhin and Prieuré Roch organised by FICOFI in Singapore, 12 April 2018, in the presence of their respective representatives Luc Bouchard, Jean-Paul Dumond (Sales Director of Drouhin) and Yannick Champ (co-geriant of Prieuré Roch). With three stations each overflowing with so much wonderful stuff, 60 minutes simply weren’t enough to savour and appreciate the efforts of the winemakers. Regretfully, I missed a couple of wines but whatever I had below all performed very well.  Bouchard and Drouhin showed off mostly their 2016s, fabulous for reds while the whites are plummy, whilst Prieuré Roch féted us with mostly 2009s, another great vintage. Interestingly, Bouchard now sports a brand new look on their labels with effect from the 2016 vintage.

2016 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault-Perrières 1er. Lifted bouquet of fresh morning dew and grassy elements, whilst the palate is imbued with delicate yellow citrus, very fine in acidity and presence. Lovely.

2016 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault-Genevières 1er. Fat. Delicate perfumed floral tones. Quite opulent on the palate, ample in lovely concentration of fruit and ferrous minerals in equal measure, turning just a tad stern towards its finish. Excellent.

2016 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru. Rich, full and succulent, filled with an abundance of white floral characters tinged with white peppery tones along with some spiciness at the sides, underscored with complex minerals that confer sharp inner detail and definition. Yet rounded and gentle, superbly balanced. Wonderful.

2014 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru. Some early complexity is discernible, overshadowed by such superb mouthfeel from the fabulous intensity of nutmeg and other exotic nuances along with traces of white pepper that impart a distilled complex of great definition and detail. Bold, massive yet wonderfully elegant. Outstanding.

2016 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru. Considerably less extroverted than the 2014, proffering a quiet minerally bouquet with overtones of nutmeg. Less dense as well on the medium-bodied palate, imbued with lovely delicacy of cool ripe fruit though missing the ultra high definition of 2014, finishing with mild intensity.

2014 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet Grand Cru. Discernible early complexity on the full bouquet, exuding toffee, coconut and dense petroleum. Smooth and placid, poised with delicate cool refinement but somewhat reticent at this stage though its natural balance is absolutely impeccable. Will be slow to develop but it could turn out to be one of the great Montrachets of this century.

2016 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet Grand Cru. Deep bouquet, boasting a complex of white flowers and dense minerals but somewhat introverted, lagging behind a more involving palate that held great concentration of fruit, richly layered in crème de la crème and splashes of exotic spice throughout its considerable length. Excellent, and likely to develop faster than the 2014.

2016 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune Greves Vigne de L’Enfant Jesus 1er. Generous tone of fresh raspberries and dark berries with traces of green and spice within a slender understated structure, underscored with good acidity.

2014 Bouchard Père et Fils Chambertin-Clos de Beze Grand Cru. Fresh floral lift on a rounded palate scored with abundant raspberries with a light delicate touch, displaying good balance. Lovely but not quite truly distinctive.

2011 Domaine Joseph Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche Grand Cru. Beautiful liquid gold. Some lovely opulence on the nose though somewhat reserved, revealing some early complexity on a palate of dense minerals and delicate crème de la crème, quite seamlessly integrated with a fair abundance of white fruits that exude dry intensity, very well balanced. Still rather taut on the whole.

2008 Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières 1er. Good lift of spice and raw nutmeg on the nose, yielding some early complexity on a palate dominated by characters of exotic fruit and bananas, rounded with delicate minerals, displaying great verve, intensity and vivid detail with excellent linearity.

2016 Joseph Drouhin Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru. This wine opens with Asian spices and earth on the nose, striking a delicate balance on the minerally palate laced with excellent depth of white fruits amid great acidity, generating an immediacy that imparted superb mouthfeel throughout its wonderful length. Superb.

2016 Domaine Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses 1er. This wine exudes immense purity on the nose with a glorious lift of ripe red fruits and cherries, displaying real power, concentration and intensity with a lovely openness though still primal, yet to develop the sensual regal elegance that one expects from Amoureuses but it already feels so right. Will be outstanding.

2016 Domaine Joseph Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches 1er Rouge. Generous expanse of raspberries and dark cherries, covering the palate with tremendous vigour and intensity, structured with tightly-knit velvety tannins that reveal lovely detail. A great over-achiever.

Yannick Champ (L) with Jean-Paul Dumond

2009 Domaine Prieuré Roch Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos des Argillieres 1er. Deep glow of medicinal and earthy tones. Tight with fleshy dark fruits on the palate, dotted with black pepper, slightly stemmy.

2009 Domaine Prieuré Roch Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 1er. Glowing eminence, boasting ripe dark berries and dark plums. Quite fleshy, displaying good depth amidst dark earthy tones, imbued with lovely freshness and acidity.

2008 Domaine Prieuré Roch Clos Vougeot Grand Cru. The bouquet offers a lovely complexity of heated gravel and red dates with a perfumed fragrance, greatly lifted with open detail, rather fleshy and rounded with superb integration and great acidity. A wine of great individuality. Highly successful.

2009 Domaine Prieuré Roch Nuits-Saint-Georges Le Clos des Corvées 1er monopole. Quite full on the nose and palate, filled with ample dark fruits, currants, exotic spice and earth, rather dark in tone. Rounded with smooth tannins and very well-balanced, finishing with good acidity.

2009 Domaine Prieuré Roch Chambertin-Clos de Beze Grand Cru. Double decanted for four hours prior. Fully open, highly effusive in rich dark berries that carried well onto the palate with sublime acidity, filled with layers of deep glorious fruit on a bed of smooth velvety tannins that still held so much in reserve. Outstanding.

M. Luc Bouchard (R)

And for dinner…

2005 Champagne Henriot Cuvée Hemera. Yeasty lift with a rich creamy tone. Crisp but not overtly dry. Highly supple, yielding good transparency and open intensity, layered with great subtley, finishing well.

2012 Domaine Joseph Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches 1er Blanc. This wine opens with a deceptively gentle tone of peaches allied with mild grassy elements and nutmeg before blazing away with fine open intensity of creme de la creme and dense overt chalkiness, displaying good linearity but slightly short.

2012 Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières 1er. Morning dew, wild flowers and white pepper dominate on the nose while the palate is distinctly more minerally, excellent in concentration with a quiet intensity.

2010 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet La Cabotte Grand Cru. This wine proffers a deep open bouquet of complex minerals with an attractive white floral fragrance, matched by a rich wonderful depth of fruit on the palate sprinkled with white pepper, exotic spice and traces of vanillin, producing fabulous mouthfeel and length. Combines the power and richness of Chevalier with the delicate finesse of Montrachet. Not surprising, as those who know will understand that the 0.21 ha La Cabotte actually sits within Montrachet itself at its western boundary and was once considered part of Montrachet Grand Cru. Outstanding.

1999 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune Greves Vigne de L’Enfant Jesus 1er. Richly layered in dark cherries with a lovely depth of perfumed cider, displaying great purity of fruit and expression, superbly balanced against the fine acidity and understated tannins. Very complete in itself. Outstanding.

2002 Domaine Prieuré Roch Nuits-Saint-Georges Le Clos des Corvées 1er monopole. Complex bouquet of red fruits and dark currants. Rather firm with a high-toned salinity on the palate, very focused with good linearity.

2005 Château d’Yquem, put on specially for Jean-Paul Dumond who simply cannot do without this Sauternes which did not disappoint with its rich dense layers of nectarine, ripe apricot and cinnamon with overtones of sweet incense underscored by fresh sublime acidity, still absolutely infantile at 12 years. Outstanding.