May Wine Focus: White Burgundy!

[David M. Bueker]

Whether it's Cote de Beaune, Chablis, Macon or some other twist on Burgundian Chardonnay that steals your heart (and wallet), May is your month.

Let's open some White Burgundies & share the good and the bad (we may have stories of premox - more on this beastie later).

2007 Vincent Dauvissat Chablis 1er Cru “Vaillions” 13% -Chablis, France

Lime, Pomelo, grapefruit, little nudges of Anjou pear, gruyere, lead pipe. A chewy, tannic texture which coupled with the searing acidity, makes for one punishingly refreshing chardonnay. I couldn’t acquire any of the 2007 Les Clos (yet), but this isn’t a bad consolation prize. Extraordinary promise. -BH

[David M. Bueker]

I'm not sure it matters which Dauvissat you buy as long as you buy. Incredibly consistent producer.

I'm not sure it matters which Dauvissat you buy as long as you buy. Incredibly consistent producer.

No doubt about that. I like the Dauvissat as much as I like Raveneau. Now, if I could only afford Raveneau...

Cheers,
Bill

I'm not sure it matters which Dauvissat you buy as long as you buy. Incredibly consistent producer.

Myself, I'll take Vincent over Jean!

Mark Lipton

2008 Joseph Drouhin St. Veran
nose: initially, burnt matchstick and toast, growing more minerally, with lemon and tart apple
palate: medium body, modestly oaked, firm acidity

I purchased this bottle for an end of semester party for our students but we didn't consume it then. So, instead, I opened it up with a light dinner of soup and bread. I've become quite a fan of Beaujolais blanc, usually from J-P Brun, but this wine from the N of Beaujolais (or the S of the Mâconnais) is a decent QPR White Burgundy that is quite reliable in my experience. This year's edition is no exception, though it doesn't have quite the depth of fruit of the '07. It started out too cold, having been retrieved from a fridge, and became perceptibly better as it reached cellar temperature. $17 purchased locally.

I'm not sure it matters which Dauvissat you buy as long as you buy. Incredibly consistent producer.

Myself, I'll take Vincent over Jean!

Mark Lipton

Indeed. It's like saying "Pichler" and everyone knowing it was F.X. that you meant. Now that Rudi Pichler is making great wines, clarification is in order. Not that Domaine Jean is quite there.

We had this gorgeous wine in February at one of the weekly Wednesday tastings I attend in Auckland, NZ.

Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet Folatieres Premier Cru 2007 - Burgundy, France
Light lemon gold. Smooth, creamy, buttery scents with a hint of citrus and a hint of nuts. A fine textured wine, focused in its delivery across as it glides across the palate with flavours suggesting toasted baguette, hints of tropical fruit and savoury oak with underlying acidity and just a hint of a creamy lactic character on the rich, spicy finish. Great mouthfeel and persistent length with butterscotch, toffee and honey lingering. This smells and tastes like a 5 star wine. Delicious!
Closed with a cork, it has 13.5% abv on the label.
A real treat because the price is NZ$140 and it was included in a line-up of 12 wines at a $15 tasting!!

Sue Courtney

2002 Chateau Fuisse Pouilly-Fuisse "Le Clos"

Straw yellow. A whiff of petrol on the nose. Slate, chalk, stone and orange with biting aciditiy. My wife called this a "delayed reaction wine". It starts out slow, but after about 5 seconds in the mouth it pops open, revealing its minerality and lightly smoked goodness. The oak was a little bit more than I anticipated, but by no means lessened the wine. Creamy mouth feel. Long finish of stone and smoked almond. Fresh, young and going strong at 8 years old. I wish I had another bottle to see how it is doing in another 5 years.

Mark's Drouhin St. Veran was probably the vintage we sampled at Arthur's Wine Shop in Belk SouthPark during the Charlotte Wine and Food Weekend. I thought it a good QPR but ended up purchasing two reds--the Moulin a Vent and the Gevrey-Chambertin village wine. I also really liked the Drouhin Chassagne-Montrachet but wasn't willing to part with the $75 asking price.

I brought home four Alex Gambal white Burgundies (and one red) from Charlotte and will let them rest another ten days before I open one or two. I also have some Chablis to try perhaps next weekend. Speaking of Alex Gambal, he will be in North Carolina for a few days this month and I am going to a tasting May 11 at Nana's Restaurant in Durham. Maybe I can acquire a few more white Burgundies on which to report.

2005 Verget Pouilly-Fuissé Terroirs de Vergisson
This is a solid bottle, great nose, good smooth texture, good acidity for the vintage, still quite okay up front but nicely put together. Good balance but not a knock your socks off bottle. Perhaps more advanced than excepted as the cork was mostly soaked 90% up to the top.

[David M. Bueker]

I still have a fair bit of 2002 Chablis in the cellar. This has been a mixed blessing with some exemplary bottles and any number of oxidative disasters.

The other night I opened a bottle of 2002 Verget Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons Vieilles Vignes de Minots only to have it be badly corked. So last night, after getting home from a week away, I opened another bottle of the same wine. Well it was woefully oxidized, deep gold in color with sherry-esque aromas.

So I am 0 for 2, and to add to my displeasure I discovered two more bottles of the same wine lurking in a corner of the cellar. I can only hope that one of them is actually drinkable.

Bummer, David!

To honor the thread last night I opened a 2006 Catherine et Claude Maréchal Savigny-les-Beaune 13.5%
Not very aromatic when chilled, showing faint minerals and white flowers, augmented by oak. Good mouth weight, but the fruit has a slightly cloying, honeyed quality, and the acidity tastes both separate and insufficient. Shows a bit too much oak for me, also a bitter finish, and the alcohol feels a tad excessive. In sum, not in a very good place right now, and I'm not entirely confident that age will be kind to this, given the practice at Maréchal of picking grapes superripe and including some botrytized clusters.

I loved this producer's 2002 Cuvée Gravel Bourgogne (red) and that made me interested in the winery, but the whites, alas, have consistently disappointed.

I still have a fair bit of 2002 Chablis in the cellar. This has been a mixed blessing with some exemplary bottles and any number of oxidative disasters.

The other night I opened a bottle of 2002 Verget Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons Vieilles Vignes de Minots only to have it be badly corked. So last night, after getting home from a week away, I opened another bottle of the same wine. Well it was woefully oxidized, deep gold in color with sherry-esque aromas.

So I am 0 for 2, and to add to my displeasure I discovered two more bottles of the same wine lurking in a corner of the cellar. I can only hope that one of them is actually drinkable.

You got me worried about the '02 Chablis in my cellar, so - fearing the worst - I popped a bottle of 2002 Verget Chablis Montee de Tonnere. No problems here, though. Certainly more advanced than the last time I had this several years ago, but no signs of premox. Balanced, pure, clean, steely/minerally, perfectly integrated oak, persistent. I would say this is definitely at peak now. No idea if this is a representative bottle or not though - maybe my next one will be premoxed.

Unless perhaps the sub-glacial cellar is helping out.

[David M. Bueker]

Well I'm glad yours turned out ok. I put another bottle of the VV de Minots in the fridge for later this week. We'll see if third time is the charm.

I rarely drink White Burgundy so didn't think I would have much to contribute to this thread but earlier this week I had a half bottle of 2007 Christian Moreau Chablis Vaillons that was dull and plodding and completely showed up by the 2007 Luneau-Papin Muscadet Le L D'Or that made every succulent oyster and every bite of lobster that much better.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18168&hilit=rives

I have another `04 Deux Rives ready to go later today!

2005 DOMAINE PINSON CHABLIS MONTMAIN 1er Cru
13% abv. Fleet Street Wine Merchants Purchased from Burgundy Wine Company, NYC.

This may have been my first from Pinson. I bought two bottles.
Light gold color; transparent. Nice flinty edge to lemon and pear fruit. Plenty of acid. Appropriate for oyster, mussels, clams and possibly scallops. Refreshing on a day that the temperature rose to 92 F.

1999 YVES BOYER-MARTENOT MEURSAULT CHARMES ler Cru
13.5% abv. Imported by Vintner Select, Cincinnati, OH.
Medium gold color with transparency.

I don't have the background experience to know if this is a nicely mature white Burgundy or if it has some oxidation issues. While it doesn't taste fresh and young, I find it appealing with its apple pie nose and flavors. I'm going to surmise that his is aging in an appropriate trajectory.
I'm not sure about food pairings--perhaps a hard cheese or apple-based salad such as Waldorf salad or pork chop with applesauce. I tried it with Cheshire cheese from England and it was an okay match, but not ideal.

[David M. Bueker]

2002 Verget Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons Vieilles Vignes de Minots
Finally a sound bottle with lemony and apple fruit, a touch of spice (yes Verget uses oak) and good overall balance. This is very nice if you are willing to accept a touch of oak in your Chablis. Rahsaan and Oswaldo stay away.

WTN: `04 Leflaive Chablis Les Deux Rives.

Bottle #2, other bottle tasted 2 yrs ago.

Color. More of a deep straw verging on dull lemon.

Nose. Apples, lime, floral, "hint of honey" from across the table. Not so minerally this time around.

Palate. Have to say right off the bat that a much better wine on day 2. Initially I thought not that expressive, could have come from anywhere. Finish was short, so-so acidity, not that zippy anymore.
However after 2 hrs starts to show its stuff with apple, pear and citrus tones. Brief hint of creamyness on day 2, white stone fruits and a much better finish. Poured what I had left for staff at DeVines, they were impressed. Thought at its peak and all wondered about the Leflaive higher-end wines!!

Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Champ-Gain 1999 – Louis Jadot – Alc. 13,5%.
The good news here is that there was no pox. In other respects I was disappointed by this 1er cru effort from a highly respected négociant. Colour was yellow and the nose was quite subdued but showed some pleasant aromas of white and citrus fruit. First impressions on the palate were of softness but further inspection showed medium body, some gentle fruit, not a lot of minerality, a hint of sweetness but also fair acidity with marked buttery notes and faint cigar ash touches emerging towards the finish. I was left, however, with a feeling that the strands were not integrated and I found the mixture on the finish between the acidity, cigar and butter rather unattractive and cloying. We did not finish the bottle. 14.5/20.

My heart is closer to the crisply mineral offerings of Chablis than to the more lush wines from the Côte d’Or but to prove (largely to myself) that I can like these too, I have dragged out these recent TNs on a couple of pox free Meursaults.

Meursault 1996 – J-F Coche-Dury – Alc.12.5%. This is a simple village appellation; the wine seemed remarkably young showing full/medium body, density, crisp acidity, backbone, length and depth coupled with complex aromas and flavours including white and citrus fruit, nuts and abundant stony minerals. Not a trace of oxidation on this robust and stimulating bottle of Meursault; 17/20.

Meursault 1er cru Genevrières 2001 – François Mikulski – Alc.13% - showed lighter body and less minerals and acidity than the previous but perhaps more polish and refinement befitting the 1er cru status as well as a more creamy lusciousness typically associated with Meursault. The acidity was lively enough, though, to prevent any cloying; 16.5/20+.

Reference Bob Parsons comment that wine store staff were wondering about the Leflaive higher end wines. I haven't had the top of the line but I still remember how impressive a village level Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet was at an after-event party in DC. Hoping to replicate that taste, I have just ordered two bottles of the 2007 Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet.

Reference Bob Parsons comment that wine store staff were wondering about the Leflaive higher end wines. I haven't had the top of the line but I still remember how impressive a village level Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet was at an after-event party in DC. Hoping to replicate that taste, I have just ordered two bottles of the 2007 Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet.

Are we talking about Puligny-Montrachet from Olivier Leflaive (mainly négociant) or from Domaine Leflaive (Anne-Claude Leflaive)? My best ever white Burgundy experience was Chevalier-Montrachet 85 from Domaine about 8-9 years ago .

I think that Bob's Chablis is from Olivier. I can't recall ever having had an Olivier wine but they also have a very good reputation which Bob's TN seems to confirm.

I guess there was a little confusion there. I was speaking of the Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet.
I would love to go up a level and order the Puligny-Montrachet "Les Pucelles" 1er Cru (have enjoyed the few Les Pucelles I've had in the past when prices were lower) but that was priced at about $165.