WTN: Weekend Burgundies

A few Burgs over the weekend. The first three on Friday night as part of a bigger dinner in the city, and the '85 Pommard at home with a friend on Sunday, when I made French onion soup and Bittman's crispy skin braised duck legs.

• 2015 Coche-Dury Meursault - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault (12/5/2025)
  Popped and poured. Opens out really nicely over a couple of hours - starts out with generous fruit accented by smoky and flinty notes, and with air more savoury and lightly buttery/creamy flavours emerge. It shows the ripeness of the vintage in the best way possible; there's a lovely richness to the fruit, a sense of weight and power on the palate, and a really silky texture.
  
• 2007 Domaine Bertheau (Pierre et François) Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru (12/5/2025)
  Popped and poured. Starts out with a surprising high-toned, almost minty herbal note dominating the aromatics, but that disappears with a little air while a core of fresh red fruits and bright floral scents emerge. The aromatics keep developing with time, more savoury and earthy elements come out to join the fruit and floral elements, and the whole package is lovely to sit and smell. On the palate it's a really lightweight, delicate expression of Amoureuses - very much what I expect from the combination of the Bertheau style and the lighter vintage - Burgundy painted with watercolors, rather than oil. Fairly gentle, fine grained tannin here - most of the structure here comes from the acidity, and if I had more I'd be ready to open them now.
• 2017 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Musigny - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru (12/5/2025)
  Well this is special. Takes a little while for the aromatics to really emerge, but it's worth the wait and this is quite the knockout. A beautiful array of floral, earthy, and red and dark fruited scents, mixed with more exotic sandalwood-like spicy accents. There's a perfumed intensity to the aromatics here, and it makes a similar impression on the palate - the flavours are so bright and sappy, conveyed with power and a lightness of touch at the same time, and it feels remarkably silky and easy to drink even though it's very primary right now. Phenomenal.
  
• 1985 Domaine Pothier-Rieusset Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru (12/7/2025)
  First time trying this producer, which apparently no longer exists and these holdings in Rugiens have been farmed by Fernand and Laurent Pillot for a while now. This is an excellent showing - it comes across fully mature with a core of red and dark fruit that is quite gentle and understated, though still lively and brightening up with air. The fruit plays a supporting role though to an array of savoury, tertiary flavours - all earth, leather, and more savoury iron/almost bloody notes. Fully mature with the tannins resolved and the structure coming entirely from the acidity, a lovely wine but I'll drink my other bottle relatively soon.

That Bertheau Amoureuses sounds like a knockout, Salil. And count me as another who's never heard of Pothier-Rieusset, but it sounds like a well-made Burgundy, too.

Yeah, it was a very pleasant surprise. I had not seen many posts or notes about the Pothier-Rieusset wines online on here, WB, or CT, so I had fairly moderate expectations when I opened the bottle (and I had a backup on the counter ready to open if it was a disappointment). I'd only grabbed them from Flatiron for a relatively low price as '85 is my birthyear and the fills looked good. But it was very enjoyable, and still very clearly Pommard - with that savoury iron/almost bloody aspect I find in older Pommard.

Looked it up in Clive Coates' 1997 Cote d'Or book today, and only saw a couple of lines mentioning that the vines were now part of the Fernand Pillot domaine in Chassagne.