We only had one full day in Burgundy. I didn't want to overload Betsy and David with wine visits. I just scheduled one for the morning, and one in afternoon. Which was a good thing as both of our hosts did extensive and informative presentations.
We started in the morning at Jadot (thanks to Cathleen Burke at Kobrand for arranging). Marc Dupin the export manager was a great hosts, explaining in detail the basic geology of Burgundy, Jadot's philosophy, their commitment to terroir, and the physical processes of vinification and elevage. The fairly new Jadot facility in Beaune on the road to Savigny is a marvel. He led us through a great tastings of the 2006s.
I felt the 2006 whites showed extremely well overall. There's good ripeness, but seemingly no lack of acidity. Please note I have no experience with barrel tasting, but none of these were hard to taste (well, one Meursault had the acid sticking out a little, Marc said they had stopped the malolactic partway, he felt it would settle down in bottle). The Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc was the surprise value of the visit, nice fresh fruit backed with crisp acidity. A Chassagne (Morgeot, I think) surprised me with its crisp minerality. The Batard Montrachet showed some underlying power, but was maybe a little awkward. The wine of the visit for me was probably the Puligny Referts, which had the Puligny minerality but almost a big broad almost Meursault-ish body.
The 2006 reds were good, though maybe less uniformly than the whites. We started with a Pommard "La Commaraine" that had good fruit, but a bit meaty and tough. The Savigny Guettes was good, the Savigny La Dominode I felt a bit better. Betsy's favorite was the Vosne-Romanee Beaumonts; indeed this was a nicely perfumed elegant wine. I liked the Charmes Chambertin, but preferred both the Echezeaux and the Grands Echezeaux (Marc felt the GE showed much better than the Echezeaux, I found them different but equally appealing, so would probably buy the less expensive Echezeaux). Besides the Grand Crus, the Chambolle "Sentiers" really rocked in my opinion - one 2006 red I'll definitely look for.
In the afternoon we drove through the Cotes de Nuit, before ending up at our appointment at Domaine Mugnier. We knew Frederic Mugnier was away, but his young nieces and dog handled the welcome nicely, before turning us over to Audrey Sadde, M. Mugnier's assistant. She did a great job of taking us (and a Danish couple) through a tasting of Mugnier's 2006s.
The tasting was in the cellar of the new expanded part of the winery (since adding back the NSG, production has tripled- the Clos de la Marechal is more than double the size of all the Chambolle parcels). She explained that all of the Mugnier wines are given identical elevage. The 2006 Chambolle village wine (Audrey did an impromtu mix of the 2 parcels, a 1er cru I don't know -I think she said Plantes, and a village parcel of La Combe d'Orveau to approximate the final mix). The Chambolle Fuees was probably the hardest to taste this day; I couldn't really get a handle). The Bonne Mares had lots of tannins, but still showed a great blend of black cherry fruit and earthiness. Even as a barrel sample, I thought the Amoureuses was simply stunning. Elegant, floral, with a hint of spice. I liked it even better than the Musigny, which was very classic I felt, with an interesting hint of cocoa. Lastly, she mixed three samples from different parts of the Clos de la Marechale NSG to approximate the final mix. Tannins were pretty dense, harder to drink than most the Chambolles, but good potential I think.
Then she led us back to a separate area in the older part of the facility. There we tasted the 2006 Clos de la Marechale- white! Frederic Mugnier decided one parcel of the Clos was unsuited for Pinot, and grafted on Chardonnay. I've tasted the Gouges and Chevillon NSG whites before, I think this is right up with them. Crystalline white pear fruit, a dense minerally streak, very tasty. Lastly we sampled from bottles of the 2005 CdlMarechal and 2004 Clos de la Fouches (a 2nd wine they produced from youngest vines in Marechale clos in 2004). She had felt the '05 Marechale was suffering from bottle shock that AM, but now it had opened nicely. Big black Nuits fruit, earth and spice. A little smoky note. Excellent, and I look forward to mine arriving. I had been unimpressed with the Clos de la Fouches on arrival, but this was a lighter style but tasty NSG. I might buy if I saw at good price.
All in all, two excellent visits at two excellent producers. Nice to visit both a large one and a much smaller one. I'll be looking to buy some 2006s (especially as it looks like 2007 might be very problematic, according to both Marc and Audrey).
