TNs: White Burgundies

[Michael Malinoski]

One of our recent regular tasting group get-togethers was held at Jud and Lisa’s place, with seven of us there to enjoy a theme of white Burgundy. We drank several bottles of Chablis up on the deck with appetizers and a beautiful sunset, while the remaining wines were drunk with a dinner downstairs on the screened-in porch.

Starter wine:

2009 Dehlinger Chardonnay Two Years Sur Lie Russian River Valley. This wine starts right in with a beautiful bouquet of leesy lemon oil, honey, cold butter, soft oak, hazelnut, dark apple and funky earth scents that are round and delightfully plush. In the mouth, the spicy, leesy character comes right through, along with the wonderfully contoured body showing oily concentration without excessive weight. The flavors of pear, lemon oil, slate, honey, oak, vanilla and baking spices deliver great character in an exuberant style that really works in harmony with the overall personality of the wine. I don’t believe it was everyone’s favorite style, but I thought it was excellent.

Chablis:

2009 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons. This is fairly light and rather minerally on the nose, with wispy aromas of seashells, orange blossoms, chalk, grapefruit and light smoke. In the mouth, it’s citrusy and juicy, with tangy flavors of grapefruit, lemon, pear and light spice. The texture is a bit tacky and overly drying on the finish, but I suspect those elements will improve with a bit more time in the cellar. Overall, it’s clean and refined, but doesn’t really seem to stand out all that much.

2009 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons. Of the two 2009 Vaillons, I preferred this one, with its nice smoky nose of sulfur, flint, lemon, grapefruit and limestone aromas exhibiting a bit more density and length. In the mouth, it’s fuller, more rounded and more concentrated in its pretty flavors of apple, pear, lemon oil and herbs. It has impressive presence on the palate to go along with excellent overall balance and staying power. This is very good.

2012 Domaine Testut Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. This is young and airy on the nose, with light floral accents atop apple, canteloupe, graphite, lemon slice, chalk dust and peach skin aromas. In the mouth, it’s vibrant, lifted, crunchy and fresh—with flavors of white pepper, lemon tea, seafoam and pear showing nice cut and leading to a rather herbal-tinged finish. It’s still unfolding and finding its less jagged edgings, but it ought to be a lithe and pretty wine in a few years’ time.

2004 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. This is very taut, direct and powerful on the nose, delivering focused but somewhat unyielding aromas of verbena tea, river rocks, crushed shells and a bit of vinyl. Although the nose may need some time and air to show its best, on the palate this is drinking very well right now. It’s wonderfully-concentrated and loaded up with spiced pear, lemon zest, sea spray, apple and fresh herb flavors that are medium-weighted but showing a lot of gravitas and fleshed-out body and texture. It really fills the mouth and finishes rounded but refreshing, providing a good deal of pleasure along the way.

Other white Burgundies:

2010 Domaine Jean-Marc Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes. I really like this wine, starting out with all the exotic aromas of sandalwood, hazelnut, apple, lemon oil, vanilla extract and sexy baking spices. In the mouth, it’s luxuriant, rich and sexy, and totally fun to drink. It has a great sense of exuberance, energy and power allied to multi-dimensional and layered flavors of hazelnut, spiced pear, baked apple, lemon oil and herb flavors. Rounded acidity and a taut cohesion drive everything through to the rewarding finish that exhibits great balance and solid staying power. This was among my favorite wines of the night and was in all but one person’s top 4.

2007 Domaine Bachelet-Monnot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. There are beautiful aromatics to this lovely wine, showing off scents of Normandy butter, classy vanilla, river stones, apple, pear and citrus in a plush but in no way blowsy package. It’s rich and luscious and full of hazelnut, spiced pear, lemon and buttery flavors on the palate, where it lingers a good long while on the finish. It could stand to fan out a bit more beyond its core over the next few years, but it’s delicious as is right now, too. Four of the seven of us had this among our top 3 wines of the night.

2008 Louis Jadot Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières. This is another stellar wine for my tastes, delivering rich and fleshy, yet racy and smoke-tinged aromas of pear, lemon rind, wet river rocks and struck flint. It’s luscious and expansive in the mouth, really spreading out to coat every corner of the mouth with vanilla, oak, pear, clotted cream, yellow apple, and exotic tropical yellow fruit flavors. It’s full-bodied, sexy and luxuriant, clinging to the palate with just enough soft acids and minerality to hold it all in balance and deliver a hedonistic drinking experience. I think it’s in a great spot to drink right now, personally.

1987 Pierre Bitouzet Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru. This pours a dark golden color, and is showing some nicely-aged character on the controlled and directed nose of copper, nougat, baked apple and cooked down apricot. It has a matted texture in the mouth, with deep-pitched flavors of mushroom, chopped nuts, green grapes and baked peaches. It’s really interestingly-layered and shows many different facets along the palate journey. Impressively, it gets better as the night goes on, rather than the other way around. It’s an impressive showing, and 2 people had this as their wine of the night.


-Michael