A simple lunch with some lovely Burgundy wines

6 April 2010: After a rather disappointing 1993 Prieur Musigny last night, which tasted thin, lacked the concentration and finesse one would expect of a 1993 Musigny, we started the day with cooking for our lunchtime party which included Jeremy Seysses visiting Hong Kong all the way from Morey St Denis! It was going to be a simple lunch with the focus on the wines.....I broke my rule of not drinking at lunchtime to have a soupçon of 2 of the tastier wines. We started with 2007 Château d'Esclans Les Clans, which went well with the gougères and spring rolls. Lunch was an all time favourite casserole of slightly spicy pumpkin and chicken, together with Parmigiana di Melanzane. How effortless we went through 2000 Bachelet Charmes Chambertin, 1993 Arnoux Romanée Saint Vivant, 1991 Dujac Clos de la Roche, 1990 Dujac Echézeaux and the finale was a 1962 DRC Grands Echézeaux. We also pulled the cork on a 1989 Rousseau Chambertin which did not taste quite right at first and was put aside for further assessment. About 7 hours later, we retasted the wine. True, it tasted a little thin, but it retained fruit character, finesse, and a roundness and smoothness that we had probably hastily judged it as a dud. It lacked the concentration of a great Chambertin but it's still a worthy drop which probably should have been drunk 3 - 4 years ago when it was still at its peak. I would score it 15.5/20.

The two wines that I chose to try were the 1991 Dujac Clos de la Roche and the 1962 DRC Grands Echézeaux. The 1991 evoked this sweet fruit character, gentle and soft, with a long finish. Just delicious. I would score it 17.5/20. The 1962 was truly a beauty...well-aged, elegant, fragrant, silky, still retained its sweet fruit character. A well-crafted wine, with a lingering finish. 18/20. My memory of the 1993 Arnoux Romanée Saint Vivant was that it was indeed a fine wine, well-structured with power, freshness, and fruit character.

It seemed from our conversations today that 2009 was a generous year, with lots of rain early spring followed by beautiful weather late spring and in the summer, and did not have the same magnitude of rot problems as 2008. It was however perhaps an overhyped year. The well-made wines would be early pleasers, easier to understand than 2008, somewhat like 2000. The underperformers would show low levels of tannin and acidity, both aspects not boding well for wines to be aged. Some even featured over-ripe fruit. Can't wait to try them and to be pleasantly surprised by the ones which managed to keep the quality!