24 July 2012: A few days ago, Richard and I thought it would be quite interesting (and certainly unusual) to have a Côte de Beaune evening. We stayed with Corton Charlemagne for all the whites - I rather stubbornly pulled the corks of 4 vintages of Corton Charlemagne by the same maker, Michel Juillot. The vintages were 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1997. Apart from the 1997 which still showed quite a complex nose of fig, ripe pear, exotic fruit, nutty and mineral character, the others were all destined for the sink. (Interestingly, we've been enjoying some rather well-made 1993 Mercurey Clos des Barraults in half bottles by this domaine.) We then opened a 2007 Hospices de Beaune Corton Charlemagne Cuvée Charlotte Dumay, élevage by Maison Champy. Nicely rounded on the palate, with the toasty and spicy oak elements just about coming round to be integrated with the lovely citrus and ripe pineapple notes. Love the tension on the palate, nice finish, but perhaps the concentration, complexity and length were not as impressive as the Cuvée François de Salins.
As for the reds, I had prepared a pair from the 2000 vintage: 2000 Volnay Santenots-du-Milieu, Lafon and 2000 Pommard Les Vignots, Leroy. The 2000 Leroy Pommard Les Vignots was unquestionably the wine of the evening. It had a most captivating bouquet of truffle, red cherry, raspberry, milk chocolate and coffee notes. Very supple initial attack, followed by a seductive cascade of flavours, caressing the palate with silk-like texture. The lowish acidity just about gave the wine a fresh lift to the lingering finish. It lasted quite a while!! Absolutely at its apogee and a wine definitely offering so much more than its humble appellation level (village). 17.5/20
The 2000 Lafon Volnay by comparison gave a more savoury and slightly meaty bouquet, layered with plum, earthy and black tea notes. Enhanced by a sensation of warm stones on the palate. An extremely well-balanced wine, of lowish acidity, velvety tannin and a lovely purity of fruit within an elegantly structured frame. Classy and sophisticated. Lovely finish, but not a lengthy one. Drinking at peak now and will continue to drink well for next 4 - 5 years, if well cellared. 17/20
The other 3 wines we had were 2002 Follin-Arbelet Corton, 1999 Remoissenet Beaune Marconnets and a 1985 Bouchard Beaune-Grèves Vigne de L'Enfant Jesus. The 1999 Remoissenet Beaune Marconnets had the most tertiary nose, leather, animal and autumn leaves. Rather lighter in body, with a drying finish. A rustic style wine, not charming, but well-made nonetheless. 15/20
I quite liked the 2002 Follin-Arbelet Corton with the food we served - intensely flavoured braised eggplant and Chinese mushroom casserole and stir-fried beef with leeks. Richard said it was slightly oxidised - I am not sure I found the same, but the quality of the fruit was rather inferior to that of the two 2000 wines and the wine tasted a little generic, one-dimensional. However, there was still a good balance of fresh acidity, velvety tannin and fruit quality, giving a nicely accessible structure to the wine, if somewhat lacking in expressiveness and complexity for its quality level. Finish was a little short. 15.5/20
The 1985 Bouchard Beaune-Grèves Vigne de L'Enfant Jesus that Shirley kindly brought unfortunately was a little unclean - it suffered from multiple faults, including volatility and bretty. You could tell that the underlying substance could have delivered a great wine.....sadly not this bottle.
We all learnt something this evening. I thought the Pommard Village and the Volnay Premier Cru were the biggest revelation. If they had been served blind, one would quite likely have swapped them around! I really hope more Burgundy lovers would give the Côte de Beaune reds more opportunity to show themselves as the results could be very rewarding and pleasantly surprising! Our dinner was a mere amateurish act of discovering these wines. The Côte de Beaune offers such richness of terroirs - one should really spend time to check out Pernand-Vergelesses, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Chorey-lès-Beaune, Monthélie, Auxey-Duresses, Santenay and Maranges!
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