Classic Stylish 2010 Burgundies



The 2010 Whites

28 Sep 2012: It was a great suggestion of Paul's to taste a bunch of 2010 Burgundies together, in a 'classroom' setting.  So we got a group of Burgundy enthusiasts and an interesting selection of burgundies together for a tasting followed by casual supper to see how the wines would evolve over the course of the evening. 

2010 Bourgogne Cuvée Oligocène, Patrick Javillier
Pale straw. Discreet and elegant nose. Lemon citrus, floral, a hint of toasted almond on the nose. Lovely rounded mouthfeel, balanced by vibrant acidity for a Bourgogne Blanc level. Love the crisp mineral-laced finish. There is certainly something about this wine that says Meursault! Great value wine showing such high quality at this level. If you look up Allen Meadows, he recommends this as "a great choice for a house white"! - We all agreed!!!  (This parcel of brown limestone comes from an altitude of 230 metres above sea, dating to the Oligocene period, roughly 34 to 23 million years ago. It is believed that the quality of this parcel is comparable to that of certain parcels of Meursault of the same altitude.)

2010 Saint-Véran Bois de Fée, Thibert
Pale straw. Quite closed on the nose initially. Flinty, floral and nutty adding complexity to the pure ripe fruit. A little austere at this youthful stage. Medium body with racy acidity. Love the purity, candid and detailed expression, clean crisp and saline finish. Will benefit from 12 - 18  months of of further development in bottle. A very fine effort from Christophe Thibert.Interesting that all of us thought it was very Chablis like.
(I also very much admire his Pouilly-Fuissé, especially Les Champs and Les Menetrières.)

2010 Chablis 1er Cru Côte de Léchet, Sébastien Dampt
Pale lemon golden glints. A very open nose of citrus, floral, tropical fruit, wet stones and gun smoke. Rounded mouthfeel, with a lovely spicy and saline finish. Harmonious, well balanced and nicely integrated. Can be enjoyed now with a little aeration. But definitely can benefit from a little bottle ageing say 12-18 months. A great value Chablis Premier Cru from a talented young man! (This would be so perfect with a platter of fruits de mer!)


2010 Meursault Les Gruyaches, Jean-Philippe Fichet
Pale straw some golden highlights. Open and elegant nose expressing complexities of ripe pear, floral, nutty, yoghurt, spice and subtle oak. Like the complexity, tension and mouth-coating richness on the palate with the Fichet signature firm acidity and minerality. Stylishly fleshy and generous and very appealing now. No reason to delay enjoying it but will benefit from 18 - 24 months of bottle age or extended aeration. Brilliant with the epoisses!

2010 Puligny-Montrachet, Leflaive
Pale straw. Elegant and complex nose of citrus, floral, white peach and toasted almonds, with hint of smoke. Palate shows depth, complexity, energy and precision. The oak element seems more subtle than earlier vintage bottlings. Vibrant acidity, seamless balance and a very fine long finish. Very classy juice that will  benefit from 2 - 3 years of bottle ageing.


2010 Chassagne-Montrachet La Maltroie, Fontaine-Gagnard
Pale gold. Rich and complex nose of smoke, nutty, lemon, pear and floral. Intense flavours, weighty and very rounded mouthfeel with firm acidity. Needs time for all the elements to become more integrated. A little clumsy at the moment. Well made with Premier Cru quality complexity, intensity and lengthy finish but does not quite have the finesse and precision of the Puligny Villages by Leflaive.

2010 Morgon Côte du Py, Jean Foillard
Very old vines. Rigorous sorting.  Unfined, unfiltered and no added sulphur. Plus wax closure.

Ruby hue. Bright red cherry fruit, violet, pu-erh tea, spicy and slightly earthy and meaty. Well structured, chewy velvety texture, with some firm but fine grained tannin, good level of acidity. Needs some age for the tannin to soften. A very high qualiity Morgon with plenty of concentration and complexity that should have a great ageing potential of 8 - 10+ years. Excellent find - thank you Paul for bringing this! (Even better the second day after opening!)


2010 Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes, François BertheauMedium  ruby hue.  High-toned red fruit, almost candy like. Cinnamon, some hints of tea leaves with a savoury character.  Silky tannin. Medium acidity  Very Chambolle, refined and elegant, aromatically attractive, presented with a lovely delicate freshness.  Can certainly be approached now with some extended aeration, but better in 3 - 4 years time.

2010 Vosne-Romanée Aux Malconsorts, Maison Roche de Bellène
By comparison, this is deeper in colour.  The slightly closed nose shows more black fruit, blackberry and blueberry compote and cassis. Very firm fine-grained ripe tannin, medium acidity, with its concentration and intensity of flavours bursting onto the palate. A fleshy wine with muscles and power.  Arisocratic and very classy, with a finish that went on for a long long time.  An excellent effort and a very impressive Premier Cru (its proximity to La Tâche plot to be taken into consideration!)!  Certainly too young to try now.  Let it age in bottle for another 6 - 8 years before trying again.

General comment on 2010 vintage?  From what we tasted, I think 2010 is a great classic vintage, offering purity of fruit, precision and balance, firm acidity, classic structure and some very fine ageing potential from the best winemakers. There was already sufficient mid-palate concentration and a richness on the mouthfeel for the ones we tried that they were almost ready to be enjoyed now, with some aeration. 

I did sneak in a bottle of 2000 Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Nicolas Potel for variety!!


The 2010 reds, plus a 2000


I loved the way we engaged and discussed about the wines, without bias or prejudice.  An excellent way of discovering Burgundy wines, across quality levels and vineyards, let alone the styles of different winemakers.  Thank you to everyone who contributed towards the selection.  We should do this more often!

Birthday Wines

16 Sep 2012: It's not usual for the birthday boy to buy the wines, cook the food and even mop up shattered glass pieces at a birthday dinner! As it happened, our friend Paul did all of that and he even put up with our dietary request for vegetarian dishes instead of the very delicious boeuf bourgignon that he lovingly prepared. The Chinese alternatives of "ma po to fu" and "stir fried long beans" were really yummy, as was Julie's nicely-textured cauliflower mash, which looked and tasted healthy.
2002 Clos des Goisses, Philipponnat. Racy, precise, showing purity and depth of gorgeous underlying fruit. A bit on the austere side now, this is a serious champagne that would benefit from 4 - 5 more years of cellaring to allow further development of flavours and bouquet. It showed much better with a couple more hours of aeration: green apple, peach, white flowers, smoke and spice, with detailed minerality. 18.5+/20
2001 Bourgogne Chardonnay, Coche-Dury: This was the biggest surprise of the evening. An opulent and complex bouquet of floral, marzipan, pear, roasted pineapple, fig, toasted almonds and smoke, laced with beautiful minerality and spices. Very smooth mouthfeel, nicely weighty on the palate, balanced by very vibrant acidity, with a lengthy finish. Drinking at peak and will drink well for another 4 - 5+ years! 18/20  The quality of this Bourgogne surpassed its appellation level. Wonder if this was declassified stuff? This went so well with the peaty smoked salmon that Paul ordered from this place called Hebridean Smoke House (www.hebrideansmokehouse.com) - I highly recommend - very difficult not to love it! I would have to have it again with a dram of peaty whisky!

1978 Beaune-Grèves Vigne de L'Enfant Jésus, Bouchard: A nicely mature nose of coffee, pot pourri, autumn leaves, tea leaves, floral and coriander seeds. Silky on the palate, with a sweet entry and some depth, but the sharply acidic kick at the finish would indicate it being past its peak. An elegant and classy wine but probably 3 - 4 years past its peak. 15.5/20

2001 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint Jacques, Rousseau: I rather liked this - a more extracted forward style. Bright medium ruby. Savoury, animal saddle notes, complementing the bright red cherry and raspberry notes, with violet, spice and earthy nuances, all layered with bright minerality. Gorgeously balanced, velvety ripe tannin, with richness, weight and concentration that left you gobsmacked. Will continue to develop over next 12+ years but why wait! 18/20

2000 Meursault-Perrières, Lafon: Ripe concentrated fruit, apple, peach, toasted almonds, with heaps of stony minerality. Classy and sophisticated, with phenomenal precision and purity.  Crisp and very long finish. Drinking beautifully now and for next 10 - 15 years. 18/20

Thank you again Paul and Julie for an excellent evening and the doggy bags of peaty smoked salmon!

2007 Chianti Classico Badia a Passignano Riserva, Antinori

12 Sep 2012: Dinner at Otto e Mezzo, HK

2007 Chianti Classico Badia a Passignano Riserva, Antinori

100% Sangiovese. A plush style of Chianti Classico, with intensity of fruit flavours and silky tannin structure. Deep ruby. With a bit of aeration (30 - 40 minutes in the decanter), the classic floral, kirsch and red cherry bouquet layered with nuances of liquorice and smoke, was very attractive. Silky ripe tannin on the palate, with a good dose of acidity to balance the concentration of flavours. Lovely clean and long finish and the freshness, given the ripeness of the vintage, was very admirable. A pretty well-made and perfectly balanced wine, but not a profound one. Just the perfect accompaniment to the pappardelle dish with slow cooked lamb and mushroom, scented with rosemary at Otto e Mezzo. Drink now and over the next 6 - 8 years. 16.5/20

1978 Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Pruliers, Henri Gouges

7 Sep 2012: Ruby core, garnet rim. A very classic nose of raspberry, autumn leaves, Asian spices, savoury, truffle and coffee notes, with great intensity. Delicate frame, silky tannin, vibrant acidity, keeping the palate remarkably fresh, wet stone mineralty on the palate. Lengthy finish. A wine of pedigree, character, refined style and purity. A fantastic effort for a Premier Cru.  Drinking at peak now, and for next 5 - 6 years. 18/20

1966 La Tache and 1988 Krug

1 Sep 2012: A rather special occasion for us to enjoy some fine bottles with a couple of friends at Spoon Restaurant in Hong Kong. We started with a 1988 Krug, which the sommelier chose to serve in these slightly modified Marie-Antoinette champagne coupes, where the wine fills the stem of the glasses. These glasses were certainly pretty but I was not quite sure that they were entirely helpful in concentrating the aromas of our fine champagne and the bit in the stem was not doing very much! Bright golden hue, with persistent fine bubbles. A mature and richly intense bouquet of honey, figs, toasted hazelnuts and smokey notes. On the palate, it reveals an impeccably balanced opulence in flavours, gorgeously creamy texture, freshness delivered by the right amount of acidity and nicely developed warm notes of marmalade, dried apricot, guava and almond croissant. Seriously yummy, with a very long finish! Gorgeous now and for the next 8 - 10+ years. 18/20
Our white wine was a 1978 Corton-Charlemagne, Bonneau du Martray. Pale gold. Richard found it too rich and mature for his liking. I rather liked it and it went really well with the steamed foie gras that Frank and I both ordered. (A hearty portion size of foie gras - best shared by 2 people, I think.) Toasted macadamia and hazelnuts, caramel popcorn, quince, with notes of white chocolate, nutmeg and coriander seeds. Medium acidity, keeping the wine fresh on the palate, medium bodied, quite unctuous. Long spicy finish. Definitely for drinking now, while it's still balanced. 17/20

Steamed foie gras

The sommelier again offered a strange choice of glassware for the 1966 La Tâche. He served it in small white wine glasses, citing reason that the wine was going to collapse very quickly in a normal Burgundy glass. For me, while this wine did not require decanting (provided careful pouring), it would benefit from a suitable amount of aeration to allow the wine to open up and the elements to come together. Ruby core, with a garnet rim. Very enticing bouquet of raspberry, dried rose petals, sous-bois and Asian spices. Initially the palate was a little subdued, but came through, after some aeration, with earthy notes of mineral and wet stones, and some coffee. A very refined structure of silky tannin, showing a little astringency, with medium acidity still in balance, a classy lengthy finish. A fine wine, showing plenty of finesse, elegance and complexity, but much less complete/exuberant than the Romanée Conti from same vintage, the memory of which still lingers in my mind 6 years after tasting it. 18.5/20

We finished with 1983 Château d'Yquem. Medium-deep amber in colour. Richly intense marmalade, dried apricot, dried pineapple, beautifully laced with toffee apple notes on nose and palate. The voluptuous body is lifted by vibrant acidity, giving this wine a vigorously long finish. For my palate, I would like it with a bit more tension and less of the richness. 17/20
We were spoilt but great wines really reveal their greatness in the company of special friends.