From the first of Table & Vine's Monday night tastings of this month, focusing on Burgundy.
Whites:
2006 Madame Ferret Pouilly-Fuisse "Les Sceles"
Ripe, slightly oaky aromatics with toasty and hazelnut notes framing rich white fruited flavours. Very rich in the mouth with the oak and fruit balancing each other nicely, touches of spice emerging on the back end but finishing slightly warm.
2007 Sylvain Loichet Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc
Really lovely; pale white fruits and citrus flavours over an intense rocky base with a sense of purity and lightness to the fruit and bright acids making it very refreshing and precise.
2002 Laleure-Piot Corton-Charlemagne
Starts out nice and minerally with pale white fruited flavours and softer herbal and vanilla notes, but with just a little bit of air the oak takes over and this gets unpleasantly woody. Very light in the mouth, to the point of feeling hollow and dilute and showing none of the finesse or elegance I'd look for in a top white Burgundy.
Reds:
2008 Georges Duboeuf Morgon 'Jean Descombes'
Full of bright strawberry and raspberry flavours on a very light frame, very fun and easy to drink though not particularly complex.
2007 Michel Noellat Bourgogne Rouge
QPR winner of the night for me. Really delicious and approachable with lots of fresh red fruits and faint floral elements in a package that's incredibly light, elegant and silken-textured. At $20, definitely something I would not mind buying.
2005 Camille-Giroud Santenay
Lumber! Or is that timber? Either way, this was a woody mess and couldn't go to the dump bucket quickly enough.
2007 Hudelot-Noellat Chambolle Musigny
Fairly simple with tart cherry and cranberry fruit at first; with some air the fruit profile darkens as some plum and smoky elements emerge, but this remains quite boring though certainly quite elegant and easy to drink.
2004 Louis Jadot Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuees
Had enjoyed a bottle of this at a dinner recently where it was showing beautifully. This is more herbal and leafy than my last experience with this a month ago; the fresh cherry and plum fruit I remembered is much more understated this time and dominated by forestal, herbal and tobacco leaf aromas. That said there's still plenty of pleasure here with a sense of polish and elegance, though this didn't quite live up to my expectations.
2004 Prince Florent de Merode Corton-Renardes
If this was served blind in one of those black glasses, I may have guessed it to be celery juice at first. I've not had many issues with the '04 greens until now, but this was really vegetal and leafy, there's just a touch of autumnal red fruit beneath but otherwise there's very little pleasure here.
2000 Faiveley Corton-Clos des Cortons Faiveley
Makes a very nice first impression with a combination of dark fruits, earth, cocoa and what initially seems like subtle oak woven into the background - but the oak quickly takes over and dominates the other flavours with some air, and the structure here becomes increasingly forbidding as the combination of the huge tannic spine and the oaky cocoa notes on the back end make this increasingly unpleasant to drink.
1998 Hospices de Beaune Corton-Cuvée Docteur Peste Méo-Camuzet
Really great aromatics combining forestal and leathery notes with red and dark fruits, leading into a palate that's very complex and layered with ripe fruit, earth and subtle oak elements that blend into the background. Still quite youthful with lots of time ahead.
Bonus red served blind afterwards:
2008 Evening Land Vineyards Pinot Noir
Very sweet, ripe red fruited and toasty flavours that had quite a few people guessing New World immediately; the fruit's ripe and confected to the point that it feels more like something from a candy store than anything that I'd expect in a wine. Just enough acidity here to keep it from feeling jammy, this is a big wine but balanced - though feels like something that's better suited to big tastings than the dining table and a good meal.