WTN: A Burgundian Dinner

Notes from a Burgundy Dinner

Lovely dinner aid on by Devin at a local restaurant, with blind tasted Bugs, white and red.

2004 Girardin Puligny Montrachet Le Champ Gain – buttery smoky nose, silky feel, smooth entry, good acidity, and a fair bit of oak that manifested more on palate than in the nose. I liked this a lot.

2004 Sauzet Puligny Montrachet Le Champ Gain – same vineyard and vintage, different producer, totally different wine.Clean citrus nose, simpler wine with clean bright acidity and oak in the nose.

2000 Fontaine Chandon de Briailles Corton Le Charlemagne – an interesting nutty, salty slightly oxidative nose, medium weight, decent length and classy presence. Nice wine.

Served with scallop ravioli, lobster tomato salad

After 3 winning whites, we plunged intrepidly on to the reds.

1978 Remoissenet Pommard – the light was low and it was difficult to judge wine age, and this one seemed 15 - 20 years younger. Slightly spicy, meaty raspberry nose, sweet and bright, balanced and elegant.

1990 Thibault Ligier-Belair Les St. Georges – earthy musty nose, and then some mint showed up. Sweet entry, finished with high acidity and some dill. Getting tired?

With braised veal cheeks and a foie gras cromoquis (little sac of FG that squirts at you when you cut into it!


1996 Daniel Rion Nuits St. Georges Les Vignes Rondes- Dark wine, fruity nose but I thought it fell a bit flat in the middle, finishing with both tannin and acid. Some raspberry in nose.

1985 Faivelley Mazis Chambertin – sweet fruit in nose, mellow wine, medium bodied, that kept building nose with time in the glass. Ready but holding.

1989 Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches – nose slightly musty at first, but cleared up, another sweet, mellow wine that was smooth across the palate. I thought it low in acid at the start but it seemed to somehow balance out with time.

With pheasant and an oeuf aux meurettes (a favourite of mine)

2001 Girardin Pommard - dark wine with fruit driven nose, sweet entry, good acidity, good length

1958 Doudet Naudin Savigny les Beaunes – from a producer that fell into some disrepute some years ago, and a wine not reputed to last well, a stand out. Pale colour, rose petal nose, it was almost more like a Nebbiolo than a Pinot. faded elegance on palate, still balanced and still showing a lot of class.

[Jenise]

Bill, my notes. Thanks to Emily and Devin for putting this one together.

2004 Girardin Puligny 1er Cru Puligny-Montrachet Le Champ Gain – Note your typo on the vintage, Bill. Deep yellow color looks older than actual age. Very generous on the nose and palate with smokey oak, baked apples and light butterscotch. Drinks perfectly now. Rasoul commented that it drank like a GC. Excellent.

2004 Sauzet 1er Cru Puligny-Montrachet Le Champ Gain – A friend and I brought these two wines, interested in the opportunity to contrast the difference that producer makes. The result was startling: the wines could not have been more opposite, and the Sauzet was as taut as the Girardin was generous. Pale color, almost tart by comparison with lighter body and more acidity: where the Girardin was all about the oak the Sauzet was all about minerality. Needs more time to achieve it's best. Excellent.

2000 Domaine Chandon de Briailles Corton Le Charlemagne – again, note your typo on the name. Almond-y oxidative nose with a bit of dried peach, more manzanilla than chardonnay at this point. Soft acidty and a bit sweet after the Sauzet. Enjoyable, but just a touch over the line for me on oxidation.

A comment before going on to the reds: you know how I love this restaurant, it's "home", but the glassware last night really hurt the wines. Two of the following reds came out in Burg bowls, but the rest were in Riedel Magnums which is a decent all-around glass for most reds, especially new world wines (please note that this is the tasting glass that all Washington wineries use in their tasting rooms, and this is no accident) but death on pinot noir--it stifles the fruit and accentuates the acids which for delicately balanced, finely nuanced wines like burgundy is problematic. All but two of these wines seemed a bit lacking to me, and I mostly blame the glassware for that.

1978 Remoissenet Pommard – would have bet this wine to be from the 90's, still had some tannins which, once we knew it was a Pommard, seemed explained. Iron-rich, and I agree with your take on elegance, spicy and meaty, but I found the finish a bit harsh.

1990 Thibault Ligier-Belair Nuis St. Georges – Burg bowl. Brighter, more polished than the Remoissenet, very red cherry with a little bit more sweet fruit on the palate which I enjoyed. I found this one more attractive than most did.

1996 Daniel Rion Nuits St. Georges Les Vignes Rondes- Funky nose and raspberry fruit, a bit on the rustic side with some vegetable character but nonetheless all this is what I've always found charming about Rions. Enjoyed this a lot. [/b]

1985 Faivelley Mazis Chambertin – This was lovely: complex, resolved and complete. Everything, or at least most things, you hope for in a mature burgundy.

1989 Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches – I didn't find this low acid at all. It seemed spot-on to me, mellow as you say but with a bit more tannin than the Faivelley. The tannins built a bit on the back of the palate with airtime. Probably not an issue for you as I think you said this was your last bottle, but I'd bet on drinking rather than holding other bottles.

2001 Girardin Pommard - What you said, though I'll add that it re-affirmed my slightly negative feelings about Pommard. Needs more time, and it's masculine. How can Volnay and Pommard be side by side and yet so opposite?

1958 Doudet Naudin Savigny les Beaunes – Another burg bowl, and a wine provided by our generous restaurauteur host. Pale mauvy-salmon color. What an exquisite wine, and one for my Year's Best list. Indistinguishable from nebbiolo to me with its rose petal and orange peel charcteristics; ethereal. A great wine experience--and I thought SLB's weren't ageable!

How can Volnay and Pommard be side by side and yet so opposite?

As you might expect, it's the terroir!

I believe Coates highlights the importance of more clay and heavier soils in Pommard, which supposedly give heavier wines. But I don't know the science!