Our most recent Burgundy group tasting focused on Morey St. Denis premier crus. The five of us were at a popular downtown wine restaurant mecca and there were two other tables occupied by wine board regulars that same night, so it was a festive environment all around. All of the wines were served blind.
2004 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault Clos de la Barre. This wine takes a little while to gather itself up and begin to unwind, but once it does it just really builds and builds up to a very nice and rewarding crescendo. It has a real pretty nose to it, with taut but fine aromas of white flowers, chalk, apples, citrus and blanched nuts. In the mouth, it has a languid and rounded entry onto the palate, but has a cool acidity and minerality down at the roots that provides good drive and balance. It has a real nice mouthfeel and texture to it and a lovely flavor profile of pears, apples, peaches, chalk, minerals and hazelnuts that is carried along nicely by that fine tingle of acidity. I ended up liking this a lot.
2001 Domaine Lignier-Michelot Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Faconnieres. The first red of the evening is really funky and a tad bretty on the nose—featuring all kinds of wild and somewhat unexpected aromatic notes like cologne, soft spices, dried red flowers, tobacco leaf, mushrooms and earth that slowly yield to ever-stronger notes of sweaty horse, pounded leather and barnyard that come on strong as the evening progresses. I like the funky character, but it really sets this wine apart from the rest. In the mouth, it is surprisingly resolved, with no real tannin interference and lots of pleasing warm red fruit flavors supported by bright bursts of acidity. It is not especially structured or complex-tasting, but has some good depth of flavor and seems plenty ready to be enjoyed right now.
2001 Hubert Lignier Morey St. Denis 1er Cru La Riotte. There’s a lot more aromatic texture to the bouquet of this wine, which I also really like but for entirely different reasons. Here, it is all about the fine aromas of sweet cherry, raspberry and cranberry fruit allied to soft suede, sous bois forest notes and sexy bits of mace and allspice. In the mouth, it comes across as medium-bodied and finely-balanced by soft acidity. The fruit comes through nice and clean, with a pretty complexion and a dry sensibility. It doesn’t seem to have quite as much depth as I’d like, but that sort of fills in a bit as the night goes on. Still, this ends a bit darker-fruited and more tannic the longer the night goes on. I think it is still a bit young and will probably be the best of the bunch 10 years from now. Even now, though, it was the group’s runner-up WOTN, just a bit off the pace.
2000 Domaine Pierre Amiot et Fils Morey St. Denis Les Millandes. It took a while to decide, but in the end I think this wine has my favorite bouquet. It is just so milky and fleshy on the nose, with just lovely softness to the suede, spice, cherry, sarsparilla and pencil shaving aromas it puts out there. And in the mouth, it is direct and very tasty—with solid depth and body to it, to go along with lifted drive and good structure. It is definitely more dark-fruited in tone than the previous wines and sticks its chest out there with a lot of confident presence. It is drinking very well and could go a while still, I should think. My and the group’s WOTN.
1999 Michel Magnien Morey St. Denis Les Millandes. The nose here is rather large-framed and less nuanced than any of the previous wines. It is more like a blast of dark mixed berry fruit, chalk, caramel, pine pitch and a seasoning dose of cedar shavings or balsa wood. In the mouth, it is fairly full-bodied and expansive in the mouth, with a generous push of berry paste and earth flavors that are nicely-textured but probably need some time to take on more layering and secondary nuances.
1999 Michel Magnien Morey St. Denis Les Chaffots. I would have to say that this wine has the darkest nose of the night, with black cherry fruit and graphite minerality intermingling with dark notes of maple curing and hickory smoke that come across as fairly primary. Like the previous wine, it is full and fleshy and abundantly-fruited—with lots of good stuffing but in need of time to develop.
After dinner, some of the fine folks at one of the neighboring tables were kind enough to share some solid pours of a few of the wines they were drinking. Some quick notes on those, keeping in mind that they had been open quite a while and were mostly from the bottom of the decanters:
2009 Couly-Dutheil Chinon Les Chanteaux. This Chenin Blanc is very fresh and flowery on the nose, with pretty notes of canteloupe, nectarine, honeysuckle and hay. It is clean, fresh and ripe on the palate, with a pretty mouthfeel and lots of tangy melon and citrus peel notes. It’s nicely done, for sure.
1994 Chateau Angelus St. Emilion. This one isn’t quite as good as the 1998 or the 1995—showing kind of foursquare on the nose in comparison—with rhubarb, cherry and dry earth aromas that lead to a palate that is dry, sort of dusty and tannic.
1995 Chateau Angelus St. Emilion. Now, this I like a whole lot. It is showing really well, with a very strong and giving bouquet of leather, sweet cherry, cassis and pungent spices. In the mouth, it is full-bodied, well-structured and beautifully-textured, with tons of cassis flavors and a nice balancing dryness to the lengthy finish. Good for another decade at least.
1998 Chateau Angelus St. Emilion. This is also excellent—with a lovely but powerfully-robust punch of dark berry fruit, lead pencil and tobacco leaf aromas. It is an even bigger mouthful of wine than the 1995—with a more rigidly tannic backbone, more power to it and a darker-fruited profile all around. This is serious stuff.
All in all, it was a great evening of food and wine. I don’t know that I gained a whole lot of insight into the Morey St. Denis profile, but I guess I just have to keep tasting!
-Michael
