WTN: '96 Puligny Montrachet

Opened a '96 Puligny Montrachet Les Folatiores by Trebuchet on Saturday night. Deep golden color, palate of roasted almonds with honeydew in the background and a complex deep full body. The finish would not quit and it was sad to see the bottle empty. The wine was perfectly ready to drink and may not get any better but still young, vibrant and proably good for at least another 5 years. This is the best white wine from recent memory and may be in my top 10 ever. A great marriage of terroir, bottle age and the proper use of oak. If anyone was concerned about '96 Burgs this would certainly calm your concerns.
Walt

Walt, I don't know how permissive Missouri is about wine shipments from retailers out-of-state. I think Carolina Wine Company in Raleigh may have an exclusive on Benoit Ente's wines in this country. His white Burgundies are marvelous and reasonably priced (for Burgundy). I especially like the Puligny-Montrachet Champ Gain (not sure of spelling--I see this as Champs Gains with 's' on each word ending and other variations) but even his bourgogne blanc is surprisingly good. The balance of fruit and oak is one of the things I like in his wines (also in Jean Marc Morey's white Burgundies).

JC,
Missouri has its faults but wine legislation is not one of them. We BYOB everywhere and you can get wine shipped in from anywhere. I am very much a oakaphobe and have been restricting my white burgs to Chablis and village sutff that I taste before purchasing more than one bottle. After having the '96 P-M I may have to rethink my approach. A good white Burg (P-M or C-M) without oak would not be worth cellaring. The problem I have is when they use too much oak. It's a thin line but that is why we get paid so much to collect and cellar wine. I have never bought from Carolina Wine Company but will take a look.
Walt

You might have to e-mail and inquire. I don't think their website
http://carolinawine.biz/index.asp?CartId={7EVEREST83846B9-07E1-4D4A-874E-59C6388AAC2D} lists anything like their total stock. For instance, if you look for wines from France it lists only two pre-arrival wines when actually they have dozens of wines (white and red Burgundies, Loire, Rhone, Bordeaux) available.

Walt, I notice that the Berry Bros. & Rudd's vintage chart for France shows '96 as an exceptional vintage in Chablis. Do you think that the bottle age was necessary to get the level of integration in the wine that you describe?

I would buy more Chablis myself but I'm not entirely clear on whether cellar time is a must, or just an option. My experience to-date is mainly with Ontario Chardonnay, and these have been compared to Chablis but the difference is that they are always accessible upon release. Age seems to create complexity, but isn't absolutely necessary.[/url]

[David M. Bueker]

Walt, I notice that the Berry Bros. & Rudd's vintage chart for France shows '96 as an exceptional vintage in Chablis. Do you think that the bottle age was necessary to get the level of integration in the wine that you describe?

I would buy more Chablis myself but I'm not entirely clear on whether cellar time is a must, or just an option. My experience to-date is mainly with Ontario Chardonnay, and these have been compared to Chablis but the difference is that they are always accessible upon release. Age seems to create complexity, but isn't absolutely necessary.[/url]

I'm not Walt, but I will say that I find Chablis accessible on release in most vintages, but after a year or two it shuts down only to re-emerge as a more complex wine after 7 years or so in bottle.