WTN: Dujac! Dujac! Dujac!

Tuesday our “Bordeaux” group met at Bobby Van’s for a Dujac dinner. Dujac used to be a splurge, now it’s an impossibility for most of us, but we had some bottles from back in the day. I started with a wedge salad, then my end of table split a couple of porterhouses, with spinach and fries.

2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne
A particularly good bottle, rich but lithe, pear & citrus with rye bread and nutty overtones, Fresh and long. A-

NV Calsac Rocheforts Champagne
Crisp, steely, with pear, Meyer lemon,and spring flowers, long finish with chalk and a hint of nuts. Really enjoy. A-/B+


We went basically younger to older, but pairing same vineyards

2016 Domaine Dujac les. Beaux Monts Vosne-Romanee 1er
Smoky, with rich red fruit and spice. Very tasty, very young. B+ for now

2008 Domaine Dujac Clos St Denis
Rich and deep, some firm tannin, black raspberry with peppery Dujac spice, quite long. Great but still developing. A-
2010 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin
Big and firm, sappy dark fruit, cocoa, smoke and spice. A-/B+
2006 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin
Firm tannin, black cherry fruit with nice stemmy notes, coffee, herbs. B+
2006 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche
Young, firm black cherry and raspberry, fennel seed, a little graphite edge to finish. B+/A-
2004 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche
The 2004 green shows here as a pine needle note, which I didn’t particularly mind but a couple people hated. But seems fairly mature, with a little soy edge to the cherry and cranberry fruit. I’d drink up (but enjoy). B

1999 Domaine Dujac Combottes Gevrey-Chambertin 1er
Gevrey earth but with an almost Chambolle like elegance, sweet red and black cherry fruit, autumn leave, smoke. Complex and delicious, ready but no hurry,. A-/A
1998 Domaine Dujac Bonne Mares
When I first smelled I thought I got a little cardboard, but on revisit couldn’t find. Then someone else called corked and I still couldn’t find. Nicely acidic balance, rich deep fruit, spice and gamebirds. I thought this quite fine, at least 2 thought faulty. B+/A-
We did our usual 3/2/1 voting, results were:
1999 Combottes 17 votes
2010 Charmes 11
2008 CSD 11
2006 Clos de la Roche 6
2016 Beaux Monts 2

Fun night, but likely the last Dujac dinner I’ll ever do!

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

[David M. Bueker]

That's a heck of a spread. I've never had the opportunity to widely sample the Dujac lineup, but what I have tasted has really impressed me. I have a few bottles squirreled away, and now I really want to open one!

I haven't had much chance to drink Dujac, but I was very impressed with the ones I've tasted.

-Paul W.

Phenomenal lineup, Dale. I wish that I could have been party to that tasting (airfare to NYC would probably have been cheaper than some of those bottles). From the sounds of it, I should sit on my few remaining bottles for another 5-10 years.

[Jenise]

What an enviable tasting! In the 90's, Dujac was what I 'settled' for when I realized I couldn't afford Leroys. Haven't had one since 2010 when we drank our last Bonnes Mares. Great notes, thanks.

Mark,
my bottle was the Combottes, but I furnished the '06 Charmes to Chris as a trade since he had no Dujac. That bottle came from a lot we split in days of yore, and could definitely use time though I quite enjoyed Tues.
Jenise, Dujac is still generally cheaper than Leroy! Which of course is about like saying Rolls Royce is cheaper than Bugatti.

Another one of those slumming tastings...

Nice stuff. I have limited experience with Dujac, but did enjoy a bottle of 2011 Combottes when visiting Burgundy a few years ago.

I’ve only had one Dujac, that 02 that Richard brought to Noreetuh, and man was it impressive.