Thursday, August 26, 2010

A night in Chambolle-Musigny

Haaaa Chambolle....Just the name gives me goose bumps. I imagine a lovely perfumy wine, light with finesse...a wine to drink with good friends and while chatting about everything and nothing.

On this beautiful evening in Chicago, finally able to have diner outside, we were all excited to taste blind a few Chambolle.
Squeezed between Morey-St-Denis and Vougeot, it has 2 Grand Crus: Bonnes Mares (shared with MSD) and the famous Le Musigny. The better 1er Cru is arguably Les Amoureuses.



Ok, let's start the Chambolle fest.

We went through 7 bottles and a good sign was that pretty much all of them were empty...

Part 1



2006 Digioa-Royer Chambolle: There's a bloody, iron touch on the nose completed with nice floral lift. Elegant red fruits both on the nose and palate. Tannic grip and well structured. It flows lightly on the palate while being nicely balanced. I thought this was 1er Cru quality. Very well done. This is drinking really well right now. I don't see it ageing 20 years but this will probably improve over the next 4-6 years. (13%)

2004 Domaine Drouhin, Oregon, Willamette Valley: A pirate in our tasting. Darker nose than the previous wine, quite a lot of licorice, almost like a zan candy. Blue fruits with a touch of grenadine. Palate shows again some blueberry and strawberry with still this licorice wrap. This is rather easy to drink and simple. This was not screaming Oregon but at the same time, it "made" sense once the bottle was revealed. But at $40, easy pass for me. (14.1%)

2004 Domaine Bertagna, Chambolle 1er Cru Les Plantes: a controversial wine. Half of the people thought this was corked. I did not think this was corked at all, even though there was definitely something a little off. Started like fish sauce, very shy and muted. Three hours later, it was a totally different wine showing some enjoyable red fruits, a hint of minerality but with an eggplant like aroma floating in the middle...This needs to be re tasted. (13.5%)

2004 Robert Groffier, Chambolle 1er Cru Les Hauts Doix: Man, what a stunning nose: floral (roses) and mineral, a touch stemmy, mix of red/dark fruit...wow...On the palate, the ripeness was a little too much and the wine tasted literally sweet. But 30mn later, the wine was balanced (still ripe) and the acidity came through and let a stream of dark fruits (dark cherry) shine. Some subtle licorice. Definitely 1er Cru quality here. Some of the group thought the oak was too much and while I'm usually overly sensitive and pissed by the oak, I thought it was smartly used and integrated. It's there for sure but this is a young wine. I think this Chambolle needs more years to be even more balanced but Groffier style is also part of the game here. We're in the modern camp of Chambolle but this will be a really good wine in the future. (13.5%)


Part 2



2006 Domaine Collotte Chambolle-Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes: Modest red fruits with a light touch of oak (coffee notes) on the nose. Not much going here. Tannic and heavy because of a lack of acidity. Hard to identify Chambolle. Ripe strawberry with hint of plums. Never heard of this producer based in Marsannay. (13%)

2001 Gislaine Barthod, Chambolle 1er Cru Les Fuées: Started with a little dusty, old basement nose. It then opened with interesting blood orange notes, red fruits and iodine. Hint of mushrooms brings earthy tones to the wine. You can sense power underneath this young wine. I found it to be a rather masculine Chambolle with somehow not so clean palate. Nevertheless this was really good. (13%)

2007 Domaine Ponsot Chambolle-Musigny Cuvée des Cigales: 43 years old vines. I have to admit this was not showing so well tonight as I found it very tight and close. Maybe a hint of bacon along elegant red fruits. Feminine, light on its feet, I'd like to re taste to better understand this wine. (12.5%)

This was overall a really nice interesting and good line up. I have not had many Chambolle before and I enjoyed the wines. You could see, with maybe one or two exceptions, that those wines definitely had a common profile: elegance, red fruits, floral. Of course, both the climats and the winemakers have an impact on the final wine but I'm happy to see a sense of place. Also interesting to see that the only non Burgundian wine is the only clocking over 14%.

6 comments:

  1. I love the wines of Chambolle Musigny and was excited about this tasting. Before the tasting, I spent some time looking at a nice map of Chambolle, such I could understand possibly the terroir and the dirrfernces between the northern 1er cru climats and the southern 1er cru climats. Since this was a blind tasting, I knew from the very beginning that I would bring a wine from Ghislaine Barthod. The question was which vintage. I also decided after reading an article about the Drouhin family, and that the wines that Veronique Drouhin was making for Drouhin Oregon, were fashioned after the wines of Chambolle. I had a bottle of Drouhin Oregon 2004, and thought this should be entered into the blind tasting as well. I decided to bring a bottle of the Ghislaine Barthod 2001 Fuees. Upon decanting, I knew the wine was too young, and needed more than the 1 hr of decanting that I could give it, but hey what to do now but bring it. Also thought, it will be interesting to see how it opens up. I also decided, to decant and taste the Drouhin Oregon wine as well. Funny, I thought the wine did not smell of Oregon, but thought for sure it was not burgundy, but was a well made pinot, just maybe not my style. I also was surprised that I paid $42 for the bottle.


    Now on to the tasting:


    2006 Digioa Royer Chambolle-Really liked this chambolle, for its freshness, pretty fruit, and pure out drinkability at the table. I have seen this producer around, and had never tasted their stuff, but was always intereseted…at the village level for $35-$40 this chambolle is perfect. Not overly complex…but just right where it needs to be. For that moment, at the table this was IMO the wine of the night.

    2004 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Willamette Valley-dark extracted fruit, blocky in style with not much Drouhin finesse. I would drink a glass over dinner, but lacked that burgundy limestone freshness on the palate that I need, as well as acidity. This wine stood out for me, as being much different than the others.

    2004 Domaine Bertagna Chambolle 1er Cru Les Plantes- Corked…this bottle was off. Would like to retry this one

    2004 Robert Groffier Chambolle, 1er Hauts Doix- The nose on this wine was absolutely captivating. The fruit was a tad bit sweet for me, and was slightly modern in style. Thought this would be a great wine that I would love to re-taste in the future. This wine will be a beauty in 7 years.

    2006 Domaine Collotte Chambolle Musigny Cuvee VV- I hated this wine. I actually thought the Drouhin Wilamette was better…at least you knew the Drouhin was pinot. The nose was over roasted fruit, and the palate thin..YUCK. Funny thing, I like Domaine Collotte’s Marsanny.

    2001 Ghislaine Barthod Fuees-Slight, aging nose, but whoa what power hidden beneath. I expected power since this is coming from the Bonnes Mares/Morey side of chambolle. This wine was great on the palate with a great mélange of fruit, but this wine is way too young. This wine is a youngster. I will re-vist in 7 years, and hopefully this will be a swan.

    sheila a

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  2. I forgot this one:

    Ponsot 2007 Cigales- I have loved almost every 2007 burgundy i have sampled, and this one dissapointed. It was chambolle in nature, yet a bit too light. There was not much there if you know aht i mean. I enjoyed the wine, but wondered if it was showiing bad that night and needed time. This was a village wine, and the only 2007 wines that i have had have been 1er cru, so maybe this is vintage to buy 1er only. Anyway, would love to taste this one again.

    sheila a

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  3. Like you I enjoyed almost every 2007 and the Ponsot did not show its potential. I never tried this particular cuvee but I would think it is in a bad phase right now.

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  4. just some comments, as Sheila and Arno have covered the tasting results admirably.

    The Digioa-Royer villages was a very pleasant and big surprise, as I also thought this was 1er Cru. Seeing the btl and the Wasserman label, I was less surprised, but still happy to have found a new producer worth exploring. Thinking about it more, I suspect some 1er cru juice was mixed in with villages - time to send an e-mail to Beaune to check.

    The Bertagna Plantes was clearly off at the beginning of the tasting, but whatever was affecting it blew-off within a few hours. Sadly i was too tired to really appreciate this wine by the time the wine came to life, but it was clear that this is a wine of some depth and character.

    The Groffier was a bit candied, but clearly a high quality wine of good complexity, even with some layering in the mid-palate, and it performed very well overall. Hate to admit such positive things about modern style wines, but it is what it is - Cheers to blind tastings!

    The Barthod '01 Fuees is a wine I just realized I've had before, and in retrospect I suspect, like many '01s, it was shut down. I had this wine about 4 years ago, and it was firing on all cylinders (on a par in quality w Mugnier '01 Fuees, imho), so I would expect GREAT things from this wine in another 5+ years.

    The Ponsot was a big disappointment, largely because I appreciate what Ponsot wines are like when they are on, even his villages. Still, I was glad to try it as I not had any '07 Ponsot until Wed nite.

    -burghead

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  5. Great comments Sheila and David. Let's plan on having that 01 Barthod all together in 10 years :)

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  6. sounds good Arno ... I've got some of the other superb '01 I had at that same lunch, Armand Clos de Epeneaux, which I'd be happy to bring to the party. They both should be rocking in about 10 years or so ... :)

    -burghead

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