Burghound Symposium Masterclasses, with Allen Meadows

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In Review…

Review of The Fine Wine Experience Burghound Symposium

Masterclasses, with Allen Meadows. Island Shangri-La Hotel, Hong Kong, Saturday 18th April 2015. © Linden Wilkie

Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru and Grand Cru

That Chambolle stands for elegance and delicacy is fair, began Allen Meadows, but not

the full story. Better, to understand the village in its spectrum from the top of its slope

where the wines are leaner, racier, and more mineral, but no so fleshy, down to the

bottom by the route nationale where there is pretty good soil depth, where there can be

more richness, less elegance and more rusticity.

We set out this afternoon on a tour of those vineyards, Chambolle-Musigny’s premiers crus, and we were given a very informative tour. “Fortunately,” continued Allen, “all but

one of the 1er crus comprise only one lieu dit (the exception being Feusselottes), so when

we are looking at a Chambolle 1er Cru we are looking at something mostly homogenous.”

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With maps in hand and vineyards circled on the projector screen in front, we began our

tour. The tasting notes below are mine, but I have tried to convey some of what Allen

spoke about for each vineyard in italics.

Allen’s depth and breadth of knowledge was impressive, and as he described each

vineyard you could see him mentally walking the vineyards and describing them.

2011 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Lavrottes’, Olivier Bernstein

Bright, still youthful appearance; sweet, fresh, with a distinctly nutty Coche-Dury-like

oak note, some meaty-sausage and sage-like flavours over crystalline red cherry on the

nose; juicy, focused and fresh on the palate, zippy acidity, luminous fruit, nutty-oaky

notes, fine grippy tannins. Stylish, modern. Promising bottle.

91

A ‘commercial monopole’ for Bernstein, meaning they are the only ones to market it. Traditional vinification including use of stems. “Size, weight and muscle”.

2011 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Amoureuses’, Joseph

Drouhin

Bright, clear mid-depth of colour; open, beautifully scented,

red fruit, a touch of earth and beetroot, lovely lavender-like

florals; very fine, juicy, with sapid fine extract coated

tannins, transparent and perfumed, very long elegant finish

with sinewy-like strength. Superb.

94

By far the clear unequivocal first choice for elevation to grand cru status in Chambolle and the market reflects the sentiment. For long ageing and elegance.

2010 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Charmes’, Domaine

Bertheau

Fine, moderate to light depth, with a touch of colour fade at

the rim; cool, with a hint of mint/menthol, sandalwood, there

is a wonderfully refreshing tone on the nose; detailed on the

palate, succulence, restrained in style yet open aromatically,

red fruit, with small herbal details, very fine tannin. Tastes

very clear and natural – zero ‘make up’. Very good. 92

Only a ‘7 iron’ shot from Amoureuses, but what a difference here. ‘Charming’ is correct, drinks earlier, and not as long lived as some other 1er Crus, and the Bertheau style emphasizes this point.

2010 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Cras’, Domaine G. Roumier






Clear, deeper shade here compared to the Bertheau 2010, ruby core; fresh, aromatic, a

touch spicy; lovely core of morello cherry and raspberry scented fruit, spice and oak

lavishness, but the impression is dominated by concentrated luminous fresh fruit, very

tightly delineated and precise wine. Lovely.

93

An extension (via Les Fuées) of Bonnes Mares, but there is some complication in Les Cras. The side of Les Cras next to Les Fuées is much like Fuées, but west of a fault that runs through the vineyard, it turns west-facing and the wines can be leaner. There is also a ‘village’ rated part of the vineyard at the western edge. Roumier’s piece of Les Cras is in the Fuées end.

2009 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Fuées’, Domaine J.-F. Mugnier

Full ruby; fragrant, quite floral and perfumed, with savoury counterpoints on the nose;

lovely precision, detail, spice, fruit, perfume, but this is also quite fleshy-middled, fine

velvet tannin. This shows the generosity of 2009, lovely fruit, but also perfumed, detailed,

and fine.

93

This vineyard is an extension of Bonnes Mares and is a mineral-driven 1er cru. But while we might call Bonnes Mares ‘ rugby players’, Les Fuées are ‘gymnasts, not weight lifters’. The wine needs long ageing. Allen said Freddie Mugnier considers this his favourite vineyard.

2009 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Aux Beaux-Bruns’, Domaine Ghislaine Barthod

Fairly deep ruby, clear; fresh, quite sweet nose, dark roses in the scent; beautiful, fresh,

dark rose-scented fruit, fresh acidity and minerality, great cut, but also gently sumptuous

fruit, fairly grippy tannins. Earthiest, stickest and most sumptuous of the three Barthod

‘09s tasted.

92

Another split-rated vineyard, with some Beaux-Bruns being village level AOC. Barthod’s is 1er Cru. A fleshier, more approachable Chambolle, that can sometimes have a little rusticity.

2009 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Chatelots’, Domaine Ghislaine Barthod

Fine, lighter colour than the Beaux-Bruns; lifted aromatics, slightly exotic, roses,

potpourri, really quite floral, slightly spicy too, a very pretty nose; bright, fresh, very

elegant and taut with more mineral grip compared to the Beaux-Bruns. Bright red fruit,

gentle style. The most “feminine” of the three.

92

Similar to Beaux Bruns but is a little lighter, earlier drinking, and mineral.






2009 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Véroilles’, Domaine Ghislaine Barthod

Bright clear, fuller colour; floral and a touch of licorice, lavender; real depth on the palate,

with pewrfume aligned to real fine velvet sapid grip of fine tannins, feels long term,

perhaps the most interesting of the three Barthods tasted, but the least accessible today.

Very fine.

93

A monopole vineyard, elevated from village level to 1er Cru in 1987. But be careful as there is also (not from Barthod) village level Les Véroilles. Can be lean, austere, mineral and needs bottle age to flesh out. 2009 compensates well for this strict terroir, otherwise we might expect this to be less accessible.

2008 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Feusselottes’, Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg

Fine, mid- to light appearance, clear; lifted, zippy fresh red fruit, touch grilled nut oak;

fresh red fruit, very clear and racy and fine. Elegant, not especially fleshy but very juicy.

Attractive.

90

A pet favourite vineyard of Allen’s – elegance, complexity and achingly beautiful.

2008 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Gruenchers’, Domaine Fourrier

Fine hued, mid-depth; ripe nose, mineral, with ample fruit and spice, touch of leafy

freshness; juicy, fleshy, piquant acidity, a touch too taut / pinched, but good flesh.

89

Fleshy, generous and easy to like 1er Cru. “While some 1er Crus you might meet at a party would make you come to them and do all the work, Gruenchers would come up to meet you. It’s prepared to be friends with you.” But while it does the ‘Charmes’ bit, it is also ageworthy and develops complexity.

2007 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘La Combe d’Orveaux’, Domaine J. Faiveley

Clear, touch colour development; leafy piquant candied raspberry nose, savoury notes,

oak-nut, open and accessible aroma; juicy, amply fleshy, with an attractive savoury-

morish juicy-fruity finish. Very drinkable now.

90

La Combe d’Orveau is actually a triple-rated vineyard. Domaine Jacques Prieur’s portion got upgraded to Musigny. There are four owners of 1er Cru level Combe d’Orveau, but there are also village level Combe d’Orveau wines. 1er Cru Combe d’Orveau is not quite as impressive as Musigny, but ‘under the radar’ relatively speaking. Allen made special mention of Bruno Clavelier’s version.

1999 Bonnes Mares, Domaine Groffier






Still plenty of depth in the colour, development right at the edge; sweet nose, fragrant,

slightly leafy/minty, touch of licorice, earth, quite fragrant with prompting; sweet fruit,

some oaky-gloss to the style, well-integrated now, but adds a touch superficial sweetness.

Lovely fruit, touch earth and mineral, fine grip. Delicious.

91

If you start at the bottom left and go to the top right – that line divides Bonnes Mares into two soil types – ‘terres rouges’ (below) and ‘terres blanches’ (above). Some producers, such as de Vogüé (by far the largest owner) have both soils, but others are often in one or the other. Roughly speaking ‘terres rouges’ is richer, more powerful, and ‘terres blanches’ less so. Bonnes Mares is one of the least understood grands crus in the Côte de Nuits because it is also one of the ones that needs the longest ageing, but Allen would put it in the top ten grands crus of the Côte.

2001 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru, Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé

Fine, good depth of colour, fine hue; some lovely fruit on the nose, but also a touch of

volatile acidity masking the aromatics; juicy and bright on the palate, but the VA is both

prickly, and masking the flavor. Dark fruit with florals, fine texture. With vigorous

swirling this blows off a bit. Good mineral depth on the palate. Hard to tell if this is just

an aberration.

87?

‘Declassified’ by de Vogüé from the Musigny AOC it is entitled to, to 1er Cru, which is the next level down. The domaine does this for wine from young vines in order to protect the ‘Vieilles Vignes’ designation of their Musigny.






2001 Musigny, Domaine Comte Georges de

Vogüé

Fine ruby, fine hued; fine, low key

fragrance and mineral; tightly wound,

finely structured, roses, ripe fruit, juicy

acidity, fine delineation and structure. The

grip points to further ageing required, but

no concerns here – this is silky, effortless,

fine, lovely Musigny.

94

I had to miss some of the Musigny discussion (sorry). Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé owns a very large share of it across the grands crus’ two principal vineyards ‘Les Musigny’, to the north, and ‘Les Petits Musigny’ to the south. (The 3rd vineyard in Musigny is Domaine Jacques Prieur’s portion of La Combe d’Orveau).

Gevrey-Chambertin Grand Cru

A short afternoon break to turn the room around, and we were back in for the second

masterclass of the afternoon. Clearly a subject particularly dear to his heart, it was

obvious from his descriptions just how front of mind Gevrey is for him right now.

Tasting notes are mine, while words in italics are my notes on what Allen Meadows was

explaining about the terroirs of the various grands crus.

2011 Mazoyères-Chambertin, Domaine de la Vougeraie

Full ruby colour, clear; dark fruits, slightly spicy, slightly leafy, modern, with a touch of

nutty oak; bright on the palate, moderate concentration, fine grainy tannins, zingy

energy, good flesh, mineral notes. Fairly approachable.

91

Mazoyères can be labeled as Chamres-Chambertin, and vice versa (though in practice no one actually labels their Charmes as Mazoyères).

2007 Charmes-Chambertin, Domaine Bachelet

Fine deep ruby; some maturity showing on the nose, savoury, gently spicy dark-fruited

and wild notes; soft and juicy on the palate, dark fruit, with juicy, nice extract-coated

tannins, more matter here than many ‘07s, fragrant finish. Very good and already

drinking well.

92






Along with Mazoyères, per the name, the most charming and early drinking grand cru of Gevrey.

2007 Charmes-Chambertin, Domaine Claude Dugat

Fine dark ruby, clear; sweet cherry and nut on the nose, fruity, but also a little bretty;

taut, focused, fleshy, quite tannic after the Bachelet, there is an oaky flavor and texture,

slightly edgy tannins. But the slight coarseness and crudeness is exacerbated by

brettanomyces – a cleaner bottle would, I imagine, emphasize the fruit. Alas.

89. I expect a non-bretty bottle would rate highly.

2007 Latricières-Chambertin, Domaine Simon Bize

Fine, clear, light ruby; light, elegant nose, citrus and florals, red fruits; taut, mineral and

juicy on the palate, very racy and sleek, though there is sufficient fruit. Red fruits and

mineral austerity, luminous, fragrant and long.

91

Two parts to the vineyard – 93% of it is Latricières proper, and 7% is a piece of Combottes (1er Cru) that got included for political reasons. The vineyard is affected by cool air. It is regal and reserved – not at all like Charmes. It has a pungeant minerality. The closer you are to the Chambertin end of the vineyard, the more powerful the wine is.

2007 Ruchottes-Chambertin (Clos des Ruchottes), Domaine Armand Rousseau

Fine light ruby; lovely nose, wild, spicy, lifted and very detailed; fine, cool, elegant, racy,

the stems are in the flavor – pepper and spice – if anything they are too present. Long

finish. This has real energy, it stands above ’07 standards. Serious Ruchottes.

93

Ruchottes is divided into two parts – Ruchottes du Dessus (upper) and Ruchottes de Bas (lower). The upper part is all about limestone dust which creates relatively austere wines (though not as much as Latricières). This is Gevrey of subtlety. In 1977 Charles Rousseau bought a big piece of Ruchottes, and on his wife’s insistence shared the acquisition keeping the best part – a 1.06ha walled vineyard within Ruchottes. It has the lieu dit name Clos des Ruchottes and is a monopole, but not a separate appellation from Ruchottes-Chambertin.

2010 Mazis-Chambertin, Domaine Faiveley

Bright, clear mid-ruby; wild, floral and spicy reserved nose – beginning to shut down;

very fine on the palate with superb fruit energy and balance, very coherent flavor, flesh

and structure, lovely spicy and floral details, red and black fruit at the core. Long. This is

superb. Patience required.

94

Mazis encapsulates the ‘sauvage’ of Gevrey – it has a wild character. The Hospices de Beaune is the biggest landowner here followed by Faiveley.






2010 Chapelle-Chambertin, Domaine Drouhin-Laroze

Fine, clear, mid-ruby; quite sweet on the nose, strawberry, spicy and game; fine, juicy,

well-buffered, creamy mid-palate, quite refined and elegant, approachable and fleshy.

Good mineral sapid fine-grained finish.

93

Heterogeneous terroirs means opinion is divided as to what the style of Chapelle-Chambertin is. The ‘En la Chapelle’ side is elegant, refined and accessible, while the ‘Les Gémeaux’ side, which is a continuation of Cherbaudes, is harder, more ‘butch’. The producers of Chapelle-Chambertin make their wine from one part of the other, and the wines are quite different accordingly. (Drouhin-Laroze’s wines are from En la Chapelle).

2008 Griotte-Chambertin, Domaine Fourrier

Fine, clear, light ruby; dark fruit, sweet, reserved nose, spices, lovely; elegant and bright

on the palate, with elevated acidity, extra tannin depth and grip. Layered, taut. In a

fairly shut-down stage.

93

This is a grand cru quite hard to find as no one makes very much of it, except Domaine de Chezeaux, which 1.7ha. It looks like a meteor hit it. Griotte is a great example of the reputation of a grand cru rising with the reputation of the wines made by the domaines. Today, all the producers who make it do an excellent job, so Griotte is of high quality.

2001 Griotte-Chambertin, Domaine Ponsot

Inconsistent bottles, some showing a strange volatility. This, the best of them, I really enjoyed. Mature garnet, a touch dull in appearance; spicy and very sweet cherry-scented fruit,

open, with some earth, mature notes; sweet, succulent and very fragrant cherry and

florals, touch of almond paste / patisserie, fine, succulent tannins. In a good state of

evolution. Showing really well.

92 (the other bottles more like mid- to high-80s)

Meaning the ‘field of Bertin’ this grand cru has been known for centuries. Note that Chambertin Clos de Bèze shares Chambertin’s status – being the only one being appended to Chambertin (the other grands crus appending Chambertin – after their name, e.g. Griotte-Chambertin, cf Chambertin Clos de Bèze). A wine made from Bèze may be called simply Chambertin, a blend of Chambertin and Bèze must be called Chambertin, while the wines of Chambertin may not be called Chambertin Clos de Bèze. Simple! In principle though, the wines are different. Charles Rousseau explained to Allen Meadows that he feels Bèze is spicier than Chambertin, drinks earlier and declines earlier, and that Chambertin has a bit more minerality. Chambertin is a little colder due






to a combe (vale), meaning Bèze is usually picked a little earlier, and Chambertin must have a lower yield to achieve the same ripeness.

2011 Chambertin, Domaine Rossignol-Trapet

Bright clear fresh mid-depth; open, fresh, sweet and pretty nose, floral; fine, elegant

cherry and red fruit, oak/vanilla is there too from the oak. Mouthcoating. This has lovely

sap and the fruit really coats the palate. Tannins are super-fine and the overall effect is

power without weight. Lovely, if perhaps a touch oaky.

94

2006 Chambertin, Domaine Trapet

Fine mid-light depth of colour, bright and clear; spicy earthy nose, candied red cherry,

wild herbs, tea notes; good concentration on the palate, layered, great wild notes in the

flavor, slightly chewy rustic trannins, but great flavor at the end. Old fashioned in a good

way.

93

2009 Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Bouchard Père et Fils

Fine clear fresh ruby colour; fresh, lively nose, fine fruit and fragrance; fine, quite

concentrated, very supple and fine-textured, dark fruit, fine flavor-filled tannins. Clean.

Long fine finish

92

2009 Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Domaine Bruno Clair

Fine, clear; discrete nose; lovely dark fruit, spices, really quite shut down, fine structure,

but impenetrable today.

93?

1999 Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Domaine Pierre Damoy

Mature tone, garnet, clear; sweet, slightly pruney nose, dried plums and cherries; juicy

ripe fruit, fine texture, but there is also a fair bit of oak which masks the flavours overall.

90








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Burghound Symposium Masterclasses, with Allen Meadows