Wine List

Domaine Marquis d'Angerville
2017
Volnay "Champans"
1er Cru Red barrel
Score: 91-94
Tasted: Apr 10, 2019
Drink: 2029+
Issue: 74
Sweet spot
Note: from a huge 3.98 ha parcel
Producer note: Guillaume d'Angerville described 2017 as a "vintage where we again narrowly avoided a potentially disastrous brush with frost. The growing season began exceptionally early and when temperatures began to fall in the last week of April, everyone had the bad memories of 2016 in their heads. Thankfully we managed to mostly avoid any real damage and the rest of the season was really pretty tranquil. We chose to begin picking on the 4th of September and the fruit really couldn't have been much cleaner. There was a bit of sorting for a few under ripe berries but otherwise, the sorting crew had an easy time of it. As to the wines, I would describe them as a harmonious blend of finesse and energy with excellent terroir transparency. There is an attractive fluidity about them that I very much like and adding to their appeal is a lovely freshness that makes them almost irresistible. As is often the case, I was particularly taken with the quality I found here and I would agree with M. d'Angerville that there is a highly appealing blend of refinement and purity to his 2017s. Note that the 2016 Clos des Ducs revisited below was bottled in April, 2018. (John Armit Wines, www.armit.co.uk, Lay & Wheeler, www.laywheeler.com, Corney & Barrow, www.corneyandbarrow.com, O.W. Loeb, www.owloeb.com, Charles Taylor Wines, www.charlestaylorwines.com and Justerini & Brooks, www.justerinis.com, all UK; Altaya Wines, www.altayawines.com, Hong Kong).
Tasting note: Once again there is a highly appealing freshness to the essence of red cherry, raspberry and floral elements, the latter of which is reflected by the sleek and relatively refined medium-bodied flavors that possess excellent punch on the beautifully persistent though markedly structured finish. This isn't as refined as the Caillerets but there is slightly better mid-palate density.
 

Tasting note: This is also quite restrained with ultra-pure aromas of wet stone, floral hints, sandalwood and very fresh red berry fruit scents. There is a focused power to the robust yet refined medium-bodied flavors that possess plenty of supporting sap that helps to buffer the otherwise firm and well-integrated tannic spine on the explosively long, balanced and moderately austere finish. This beauty will also require ample patience.

**Note: from a 2.7 ha parcel situated entirely in terres rouges soil in the south-west portion of the vineyard** Not unexpectedly here the brooding and somber nose is completely different with a much greater emphasis on earth and smoked tea nuances on the darker hued fruit that includes cassis and black raspberry. The rich, powerful and impressively concentrated large-scaled flavors exhibit a sleek muscularity on the pure, balanced and gorgeously long finish. Like most of these 2010s, there is a serenity present here that allows the wines to unfold elegantly and coherently. This is a compact and quite forceful wine yet it delivers that power with no sense of weight or heaviness.

Score: 95

Tasting note: While highly complex this is cool to the point of only grudgingly revealing a strikingly layered combination of violets, rose petals, sandalwood, anise, clove, plum and dark currant scents. This is a big and overtly muscular wine with broad-shouldered and admirably concentrated flavors yet for all of the impressive size, weight and volume, the massively long finish is serene, even Zen-like. 2014 is a relatively seductive and forward vintage for this storied wine, and I appreciate that calling a wine "forward" when it will likely need 20 years to fully mature is a relative concept!

Score: 97 Deep ruby color. A kaleidoscopically spicy and broad-ranging nose grudgingly reveals notes of red cherry, cassis, plum, violet, Asian-style tea, sandalwood and hoisin. The velvety and mouth coating imposingly-scaled and intense mineral-driven flavors are blessed with seemingly endless reserves of dry extract that coat the palate on the highly seductive finish that delivers fantastically good length on the youthfully austere, backward and immaculately well-balanced finale. This opulent yet very serious effort is also going to require a very long snooze in a very cool cellar but it should be a remarkable Musigny when it finally emerges. I would add that I don't know if this will be potentially one of the all-time great vintages for the de Vogüé Musigny but my guess is that it will at least be in the conversation, which given the historical track record of this wine, is no small compliment.
 

Domaine Comte de Vogüé
2017
Bonnes Mares
Grand Cru Red 750 ml
Score: 93

Tasting note: A very ripe yet agreeably fresh nose reflects notes of blue berry, plum liqueur and violet that are cut with spice, menthol and earth hints. The exceptionally rich and impressively full-bodied flavors evidence a taut muscularity, all wrapped in an overtly powerful and lingering finish that is naturally sweet. As one would reasonably expect this is quite firm; indeed it's borderline rustic.
 

Domaine Comte de Vogüé
2017
Bonnes Mares
Grand Cru Red 750 ml
Score: 93

Tasting note: A very ripe yet agreeably fresh nose reflects notes of blue berry, plum liqueur and violet that are cut with spice, menthol and earth hints. The exceptionally rich and impressively full-bodied flavors evidence a taut muscularity, all wrapped in an overtly powerful and lingering finish that is naturally sweet. As one would reasonably expect this is quite firm; indeed it's borderline rustic.
 

Rating

(90 - 92)

Release Price

NA

Drink Date

NA

Reviewed by

Neal Martin

Issue Date

30th Dec 2013

Source

210, The Wine Advocate

The 2012 Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Proces has a wonderful, energetic yet sophisticated bouquet with vibrant red and black fruit married harmoniously with the oak. The palate is very smooth on the entry with supple, lithe tannins that caress the mouth. The acidity is well-judged with tart, dark cherry fruit interlaced with hints of soy, while the finish is focused and long. This Nuits Saint Georges has great potential.   

Maison Joseph Drouhin
2017
Chambertin-Clos de Bèze
Grand Cru Red barrel
Score: 91-94
Tasted: Apr 10, 2019
Drink: 2025+
Issue: 74
Note: 40% whole clusters
Producer note: As is usually the case, I met with Véronique Drouhin who noted that the 2017 growing season "was much less eventful than its 2016 counterpart though this is not to say that we didn't have some drama, mostly from a late April frost scare. And instead of the heavy mildew pressure we endured last year, we did have a significant attack of bud eating caterpillars that cost us some yield. While it's hard to estimate with precision, it was probably around 10% of the potential crop. [Known in Burgundy as mange bourgeons or literally, bud eaters.] Otherwise the season was clement and calm and the healthy yields were able to ripen without difficulty. Despite this the véraison was extended and this made harvesting tricky as each parcel had to be picked precisely when it was perfectly ripe. Thankfully the weather conditions in early September were ideal and just as importantly they held all the way to the end of what was an extended harvest for us. The fruit was super-clean and notably ripe with better volumes in red than white. We used a bit more whole clusters than usual because as I noted the fruit was clean and ripe with good phenolic maturities. One aspect of the 2017s that is worthy of note is how much they changed before and after the malos and I thought that they really improved. Moreover, the malos did not unduly degrade the acidities so there is good freshness and energy to the wines. For us at Drouhin, 2017 produced classically styled reds that are good to very good but I would describe the whites as genuinely great." I agree with Drouhin in terms of her description of the 2017s and overall I found the quality here to be impressive and particularly so among the big houses. (Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., www.dreyfusashby.com, NY, USA; Pol Roger Ltd., www.polroger.co.uk, UK).
Tasting note: While not quite as aromatically complex as the GE, it's close as this also features a panoply of spice elements along with exceptionally fresh and dense red currant, violet and plum aromas. Interestingly the mouth feel of the middle weight flavors is super-fine, indeed almost lilting and delicate, with a relatively pliant if sneaky long finish. This is lovely if a bit atypical.
 

Saturated ruby. Knockout nose combines kirsch, minerals, game and torrefaction notes of espresso and chocolate. Wonderfully sweet and thick, but enlivened by adequate acids and strong minerality. Very intense fruit flavors of blackberry and blueberry, complicated by a note of dark chocolate. Muscular but broad and pliant.

-- Stephen Tanzer 89-92 Stephen Tanzer

Domaine Dugat-Py
1999
Gevrey-Chambertin "Evocelles"  ♥
Villages Red barrel
Score: 89-91
Tasted: Jan 01, 2001
Drink: 2006-2011
Issue: 1
Outstanding
Note: a miniscule 18 hl/ha from 70 year old vines and 100% new oak
Producer note: Bernard Dugat has once again fashioned some of the best wines of the vintage. The wines are dramatic, bold, rich, nuanced, superbly dense and yet for all this, reflect reasonably well their underlying terroirs. He has added a new wine to his range with a one-third hectare parcel of 75-year-old Vosne villages vines; this brings the size of the Domaine to slightly over 7 hectares. The cheerful, friendly Bernard proudly told me that 1999 represents the 25th vintage for him.
He is very excited about his 99s and rightly so. His approach to the vintage was largely the same as usual which chez Dugat means that Bernard destemmed 70 to 75% of the fruit, did not cold macerate, had a total cuvaison of 20 to 22 days and was neither obliged to chaptalize or acidulate (the wines have natural alcohol levels of around 13%). He varied the amount of new oak considerably, depending on the cru in question. As the scores and notes indicate, these are some of the most exciting wines made anywhere in the Côte. 

Tasting note: Extremely ripe fruit, intense yet round flavors of Gevrey earth and soil undertones and big, ripe tannins. The old vines character is quite evident and the length here is extraordinary. Another gorgeous villages.
 

Tasting note: A remarkably fresh and expressive nose displays high-toned red berry fruit, earth and mineral aromas that give way to firm, serious and equally mineral-driven big-bodied flavors that offer excellent verve on the well-muscled and especially structured finish that seems to go on without end. This positively dazzling effort is not quite old school in basic character though it knocks on the door of it and like several of these grands crus, will need 15 to 20+ years to reach its full prime. A 'wow' and potentially one of the greatest vintages ever for the Dujac Bonnes Mares, which is saying something given this wine's superb track record.

BH - Tasting note: Once again there is enough reduction present to warrant mentioning. This is much like the Combottes in that the mouth feel is exceptionally fine and sophisticated largely thanks to the fine grain of the supporting tannins as well as the abundance of palate coating dry extract. In this case though there is a bit more depth and length and even though the difference is slight it is nonetheless sufficient to push this to another level. At the risk of sounding like a broken record about the reduction, here too it is a concern and thus my score assumes that it will ultimately dissipate with a few years of bottle age.

Tasting note: An exuberantly spicy and floral nose features a variety of red berry fruit scents laced with hints of sandalwood and Asian spices. There is a silky and restrained mouth feel to the intense, concentrated and detailed flavors that brim with dry extract that does a fine job of buffering the moderately firm tannins on the lingering finale. This is unusually accessible in the context of the Dujac 2012s and should drink well earlier than any of these grand crus.

Bright, dark red. Deeper-pitched on the nose than the Echézeaux, offering scents of black raspberry, clove, mocha and dark chocolate. Similarly more soil-driven in the mouth than the 2016 version, but with its thick flavors of earth, spices and saline minerality conveying a light touch for 2015. Finishes sappy, vibrant and long, with thoroughly ripe tannins and echoing minerality.

-- Stephen Tanzer 94 Stephen Tanzer