Oxy Duress

Mark was our generous host to explore Montrachet on Monday night. Scott Picket and Stuart McVeigh did a splendid job behind the pots and pans and Fabien Moalic handled the wine service with aplomb. The premox gods were angry, rendering a 2007 DRC, 2007 Bouchard and 2012 Chartron useless. A 2005 Blain-Gagnard was ok but quite advanced. Roll on screwcap!

English muffin, smoked trout, salmon caviar
Dressed Spanner crab, prawn butter, flat bread

2005 Henri Boillot Montrachet, Grand Cru: Smells of vanilla custard, smoke and white peach. It is powerful, rich and long. The essence of Montrachet drinking close to the top of its game.

2005 Blain-Gagnard Montrachet, Grand Cru: Some baked apple and crème brulee notes. It is full and voluminous, but flavours are planed off a little.

1988 Delagrange-Bachelet Montrachet, Grand Cru: Huge smoky/flinty lift to the nose. Rich, powerful, layered and oozing minerality. Loaded with dry extract, old-fashioned, savoury and quite fabulous.

1985 Domaine Jacques Prieur Montrachet, Grand Cru: Complex aromatics have a gentle tropical edge. There’s a suggestion of gooseberry and mango and the scent of lavender. It has a sweet, intense mid-palate and good drive. The finish is dense, sappy and persistent.

Hiramasa kingfish, apple, celery, oyster

2013 Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet, Grand Cru: A discreet nose of white flowers, peach and limestone. It is layered and super-intense. It has a rigid minerally spine and great volume and breadth. The finish keeps driving on and on.

2012 Domaine Jean Chartron Montrachet, Grand Cru: Too much baked apple and nut action. Dull in the mouth.

2014 Domaine Jean Chartron Montrachet, Grand Cru: Immediately generous and expressive, showing some truffled honey and candied peach on the nose. Full and powerful in the mouth. Tightens in the glass and has a chalky finish.

2013 Domaine Ramonet Montrachet, Grand Cru: Has a gorgeous, sweet peach heart. There’s some mango and rockmelon too. It is spicy and complex, a powerful wine that also possesses great poise and balance. Tinned peach flavours abound on the finish and there’s the tang of citrus and saline mineral right on the end.

Moreton Bay bug, hand rolled macaroni, baby corn, bisque

2015 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet, Grand Cru: Smells of Pine Lime Splice, white peach and oyster shell. It is ripe but beautifully put together and possesses quite a cool feel. Flavours quietly build and finish with real authority.

2007 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet, Grand Cru: All baked apple and nuts. Flat as a biscuit.

2011 Etienne Sauzet Montrachet, Grand Cru: There’s some candied peel, spiced pear, white peach and smoke. It is rich, muscular, layered and long. There’s so much power but it is under a tight minerally rein. Great detail and composure.

2007 Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet, Grand Cru: Apple cider.

Macedon Ranges duck, cherry, kohlrabi

2009 Domaine Leroy Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes: Spicy, smoky, pungent nose. There’s intense cherry fruit and sandalwood spice. It has real flesh and a silky feel against the gums, building through the palate and fanning out on the finish.

1959 Bouchard Père et Fils Chambolle-Musigny: Some nutty, aldehyde and compost notes. It sweetens up and has a core of red fruits, finishing quite plump. Amazing old village wine that offers some pleasure.

1959 Faiveley Musigny, Grand Cru: Spicy nose of Hoisin and ginger with a bit of tar thrown in for good measure. It has a lovely interplay between sweet and savoury elements and is still a strong, deep wine. The finish is stony and long. I like very much.

1976 Domaine Clair-Daü Musigny, Grand Cru: Fresh, complex and ethereal. Great nose of beef stock, dried flowers, musk and moss. Sweet, lacy, full and vinous in the mouth. Lovely detail, with a palate that builds and really fans out on the finish.

Peach Melba trifle & Osau Iraty, brioche

1936 Château d’Yquem: Changes with every sniff. Complex aromatics of honey, apricot, marmalade and earth. There’s still flesh and the taste of Mirabelle plum. It is just drying out a tad on the back-end but is a cerebral, engaging wine that is a joy to drink.

1995 Château Coutet Cuvée Madame: Still very young and fresh with notes of lanolin, honey, apricot, preserved lemon and lavender. It is intense and sweet but light on its feet. There’s outstanding volume in the mouth and length of flavour is fantastic.

Another crappy Monday.

Gutting on all the duff bottles. RE the good Chartron how do you reckon it would have fared next to his Chevy? For mine the Chevy is usually the better juice.

From barrel, the Chevalier is definitely better. But the Montrachet is a very small cuvée, from purchased fruit, and he has a lot of Chevalier.

Their Chevy is really good.

In all the years I’ve been reading your notes, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you write something so effusive.

Translated into American, is that like 98-100pts?

Great notes from a fabulous tasting.

“Tinned peach flavors abound on the finish”. Most Americans I think would take this a pejorative, but apparently not in your country / wine vocabulary. Can you comment further?

'05 Boillot and '88 Delagrange Bachelet both sound incredible, did you prefer one to the other?

I had the '76 Clair-Dau Musigny about 20 years ago. From memory, my note would be almost the same as yours. What a great vintage, vineyard, producer, in any order.

Thank you.

Dan Kravitz

Nice one mate, sorry I missed this!

Shame about the premoxed bottles, especially the '07 DRC, which was fabulous a few years ago!

Sauzet have really been making some gret wines in recent years, good to see them back in form.

Have had a few of the Delagrange-Bachelet Monty’s over the years and they have always been great, good to see this bottle performed.

been buying that past few vintages. Figure it’s the same stuff they sell Ramonet but 1/3 the price.

Have had a few also - the '14 is stellar!

Hi Dan, I see tinned peach as a positive in Montrachet and I see the character often. It is a slightly candied thing that you get with ripe Chardonnay fruit. When coupled with all of the other complex notes you see in Monty and underpinned by structure it is most desirable. I preferred the '88 Delagrange over the '05 Boillot. The Clair-Daü was stunning. '76 is a vintage that you don’t see too many notes on these days. Whenever I open one I am more often than not pleasantly surprised.

Sorry you missed this one Paul, an absolute beauty, even with the high rate of dead soldiers.

haha I thought this was a thread on the village and its limitations.

The Drouhin Laguiche sounds like it was offering the goods even at this young age. Did I read you correctly? I’ve got a couple and this has me taking the safety off the corkscrew…

Cheers,
fred

It is very expressive and open-knit now Fred. I would have no hesitation in opening one now.

Jeremy,

'76 was written off as too hot a vintage. But the sprinkling I’ve had over the past ~10 years have all been excellent and very well balanced.

Dan Kravitz