2008 red burgundy premier cru..... sucks

We had a blind tasting yesterday : 12 premier cru red wines from 2008 . A couple of wines were ok but overall , this is not good , many poor bottles from expensive domaines .
We voted for our top 3 ( 10 tasters ) and were pretty consistent :
first place : Nuits St Georges les Cailles from Lucien Le Moine
second place : Perrot Minot Chambolle Ultra ( la combe d’Orveau )
third place : Meo Camuzet Vosne Romanee les Chaumes .
These 3 wines were decent , scoring in the low nineties .
major disappointment : Roumier Chambolle Cras , Volnay Chevrets H Boillot and Volnay Fremiets Nicolas Rossignol . These 3 wines were borderline undrinkable , with annoying dominating acidities .
The Rouget Vosne Beaux Monts was overripe with a smell of wet socks . The Mugnier NSG Clos de la Marechale was hard , tight and lacked sweetness .
Decent wines but not exciting : NSG La Richmone Perrot Minot and NSG les St Georges from Thibault Liger Belair .
Overall , this vintage lacks ripeness , has too much acidity and annoying tannins . I don’t know if this ever will change .

Thanks for more data points.

Hmmm…interesting and also not surprising.

Best wine I had for ‘08 vintage was Roty Charmes Chambertin, so good that I bought multiple vintages soon after.

Thank you …

For me recently, some satisfactions (excellent - 17/20 - to great - 18/20) :
Rousseau Chambertin 2008
Rousseau Mazy-Chambertin 2008
Rousseau Clos des Ruchottes 2008
Rousseau Clos St-Jacques 2008
Clos de l’Arlot 2008
Domaine de l’Arlot Vosne Suchots 2008
Duband Vosne-Romanée 2008
Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin 2008
Roumier Chambolle Combottes 2008
Prieuré-Roch Clos Goillotte 2008

I also liked the very good Bruno Clair Marsannay Grasses Têtes 2008 and NSG Chevillon Chaignots 2008 (both 16/20).

By the cask in 2009 … Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2008 … stunning wines … (Romanée-Conti 2008 rated 19/20) :

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti : Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru « Duvault-Blochet » 2008 (sur fût)
Notes : DS16 - PC(17+) - LG16,5 - MF17 - MS16,5/17 . Note moyenne : 16,7
PC : D’emblée une grande race aromatique ; bouche un peu plus dure et verte que les grands crus, qui paradoxalement renforce encore la séduction du vin.
LG : Beau corps soyeux et persistant, sur des goûts délicats (rafle, framboise, poivre, rose).
MF : Belles senteurs rappelant les roses anciennes et les épices ; bouche fine et élégante, charmante entrée en matière…

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti : Echézeaux Grand Cru 2008 (sur fût)
Notes : DS16,5/17 - PC(17/17,5) - LG16,5/17 - MF17 - MS17/17,5 . Note moyenne : 17
PC : moelleux et aérien, plus mûr et plus coloré que la cuvée Duvault-Blochet.
MF : Nez profond, intensément floral (pivoine, rose) ; bouche à la fois fraîche, mûre et dotée d’une belle texture soyeuse.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti : Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru 2008 (sur fût)
Notes : DS17,5+ - PC(17) - LG17+ - MF(16,5/17) - MS17. Note moyenne : 17,1
PC : profond, puissant, sur le noyau, finale tannique un peu moins élégante.
MF : vin viril, profond, ancré dans son sol ; finale sur le graphite, plus revêche à ce stade…

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti : Romanée Saint-Vivant Grand Cru 2008 (sur fût)
Notes : DS(17,5+) - PC(18/18,5) - LG17,5 - MF(18) - MS18,5. Note moyenne : 17,9
PC : grande pulpe et grande délicatesse, avec malgré tout un je ne sais quoi de sauvage dans le fruit.
MF : Finesse superlative, superbe caractère fruité, dynamique et frais ; l’ensemble ne paraît pourtant pas encore tout à fait libéré…grand avenir assuré!!

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti : Richebourg Grand Cru 2008 (sur fût)
Notes : DS18 - PC(18) - LG17,5/18 - MF(17,5/18) - MS18 . Note moyenne : 17,9
PC : profil plus carré que la Saint-Vivant, comme souvent, richesse de fruit plus terrienne, mais on retrouve la tonicité et l’élan remarquable du millésime.
LG : logiquement plus cogneur avec beaucoup d’éclat fruité.
MF : Regain de virilité sans toutefois manquer de finesse, beaucoup de poids et de profondeur.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti : La Tâche Grand Cru 2008 (sur fût)
Notes : DS18,5 - PC(18,5) - LG18,5 - MF(18+) - MS18,5 . Note moyenne : 18,4
PC : grande couleur, grand nez profond, “ferrugineux”, monumentalité allié à un délié de corps émouvant. Décidément ce millésime m’impressionne !
LG : Boisé un peu plus présent. Enorme puissance corsée. Un vin plus “nocturne”, qui surfe sur un style martial.
MF : Sensation de se trouver devant un colosse à la délicatesse inouie! Un vin ambivalent, réellement impressionnant !

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti : La Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 2008 (sur fût)
Notes : DS19 - PC(19/19,5) - LG19 - MF(19) - MS19 . Note moyenne : 19,1
PC : Absolu de délicatesse. Les tannins disparaissent, pourtant le vin est le plus présent qui soit. Apothéose de ce grand tour de cave, dans un millésime enthousiasmant par sa tonicité, sa séduction toute en fraîcheur, la netteté des identités de chaque cru, déjà parfaitement affirmées.
LG : Notes infiniment distinguées de grand pinot noir (rose, cacao, prune, poivre, réglisse en séduisante concorde aromatique). Finesse compacte rare, sérénité, émotion (même si l’on ne goûte pas à l’aveugle).
MF : Grande subtilité, grand fruit, grande puissance…que dire que l’on a vraiment la sensation de rencontrer un vin complet, frôlant la perfection tant formelle que spirituelle!..

My '08s are gonna rest until 2033, even the 1ers. These high acid vintages (like 1996) really need time IMHO, but I do wonder if they ever really become great as a vintage. Individual wines can be great, just never sure the overall will get there.

Thank you Herwig, I think there are some good wines at GC level (had some good ones from Corton), but agree on your assessment. The wines are generally a bit too tart for my palate, although with food, they are ok.

Agreed. Rousseau and Dujac very good in 08.

08 Hudelot Noellat Chambolle-Musigny was also very good last week after being open for 30 minutes with the fruit and palate filling out the initial thinness.

Interesting. I’ve had the Clos de la Marechale several times out of 375s and they have been reasonably enjoyable. Not up to the vineyard’s reputation perhaps but fairly charming.

I’ve had a few nice 08s lately, Lambrays, Angerville Champans and a few others. I prefer 07 but I have enjoyed the 08s I’ve had. Agree that it can use more time.

Thanks for the notes and impressions. I didn’t go long on '08, mostly due to market availability intersected with budget. I guess that’s a fortunate circumstance. I did get the Roumier Cras…will let those sit.

Cheers,
fred

Robert Chevillon did very well in 2008.
I also have the Roumier Cras and not touching them for a while

Spot on, but I think there’s a place for them and do believe they will keep…not sure if they’ll transform.
If it’s sweetness you want, look to the next year (2009) and you can have it in spades.

Interesting. I’ve had a very different experience with 08, but with little overlap on producers. I’ve loved what Hudelot Noellat did in 08, Chevillon did very well (as Suzanne noted), I’ve had some very good Trapet and Fourrier recently as well as a pretty good Chezeaux. The 08 Arnoux Suchot certainly did not lack ripe fruit either.

2008 is a vintage a lot of burgundians love. Though it’s definitely an outlier in this super ripe era, more of a throwback, classic year where it pays to move up to Grand Cru and good 1ers. I’d think a lot of the wines need more time. I’m not sure what a good comp is for the 80’s and 90’s, but look at how nicely some of those vintages are drinking now, a full decade or two older.

Early, early days for that Roumier. If you don’t catch them early or if it’s not an early vintage (like 07’) they need a lot of time.

On 08’ reds a couple from Gevrey have stood out to me, one recent and another from a few years back, but they both showed this electric energy that’s not so easy to find. The recent one was an 08’ Fourrier 1er Cherbaudes, and an 08’ Jadot CSJ from a few years back. Both with plenty of medium plus acidity and some mild green notes, but also brilliant, just ripe red fruit.

i happen to like this vintage a lot but have not tasted any of the wines op mentioned. the wines from simon bize are fantastic in 2008.

By the cask, in 2009, very good satisfaction (and potential) too with :
Gouges 2008 (NSG Les St-Georges)
Louis-Michel Liger-Bélair 2008 (Echézeaux, La Romanée)
Domaine de l’Arlot Romanée-St-Vivant 2008

About Rouget, by the cask :
Domaine Emmanuel Rouget Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru « Les Beaumonts » 2008
Very oaky (but dense and clean).

Echézeaux Grand Cru 2008 and Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru « Cros Parantoux » 2008 ok but not at an (expected ?) summit.

In the last couple years from the 2008 vintage I’ve had a spectacular bottle of Mugneret-Gibourg Echezeaux, excellent bottles of Chevillon Cailles and Esmonin Clos St. Jacques, very good Louis Boillot Evocelles (not 1er) and Mugneret-Gibourg Vosne but disappointing, in the way the OP described, Pavelot Dominode.

Totally agree. Many Burgundians prefer over 2009. I tasted many on release and really liked much of what I tasted. This is not an early drinking vintage.

I think 1996 is the obvious analogy, and controversial among Burgundy lovers for the same reason. Malic acid levels were very high in both vintages. It was difficult to get malolactic fermentation to complete in some wines, and producers sometimes had to leave wines unprotected without sulfur for quite a long time, trying to get the malolactic fermentation to go through—sometimes heating the cellars, or intervening in other ways to encourage malo, which can also tire out young wines. I think that this may account for the combination of slightly tired, dried out (and, for me, oddly ferric, but not sure how translatable that descriptor is) fruit combined with very bracing, youthfully acid-driven structure that tends to mark out the less successful red wines in both the 1996 and the 2008 vintages.

There certainly are some lovely 2008s, as in 1996, but 2008 is not a vintage I find very approachable yet for the most interesting wines; and among recent higher-acid red Burgundy vintages I have a preference for 2013, which is more charming.

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BTW, Herwig, if I may be permitted a digression issuing from that magnum of 2008 Guffens-Heynen you shared in Beaune, I was discussing the 2008 vintage with Jean-Marie Guffens a few weeks ago, and he mentioned it is a white vintage that he doesn’t always appreciate, precisely because of the lactic quality some of the wines took on once the high levels of malic acid were converted. Clearly, some of even the successful reds have quite a lactic quality in the 2008 vintage, too.

Interesting, because I’ve tasted that and found it odd.