While I was in BURGUNDY clients of G ROUMIER and ROUSSEAU had much praise for the 2008 vintage. I myself haven’t had those positive experience with them finding them a bit hard. Do we still have to wait for them to fully blossom? What domaines have you tasted that were ready to drink?
SINCERELY JOHAN
I’m a fan of the vintage - maybe your ‘hardness’ is crystalline, chiselled and mineral to me? - but it’s very far from consistent. That also holds for the positions of individual wines on their respective maturity curves. I had a mag of Grivot’s Beaumonts that was disappointingly advanced, mean and dry. I hope that was a poor bottle. On the other hand, I’ve had fantastic bottles of Hudelot-Noellat Beaux Monts, Bachelet Gevrey VV, Fourrier Combe aux Moines and village and Cathiard. Of those, some (H-N) were delicious to drink whilst others clearly needed lots more time, with no clear pattern behind it. A Confuron-Cotetidot Suchots was approachable and that’s normally built like a tank. I have faith that the successful wines will become pretty special.
I love 08s but I’m letting mine age.
+1
Beautiful vintage but not the time to be drinking.
I am also in this camp - a bit too inconsistent for my tastes, despite great examples.
Many wines are pretty acidic. Some may call this classic. I don´t know. The few examples I had so far (village and 1ers) did not wow me. I would prefer the 09´s.
I have been going to the grand tasting at the Paulee in NYC for a number of years now. It gives a wonderful cross-section of a vintage - over 30 producers and over 100 wines there. Some years, when I have gone, you can just tell the vintage is outstanding, like 2010. In other years, you can tell the vintage is not so good, like the 2004 vintage.
Of the Grand Tastings I have attended, I have not seen anything exactly like 2008. The good ones had nice richness and good freshness from ample acidity. The less good ones had a hole in the middle - just not enough fruit. It was the most heterogeneous I have tasted.
And, it was very compelling to try to find the good ones. Because of the timing of when prices came out (during the great recession), prices were really good. So, people could buy grand crus from better producers for less than people are paying today for village wines from average producers.
So, I assume that what everyone on this thread has said is correct, for the wines they have had.
My wine group did a 10 year retrospective of some 2008s in 2018 and this is what I posted on a thread at the time:
“Our Burg tasting group had 2008 Burgundies last week. They were very, very drinkable now, although at least some of the wines likely will develop further. Wines we had included Michel Gaunoux Pommard Rugiens, Dublere Charmes Chambertin, Bertheau Chambolle Musigny 1er cru, Jadot Gevrey Chambertin Clos St. Jacques , Arlaud Gevrey Chambertin Combottes (very nice, but probably the most backwards wine we had) and Hudelot Noellat Clos Vougeot (my favorite red of the night).”
I peeked last year. Jadot CSJ and Dominique Laurent Les Fuees
Burnt rubber and popcorn
Great insight Howard. Thankfully these wildly divergent vintages are increasingly rare in Burgundy. A golden age of sorts (except for prices!).
I’ve always been a fan of '08 but I agree it can be inconsistent, and I will admit to not knowing where it’s heading. I’ve had wines where I thought the acid overwhelmed the fruit. But in most, I’ve enjoyed the freshness and detail. I do think that many are closed now, and if you open one you should give it lots of air. A recent '08 Barthod Chambolle was hard and acidic for a good 3 hours before unfurling and becoming a classic, silky Chambolle.
I do think that certain producers just killed it in '08. Dujac’s top wines are brilliant. So is Ponsot’s Clos de la Roche. I’ve enjoyed Chevillon’s top wines. Etc etc.
I’m not really familiar with the vintage, but it so happens that a set of 2008s came my way a few years ago, so I did a tasting.
Chateau de Meursault, 1er Cru, Meursault 2008
Low key but lovely nose of rich, honeyed fruit, and orange blossom, with hints of hazelnut / butterscotch. Similar notes on the palate, with extraordinary presence and texture; awesome fruit: honeyed pear, orange rind, and rich, fleshy stone fruits, with notes of butter/butterscotch, and lots of stone toward the finish. Fantastic white Burgundy. 5 years more. 4 Stars [1/14/17]
Domaine Michel Gaunoux, Rugiens Bas 1er Cru, Pommard 2008
Lovely color, clear ruby with a hint of purple. Gorgeous nose, with black cherry, blueberry, dried blackberry, some leather/smoked meat, lots of black pepper, and lots of cloves. Similar notes on the palate, with gorgeous (!) fruit, and fantastic, juicy, succulent texture, with great drive, and a long, spicy finish. Great structure. One of the very best red Burgundies I’ve had, and compares favorably with the the few Grand Crus I’ve had. This is one of those wines that demonstrates why Burgundy commands the price that it does. A solid 10 years ahead, and may survive much longer, given it’s structure (it would be interesting to see what this is like at age 20). 4.5 Stars [1/14/17]
Domaine Francois Betheau, 1er Cru, Chambolle-Musigny 2008
Low key but excellent nose, meaty, with sweet vegetal notes, and spice, with earthy mineral. On the palate, black cherry, and lots of lemon, with green tea, and earthy mineral. Medium weight and juicy, rather atypical for a Nuits, but nice. 5 years head. 3.5 Stars [1/14/17]
Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux, Les Hautes Maizieres, Vosne-Romanee 2008
Outstanding nose, dark cherry, sweet, accentuated blackberry, some tobacco leaf, black tea, leather, and earthy stone, all with roses and gamey notes. Similar notes on the palate, with citrusy acidity, powerful, muscular, dark, savory fruit. Exceptionally good, and very satisfying. 10 years more. 4 Stars [1/14/17]
The best examples from '08 are, in many ways, exactly what I want out of red burgundy. The worst examples are thin/hollow and I have serious doubts they’ll ever flesh-out. Those “best examples” keep me chasing the dragon.
Had a Ghislaine Barthod 2008 Chambolle village last night. Beautiful beautiful beautiful nose with shrooms, earth, and the fruit trying to claw its way out of the glass. Flavor was very acidic but after a couple of hours the fruit was charming.
Beautiful wine.
I left a glass for today, hopefully it shows well on day#2!
I bought fairly heavily (for me), but for the most part have been taking the strategy of waiting another 2-3 years. The few that I’ve had toward the upper end have been great. (Drouhin Amaureuses–hauntingly beautiful, Lambrays–great fruit, some whole-cluster pepperiness and stems quality, Hudelot-Noellat Beaumonts–very good but a little reserved and never really comes out of it–basically just too young.)
Great now and later:
2008 Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Echezeaux
Good now, great later:
2008 Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Ruchottes-Chambertin
Very good now:
2008 Domaine Louis Boillot et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles
2008 Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Vosne-Romanée
Very good now, better later:
2008 Sylvie Esmonin (Michel et Fille) Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques
2008 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles
Good now:
2008 Domaine Pavelot (Jean-Marc et Hugues) Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode
From 2017, this was a bit slim and uncharacteristic of the wine in general:
2008 Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Chaignots
Yes. I wish the prices were still what we paid for the 2008s. Or, even better, the 1980s, where DRC Grands Echezeaux was $35.
Arnoux-Lachaux Clos de Vougeot last night was good to very good but probably better in a few years. Darker fruit than expected with the hallmark acidity of the vintage but just seemed to be lacking something that would make it special.
Awful in red. A few wines here and there might be good, but I bet you they would pale in comparison to other vintages.
Great in white. Probably my favorite after 2014 or tied with 2012. I’ve had some wines that were pretty ripe though, not sure how they will evolve.
Alain
Beat me to it. 2008 Dujacs are excellent.
Some have reported that it may be an early maturing vintage. I remember many 08 Hudelot Noellat Chambolle and Vosne from separate sources showing bricking and some secondary/tertiary elements a few years back.
08 Liger Belair Colombiere was also the same with bricking and mature spice profile.
08 Rousseau Chambertin and CSJ are open and youthful as one would expect.
Drc is nice in 08