Last saturday dicided to put a dent in our modest 2014 white Burgundy stash. Unfortunatly we had to dig deeper than expected. This was some particulalry unwilling band-aid being ripped off. Lets roll the oxi-dice!
2014 Buisson Charles Meusault VV bottle 1 – Oxidized
2014 Buisson Charles Meusault VV bottle 2 – Oxidized
2014 Ramonet Chassagne Blanc (village) – Oxidized
2014 Ramonet Vergers – Oxidized
2014 Ramonet Ruchottes – Oxidized (even worse than the rest, brown coloured)
2014 Drouhin Meusault Perrieres – Oxidized (but almost drinkable). Such a shame; a previous bottle showed very well in October last year.
2014 Vougeraie Charlemagne – Pristine and very, very good.
We got a clear winner! 100 points for Domaine de laVougeraie, since all is relative.
Sunday, just to broaden our vintage horizon, popped a Ramonet Chassagne Blanc 2015. Very youthfull and great for a village wine. The first bottles from this case showed the warmth of the vintage in an opulent lose knit style, but this bottle was crispy liniar and precise, saving its power for a beautiful finish. Almost a reverse evolution compared to the above.
Got to keep the faith, but maybe a good thing that per vintage 2017 there are only Diam using producers in this cellar (e.g… Marc Colin, Chartron, Rollin - some lone bottles for early drinking aside).
I have had more than 3 dozen 2014 white burgs across many different producers with nary an issue. Either you are the unluckiest person or something else is going on here.
And to think this was a flower day… Yes, at first it was a touch unpleasend, but in the end we had good fun about this absurd event. All those trips to the cellar, progressing from village to premier and grand cru level, hoping that would bring something better.
Mark G, I only had one poxed 2014 before, a Puligny Champ Gain from a small and unkown producer. But 5 to 6 years after the vintage seems to be the turning point, so I guess we had it coming, especialy with those village wines.
I indeed was disapointed with the Ramonets. When they are on, they’re the best you’ll find. But last night was not good. This is the reason I posted this. If you have any of these wines, maybe you want to check in on them. I’ll open the rest of my 2014 Ramonets in the next couple of weeks and keep you posted.
Sarah, I would say the same. All bottles where bought on release and kept in our passieve cellar since. We had some convincing bottle from this stock in the last year, at least no premox, including a great 2014 Ramonet Clos des Caillerets and Morgeot.
Mark Y, no beer in stock and I agree, that was a case of misjudgement. Then again, now I took the full blow at once. There is more 2014 left, but I’m not expecting much and will get some nice Belgium back up the next time.
It pained me to read that. I definitely don’t want to say I avoid white burg, but I definitely think twice before buying. I only had one premoxed in the last 6 months.
Wow, that’s a crazy hit rate. Much like Mark G. I swore off over a decade’s worth of white burg buying due to the POX issues of '02 & '04 in my cellar. Only re-started some very minor buying of '14s, '16s & '17’s with the promise to myself I’ll keep nothing for 5+ years unless they use Diam. I believe Don Cornwell’s wiki shows both Buisson-Charles & Drouhin as being higher than avg POX, but Ramonet not.
It is true that White Burgs are not premoxed until at some point they suddenly are.
And you never know either generally or as to a specific bottle when the hour has come – it does seem like somewhere in the 6ish year range is when the odds of them being oxidized takes a significant step upward.
I mostly try to drink them before that age these days, though like many of you, I have way too much wine, and a few of them end up being around longer than that.