2012 Domaine Jacques Carillon Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru (9/15/2019)
A gorgeous nose of honeysuckle, Arum Lily, white peach and mineral. It is full, unctuous and voluminous, with great power and poise. It is complex and impeccably balanced, drinking right at the top of its game. There’s fresh grapefruit acidity to the extremely long finish.
I thought the ‘13 was very good when I first tried it, but with air it blossomed into possibly the most aromatically complex dry white I’ve ever had. Granted, the sample size is probably 5% of the red sample size at this point, but there are a few really good wines in there. To Alan’s point though, it is incredibly difficult to find. And I’d prefer to find and drink it young to reduce premox risk.
Carillon hasn’t been a big premox offender from my experience. His BBM production is tiny, which is what makes it difficult to find - I think he owns about .1 of a hectare, so can’t be that many bottles made in the first place.
“big ol wine. Way too young right now as the wine isn’t balanced. But what it’s lacking in balance it makes up for in power and richness. Everything is classic BBM but ramped up to an 11 on a scale of 1-10 (in a good way, incredible power, sweet fruit, acid). With time it’ll tone down and balance out and just be an INSANE drink.”
"8/2/2013 - clayfu favorite wrote:
-2001-
Such a dense citrus core on this wine. The depth of fruit just goes on and on. The expansiveness of the palate isn’t quite there yet as it’s still young and fighting to get out, but the texture is so soft like so many other great 2001’s. The acid has integrated."
That’s his dad, though yes, his 2007s are somewhat notorious. From my (admittedly relatively limited experience) his earlier vintages have a relatively low premox rate, though obviously that may not be the case for everyone.
I’ll put it this way - other than his 2007s, I’d buy his 2000s stuff now. (Again, talking about Louis here, obviously.)
I only have a couple of 1ers left from 2007, so will line them up soon. In some ways, the BBM can age less well than the 1ers, which are done in a leaner style. But I also believe it can appear somewhat advanced simply because of its fruit weight rather than oxidation as such. The 2005 is very interesting as it is relatively dark but with such massive (and now developed) fruit that it could actually last on that quite a while. I must get around to doing a vertical
Ouch. (I just bought I high-end mag of Bordeaux yesterday and didn’t notice SPS until after the auction closed so I’m already anticipating a similar feeling).
Ouch. (I just bought I high-end mag of Bordeaux yesterday and didn’t notice SPS until after the auction closed so I’m already anticipating a similar feeling).
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Ha no. Not quite that bad. But though that I decided to wash my hands of the wine.