Marcassin? Really? I’ve always found them to be over the top oaky. What vintages?
The Montelena Chards are nice and didn’t used to go through malo, retaining a lot of freshness. Still the case?
BTW, another approach for Chet or anyone who loves white Burg is to buy some modest cuvees like the Dom Leflaive Bourgogne and drink it young. I’d not spend the money on 1er or grand cru wines that really need age to show their stuff, but if you’re looking at wines to drink young and love white Burgs, there’s no reason not to buy them.
Chet - For Chardonnay give the U.S. a try. These might fit your palate - Rhys, Hirsch, Calera, Wind Gap, Arnot-Roberts and Stony Hill. I am sure there are others.
Wow, that’s my second “flirty smile” within a week…guess I’ll quit while I am ahead. And to be honest, I’m not very good at conversing about “styles” of wine. I posed Aubert because I happen to think it is hands down the finest Chardonnay I have tasted vintage after vintage, and have never shared a bottle with anyone who didn’t appreciate it. Hmmm…that still sounds like good enough reason to recommend it.
thanks everyone for the replies.
for the record i have tried and liked neil empson’s soave classico, vatan and both cotat’s aged sancerres and many old CFH and CSH’s, a good amount of condrieu and some albarinos and they are wonderful wines but they do not ring the bell like old white burgs pre 1994.
i remember drinking a brilliant expensive miguel torres chardonnay reserve that was reveting and some brilliant mid 80’s lake’s folly and rosemount show reserve chardonnay from australia. i used to collect stony hill and mayacamas but quit those around 1987 and drank many VERY good bottles.
loved many old vines pouilly fuisses from madame ferret and forest.
my question is then are the aubert as good an experience as niellon pc’s and gc’s?
are savennieres, vouvray’s, german rieslings, viognier’s and austrian white’s ever going to substitute in for my palate and deep love for white burgundy?
it is impossible to describe 20 year old Raveneau Clos, and Ramonet and sauzet batard and leflaive chevalier and d’auvenay folatieres, pernot bienvenue, and morey perrieres.
i am running out of these wines and while wonderful to drink great grower chardonnay bubbles, it ain’t white burgundy.
is kumeu river good?
i have drank a few bottles of Rhys Chard and those are very singular and were good young and dare i say very petrol like and reminded me of corton charlemagne from BDM. i hope they age out!
so i’d love to hear what chardonnay’s to try.
i am dumbfounded opening 3 bottles of george deleger chevalier to get one that is ok, and far from superlative.
the basic answer to your question is no. Nothing is white Burg. Some things can be as thrilling (a perfect bottle of '73 Clos st Hune stand out in my memory), but they’re different wines. I feel your pain - I love white Burg when it’s on. I’ve simply figured that I’ll rarely have the exact experience going forward, so I’m looking for other white wine experiences that are as good but different.
I watch the notes here pretty carefully, and buy those producers that have pretty good track records for Premox - like Leflaive, Coche. They are, as you know, pricey, but I buy fewer bottles with the same budget. I grab a handful of Niellon/Roulot/Chablis but not more than a handful, and drink them on the younger side, but will put a couple away, with my fingers crossed.
Blanc de blanc has been my next “go to”, like you, and a small amount of Keller GG - but those are nothing like White Burg, so I could not rec. them as a fill in.
Sure, Aubert is a different animal than white Burgundy and may not be to your style, but I would highly recommend trying a 2001, 2002 or 2003 Ritchie and seeing what you think. I love white Burgs but also enjoy different styles of CA chard and Aubert is my favorite. Recent 2001 and 2002 Ritchies were terrific - developed, integrated, matured, more refined (all relative of course). I actually think that some/most people jump into them way too early (my “current” vintage for drinking Aubert wouldn’t be younger than 2004/2005 for instance while a lot of comments and notes are generated when the wines have barely been delivered for 12-18 months) - they need some time to develop in my opinion - I’d never dream of opening a 2007 or 2008 Niellon GC right now or if I did, I wouldn’t be expecting it to show well. While you may not find a “replacement”, you may find an alternative and very high quality expression of Chardonnay.
Dan - I agree that the Auberts benefit from some bottle age. Recent 2004 Ritchies were delicious. However, the 2008 Ritchie has been magnificent from the get-go. If you have a bunch, try one. I do love the vibrancy of this particular one in its youth, not to say it won’t offer more/different in the future. I did not find the 2008 Hayne or Lauren quite as “ready.”
Chardonnays from Rebholz and Bernhard Huber, Weisser Burgunders from Rebholz and Bergdolt-St Lamprecht, Grauer Burgunders from the best Baden producers, Franken Silvaners (and Wittmann’s, too), and dry Rieslings from all over Germany.
When I had dinner with you in DC, we had a Trimbach CSH 1989 Hors Choix that was as good as any dry white wine I have ever had. If that is not good enough for you, stick with white Burgundy and buy pre-1995 wines.
I feel your pain, being down to my last few bottles of 82, 85 and 86 white burgs. I do still buy white burg on the lower end of the spectrum (Villaine Les Clous, Leflaive Bourgogne, etc.) for mid-term drinking and have a few favorites (Bouchard Cabotte, Leflaive Chevy) that I seem to buy even when I swear I’m done.
Not easy to find and certainly not chard, but the Miani Sauvignon has been a revelation, especially the Saurint bottling. The 04 is fantastic and the 00 was also quite nice.