A study in Vosne…
I started my last day on the Côte with what is always a most entertaining tasting and visit – at Lucien Le Moine in Beaune. This micro-negoce produced outstanding wine from 60 different appellations in 2007 – but only a barrel or two of each for a total of 100 barrels. We didn’t taste all 60, but about half of them all together. I won’t run down the entire list here, but I should talk about the very illuminating tasting of 10 different wines from Vosne-Romanée – 6 Premier Crus and 4 Grand Crus that were an amazing illustration in terroir.
First the Beaux-Monts – very pretty fruit backed by earthy, firm tannins. Then the Suchots – rich fruit sweetness and firmer tannins. That was followed by the Petits Monts – all elegance and refinement and pretty red fruits. Next was Malconsorts, very balanced, long, and simply yummy. Then the Gaudichots – very savory, notes of grilled meats, and perhaps the most complex of all the 1ers. Echezaux followed, very Suchots-like but deeper and a little rougher around the edges. Then Grands Echezeaux, full of minerals, red fruits and a very refined purity. The Romanée-St. Vivant is a study in elegance, with complex fruit and some delicious mocha/coffee notes. Richebourg was a fitting finish – my tasting notes simply read “great wine”!
The whites were also stunning – none more so tham the intensely minerally Meursault Perrières – the best white I tasted here all week, young or old.
Lucien Le Moine's Mounir et Fils
Then on to the ‘07s at Buisson-Charles in Meursault. They’ve done it again. The whole range has just been racked prior to bottling, but they were showing very well – especially the Bouches-Chères and Goutte d’Or (although M. Buisson preferred the Charmes today.)
Aleth Girardin has also nailed it in ’07. From the Vignots to the Rugiens her wines are showing intense minerality and power – excellent but completely different expressions of Pommard from those chez Thierry Violot. Her Clos des Mouches today was the best I’ve had from her in the last 3 or four years – a rich fruit sweetness in the mouth and excellent length…
And that wraps up the tasting for this time around – I’m off to dinner at Caves Madeleine (and perhaps to plunder Lolo’s cellar for a good bottle), and then it’s an early-to-bed for me – the train leaves Dijon at 6:30 tomorrow morning. More soon from the road!
