Thursday 4 June 2015

Famille Labruyere - a fair few notes...

I am really late in posting this, it is a series of notes from back in January and follows on from Famille Labruyere - New and Exciting...


Domaine Jacques Prieur and Domaine Labruyère - Tasting Thursday 22nd January


Domaine Labruyere, Moulin-a-Vent

Le Clos (Monopole) 2013
Stoney fruit but then some lovely deep spices, not aggressive, more the Christmas spices – cinammon, cloves - and  with dark coloured fruit but not black, like serious dark cherry. Long too…

Le Carquelin 2013

Redder but still dark and intense, closed, quite taut structure, but there is a fresh finish – not heavy…fruit lingers well, will be a lovely food wine in 2-3 years.

Domaine Jacques Prieur, Burgundy


Rouges

Beaune 1er Cru Grèves 2013
In colour this is quite arterial for Beaune. A lovely sweetness, a good grip, some nice sweet cherry but not dark cherry fruit, really lovely, balanced bold and volumptous with no lack of proper fruit. Long but fresh.

Beaune 1er Cru Clos de la Féguine 2013

May be a shade more refined than the Greves, or more feminine I can’t decide, real elegance but there is a firm and proper structure also, very red fruited with good persistance and lift to the finish. Plays to the strength of the vintage.

Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2013

Real vibrancy, has a lovely energy, very crimson, very lifted not a black monster that Vougeot can be…really lovely, vibrant is the word.

Musigny Grand Cru 2013

Has wonderful texture, again there is a vibrant red fruit but then a slight strictness…this has a lot of parts and at the minute they are tightly wound up, no rough edges at all, depth and layers.

Blancs

Beaune 1er Cru Grèves 2013
Slight saline, seaside note to this, briney but with lemon shortbread fruit lurking, it is quite bold and very expressive in a coiled up sort of way…promising.

Beaune 1er Cru Clos de la Féguine 2013

A little more intense (texturally) and muted at the same time, a little less extrovert, the fruit is a little more green, not a negative, the acidity a little higher…it has real balance though, very long.

Meursault Clos du Mazeray (Monopole) 2013

Has a really lovely lively sweet attack, immediately generous and quite rich…has a vibrant acidity also, the fruit is not quite tropical but it is bold, "heart on sleeve"…will give a lot of joy.

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes 2013

Lovely saline, a little bit of grapefruit but with sugar on so there is no astrigency, this is dense but fresh, serious also…very long and moreish, really refreshess and wakes up the mouth…impressive.

Montrachet Grand Cru 2013

Very primary, very intense, there is white fruit as well as a generosity, the palate is very long and complex, quite savoury to the finish, there is an element of the sea about the finish which is fresh but also appetising, will really reward patience.

Then the same evening we did a Dinner at 1 Thomas More Street to show some older vintages of the wines. The winemaking has been tweaked, less oak and battonage for whites and less oak and extraction for reds, since most of these were made so the fact they showed so well is a testament to the brilliant holdings. In all honesty the only other Domaine in Burgundy that has a similar spread of Grand Cru sites is Domaine Leroy.

We started with Beaune 1 er Cru Grèves 2010 as an aperitif  The generosity of Beaune with the intensity of 2010, a good combination, there is a great depth and a soft citrus warmth.


Meursault Clos de Mazeray 2003 


I do not think anyone would have got this as 2003 were it served blind. There is a savoury texture but enough sweetness on the tongue to make this work, good length, it worked well with the slightly smoked salmon. Like I find in late disgorged Champagnes I noted a little coffee or mocha on the nose, just a note of maturity.

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes 2010

A star this wine, classily reserved, very much about the texture and the minerality but with no lack at all of a lift of fruit that will reveal itself more over the coming years. Lovely now with immense potential. 

Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2006

Edouard noted how this has the reputation as the "bad guy" of the domaine. There was little evidence of this here as the wine showed well, youthful? yes and from a good, if uncompromising, vintage. As much as 30% full bunches was used. There is a masculinity  but a dense purity as well. It is not crazy to drink now but for sure there is more to come in another 5-10 years and thereafter...

Musigny Grand Cru 2007

Prieur own 0.8 hectares or 10% of Musigny in the southern part – petit Musigny. This is a really beautiful, almost delicate Musigny, orange rind and lifted red fruits really make a striking impression, very true to the purity you can find in 2007 when handled sensitively, this will go on well for quite some years but such is the life you feel compelled to drink it now…splendid

Montrachet Grand Cru 1999
The Prieur plots, there are two, one running each way, are on the Chassagne side, to the left is DRC, Leflaive and Lafon then to the right Bouchard. In 1999 Edouard commented that they had to pick earlyish to avoid a wine that was too big. This was very fine indeed with that Montrachet opulence and decadence…in a lovely place right now, still with a slghtly over ripe lemon acidity but then a generosity that makes you want to wallow in it…


I am massively excited about working wiith these wines in the future, the Burgundies are superb and of a great style. The Moulin-a-Vent is totally new on me as I have been no great lover of Gammay but as its often quoted by those in the region this is not "Gamay" this is "Moulin-a-Vent"...

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