Domaine Leflaive 2015s...oh and a bit on my "warmer vintage theory"

So having left Bonneau du Martray we headed south to meet up with Brice and the team at Domaine Leflaive. We discussed the vintage and then straight into the tasting.

Brice de la Morandiere

Brice drew some parallels to the 2010s and some elements of 2014 in so far as there was rapid maturity in June and July. As far as harvest goes it was their second earliest start (Friday 28th August) on record at the Domaine. You'd think that the earliest one was 2003, I did, but in fact it was 2011 with 2003 in the bronze medal spot.

Bourgogne Blanc 2015 - Some yellow gold, fresh, generous, not overly lean...nice easy to enjoy, good wine. A dash of spice in there...lots of fruit too, decent acidity giving a nice bit of precision. 16.5 - 17.5 out of 20

Puligny-Montrachet 2015 - A glint of green in the colour, nice sweet attack then a grip of acidity, quite bold. There is a richness and weight to this, a shade heavier than the Bourgogne Blanc. Some lemon sherbet, impressive. 17 - 17.5 out of 20

Meursault 1er Cru Sous le Dos d'Ane 2015 - More gold to the colour, more restrained on the nose. Lovely wine, saline in the mix. Yellow fruits but properly subdued, balanced. Lemon, good spice on the palate, a little prickle of energy. Moreish texture with almost a little tannin. The best Meursault yet from this site and I have loved many of them. 18 out of 20

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon 2015 - Hints of green again a little like the Puligny Villages. This is tasting the youngest of these, a month behind in evolution, a prickle of gas. A few good nuts and greener fruits, nice depth, spicier and serious. 17.5-18 out of 20 

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Folatieres 2015 - Less colour here. Steelier...reminds me of Grand Cru Chablis, very mineral. Good weight of sweeter fruit on the palate. Good wine this, long and moreish. 18-18+ out of 20

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Combettes 2015 - Limes on the nose and more to show that Folatieres at first, Again good weight and volume, great acidity. Long and Grand Cru like on the palate, some green spice, nice nice wine this. Lovely precision. Rich but in no way clumsy. 18+ out of 20

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 2015 - Pure light colour, behind Combettes in maturity to my mind. Primary and very focused. Very tight and mineral, a little cheesecloth, fruit character is more lean, less generous. More serious, more for the longer term. Lovely acidity, lively but with real balance, fruit is more on the green/white spectrum than yellow/gold. Strict and very proper. 18-18.5 out of 20

Bienvenues-Batard-Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2015 - Pure, Islay nose of brine and saline, very very poised and intense. Delicious palate, there is lively acidity but a sweet fruited nose and delightful richness, all in check and perfectly proportioned. A tiny dash of reduction then a log texture finishes, delicious and serious...pretty special. 18.5 out of 20

Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2015 - An immediately broader nose, weightier palate. More sun, more gourmand, more flattering. Delicious palate very rich, broader shoulders. Good spice and to a degree more of the character I expected in 2015. This is easy to "get" and easy to like. 18 out of 20

Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2015 - There is, to me, a line from this to Pucelles straight away. Taut, poised. Delicious weight to the palate. There is an understated confidence to it, even a slight smugness. Some brine but a lovely sweetness on the palate. Waxy and very long. My note ends "splendid". 19 out of 20

Domaine Leflaive Holdings

My warmer vintage theory - this isn't so much a theory as a series of observations from a few tastings. I have seen in more recent warm vintages, often the very same vintages that tend to get a better write-up for reds than whites (so 2003, 2005, 2009 and potentially 2015) that actually, by picking early, the great white Domaines can do just as well if not better than in the more classical years. This was born out to a degree in both of these tastings Roulot a good look and Burgundy pairs 2009 & 2010. I can hear the cynics saying... "well you would say that as a merchant about to sell exactly that sort of vintage" but I also happen to think it is true.

Back to Leflaive for a moment and before we headed into Beaune for a very speedy lunch we had a look at the developments in storage they are making and along the way we were shown the two barrels that are talked about in this story. The two, slightly differently sized, barrels will be raised at Domaine Leflaive. What will happen to the wine is not yet decided.

Rousseau at the Riverside...

This was a cracking luncheon well orchestrated by Irish Pete. The drill was to eat at The White Oak in Cookham and then have a gaunt on the river post lunch. Five of us gathered on a muggy day with each bringing a bottle and Irish proving the focal point - never a bad thing when that focus is Rousseau. The food we were served was delicious, simple, elegant and just the foil to the wines, well worth a trip.

We kicked off with two vintages of Dom Perignon the 1996 and 1990. The 1996 served first was absolutely delicious, I have often said that prefer the bottle ageing of Champagne to the yeastier and, in my view, clumsier ageing you get on the lees. These were both original release bottlings. The 1996 was just at a lovely stage, youth giving way to the first signs of maturity, there was still plenty of drive and focus. The initial elements are strawberry fresh but then citrus before a little biscuit takes over, in short this is spot on now. I would imagine magnums are worth holding for 2-3 years but bottles, on this showing, are bang on. The 1990 is mature in my opinion, not over mature mind you. More open, more flesh, apples but good apples then a little butterscotch. There is more roundness and consequently less drive to the wine. Both were delicious and cracking start, serving them in big burgundy glasses also helped. As I write this I'd love to have a bottle of the 1996 chilling in the fridge!

From there we were Burgundy-bound, whites first. Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2007 from Domaine  Leflaive and Meursault 2005 from Coche-Duty were the two whites in question. Sadly, there is always a little suspense before opening Leflaive these days and also a thought for Anne-Claude. This was a bright and delicious bottle, a lovely youthful colour (or lack of colour). Great balance, elegant for a Batard, a little whiff of reassuring reduction, it really opened up well in glass to reveal white and yellow fruits, more the classic zip of 2007 that the "broad shoulders" of Batard, lovely, the lunch deserved a good bottle and so it was. Coche-Dury is probably the only producer who make a village wine that would fit at such a lunch. The "supplier" of this has been busily hoovering up the 2005's from Coche. This village wine showed so well and reminded me of another occasion when Irish and I had enjoyed the wine, from 1993 that time, courtesy of Mr G. This 2005 had aniseed and fennel as well as an exuberance, cracking stuff.

Now it was time for the "main course" in all senses of the phrase. Mr H sensibly suggested the next two wines were served in a staggered format to avoid too quick a comparison, very shrewd as there can always be a tendency for instant comparison. In itself this is ok but it is so often to the detriment of one of the wines. This was not the aim here. First out the blocks was Chambertin Grand Cru 1993 from Rousseau. I have been very lucky to have 1990, 1991 and a few other vintages of this genuinely iconic wine. This was gorgeous, poised, it encapsulated the Rousseau signature, for me, of depth and intensity without weight, it was fresh and defined, redder of fruit than I expected. Youthful but not immature. In short stunning. It was then joined by it's sibling Chambertin Clos de Beze Grand Cru 1993 from Rousseau. The wisdom of the staggered start was clear to see. In some ways there was more density, more intensity, more fruit, less savoury. This struck me as a little brighter and redder, a little younger tasting. Reflecting back on it later there was a suggestion that the Beze was a 100% bottle and may be the Chambertin a mere 99% or at least that the Beze was a more youthful example. When I did ulimately decided which I "preferred" for me it was the extra savoury dimension added to the Chambertin but both of these wines are extreme examples of what Burgundy can be...

Clearly that pair were going to be a near impossible act to follow. So we had two wines of different style, one still in Burgundy - Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 1990 from Mongeard-Mugneret and my offering, surprise surprise, Monfortino 2002 from Giacomo Conterno. The Clos Vougeot was re-assuringly different from the Rousseau's. Quite chunky, not over the top, not 1990 soupy which can happen it has a good sweetness to go with that Clos Vougeot grunt, it stood up for itself very well. The Monfortino, watch out for the usual bias, was lovely, very young, we actually put it back in the bottle to cool it as it had got a little warm on the muggy day. It is a wine just getting into second gear, there is a good green freshness as well as dark lifted fruit and that savoury saline signature.

It had been an absolutely splendid meal, lots of good conversation and a keenness to make sure that those who did not attend knew what they had missed. It sounds like we might set this as an annual event - I do hope so!

As we fragmented three of us, Irish, Mr H and myself headed back to the riverside for a ride up the river. As we were in Henley, not sure how I missed mentioning that before, and the rowing was starting the following week we got a good view of the course and a few crews out on the river practising. Of course you can't do that with an empty glass so we took Ruchottes Chambertin Grand Cru 2002 from that splendid Rousseau chap. It was so wonderfully primary for an "02", several of which I have found (admittedly at other "lesser" addresses) to be a little prematurely gamey. This was not a waste to drink now, so bright and dark red fruited. It was a brilliant end to a really cracking day…just what summer fridays are for! Thank you all from your bottles and for organising.

Stay Left!

All aboard the Cutty Sark

This was a very special evening however biased I may be. With Aubert de Villaine in town for a dinner at the Cutty Sark. We had a champagne reception on deck with access to the middle deck for those that might not have had a thick enough coat with them, or forgotten hat and gloves! Delamotte Blanc de Blancs NV from magnum is always a good option and drinks so well. For the actual dinner we moved downstairs to eat at tables of ten under the hull. Coated in copper it is a striking place for a dinner. Aubert amusingly noted it was also a wise choice given it was one of the few ships of note that had not fought the French. The menu was a good one that worked very well, the standard especially given it was for 100 people was superb.

Confit sea trout, sweet pea puree, roasted lobster oil

Wood pigeon, barley risotto, balsamic jus, lemon thyme

Thyme roasted guinea fowl, anna potato, salt baked carrots, cavelo nero

Sourdough toast, griddled mushrooms, parsley butter

To start the Domaines wines for the evening, all of which had been collected from the estate just 3 weeks before the dinner, we had the Bâtard Montrachet 2000. The Domaine have enough land, two ouvres which is 1/12th of a hectare, in Batard to produce about two barrels. From a conversation I had a few weeks before it appears that the harvest here is always done at the same time as the Montrachet. This was purchased with the Domaines Montrachet in 1966. The wine is never released for sale and in fact this was a very rare excursion outside the Domaine. There is a touch of the tropical about the nose but then there is a balancing saline edge, a lovely richness but it does have freshness. Aubert commented that, like Montrachet, you can really let this get fully ripe without worrying about a lack of energy. As less wine was left in the glass there was a phase when it was a little smokey like lapsang tea and then the empty glass had a lovely dash of butterscotch. A cracking start to the evening.

Échézeaux 2000 and Grands Échézeaux 2000 came next, It was a really good pair. The vintage is one that slightly gets overlooked given it falls in amongst '99, '01 and '02. Aubert made a very good point during the evening that to speak nowadays about "great" and "lesser" vintages is really a little pointless, it should be "easy" and "difficult" as there is so much that can be done in the vineyard and in selection. So how were these two wines? Without sounding silly there were both great, but in different ways. The Echezeaux had a delightful airy nose, stones and minerals then berries and raspberries, very bright and wonderfully accessible. The Grands Echezeaux was far more restrained and muted on the nose but then the palate comes alive with so much fruit, really impressive. I finally think after about 16 years I am starting to understand this Cru. It is never showy, always more restrained but serious.

For the main course it was another pair: Richebourg 1991 and La Tâche 1991. Aubert mentioned how 1991 was neither as spectacular or seductive as 1990 but has a long way to go, "the type of wines I really like to make". I have been lucky to have a fair few 1991's from the Domaine in the last few years and I love the vintage, elegance and focus tend to be the words I would use. These two both showed well. The Richebourg was the darker and richer of the two as you would expect but the focus of the wine and precision of the fruit was a massive, good, surprise for me, there was a moreish minerality behind the fruit, really lovely. The La Tache 1991 is always a star, very hard to write about, focussed with red fruit and some gentle spice, "complete" is the word.

From the 1991's we then went to a blind vintage of Romanée-Conti, not an everyday occurrence, this got all sorts of guessing games going. It was precise, elegant, not heavy but very persistent with some gentle red fruits and a tea-like purity, clearly not from a big warm vintage but a wine with refined texture and beautiful weightlessness. The reaction when it was revealed as 1965 was excellent. The fact that a 50 year old vintage that was not in anyway a showbiz vintage showed this well is wonderful.

There was one more "drink" to come Marc de Bourgogne 1979. I think most people were still re-tasting and wallowing in the wines so this may be didn't get a fair crack, I had a glass and liked it as usual, I was though past the stage of tasting notes.

The dinner worked so well as we had wines from 6 different Grand Cru sites and they all showed their characters very clearly...this is exactly what you, well certainly I do, want from Burgundy at the top level.

Two wonderful days...

A third post from the biennial meeting of the DRC agents...the two previous ones are
first - the 2012's and then second - the tasting of a lifetime. This is a summary of a few other wines tasted or drunk at meals. It was a brilliant two days, really quite humbling the wines were all served immaculately and humbly. Never is there a feeling that these wines are priceless and too precious, they are wines to be drunk and enjoyed, just exceptionally good ones! 

The first lunch we had was at Le Bistrot du bord de L’eau in the Hostellerie de Levernois, a lovely spot outside Beaune.

Le Pot au feu de Queue de Boeuf au Foie gras, Consomme au sel de Celeri

Le Tournedos de Volaille fermiere, Champignons et Gnocchi, sauce au Vin Jaune

La Selection de Fromages Frais and Affines

L’ille Flottante et Crème Vanille

We had two wines:

Batard-Montrachet 2000

This small parcel was bought at the same time as the Domaines Montrachet holding. It is never sold and is used by the Domaine for "family" use. The style is delicious, quite opulent but always with a cleansing salinity. 
A little mocha and almost coffee but very mellow, saline, very good balance, lovely fruit that stops short of being tropical. Rich and quite savoury but with an easiness and sweet fruited element. There are notes of dry botrytis. Finish with a clean note of toffee on the outside of a toffee apple.

Vosnee-Romanee 1er Cru Duvaut Blochet

Given the name of this blog it is always a pleasure to drink this wine.
Slightly bruised red fruit, some iodine and a little subtly minty eucalyptus, a nicely dry edge that is very “2008” and good length. Interestingly the fruit freshened up with air and became “cleaner” and redder.

Later the same day:

A Gala dinner at Domaine de la Romanee Conti

The food was cooked by Chef Thomas Collomb who has two restaurants:

La Rotisserie du Chambertin in Gevrey-Chambertin and La Maison des Cariatides in Dijon

Vol au Vent de Cuisine Bourgeoise

Pintade de la Ruchotte, puree a la truffe noire

Assortiment de fromages

Tartelette aux chataignes de L’Ardeche, sorbet au gingembre

The wines served were:

Corton 2009 (from magnum) which we tasted just before being told what it was. This is a really easy wine to drink, taste, enjoy, lovely sweetness, not so much a Corton, quite bold with sweet black cherry and good acidity but always an easy 2009ness about it.

The following three wines were then served blind!

Romanee Conti 2011 – this stumped me completely it had such pure red fruited elegance that I thought it may well be 2010 Romanee-Saint-Vivant, it had a seriousness as well to the structure which made me think of 2010. There is a slight graphite minerality and massive amounts of pure character. I think this is a wine for the serious long term not because it is a blockbuster but because there will be very serious layers of elegance to come.

Romanee Conti 1961 – I don’t think I ever imagined I would taste or drink this wine twice in one day. This bottle was a lovely middle-aged colour, a little red but mainly tawny. The nose was multifaceted and immediately difficult to pin down to decade let alone a year. There was a little funk and an sweet animal edge. A warm year such is the high-toned elements. Heady and rich but not heavy may be bold is a better word. Of the wines earlier in the day it reminded me of a sweeter 1971. Magnificent and only improving and dancing in the glass.

Le Montrachet 1983 Methusalem (6L)

The oldest Montrachet from the Domaine that I have tasted. Butterscotch and crème brulee, toffee notes, lots of botrytis but none of this made it too heavy. Some briney notes on the palate and finish give this lift and also make the slightly rancio full-on nose not cloy. Honey with a dash of lemon. Dry and intense yet with a sweet fruit character. Amazing. If you want mature, intense Montrachet…this is it.

Chateau de Fargues 2005

Good, rich but not over the top, a lot of warm fruit and an unctuous density with just enough density.

I was lucky to sit next to the engaging and energetic Nicolas Jacob, vineyard manager (chef de culture) and therefore asked him a few questions:

The hardest vineyard to work? Certainly RSV, the soils have more clay.

And the easiest? The top section of La Tache simply it is lighter.

How big is his permanent team in the vineyards? 20 people are exclusively for the Domaine.

The following day we had one last meal again at the Domaine. Cooked by the team member – Claude Menetrier - you can well see why the team here must be happy during harvest if Claude is in the kitchen. Very classical Burgundian food but deliciously so.

Jambon Persille

Poulet Gaston Gerard

Mont d’Or

Paris-Brest

The wines were both served blind after having had the Domaine’s Champagne Method Rose (100% Pinot Noir). I had never been aware it existed and it is made off site.

It was then time for Blind wines again.

White: This was absolutely stunning. A shade reduced, in perfect balance, some richness and white fruits but also a little botrytis if kept in perfect check by the acidity. It is wonderfully moreish and hedonistic at the same time. So we got to having to have a go at the wine…on our table I was quick out of the blocks with Montrachet 1999, others then followed with 2000, 2001, 1995 etc…and it was actually Batard-Montrachet 2005. A stunning wine.

And then it was time for a red…sadly I turned round at just the wrong moment and caught the “LT 07” on the bottle out of the corner of my eye. Nobody noticed I had seen this but in the interests of wine karma I immediately declared it and counted myself "out". The La Tache 2007 was just lovely, in fact "lovely" is damming with feint praise and that is wrong…it is open and ready to be enjoyed, not that it will not see decades more, it will. It has a quite primary nose with the full spread of dark red fruit with a dash of spice, there is a lovely “shells on the beach” minerality. I love a lot of the 2007’s and this is the best I have had…gracefully gorgeous.

With a train to catch from Dijon back to Paris then London it was always going to be tight to see if we could taste the 2013's but fortunately we could:

2013’s

Tasted from Barrel at "pace" after lunch, hosted by Bertrand de Villaine. I made very few notes. As with 2012 there will be no "Duvault Blochet"...

Corton

A nice darker fruit character, not overly hard but with structure, a little puppy fat, cherries and freshness.

Echezeaux

A lovely spicey density here, very “grown-up”, pure as well.

Grands Echezeaux

Broad and quite bold, long, some fresh fruit but not too red, density but poise is the lasting impression.

Romanee-Saint-Vivant

A little bit more savoury than usual but this may be to do with the slight reduction, serious, especially for R-S-V.

Richebourg

Very pure and lifted, exceptional fruit. Good structure also.

La Tache

Superb nose here, very hard to describe, power and sweetness but not at the expense of the complexity, really very fine.

Romanee-Conti

Sustained red fruit, really brooding. There is a really elegant power to this wine, it has depth and power and structure too, it is hidden by the gorgeous fruit.

And that was the end of two amazing days in Burgundy.