de Montille NSG "Aux St Juliens"

J

Josh Beck

Josh Beck
Picked up some of the 06 de Montille that were offered at discount by WHWC. I've been very curious to try these new wines, particularly the Cotes de Nuits wines, given the new holdings and given the various accusations and discontent I've seen go by regarding style changes.

In any case, this wine shows a wee polish and a slight glean of new oak. But to fault it for that would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Perhaps more suave than a Bruno Clair or Lafarge wine, but that isn't really saying a lot is it? Essentially a wine that clearly displays it's vintage and it's place. Beautiful sappy red fruits that makes me so love the 06 vintage at times, iron and earth beneath, fantastic balance, and a clear but discreet hint of oak that is readily absorbed with just a bit of time in the glass. Does not try to be more than what it is, and yet at the same time I could not ask for more from an 06 village from Nuits. At the suggested pricing perhaps questionable, but this is so clearly within my stylistic wheelhouse that it makes the discounted pricing very attractive, I went back to the well for more of these from WHWC.
 
I tried the 2006 de Montille NSG 1er "Aux Thorey" recently, and wow. Right off the bat it was totally gorgeous, in a rich, baby-fat kind of way, with a huge earthy/truffle nose and super fresh, primary, sweet pinot fruit with a hint of oak on the finish. As the wine took on more air, the nose veered a bit more toward tart fruit, citric even, with just stunning spice aromatics. The texture was just so suave and appealing, with the ultrafine oak tannins clamping down just a bit on the finish. As Otto would say, moreish.

I came back to the wine a couple of hours later and it had shut down significantly, with a pebbly iron-tinged tannic spine coming to the foreground. I liked it best right out of the gate, but it seemed like it might be best with some time to settle down. At $45 (from Sotheby's wine store, no less), I went back for more.
 
so there are 06s that are actually open, more or less? I need to regroup and reassess then. I am off to burgundy tonight actually, and perhaps I'll make a point of asking the winemakers what their take on 06 ageing curve may be. My assumption was that my 07s, in most cases, would be long gone by the time I approach the 06s, but I may be mistaken, or at least this could vary depending on producer. (Yes, there is a wonderful expansive and even a seductive side to 06s but I've always considered that layer to be fairly superficial to the wines).

i've heard that tasting 09s at de montille was a "cerebral" experience, to a point where you'd think you were tasting a different vintage.
 
I am continuing to quite enjoy 06's and am drinking them pretty regularly. Lately I've had good experiences with these wines off the top of my head:

Mugneret Gibourg NSG Chaignots
Thibault Liger-Belair NSG Les Saint Georges
de Montille Beaune Perrieres
Bruno Clair Savigny Dominode
Grivot Vosne Beaux Monts
Bruno Clair Cambolle Veroilles
Comte Armand Pommard 1er
Clavelier Bourgogne
Mongeard Mugneret Echezeaux VV

Only wines I've had in the past 6 months that have suggested to me they are shutting down are Pousse d'Or Bousse d'Or and 60 Ouvrees.
 
Had a surprisingly good '06 Droin Vaillons today. Does not do what's advertised on the label but very nice as a sunny, ripe Macon-Villages.
 
Opened an 06 Droin M d Tonnerre a while ago; took 3 days to settle into a Chablis groove and worked through some pretty deep-seated issues in the process. First day it was ripe and almost syrupy. The second day it tasted like a chemistry experiment gone horribly wrong. The groove, when finally attained, was very good indeed.

I would let the rest of mine alone for a while, 'cept the Monkey has me spooked about Droin and p'ox.
 
Mine was a half-bottle. I have to confess to not being terribly excited by Chablis most of the time; give me a flat Champagne any time.
 
originally posted by .sasha:
so there are 06s that are actually open, more or less? I need to regroup and reassess then. I am off to burgundy tonight actually, and perhaps I'll make a point of asking the winemakers what their take on 06 ageing curve may be. My assumption was that my 07s, in most cases, would be long gone by the time I approach the 06s, but I may be mistaken, or at least this could vary depending on producer. (Yes, there is a wonderful expansive and even a seductive side to 06s but I've always considered that layer to be fairly superficial to the wines).

i've heard that tasting 09s at de montille was a "cerebral" experience, to a point where you'd think you were tasting a different vintage.
Click to expand...

Ok, it's been 10 days or so: did you learn anything re: 2006 from the Burgundy winemakers?
 
somewhat surprised to hear that a number of village and entry level 1er cru wines are enjoyable

I am guessing we are talking about fully destemmed wines with very little or no new oak, at this point
 
originally posted by .sasha:
somewhat surprised to hear that a number of village and entry level 1er cru wines are enjoyable

I am guessing we are talking about fully destemmed wines with very little or no new oak, at this point
Click to expand...

More 06 success lately in the form of Grivot Vosne Village. Also quite enjoyed an 07 d'Angerville Caillerets. Seems d'Angerville were quite successful in 07. For that matter, Grivot did very well in 06 with Boudots and Beauxmonts as well.
 
originally posted by .sasha:
somewhat surprised to hear that a number of village and entry level 1er cru wines are enjoyable

I am guessing we are talking about fully destemmed wines with very little or no new oak, at this point
Click to expand...
This is a curious observation, if I understand it correctly. You are positing, .sasha, that wines that are destemmed completely and see little or new oak will open more quickly than those that are wholly or partly whole cluster fermented and/or see significant new oak? I can't think of anyone whose wines close up more tightly than those of Lafarge and d'Angerville, both of whom destem completely and use little new wood. Christophe Roumier's wines also close up tightly, and while he does use some whole cluster, depending on the the vintage and the vineyard, his use of new oak is moderate, at least. Ponsots also often go through prolonged periods of closure -- no new wood, period, and 100% destemmed. OTOH, Rousseau's wines seem to be open at any time -- no or very little stems, and except for the big three, little or no new oak.

Although I can pick out certain producers whose wines seem to be open almost all the time, and others whose wines go through prolonged periods of being shut down, I am unable to identify any winemaking pattern that leads to one result or the other.
 
i'm with claude -- i have no idea what it is that causes a burgundy to be open or closed at any given time. there must be correlates, but my chubby mind has always drawn a blank, so i'd really be interested to hear your thoughts.

fb.
 
actually, another thought, fwiw: "closed" also means different things in different producers, and even different wines.

for example, in 01, gouges vaucrains was (in my depraved opinion) actually kind of intriguingly brilliant* during its shut down phase (so that i demolished half of my stash way too early; i've committed infanticide on several ponsot's which had the same, weird austere allure), whereas the 01 gouges porrets was the most undrinkable filth once it closed down. until a year or two ago, my experiments with it always ended up in the fatsink. (now it is way more open and much friendlier than the vaucrains, which is evolving in its usual languorous way.)

fb.

*such that it is easy to think of as an example.
 
Claude, these are all very good examples. I was merely throwing a dart.
One thing to keep in mind is whether, at any point, we are talking about a wine that is opening up or one that has not shut down yet :-)
In 06, M-G Vosne AC is a good example of something that could think about finding its way to your table soon if it wasn't for some wood tannin that still needed to be worked out. On the other hand, in 06 that wine is 1er quality to begin with.
 
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