Four different Pinots, not exactly all Burgundy but honestly pretty close. Interestingly, two people present picked the Bocquenet as the CA wine and not the Anthill.
06 Anthill Farms Abbey Harris - While a bit of sweet vanilla/oak is obvious, this is such a pure wine of red fruit, crunchy / sappy on the palate and with taught minerality beneath. Dusty red fruits, great cut, a long sappy finish. Needs a bit more time to integrate it's sweet oak but easy to enjoy now and with plenty of upside to come. Really a fantastic wine and one of my favorite CA wines these days.
05 Bocquenet Vosne La Croix Blanche - This is almost a great bottle of wine. But it is very ripe and, more problematically, extremely oaky. Cola, graphite, vanilla, barrel toast on the nose. Sweet oak and rough tannins on the palate and finish. Bummer... Good material makes me willing to try other bottlings in other years if I see good prices but overall the style is offputting for my palate, though I actually think many would love it.
05 Potel Beaune Bressandes - At first a touch lightweight, gains weight with air. No oak in the way of a clear Beaune signature of soft, dark fruit, sweet earth. Cocoa and fresh plum notes show Bressandes / north side of Beaune well. Unfortunately, though, some brett shows on the nose and the palate is very compressed by brett with the fruit hidden and the finish clipped and rough. Could have been a great bottle w/o the brett.
07 Chezeaux Chambolle Charmes - A wine farmed and made by Ponsot but sold by Chezeaux. Occasionally the nose teases with anise, flowers, ripe strawberries and other nice things but mostly it shows poorly done stem inclusion in the form of watermelon rind, geranium and green peppers leaning all the way to jalapeno at times. Not what one looks for in Chambolle. Perhaps, in time, this will integrate to become a charming wine, but it is very disappointing currently.
This tasting was pretty informative. Reinforces how good Anthill can be, how spotty Ponsot can be, how bretty Potel can be. Was hoping for more from the Bocquenet. I will hope to cross paths with another bottling in another vintage at a fair price but overall it was quite disappointing. They chose their pick date and their barrel regimen. Potel made a better wine but didn't keep the cellar clean enough...
06 Anthill Farms Abbey Harris - While a bit of sweet vanilla/oak is obvious, this is such a pure wine of red fruit, crunchy / sappy on the palate and with taught minerality beneath. Dusty red fruits, great cut, a long sappy finish. Needs a bit more time to integrate it's sweet oak but easy to enjoy now and with plenty of upside to come. Really a fantastic wine and one of my favorite CA wines these days.
05 Bocquenet Vosne La Croix Blanche - This is almost a great bottle of wine. But it is very ripe and, more problematically, extremely oaky. Cola, graphite, vanilla, barrel toast on the nose. Sweet oak and rough tannins on the palate and finish. Bummer... Good material makes me willing to try other bottlings in other years if I see good prices but overall the style is offputting for my palate, though I actually think many would love it.
05 Potel Beaune Bressandes - At first a touch lightweight, gains weight with air. No oak in the way of a clear Beaune signature of soft, dark fruit, sweet earth. Cocoa and fresh plum notes show Bressandes / north side of Beaune well. Unfortunately, though, some brett shows on the nose and the palate is very compressed by brett with the fruit hidden and the finish clipped and rough. Could have been a great bottle w/o the brett.
07 Chezeaux Chambolle Charmes - A wine farmed and made by Ponsot but sold by Chezeaux. Occasionally the nose teases with anise, flowers, ripe strawberries and other nice things but mostly it shows poorly done stem inclusion in the form of watermelon rind, geranium and green peppers leaning all the way to jalapeno at times. Not what one looks for in Chambolle. Perhaps, in time, this will integrate to become a charming wine, but it is very disappointing currently.
This tasting was pretty informative. Reinforces how good Anthill can be, how spotty Ponsot can be, how bretty Potel can be. Was hoping for more from the Bocquenet. I will hope to cross paths with another bottling in another vintage at a fair price but overall it was quite disappointing. They chose their pick date and their barrel regimen. Potel made a better wine but didn't keep the cellar clean enough...