1999 Mugneret-Gibourg Chaignots

VLM

VLM
I had a bottle of this the other day that was excellent. In fact, every single bottle of this I've had has been excellent. At any age. That counts for a lot with me. There are only a handful of wines that have always shown well for me throughout their life cycle and I have come to really value those wines. I hate opening up something and finding it in a crappy place. I also don't want to age everything so long that the wines start to lose their individual character (if I read one more time about how you need to wait 20 years for 1er Burgundy, I'll go all jihad).

The other wine that comes to mind is the 2004 Foucault Clos. Has always been lovely. Every single bottle.

Are other folks finding themselves valuing wines that behave like this or is it just me?
 
I most value wines that don't go off a cliff, because I am a bit disorganized in the cellar, but this is a good 2nd.

I keep waiting for that Foucault to close like a trap, but it hasn't. I'm mostly saving it anyway.

Others have had a tough time, but I've had a case+ of really good experiences with '96 Closel Papillon, including within the last month.

Buncha 2002s from Huet.
 
These types of wines are certainly handy for someone like myself without much storage. Although in a cruel twist of fate I seem to have developed a taste for some of the more backwards wines/producers.

I've been eyeing some MG Chaignots from various vintages, will keep this in mind.
 
To me, one of the attractive features of Muscadet is that they never "go away" to any significant extent. I like Clos des Briords at release and at every time point along its development; ditto with L d'Or and others that I've got much experience with. Given how many red wines I'm sitting on awaiting their eventual emergence into something attractive, this is a valuable characteristic.

Mark Lipton
 
i had some nice experiences with this one too. my small stash didn't last long for exactly the reasons you mention.

and i sympathize with your jihadist tendencies. it takes a special wine to reach full maturity and still retain a sense of its place. all too often when i'm sucking down a 20 year old cru that time has transformed into "generic nice old burgundy" (tm), i find myself thinking, 'shit, why didn't someone guzzle this down like eighteen years ago...'

fb.
 
originally posted by fatboy:
i had some nice experiences with this one too. my small stash didn't last long for exactly the reasons you mention.

and i sympathize with your jihadist tendencies. it takes a special wine to reach full maturity and still retain a sense of its place. all too often when i'm sucking down a 20 year old cru that time has transformed into "generic nice old burgundy" (tm), i find myself thinking, 'shit, why didn't someone guzzle this down like eighteen years ago...'

fb.
Oh, 'cuz then it would have just tasted like "generic nice young Burgundy."

I think it's incredibly important to devote a portion of the cellar to wines that can be drank in 5-10 years' time instead of 15+, but for the most part I'd rather rely on wines other than Burgundy to do that. There are some Burgundies worth saving that can be drank at any point in their lives, but not all that many.
 
true true. but i think there's something about the vigor of youth that can mask insipidness in a way that age can never quite manage.

fb. (swilling 20 year old marsannay that was indeed worth the wait.)
 
I like any wine that I like at the moment I like it, regardless of its age. When I don't like it, it exasperates me. If I like it again, I think it was worth the wait, but that's because I've had other wines I liked in between. I got a bunch of the Clos Rougeard 04 and, despite comments here about how that wine ages, I haven't been able to keep my hands off it. I'm happy to see it wasn't just me. I feel the same way about the 06 Charvin.
 
'85 clos du cortons was like that - great every time I had it, even though often several years had elapsed since I'd last had it.

same with 96 truchots - always great.
 
originally posted by Cliff:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
... I haven't been able to keep my hands off it... I feel the same way about the 06 Charvin.

Has it settled down any lately?

Since I brought it with me to NY, I've had it once in the Spring. It hadn't changed from what you saw. The 04 continues to get spicier and more complex, but it did not begin its life as bouncy as the 06 did. Since Charvins from 98-01 needed 10 years to show what they were, I'm guessing that the 04s, 05 and 06s are just being atypcally good as babies and I'll feel I drank them too young in 5 or 6 years.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
VLM: does this mean that you are giving up on G. Barthod?

No, my faith has been repaid lately by very good bottles of 1996 and 2001 Fueés and 1999 Charmes.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
VLM: does this mean that you are giving up on G. Barthod?

No, my faith has been repaid lately by very good bottles of 1996 and 2001 Fueés and 1999 Charmes.

They were always drinking great, eh?

Not the Fueés. The Charmes was an after market purchase, so I don't know.

I am just more confident that they actually do come around.
 
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