DC 2009 Red Burgundy Jeebus

[Unknown]

originally posted by Yule Kim:


Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges Clos de Porrets: Weightless, ethereal, and absolutely lovely. The tannins were well managed and in check. To me, it was drinking very well. I think it surprised everyone that this was a Gouges wine, considering their reputation for making wines that are backwards when young. I guess the stories of a stylistic change for this producer are true, at least with respect to their lower tier Premier Crus and not the Les St. Georges and Vaucrains. This was my favorite wine of the night.

for me, the only (vague) surprise is that it was the porrets. its puppy fat window is (was?) usually short. i've regularly slain vast quantities of gouges vaucrains in the first years after release. shit shows well for a little while when young. always did. then it doesn't (didn't?). turns out some shit is more predictable than other shit.

otoh, if your surprise was based on reputation, congratulations. you just moved a little closer towards ignoring all the self promoting bullshit put forward by dickheads who make big pronouncements from small sips at wine tasting parties, which is a big step towards figuring this shit out for yourself.

the fatsink and i have opened a bottle of teh fine chablis to toast your coming of age.

fb.

 

[Unknown]

So now you tell me. I totally lack the experience of drinking infant Gouges. Never bothered. Except for 2005, which was futile, but then again it wasn't Vaucrains.

 

[Unknown]

in fairness, the problem isn't me telling you now. it's all the skinnythin dudes telling you "there be dragons," all along.

fwiw the fatview on gouges is that they rarely deliver on the promise of their extremely youthful showings in cask and bottle. except the ones that do, and that is often more a case of, "oh dear god, please stop hitting me." see above.

fwiw i often bothered and cared because of what i reliably got out of it.

go figure.

whatever. i have long since crossed the northern rhone off my list.

come visit the fathaus if you need an update on the right way to understand pinot and sympathetic terroirs.

fb.

 

[Yixin]

originally posted by fatboy:
whatever. i have long since crossed the northern rhone off my list.

There are still good guys, doing good work. Less than I'd prefer, but such is life.

 

[Claude Kolm]

originally posted by Yixin:

originally posted by fatboy:
whatever. i have long since crossed the northern rhone off my list.

There are still good guys, doing good work. Less than I'd prefer, but such is life.

Fewer than I'd prefer, too. :) And many too expensive, now. But the buyer who seeks quality and not necessarily prestige can still do quite well - just buy more of those that are the best values (they're still not sought after and so quite reasonable in price). Right, Eric? ;)

 

[Yixin]

We just got our 2010 Gonon. Drank it with some of our favourite chefs, too bad we sold out of it immediately.

Oh, and this guy picking up vineyards (and losing them to swimming pools) as well. His wines are pretty good, too.

 

[Unknown]

This is completely upside down. Usually it's the guy who's returned from France all psyched about the just bottled Burgundy vintage, and then the stuff arrives and you've got travel shock followed by whatever, usually nothingness. How very.

 

[Cristian Dezso]

originally posted by maureen:
Thanks for posting notes, Yule.

I think the tasting, limited in selection though it was, was instructive because it demonstrated the disconnect between popular belief and truth - almost like political debate! And I realize Yule repeated a comment by Cristi re: austerity but really no one there - or in this thread - found the wines austere, even when tannins were apparent. I certainly don't think throwing tannins on top of plush fruit makes a wine seem austere - in fact, I'd venture that the Gouges has plenty of tannins, albeit fine ones, on top of the fruit. I'd call that balanced, not austere.

My point of view was really simple. I have never tried young (or old) burgundy before. But I have read about similarities to piemontese wines. OK. So I have tried at least a few piemontese wines from the ripe 2007 vintage, and my expectations for the ripe 2009 burgundy vintage were that they, somehow, would not be far from piemontese. Wrong! In this particular case. The fruit in the 2007 ripe piemontese vintage (the 5-10 wines I tried) was so much more immediate and friendlier than the 2009 burgundies, that I could not help it but to call the wines I tasted a few nights ago but austere. Were they austere compared to young burgundies from past vintages? I dunno. But the so called ripe 2007 piemontese wines were really ripe compared to what has been labeled as the ripe 2009 vintage in burgundy - or at least the wines I have tasted.

But who cares... Enjoy!

 

[Matt Latuchie]

originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
Anyway, my main conviction is that this is a vintage a lot of people are going to miss out on because they've decided in advance that slamming it makes them one of the cool kids.

couldn't agree more keith. i'm guilty of racing to judgement on the vintage, but have been finding more and more exciting bottles. mea culpa.

 

[Unknown]

I resemble that remark.

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by Keith Levenberg:

Anyway, my main conviction is that this is a vintage a lot of people are going to miss out on because they've decided in advance that slamming it makes them one of the cool kids.

Yes, that's right. We're just skipping it because it's out of fashion among the anti-flavor wine elites.

Still I'm glad to hear that the wines may be firming up a bit. I haven't had many pleasant experiences yet. At last month's blind dinner everyone pegged an '09 de Montille Corton 'Clos de Roi' as an overripe California pinot noir.

 

[SFJoe]

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by Keith Levenberg:

Anyway, my main conviction is that this is a vintage a lot of people are going to miss out on because they've decided in advance that slamming it makes them one of the cool kids.

Yes, that's right. We're just skipping it because it's out of fashion among the anti-flavor wine elites.

Exactly.

Nothing to do with the prices, for instance.

 

[Unknown]

originally posted by Yixin:

originally posted by fatboy:
whatever. i have long since crossed the northern rhone off my list.

There are still good guys, doing good work. Less than I'd prefer, but such is life.

i know. i still buy a little gevrey and marsannay, but it's mostly for old times' sake.

fb.

 

[Yule Kim]

originally posted by fatboy:

originally posted by Yixin:

originally posted by fatboy:
whatever. i have long since crossed the northern rhone off my list.

There are still good guys, doing good work. Less than I'd prefer, but such is life.

i know. i still buy a little gevrey and marsannay, but it's mostly for old times' sake.

fb.

You seem disenchanted with the Northern Cote de Nuits. Out of curiosity, I was wondering why?

And yes, I think I might be a Gouges fan. I'm going to have to try some more to get a better sense of the producer, but I enjoyed the Porrets I had last Thursday immensely and might buy some and try them young, regardless of Gouges reputation (though my one bottle of '05 Pruliers I will leave alone).

 

[maureen]

originally posted by Jay Miller: At last month's blind dinner everyone pegged an '09 de Montille Corton 'Clos de Roi' as an overripe California pinot noir.

The 2008, however, is stunning.

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by maureen:

originally posted by Jay Miller: At last month's blind dinner everyone pegged an '09 de Montille Corton 'Clos de Roi' as an overripe California pinot noir.

The 2008, however, is stunning.

Thanks Maureen, that's good to know. Everyone was pretty shocked that a de Montille could taste like that.

 

[Claude Kolm]

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by maureen:

originally posted by Jay Miller: At last month's blind dinner everyone pegged an '09 de Montille Corton 'Clos de Roi' as an overripe California pinot noir.

The 2008, however, is stunning.

Thanks Maureen, that's good to know. Everyone was pretty shocked that a de Montille could taste like that.

I betcha that in twenty years, you'll have no trouble telling the 2009 apart from an overripe CA PN.

 

[Oswaldo Costa]

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by maureen:

originally posted by Jay Miller: At last month's blind dinner everyone pegged an '09 de Montille Corton 'Clos de Roi' as an overripe California pinot noir.

The 2008, however, is stunning.

Thanks Maureen, that's good to know. Everyone was pretty shocked that a de Montille could taste like that.

Why wouldn't an Etienne de Montille taste like that?

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by Claude Kolm:

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by maureen:

originally posted by Jay Miller: At last month's blind dinner everyone pegged an '09 de Montille Corton 'Clos de Roi' as an overripe California pinot noir.

The 2008, however, is stunning.

Thanks Maureen, that's good to know. Everyone was pretty shocked that a de Montille could taste like that.

I betcha that in twenty years, you'll have no trouble telling the 2009 apart from an overripe CA PN.

Very likely. Though in 20 years I might have trouble telling the difference between Yellowtail and La Tache.

 

[maureen]

originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by maureen:

originally posted by Jay Miller: At last month's blind dinner everyone pegged an '09 de Montille Corton 'Clos de Roi' as an overripe California pinot noir.

The 2008, however, is stunning.

Thanks Maureen, that's good to know. Everyone was pretty shocked that a de Montille could taste like that.

Why wouldn't an Etienne de Montille taste like that?

I'd like to taste Etienne de Montille!

oh, were you talking about his wine?