29th Annual Burgundy Club Gathering

M

Mark Anisman

Mark Anisman
Convening in southeast Napa in late April, we sorely missed the companionship of Lou Kessler, but we were blessed with the doyen of cassoulet and good times, BL, joining us in our reveries. With gratitude, we most enjoyed the spark of fellowship refreshed. In solidarity with our East Coast brethren, we asked of ourselves to chat and chew in the elements of Bay Area spring weather, cognizant that many are also suffering thru 70* temperatures with blue skies and calming breeze.
Among our confrerie is our link to the real world of wine, a prestigious Napa vigneron, but not wanting to continue name dropping, i will only allow the hint escape that his / her first name commences with a consonant.

all wines were enjoyed and would be appreciated on their own with meals. none were marred by oak. save for the Clerget, balance was superb. the wines speak in strong support of 2016 being a wonderful vintage.

2016 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Champans
2016 Domaine Joseph Voillot Volnay 1er Cru Champans
2016 Domaine Y. Clerget Volnay Clos du Verseuil
2016 Domaine Louis Boillot et Fils Volnay 1er Cru Les Angles

the class acts were felt to be the deep and fleshy d'Angerville and the lithe and pretty Voillot. D'Angerville was the least accessible of all the wines and not ready for complete enjoyment, but the consensus was the other 3 were great drinking now (with the perfunctory caveat that they too stood to gain with time).
Boillot was minerally and rustic streaked and stood out for same, but still Volnay in character. a wonderful drink that would pair suitably with foods like duck confit.
Clerget was marked with an acidity that was mildly detracting on its' own, but less conspicuous when consumed with foods the like of beef tenderloin. Pure fruit and again sits in Volnay.
Voillot was a delight, expressing Volnay character in a pristine style highlighting the stone inflected fruit. Clerget style is similar but did not hit the mark as well as Voillot did (a vineyard factor?). Complexity is most apparent in this wine.
D'Angerville was royal with the most polished texture of our wines. Great depth with the beauty and complexity to emerge in more democratic times, it was the hardest read vis-à-vis what is being foreshadowed. Darker red fruit (cherry spectrum vs strawberry) although that could be a calling of the greater sense of ripeness / concentration.

for those numbers folks, in our groups prime number only scale (53-101), the d'Angerville and Voillot were definitely in the 83 and above region, and Boillot and Clerget were a touch behind at a minimum of 73. There were nary a disqualification for a wine not staying in their lane.

thank you for tuning in...
 
Nice group of wines. I can imagine the Boillot was a bit under matched in terms of vineyard. Maybe the same for Clerget, but I don't know the producer or the vineyard.
 
yes, we thought about this as a vineyard issue. possibly applicable to Boillot, but does border Fremiets, and the Clerget vineyard is contiguous with Taillepieds and Champans and Bousse d'Or, so .....
 
I also thought this Clerget is good but nothing special that captures one’s attention. His ‘16 Caillerets OTOH is a big step up in complexity, delineation, weight, and wow factor. That’s the one to try/buy if you are trying/buying.
 
thank you Rahsaan and Jason. we were interested in Clerget as the domaine seemed to be touted as the new fresh face on the block. the pantheon seems to be undisturbed at this point. nice to hear about the caillerets.thoughts about his other wines?
 
originally posted by Mark Anisman:
yes, we thought about this as a vineyard issue. possibly applicable to Boillot, but does border Fremiets.....
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I don't claim to be an expert but the bordering issue is often a bit of a red herring in Burgundy. In my experience, Boillot's Les Angles is somewhat of a lesser 1er cru. To the point that I sometimes forget it's a 1er cru! Although that doesn't mean it's not delicious.

Anyway, this is a lot of nitpicking over what sounds like an excellent dinner and I would have been thrilled to drink those wines any day of the week.
 
Thanks for the notes, Mark, very helpful. Since I don't know how oak-averse you are, can you elaborate on "none were marred by oak", especially with respect to the Voillot? i.e., does than mean there was none noticeable, or was there what you would consider an acceptable amount.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Thanks for the notes, Mark, very helpful. Since I don't know how oak-averse you are, can you elaborate on "none were marred by oak", especially with respect to the Voillot? i.e., does than mean there was none noticeable, or was there what you would consider an acceptable amount.
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excellent question. as i have matured (more or less), i do not look for significant oak inflection. i tend to enjoy wines with minimal new oak period. then why do i like old rousseau where the grand crus have 100% new oak? perhaps what oak he uses and toast etc etc.
only the d'Angerville had noticeable oak, but still background at most. the others seemed to have no significant markings of new oak. certainly none of the assorted 14 ruffians commented publicly on overuse of oak. the vineyard was dominant, not the winemaker.
i regret that i do not really know what the official answer is...
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Nary a 2016 Pommard?
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we only had so much liver available, as the soiree concludes with a post tasting meal over 3-4 hours and a few more 750 ml vessels of fermented pinot noir on offer. not to denigrate the odd bottle or so of huet (it was definitely odd, being a 1995)
and not to mention the tariff. when we started back in the days of clinton, the usual offering was the like of 8 bottles of clos vougeot. we don't do that anymore.
 
Thank you.

100% new oak can, sometime between ten and forty years (to be precise), completely lose the flavor aspect (though not the emollient aspect, becoming smooth & velvety), so I'd venture that evolving to dislike NFO is not incompatible with continuing to like old Rousseau.
 
originally posted by Mark Anisman:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Nary a 2016 Pommard?
Click to expand...

we only had so much liver available, as the soiree concludes with a post tasting meal over 3-4 hours and a few more 750 ml vessels of fermented pinot noir on offer. not to denigrate the odd bottle or so of huet (it was definitely odd, being a 1995)
and not to mention the tariff. when we started back in the days of clinton, the usual offering was the like of 8 bottles of clos vougeot. we don't do that anymore.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't mean to be critical. I'm just curious about 2016 Pommard.

Sounds like a great evening, thanks for the notes.
 
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