On Jul 18, 10:25?am, "DALE WILLIAMS"
> wrote:
> We only had one full day in Burgundy. I didn't want to overload Betsy and
> David with wine visits. I just scheduled one for the morning, and one in
> afternoon. Which was a good thing as both of our hosts did extensive and
> informative presentations.
>
> We started in the morning at Jadot (thanks to Cathleen Burke at Kobrand for
> arranging). Marc Dupin the export manager was a great hosts, explaining in
> detail the basic geology of Burgundy, Jadot's philosophy, their commitment
> to terroir, and the physical processes of vinification and elevage. The
> fairly new Jadot facility in Beaune on the road to Savigny is a marvel. He
> led us through a great tastings of the 2006s.
>
> I felt the 2006 whites showed extremely well overall. There's good
> ripeness, but seemingly no lack of acidity. I have no experience with barrel
> tasting, but none of these were hard to taste (well, one Meursault had the
> acid sticking out a little, Marc said they had stopped the malolactic
> partway, he felt it would settle down in bottle). The Pernand-Vergelesses
> Blanc was the surprise value of the visit, nice fresh fruit backed with
> crisp acidity. A Chassagne (Morgeot, I think) surprised me with its crisp
> minerality. The Batard Montrachet showed some underlying power, but was
> maybe a little awkward. The wine of the visit for me was probably the
> Puligny Referts, which had the Puligny minerality but almost a big broad
> almost Meursault-ish body.
>
> The 2006 reds were good, though maybe less uniformly than the whites. We
> started with a Pommard "La Commaraine" that had good fruit, but a bit meaty
> and tough. The Savigny Guettes was good, the Savigny La Dominode I felt a
> bit better. Betsy's favorite was the Vosne-Romanee Beaumonts; indeed this
> was a nicely perfumed elegant wine. I liked the Charmes Chambertin, but
> preferred both the Echezeaux and the Grands Echezeaux (Marc felt the GE
> showed much better than the Echezeaux, I found them different but equally
> appealing, so would probably buy the less expensive Echezeaux). Besides the
> Grand Crus, the Chambolle "Sentiers" really rocked in my opinion - one 2006
> red I'll definitely look for.
>
> In the afternoon we drove through the Cotes de Nuit, before ending up at our
> appointment at Domaine Mugnier. We knew Frederic Mugnier was away, but his
> young nieces and dog handled the welcome nicely, before turning us over to
> Audrey Sadde, M. Mugnier's assistant. She did a great job of taking us (and
> a Danish couple) through a tasting of Mugnier's 2006s.
>
> The tasting was in the cellar of the new expanded part of the winery (since
> adding back the NSG, production has tripled- the Clos de la Marechal is more
> than double the size of all the Chambolle parcels). She explained that all
> of the Mugnier wines are given identical elevage. The 2006 Chambolle village
> wine (Audrey did an impromtu mix of the 2 parcels, a 1er cru I don't know -I
> think she said Plantes, and a village parcel of La Combe d'Orveau to
> approximate the final mix). The Chambolle Fuees was probably the hardest to
> taste this day; I couldn't really get a handle). The Bonne Mares had lots of
> tannins, but still showed a great blend of black cherry fruit and
> earthiness. Even as a barrel sample, I thought the Amoureuses was simply
> stunning. Elegant, floral, with a hint of spice. I liked it even better than
> the Musigny, which was very classic I felt, with an interesting hint of
> cocoa. Lastly, she mixed three samples from different parts of the Clos de
> la Marechale NSG to approximate the final mix. Tannins were pretty dense,
> harder to drink than most the Chambolles, but good potential I think.
>
> Then she led us back to a separate area in the older part of the facility.
> There we tasted the 2006 Clos de la Marechale- white! Frederic Mugnier
> decided one parcel of the Clos was unsuited for Pinot, and grafted on
> Chardonnay. I've tasted the Gouges and Chevillon NSG whites before, I think
> this is right up with them. Crystalline white pear fruit, a dense minerally
> streak, very tasty. Lastly we sampled from bottles of the 2005 CdlMarechal
> and 2004 Clos de la Fouches (a 2nd wine they produced from youngest vines in
> Marechale clos in 2004). She had felt the '05 Marechale was suffering from
> bottle shock that AM, but now it had opened nicely. Big black Nuits fruit,
> earth and spice. A little smoky note. Excellent, and I look forward to mine
> arriving. I had been unimpressed with the Clos de la Fouches on arrival, but
> this was a lighter style but tasty NSG. I might buy if I saw at good price.
>
> All in all, two excellent visits at two excellent producers. Nice to visit
> both a large one and a much smaller one. I'll be looking to buy some 2006s
> (especially as it looks like 2007 might be very problematic, according to
> both Marc and Audrey).
>
> --

As usual thanks for the great notes. Glad you had a fun and safe trip.