The second vintage tasting was again held at the American Club in Singapore with venue and menu being kindly organized by our friend Melisa. The food paired brilliantly with this all-whites dinner and the wine service was impeccable.
From left to right: Asari clams, roasted chicken and barley, mushroom ravioli, sole à la meunière and a true Singapore classic: salted egg yolk lobster.
Flight 1: Perrières
The main idea behind this flight was to compare Louis Carillon's Puligny Perrières with Henri Boillot's Clos de la Mouchère, a 4 hectare monopole within the Puligny Perrières climat. The third bottle was a ringer, a Nuits St Georges La Perrière from Henri Gouges, a true rarity from mutated pinot often referred to as Pinot Gouges.
Flight 1: Voting results
Summary of this flight:
Although the voting looks relatively balanced between Carillon and Boillot, for me it was an overwhelming victory for Carillon. In other vintages their Perrières can sometimes be quite intellectual with limited fruit, tons of minerality and a bonedry finish. None of that austerity here as this is loaded with ripe fruits, gentle integrated oak and superb counterbalancing acidity.
Whereas Domaine Henri Boillot reigned supreme in the 2007 edition with their Clos de la Mouchère I found the 2008 lacking some definition and the malic acids were a touch too harsh. Unfortunately the fun element of the Nuits Perrière didn't work out since that bottle showed advanced. Not sure whether these ought to be drunk younger or it was just bad luck.
Flight 2: Referts
The simple idea behind this flight was to compare the Referts bottlings of three different producers. Louis Carillon has the reputation of producing the benchmark but always interesting to see how it fares against the likes of Etienne Sauzet and J.P. Fichet, a relatively new estate. I would love to feature one day Arnaud Ente's version but these are notoriously difficult to source given the high demand and the tiny 0.2 ha production.
Flight 2: Voting results
Summary of this flight
Carillon was clearly firing on all cylinders tonight, it was for me again in a class of its own. Similar to their Perrières it was a very appealing wine with great tension between ripeness and a rounded lemon yoghurt like acidity. This wine sends many grand crus out there back to the drawing board.
As for Sauzet, I am starting to get the sense this estate needs grand cru plots to really shine. Their Referts was perfectly decent yet a touch onedimensional. As for Fichet, although I love their village level Meursault and Auxey-Duresses, it couldn't really keep up with the others.
Finally, as part of the voting (which is fully blind) people were asked whether their wine of the flight was also their wine of the night so far. A whopping 100% of the participants confirmed their favourites Referts outbested the Perrières.
Flight 3: Pucelles
After Boillot's brilliant Pucelles in the previous 2007 edition, they had to feature again and I decided to give them a serious run for the money by bringing in the famed Leflaive Pucelles. As I mentioned before I evade Leflaive for their shaky 2006 and 2007 vintages but wanted to give them a chance for the 2008s. The line-up was completed by a grand cru, Louis Carillon's flagship Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet bottling, a tiny 600 bottle per year production.
Flight 3: Voting results
Summary of this flight
An amazing hattrick by Louis Carillon by winning three consecutive flights. I think it is the slightly riper vintage that make them more appealing compared to a leaner year like 2007. From the first pour the Carillon stood out as the grand cru and 10 out of 12 participants guessed this correctly. Often the oak profile is a pointer for singling out the grand cru but in this case it was simply the superior wine in every possible dimension: intensity, complexity, structure and length. A superb showing and at this age profile one of their most accessible BBMs I can remember....with a long and bright future to boot.
I don't expect Henri Boillot to send me a thank-you note for putting their Pucelles head to head against the Carillon BBM. However, it should be seen as a compliment as they did so brilliantly in 2007. Their 2008 performed pretty well and was true to its terroir by showing an angular Puligny character with not an ounce of fat yet a slightly austere and tart finish.
And about Domaine Leflaive, what can I say? Another disappointment which has become the norm rather than the exception since around the millennial shift. Very sad as I have such fond memories of older bottlings like the epic 1989 Chevalier Montrachet and the 1992 Batard Montrachet. I truly hope they will return to form one day.
To keep everyone honest without label bias, I always ask participants to vote for interim wine of the night before the flight is revealed. Interesting outcome is that after the third flight there was a tie for wine of the night between Louis Carillon's Referts and BBM, each receiving 5 votes. The remaining two votes were for the Leflaive and the Boillot Pucelles. Although I was in the BBM camp, the votes for the Referts were perfectly understandable from a drinking window perspective. It surely was drinking at its glorious peak whereas the BBM, albeit approachable, still has significant upside.
Flight 4: Combettes
Similar to the previous edition it was Louis Carillon's younger vine version against the old vine Sauzet Combettes and Batard Montrachet. Last time it was Sauzet's grand cru which was voted wine of the night and the Combettes flight was considered the strongest flight. Could this be repeated?
Flight 4: Voting results
Summary of this flight:
With 9 out of 12 votes it was again the grand cru that stood out. In terms of weight and size it was true to its terroir and displayed a higher level of richness than any other wine tonight. I just love acacia honey notes in my whites, often a byproduct of old vines. For the second place it was a close call between Sauzet and Carillon but there was a slight preference for the Sauzet.
In sharp contrast to the 2007 edition noone voted their overall Wine of the Night from the Combettes flight and only a minority of 5 people assessed the Combettes flight to be the strongest of the night. Seven people guessed correctly the grand cru. Five people thought it was a Batard, a same number thought it was a Chevalier and the two remaining guessed the grand cru to be a Bienvenues-Batard.
Overall summary and conclusions
Summary of results:
The Wine Of The Night (WOTN) was actually too close to call between Carillon's Referts and BBM with each receiving 5 votes for wine of the night. Etienne Sauzet's Batard Montrachet was despite zero votes for wine of the night considered by five of the people to be their overall second-favourite wine. A very respectable top 3 and grand crus were performing very well.
Vintage assessment:
I did ask people to vote for a vintage assessment on a scale from 0-5 stars. Consensus was around 4 stars and I think that is fair assessment: it is a good but not a great vintage. After reading the 2008 vintage report on oxidised-burgs I was expecting a lot of botrytis to show up. The only two bottlings were I got a hint of that were Leflaive's Pucelles and Sauzet's Batard Montrachet. Overall it is a slightly riper and more full bodied vintage than 2007 but the perceived acidity varied heavily but was often higher than I expected. It was interesting to note that some plots showed a more malic acid character (especially the Perrieres and the Pucelles flights) whereas the Referts and the Combettes had a much rounder lactic yoghurt like acidity. Finally the difference between grand cru and premier crus felt larger compared to 2007.
Premox assessment:
The good news is that only 1 out of 12 bottles was advanced but this was the Nuits-St-Georges ringer. This is a promising sign and I hope this will be reconfirmed when we'll be tasting the same bottles in a few years from now.
Producer assessment:
Louis Carillon was in great form with three flights convincingly going their way. As a long time fan of this estate I was very pleased for them to be showing that well. Their style is traditionally very Puligny-esque: angular with a strong racy lime character. In riper vintages this style yields very appealing wine that are loved by zippy Chablis drinkers to rich Batard lovers alike. Boillot pulled off another solid vintage but somehow they didn't match their highs in 2007. They weren't too ripe or oaky but I found the balance slightly compromised by a too harsh acidity. For Sauzet it seems to becoming a trend that they need grand cru land to really shine. Their famous Combettes, one of the flagship Puligny 1er crus, could again not live up to its repuration. And let's not speak more about Leflaive other than wishing them a swift return to form.
Plot assessment:
This time it was an overwhelming victory for Les Referts as the strongest climat in 2008. They were more balanced than the Perrieres and more generous than the strict Pucelles. Combettes was for me the runner-up but didn't live up to my general assessment of it being the strongest 1er cru. I must make a point though that I felt the Pucelles flight might need a bit more time to unfold.
Value assessment:
From a value perspective it would be Louis Carillon's Perrieres and Referts that I would most recommend. Boillot would be a good number two although I would much rather buy their 2007s. Carillon's BBM at 3-4x the price of the Referts is always a hard sell but I genuinely think that in 10-15 years it is one of those grand crus with the possibility to bring the house down. Leflaive's Pucelles is poor value for money and Sauzet's Batard is pretty in line with similar quality grand crus out there.
Format assessment:
The format was similar to last time and I would stick to flights of three ordered by plot. Revealing the wines after voting for each flight is also a keeper as well voting for for interim wine of the nights. After two events it is clear that grand crus always stick out and they sometimes don't leave room for the premier crus to shine. I consider for the 2009 edition to have one all-grand cru flight at the end to let the big boys fight each other instead of their smaller brothers.