Introduction
The recently held quarterly tasting dinner for the 2009s was surprisingly interesting and called for a follow-up. This warm vintage often gets portrayed as overripe without the necessary acidity levels to make it ageworthy. Based on my tastings so far I would disagree with that assessment and actually prefer it to 03s, 05s and 06s. Especially the flight of 2009 grand crus was remarkable and all wines were perfectly proportioned and accessible with tons of life left. As the last tasting zoomed in on Puligny 1er and grand crus, the idea here was to introduce village wines and various Meursaults and Chassagne-Montrachets.
The venue was Jade Palace, a Chinese seafood restaurant that is a rightful favourite of many winelovers in Singapore. Our friend Melisa kindly arranged the menu that included both a mix of tried and tested classics (deep fried live frog with sliced ginger and sea clams with chives) Some new additions were a brilliant lobster tail sashimi that made all of us forget about wine for a minute. Also noteworthy was the crispy chicken wing stuffed with dried scallop fried rice that was bursting with flavour and umami goodness.
Flight 1: Village Puligny & Meursault lieux-dits & Chassagne 1er cru
The first flight included a Lucien Le Moine Puligny Montrachet Les Ensègneires. This is arguably the finest village level lieu-dit of Puligny Montrachet, bordering on the grand cru of Bienvenues-Batard Montrachet. The Chassagne slot went to Marc Colin's version of the lesser known Les Vide-Bourses 1er cru, neighbour of the mighty Batard Montrachet. Meursault called for one of many remarkable village level lieux-dits which typically perform like 1er crus. Jean-Philippe Fichet has an impressive array of four Meursault lieux-dits in his stable: Les Chevalières, Les Gruyaches, Le Tesson and Le Meix Sous le Château. Although all are recommendable and priced fairly, I picked Les Chevalières which is my personal favourite.
Flight 1: Voting Results
A true tie for Wine Of The Flight with five #1 and four #2 votes each for Fichet and Le Moine. Fichet was certainly the lushest with abundant ripe yellow and orange fruit and a round buttery palate that showed classic Meursault typicity. As you can expect from Le Moine it showed a classy oak profile that elevated the aromatics a few notches above your daily drinking village level wine. It also had an uplifting acidity and transparency that made it my favourite by a whisker. Marc Colin’s Chassagne Les Vide-Bourses should by no means be discounted. It married a remarkably fine nose with more freshness and minerality than many 2009 Chassagnes that can sometimes be dominated by caramel and raisins. As for drinking window they were all at peak but I would start finishing any remaining Fichets as with time in the glass it showed more evolved than the others. Le Moine and Colin felt like they could go on for years but critics have placed question marks around Le Moine's ageability due to their low-sulphur and high CO2 production regime. I lack enough tasting experience with their wines to have a qualified opinion.
Finally, the participants were asked to guess which was the Puligny and only two out of twelve guessed it correctly whereas six mistook the Colin Chassagne to be a Puligny, a compliment for Marc Colin. Singling out the Chassagne didn’t go much smoother with only three correct guesses. Here the majority thought Fichet’s Meursault was a Chassagne. A most interesting and strong first flight showing that the 2009 vintage is also worthy of your consideration at the lower levels.
Flight 2: Puligny Montrachet Les Combettes & Chassagne Montrachet Les Caillerets
Second flight was a revisit of the Carillon and Sauzet Combettes which last time didn’t perform up to the usual gold standard of this gifted plot. I chose one of the stronger but not necessarily best known Chassagnes to match: Jean-Noel Gagnard’s Chassagne Les Caillerets 1er cru. This producer has a range of benchmark Chassagne 1er cru plots and this Caillerets can be considered their flagship. Please note that there are also Chassagne Caillerets bottlings out there from Blain-Gagnard and Fontaine-Gagnard.
Flight 2: Voting Results
Ow wow – Sauzet Combettes knocked it out off the park with with 9 out of 12 votes. For the first time at the Puligny First tastings it really lived up to its heralded reputation and elevated price tag. This was unquestionably of grand cru quality in every possible dimension: lifted aromatics with vanilla infused pineapple cream followed by a layered and intense palate of ripe white and yellow fruits, ending on a long and complex finish. I simply couldn’t reconcile it with a bottle from the same case I had only a few weeks back.
Gagnard was voted runner-up with three votes for best wine and seven votes for runner-up. In all fairness I don’t think any Chassagne 1er could have outperformed this smoking Sauzet. The Gagnard was a slightly broad-shouldered yet honest wine with a rich and perfectly ripe palate and the slightest touch of heat on the backend. In the pecking order Chassagne typically ranks third after Puligny and Meursault but this Gagnard leaves tons of 1er crus from those villages behind in terms of quality.
Similar to previous tastings the Carillon Combettes fell a bit short in intensity compared to the others. It seems most easily explained by the young vine age as they replanted in the nineties. Note that 2009 was the last vintage of Louis Carillon’s Combettes as the two brothers split up the domaine so going forward the Combettes will be produced by François.
Before unveiling a flight the participants need to vote for interim Wine-of-the-Night and after this second flight it was Sauzet’s Combettes with 8 votes followed by 3 votes for Gagnard’s Chassagne Caillerets. People were informed there were two Combettes (of which one Sauzet) in this flight and a 1er cru from outside Puligny. Only 1 out of 12 guessed the outlier correctly and an impressive seven were able to single out the Sauzet. I was wrong on both fronts as I simply couldn’t reconcile the Sauzet with the previous bottle I had.
Two people considered the Carillon Combettes to be showing advanced. I couldn't detect any oxidation and think that overripeness and a lowish acidity gave the impression it would be best enjoyed sooner rather than later.
Flight 3: Puligny Montrachet Les Referts, Clos de la Mouchère & Meursault Le Porusot
Time to pull some big guns. Louis Carillon’s Referts and Henri Boillot's Clos de la Mouchère need no introduction here as they feature in nearly every tasting. As these wines often flirt with grand cru quality, it called for a serious Meursault counterpart. Domaine Roulot's Meursault Charmes would have been my ideal pick but demand for Roulot has made availability and pricing both problematic. I was able to locate a Le Porusot, a typically solid 1er cru although not one of Roulot's most famed bottlings.
Flight 3: Voting results
It was a close call between Louis Carillon’s Referts and Roulot (with seven vs five #1 votes) with the latter receiving more votes for second favourite. Boillot was a distant third. If I had to summarize this rather diverse flight: a rich and complete Carillon that is true to its origin whilst giving a ton of immediate drinking pleasure. A rather intellectual and angular Meursault expression of Roulot and a Boillot that for me didn’t yet found its ideal balance. I was torn myself between Carillon and Roulot and could make an argument for each but in the end leaned towards Carillon. The subtlety of the Roulot almost went to the point of being lightweight. I had a similar sentiment with a recently opened Coche Dury village level Meursault 2009. I think it could be a matter of picking date where some producers went for fresher and lighter style. In isolation those wines are fine but they seem to fall short while pairing with them with richer wines.
Five out of twelve people guessed correctly which of the three wines was not from Puligny. Definitely not easy to guess as Roulot is not your typical Meursault expression.
Flight 4: Puligny Pucelles & Meursault Perrières
As Boillot’s Pucelles fared very well on the previous 2009 tasting, I figured it would be interesting to benchmark it against the famed Leflaive version. As a fan of Meursault-Perrières that often performs at grand cru level, the choice went to the very affordable Roche de Bellène (Potel’s négoce). .
Flight 4: Voting Results
Boillot repeated its strong performance from the previous tasting and was voted wine of the flight with eight votes for favourite wine and four votes for second favourite. Leflaive picked up all the other votes and Roche de Bellène went home empty-handed.
The Roche de Bellène was just drinkable with advanced baked apple and boiled down sugarcane flavours. Leflaive was a decadent rich and round wine that flirted with overripeness and botrytis. With time in the glass I noticed some decline so I would not recommend it for the long hault although I can't tell in how far this was related to the individual bottle. A pity as there are well-stored examples of Leflaive Pucelles from the 70s and 80s out there that are still drinking beautifully.
In all candor I consider Henri Boillot the modern day flagbearer of the appellation which is also twice as affordable as Leflaive. Here again, it was the most structurally sound and disciplined wine of the three with the longest and brightest future.
Overall summary and conclusions:
Overall Wine Of The Night (WOTN) was Etienne Sauzet’s Combettes followed by Domaine Roulot Le Porusot. Carillon Referts and Boillot Pucelles were competing for bronze. Puligny does seem to confirm its first place in the hierarchy of villages although the sample size was too small for any definitive conclusion.
Vintage assessment:
This is certainly a riper vintage that has yielded fairly big and fruitforward wines. Although I don't consider it as highly as some others on the dinner, this is unquestionably an above average year. I would rank it 3.8 out of 5 stars as the ripeness and acidity levels were mostly well within tolerance levels. The fact that the village level wines were showing so well can also be seen as an indication of overall vintage quality.
Drinking window & premox assessment
Generally the 2009 1ers are at peak drinking after 7 years from harvest. However, there was one clearly advanced bottle (Roche de Bellène Meursault Perrières) and I would start drinking any remaining Fichet Chevalières and Leflaive Pucelles. Only the two Boillot bottlings (Pucelles and Clos de la Mouchère) seem to merit additional aging. All the others seem in a steady state with ino rush to open them as long as pre-mox doesn't spoil the party.
Producer assessment:
With almost as many producers as bottles it is hard to draw conclusions. However, it seems fair to say that that Sauzet and Fichet are in good shape in 2009. Carillon and Boillot both showed well but slightly short of outstanding. For Carillon the 2008s are a significant step up whereas for Boillot the 2007s are taking it to another level. Roulot's Porusot relayed more the house style as opposed to the typical vintage or plot characteristics (or perceptions thereof). It is certainly a completely different expression that makes these tastings all the more interesting.
Value assessment:
From a value perspective most praise should go to Sauzet who delivered a true grand cru level performance with his Combettes. Second thumbs up would go to Fichet for an excellent village-level Meursault Chevalières. I wouldn't recommend Roulot and Leflaive (both in the 200+ USD category). For Roulot you can experience their style equally well with one of their slightly more affordable village level lieux-dits (e.g. Les Luchets or Les Vireuils).
Finally, a word of thanks again to all the participants of this dinner. It is great to see these niche all-whites events fill-up so quickly and the feedback is very positive. À la prochaine mon amis!