The fifth grand vintage dinner was dedicated to 2011, a slightly lesser known year that came right after the much lauded 2010s. Although my experience with the 2011s is limited my previous impressions have generally been positive. They seem to be showing well despite their relative youth yet have enough backbone to age gracefully. Let’s see what tonight’s line-up of thirteen 2011s will lead us to conclude.
Food and venue were once again kindly and perfectly organized by our friend Melisa. It featured the usual classics of salted egg yolk lobster, frog leg tempura, razorclam ceviche but a special mention should go to chef Ken's specialty of scallop ravioli (see below).
Scallop ravioli
Flight 1: The Unusual Suspects
Idea behind this flight was to showcase some different producers and see how the three different villages fared in this vintage.
1st place: Paul Pillot –Chassagne Montrachet La Romanée 2011 (8x voted 1st, 2x voted 2nd)
2nd place : J.M. Boillot –Puligny Montrachet Les Referts 2011 (2x voted 1st, 5x voted 2nd)
3rd place : Latour-Giraud –Meursault Genevrières « Cuvee Pierre » 2011 (1x voted 1st, 5x voted 2nd)
A most impressive introduction to Paul Pillot whose La Romanée I ranked two leagues above the other wine in this flight. Crystalline purity combined with gentle minerality and juicy orchard fruits picked at perfect ripeness. Seamless texture with refreshing yet soft acidity and not the first time Chassagne La Romanée overperforms. Only 2 out of 12 guessed this correctly to be a Chassagne and I wasn’t one of them as I thought this had to be a Puligny 1er cru. Latour-Giraud ‘s cuvee from 50 year old vines showed huge intensity with tropical fruits with some overripeness. It felt that that sugar and phenolic ripeness didn’t go hand in hand in this hot vintage as the finish was quite bitter and astringent. Boillot’s Referts on the other hand felt to be picked a touch early with less concentration yet saved by a brighter acidity.
Flight 2: Different shades of Perrières
A hardcore terroir driven flight with four Puligny Perrières 1er crus of which one is Henri Boillot’s Clos de la Mouchère, a 4 hectare monopole within the appellation. The idea was to contrast this with Boillot regular Perrières. The other entries were Jacques and François Carillon who each got half of the former Louis Carillon holdings.
1st place: Jacques Carillon – Puligny Montrachet Les Perrières 2011 (6x voted 1st, 5x voted 2nd)
2nd place: François Carillon - Puligny Montrachet Les Perrières 2011 (5x voted 1st, 1x voted 2nd)
3rd place: Domaine Henri Boillot – Puligny Montrachet Clos de la Mouchère 2011 (1x voted 1st, 5x voted 2nd)
4th place: Domaine Henri Boillot – Puligny Montrachet Les Perrières 2011 (no votes)
Jacques Carillon was voted the overall favourite with a tiny margin. Certainly the most generous profile whereas this plot can yield very minerally wines to the point of being austere. It was one of the most fruitforward Perrières I can remember. François Carillon came in second with a distinctly different style defined by more focus on transparency and acidity. Rather disciplined and subtler than Jacques’ version which somehow reminded me of Roulot. An unusually low third place for Boillot’s Clos de la Mouchère yet I was the only one ranking this as my favourite in this flight. I mustsay it took a long while in the glass to shake off the reductive and toasty notes but then the impressive concentration, purity and length clearly showed. A distant last place for Boillot’s generic Puligny Perrières which seems always quite far behind the Clos de Mouchère, not a bottling I would recommend given the limited price difference. Five people correctly correctly picked out the two Boillots as a producer pair: pas mal !
Flight 3: Top 1ers to the test
Two of the typical Puligny 1er cru outperformers from previous tastings featured here are Carillon’s Referts and Boillot’s Pucelles. Time to compare them with a similarly priced grand cru from a different place: Bouchard’s Corton Charlemagne.
1st place : Jacques Carillon Puligny Montrachet Les Referts 2011 (6x voted 1st , 5x voted 2nd)
2nd place: Bouchard Corton Charlemagne 2011 (5x voted 1st, 5x voted 2nd)
3rd place: Domaine Henri Boillot Puligny Montrachet Les Pucelles 2011 (0x voted 1st, 1x voted 2nd)
Two clear winners with Jacques Carillon edging out the Bouchard by the smallest difference of one vote. Personally I preferred the Bouchard that with time in the class evolved into something very refined and classy. Jacques Carillon was also in its usual fine form with their benchmark Referts that showed fine oak, loads of dry extract and a bright finish that makes you want to go back to your glass. Boillot’s Pucelles (typically a reliable top 3 overall finisher at these tastings) came in last and was currently dominated by a somewhat biting acidity. Knowing the pedigree of this plot and producer I have no doubt this will improve with more cellar time. Note that all participants ranked this the strongest flight so far. A small majority correctly guessed which was the grand cru yet noone considered it to be a Corton Charlemagne (sneaky, I know).
Flight 4: Serious grand cru action
Given 2011’s reputation as an early drinking vintage I wasn’t afraid to pull out some grand crus at this fairly young age. Jacques Carillon’s rare flagship Bienvenues Batard, Henri Boillot’s inaugural domaine bottled vintage of Batard and Bouchard’s Montrachet were the chosen ones to end this tasting on a high.
1st place : Louis Carillon Puligny Montrachet Bienvenues Batard Montrachet 2011 (5x voted 1st, 6x voted 2nd)
2nd place: Bouchard Montrachet 2011 (5x voted 1st, 3x voted 2nd)
3rd place: Domaine Henri Boillot Batard Montrachet 2011 (1x voted 1st, 2x voted 2nd)
An exact same ranking of producers as the previous flight with Jacques Carillon again claiming victory by a whisker over Bouchard. Both wines showing proper grand cru pedigree in every possible dimension, a significant step up from last flight’s 1er crus. I again preferred the Bouchard that impressed by marrying huge concentration and power with a lightness of touch that defines Puligny side Montrachets. On the other hand the Carillon also lived up to its lofty reputation. A dramatic wine that pushes the sugar/acid balance to its absolute maximum with 2010-like nervy acidity yet enough ripeness to counterbalance. Classic white burgundy in the best possible way. Boillot’s first domaine bottled Batard is not quite as giving today and similar to the Pucelles the acidity still takes the center stage. There is good tension and great potential but it probably takes another 5-10 years to unfurl and soften. Only four people correctly singled out which was the Montrachet and the same number of people rightly guessed the Carillon BBM. Not easy!
Conclusion
My seven takeways from this tasting: 1. 2011 is a very good vintage that already shows incredibly well after six year yet can still improve; 2. Paul Pillot’s Chassagne La Romanée was a revelation and calls for a closer look at this producer and this often overperforming plot; 3. Bouchard and Jacques Carillon were both in superb form in 2011 demonstrated by these two producers occupying the top 5 out of 13 wines; 4. Henri Boillot seems less ready than the others and might benefit from another 3-5 years of aging as the potential is there. 5. Montrachet is Montrachet and Bouchard’s version is to be taken very seriously as they have a prime 0.9 hectare plot on the Puligny side sandwiched between the likes of DRC and Ramonet. 6. All 13 bottles were sound with not a single bottling showing advanced or oxidized. 7. I correlated less with the majority vote than usual which might be explained that I gave these young wines a lot of time to develop in the glass before voting.