Puligny Referts is one of those plots that yields wines that are never harsh and show like a hybrid between Puligny and Meursault. It took a serious sourcing effort to get together 16 producers of this plot and compare and contrast the different styles across a range of vintages.
Flight 1: The youngsters
5th place: Olivier Leflaive 2015 (1x voted 1st, 1x 2nd): it started off very attractive with lifted aromas of yuzu and grapefruit. Butter and honey notes on the palate made it quite weighty and forward, even more with time in the glass.
4th place: Girardin 2013 (1x voted first, 3x 2nd). A dead ringer for a Meursault Charmes. Round and soft palate with sweet orange fruits and fresh cream.
3rd place: Jadot 2012 (2x voted 1st, 2x 2nd). Nose was dominated by sweet vanillin oak (something I encountered more in 2012s which tend to be aromatically quite shy). Rich palate with a surprisingly sharp acidity on the back end.
2nd place: Fichet 2012 (4x voted first). Again, the oaky aromas were quite pronounced despite Fichet being very modest on new oak. Weighty with ripe yellow and orange fruits and just enough acidity to cut through.
1st place: Faiveley 2014 (4x voted 1st, 4x 2nd). An intriguing wine with three faces: Puligny on the nose with with pure acacia, lime and premium oak (of which 40-50% new). Old school Meursault-like on the palate, round and buttery. Finish had good acidic drive with an inner softness, quite typical for the 2014s which make them accessible at a young age.
Flight 2: "Young and Old"
The idea was to compare two producers across two vintages: Sauzet and J.M. Boillot 1997 and 2010.
4th place: Sauzet Referts 1997 (1x voted second). Mature with butterscotch and barley. Some acidity left but this is past its prime.
3rd place: J.M. Boillot Referts 1997 (4x voted second). Overperforming for the vintage with a distinct Meursault-like character of orange with zesty acidity.
2nd place: Sauzet Referts 2010 (1x voted 1st, 6x voted 2nd). Surprisingly forward showing of ripe pineapple, yellow apples, fresh sugarcane and a touch of botrytis. Round and generous yet it could use a bit more definition and acid. The most mature of the 3 bottles of this I drank (from the same case)
1st place: J.M. Boillot Referts 2010 (11x voted 1st, 1x voted 2nd). An absolutely breathtaking bottle of wine caught at its glorious peak. Grand cru level complexity with white peach, spiced pear, blanched almond and stony minerality. It achieves a great balance and tension on the palate with rivaling ripeness and acidity.... and the fruit having the last word by a whisker. Brilliant showing and after the first eight wines this was for 11 out of 12 people their interim WOTN. Participants also had to guess vintages most mistook the '97 for either '02 or '05 whereas for the '10 the most guesses were for '10, '11 and '07.
Flight 3: The mixed bag
And the beat went on with another five different producers across a range from 2005 until 2011. Particularly interesting are the 2011s from Jacques and Francois Carillon where the former kept the original Louis Carillon holdings and the latter is a negoce wine.
5th place: Louis Latour 2005 (no votes). Unashamed tropical fruit bowl, all picked a day or two too late. Probably the most overrated white vintage in the last 20 years.
4th place: Francois Carillon 2011 (1x voted 1st). Not sure if this bottle was representative as it was dominated by lactic notes. Strong lemon yoghurt aromas followed by a viscous palate with spiky acids.
3rd place: Marc Morey 2009 (3x voted 1st. Aromas of smoky oak followed by a fairly onedimensional palate of yellow orchard fruits. Knowing how great and underrated the 2009 whites can be, this seems to be more in line with its reputation of low-acids.
2nd place: Jacques Carillon 2011 (3x voted 1st, 6x 2nd). My personal favourite this flight was unassuming, precise with grat harmony between gentle oak and a fruit profile of chilled tangerine and peach. Classic Puligny, never showy and it is that hard to grab concept of balance that the Carillons excel at.
1st place Jomain 2006: 5x voted 1st, 5x voted 2nd). The biggest postive surprise this night was this fairly unknown domain. Nice aromas of pears, almonds and used oak with some complexity from age. Round yet balanced palate without that overt tropical note that plagues many 2006s. An interesting small bitter note of walnut skin at the back end hints at the challenge of vintage to achieve the right balance of sugar and physiological ripeness.
At this point after fourteen wines it was still J.M. Boillot Referts 2010 dominating the leaderboard.
Flight 4: The benchmarks
This flight featured arguably the best-in-class renditions of this vineyard. Louis Carillon has always been a personal favourite. More recent are the versions made by the Entes as well as the exciting Bachelet-Monnot domaine.
1st place: Bachelet Monnot Puligny Les Referts 2010. Flinty, high toned Puligny aromatics of lime, white orchard fruit and flowers. A step up compared to Ente as the fruit expression was more defined and the wine had better balance and was simply more enjoyable and less intellectual. (6x voted 1st, 2x voted 2nd). Overall group WOTN with 6 out of 12 votes. Eight out of twelve participants mistook this bottle blind for an Arnaud Ente.
2nd place: Arnaud Ente Puligny Les Referts 2010 (2x voted 1st, 4x voted second). Like every wine of this producer there is always a huge tension driven by powerful acidity that only the most die-hard acid freaks can handle. Pure citrus fruits with stony notes, actually still a baby. It surprises me why this has become a trophy wine hunted by label drinkers as the style is quite austere. Overall group's second favourite of the night but my personal number three, behind J.M. Boillot whose 2010 was drinking at peak with greater complexity.
Tied 3rd place: Louis Carillon 2008 (2x voted 1st, 2x voted 2nd). Unfortunately not as good as a previous bottle which was almost at par with Carillon's Bienvenues 2008. Tonight’s bottle was a bit too forward with a fruit profile bordering on tropical. Good intensity but a bit simple and lacking vibrancy.
Tied 3rd place: Benoit Ente Puligny Referts 2008. Rich, unctuous, grilled pineapple and peach syrup. Quite sweet and heavy, not my cup of Puligny. This estate has since then truly reinvented themselves and vintages as of 2010 and later show quite a different expression.