Wine Vault: 19th Hole-Burgundy

The Wines:

1986 Puligny-Montrachet "Combettes"- Domaine Leflaive

1989 Montrachet- Pierre Morey

1989 Chablis "Les Clos"- Raveneau

1990 Puligny-Montrachet "Folatieres"- Drouhin

1990 Meursault "Charmes"- Comtes Lafon

1992 Meursault AC- Coche-Dury

1992 Chassagne-Montrachet "Caillerets"- Marc Colin

1992 Chevalier-Montrachet- Domaine Leflaive

1994 Macon-Vire "Cuvee Speciale"- Andre Bonhomme

1995 Puligny-Montrachet "Enseignieres"- Coche-Dury

1959 Musigny- Jacques Prieur

1964 Romanee-St.-Vivant "Les Quatre Journaux"- Louis Latour

1964 La Tache- Domaine de la Romanee-Conti

1967 Volnay Caillerets "Ancienne Cuvee Carnot"-Bouchard Pere et Fils

1969 Vosne-Romanee- Bouchard Pere et Fils

1972 Vosne-Romanee "Les Beaumonts"- Leroy

1985 Morey St. Denis Premier Cru- Hubert Lignier (375 ml.)

1987 Richebourg- Jean Gros

1988 Gevrey-Chambertin "Aux Combottes"- Dujac

1988 Morey St. Denis "Clos de la Bussierre"- Roumier

1988 Clos de la Roche-Dujac

1989 Volnay Clos des Ducs- Marquis d'Angerville

1990 Clos Vougeout- Daniel Rion

1990 Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes- Serafin

1986 Puligny-Montrachet "Combettes"- Domaine Leflaive

Having cut my teeth on '85 and '86 Leflaives, it is always fun to taste the bottles that I have long since separated from their corks. The '86 Combettes continues to drink very well, with a lovely, minerally, squeaky-clean bouquet of ripe apples, lemon zest, beeswax, floral notes, minerals, an approaching note of honey and sweet vanillin oak. Medium-full and racy on the palate, with fine, crisp acidity, a succulent core of fruit, lovely balance, and a long, complex, high-toned finish. During the first five or six years after release (when I wiped out my '86 Leflaives in the cellar), I ah a strong preference for the Combettes over the Pucelles. My suspicion is that I might now prefer the Pucelles, as the Combettes, while it has aged gracefully, seems to be a wine destined to never quite fulfill its initial potential. I'll have to get back to you on that... 1997-2003. 91.

1989 Montrachet- Pierre Morey

1989 has more than its share of vintage pitfalls: exotic, tropical fruit flavors, heavy-handed or over the top palate impressions, and plenty of wines with signs of excessive heat on the finish. Pierre Morey's '89 Montrachet manages to avoid most of these problems, with only a bit of '89 alcohol poking through on the finish. This is an extremely enjoyable wine for drinking right now, but in the context of one's expectations of larger than life Montrachets, this wine is a bit slight. In addition, I do not see enough backbone to safely forget this wine in the cellar- I would plan to have at it over the next three or four years. The nose on this wine is quite serious, with scents of ripe apples, passion fruit, hints of honey, herbal notes, minerals, spring flowers, and a lovely underpinning of vanillin oak. Full-bodied, suave and complex on the palate, with fine delineation, and really fine depth, grip, and complexity from the mid-palate back (in this aspect, the wine truly is Montrachet in its scale). The finish is long, complex, and just a bit hot, with enough acid to keep the wine fresh and light on its feet, but not enough to give the wine extended aging potential. I have had much more grandiose bottles of Montrachet, but, while this wine is a tad disappointing for its lack of grandeur and power, it is still a remarkably fine bottle of wine. 1997-2001. 93+.

1989 Chablis "Les Clos"- Raveneau

This is certainly a major success for this difficult and overrated vintage (and how about Per-Henrik Mansson getting it right about 1989 white Burgundies in the most recent Wine Spectator!), but it will never rank as one of the great successes to issue forth from this gifted winemaker. The '89 Les Clos from Raveneau avoids the tropical fruit and excessive heat of 1989, but the vintage's heavyhandedness is felt in a blurring of the usually brilliant delineation of a Raveneau wine. The nose offers up scents of ripe apples, lemon, loads of beeswax, minerals, a hint of oyster, honey, herbal notes, and a whisper of vanillin oak in the background. Full-bodied and quite approachable on the palate, with a fine core of fruit, adequate (though lowish for this property) acids, and a long, complex finish. As fine as this wine is to drink, the overall impression is of a wine that is somewhat unfocused. There is still plenty of life in it, but it has reached its apogee. 1997-2010. 90.

1990 Puligny-Montrachet "Folatieres"- Drouhin

Drouhin's Puligny Folatieres bottling is comprised of over eighty percent juice from Paul Pernot Folatieres. Given how successful Pernot was in 1990, it is little surprise that Drouhin's Folatieres is also a fine success in the vintage. The nose offers up a slightly oakier, more buttery rendition of Pernot's wine: ripe peaches, lemon, butter, hints of almond, minerals, floral notes and enough buttery oak to push the limit while still maintaining balance. On the palate the wine is full, clean, and well-rounded, with a fat core of fruit, bright acids, and a long, buttery finish. This is one 1990 white Burgundy that is at its peak, where it should continue to hold for the next four or five years. A lovely wine. 1997-2002. 90.

1990 Meursault "Charmes"- Comtes Lafon

I last tasted this wine from a friend's cellar about eight months ago, and that bottle was clearly into its apogee. Pulling this bottle from my own cellar, I was surprised by how far this wine still has to go. The wine has deepened quite a bit in color, and is now a buttery gold. The bouquet is beginning to develop some secondary layers, with scents of overripe apples, lemon, honey, hazelnut, leesy tones, butter, minerals, and vanillin oak soaring from the glass. Judging the wine on just nose and color, this bottle also had the appearance of nearing its peak of maturity. However, on the palate, the wine was still very young, tight, and racy, with plenty of clean, fat fruit on the attack, a juicy core, and surprisingly bracing acidity on the finish. From the mid-palate back, this wine is quite closed and powerful, with a lightning bolt of 1990's acidity providing a strong spine the length of the very long finish. Perfectly stored bottles certainly need another three or four years to really hit their apogees. While Lafon's 1990s do not offer quite the opulence and power fo the 1989s or 1992s, they may well surpass both those vintages in terms of complexity, as they show every capability of lasting another dozen years or more. An excellent, youthful wine. 2000-2012. 94.

1992 Meursault AC- Coche-Dury

Just a spectacular showing. This wine took a good half hour in decanter to open up, but after airing showed profoundly well. Those tasting the wine blind were adamant as to it being a Grand Cru, with the guesses split pretty well between Corton-Charlemagne and Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet! Two years ago, this wine was extremely tight and grapefruity on both the nose and palate, and while it is not yet near its apogee, it is really beginning to strut its stuff. The nose is magnificent, with scents of ripe apples, lemon, hints of buttered toast, boatloads of minerals, spring flowers, hints of dried apricots, vanillin oak and a delicate topnote of hazelnut. Shockingly large-scaled and powerful on the attack (remember this is village wine), with a strong sense of extract, laser-like focus and grip, and a bracing girdle of acidity. The finish is long, extremely complex, and just packed with pure fruit, with the acids giving the wine a whiplash-like finish. I would opt for burying this wine another three or four years in the cellar, as the best is still yet to come. An amazing 1992! 2000-2012. 94+.

1992 Chassagne-Montrachet "Caillerets"- Marc Colin

Bad luck here. This particular bottle was hit with a bit too much sulfur during the mise, and it never quite opened up during the hour and a half we played with it. That said, the wine still displayed tremendous potential, with an underlying bouquet of ripe apples, lemon, floral notes, fennel seed, plenty of minerals, a touch of honey, and a fine coating of vanillin oak. Full-bodied and quite penetrating on the palate, with laser-like focus, excellent delineation, crisp acids, and a long, complex finish. Fine examples of this bottle are certainly tasty now, but I suspect that another three or four years in the cellar would benefit this wine to no end. A very serious '92 premier cru. 2000-2012. 90-93?

1992 Chevalier-Montrachet- Domaine Leflaive

After having been quite disappointed by Leflaive's 1992 renditions of Batard-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet, it is a relief to taste a serious '92 Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet. Like the '92 Bienvenues and Batard from Leflaive, the 1992 Chevalier is a more powerful, bigger interpretation of the wine than I have been accustomed to in vintages such as 1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, and 1990. For fans of Leflaive's Lamborgheni house style, the more obviously powerful, muscle car-like 1992s may come as a bit of a letdown. However, unlike the Bienvenues and Batard, the '92 Chevalier does not suffer from intrusive botrytis, overripeness or excessive alcohol. The nose is lovely, with scents of ripe pears, peaches, spring flowers, lemon, plenty of Chevalier minerals, a note of fennel, and clean, vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is very rich and full, with youthful, primary fruit flavors, adequate framing acidity, and a long, potentially complex and powerful finish. Not surprisingly, this fine wine is still a bit adolescent and gangly on the palate, but with bottle age, the shape and finely-etched focus this wine routinely displays should emerge. 1992 certainly seems to have been a vintage where the domaine sought maximum ripeness. I would guess that the Chevalier was picked first, and the results should be excellent. As for the other Leflaive wines in 1992, the jury is still out. 2002-2020. 94.

1994 Macon-Vire "Cuvee Speciale"- Andre Bonhomme

Bonhomme has done quite well in 1994. The '94 "Cuvee Speciale" offers up a quite ripe and appealing nose of apple, pear, minerals, floral notes, and a touch of buttery new oak. On the palate the wine is medium-full, round, and quite clean, with a juicy core of ripe fruit, fine focus and balance, and a long, crisp finish. While this wine does not have the acid reserves we have become accustomed to with the 1995 and 1996 white Burgundies, it is certainly a delicious bottle for drinking up over the next year. I would not opt for holding beyond this. I have certainly had less enjoyable 1994s from appellations fo much higher reputation. 1997-1998. 87+.

1995 Puligny-Montrachet "Enseignieres"- Coche-Dury

This is the very first vintage of this bottling from Coche. The wine comes from the same parcel of vines from which Jean-Marie Guffens made his Verget bottling of Enseignieres. Not surprisingly, Coche has fashioned a Puligny village wine that competes favorably with the finest Puligny Premier Crus such as Leflaive's Combettes and Pucelles, Sauzet's Combettes and Carillon's Perrieres. I am not sure that this wine is not now my favorite non-Grand Cru wine from Puligny! The nose is typically Coche, typically 1995 vintage, and typically Puligny: a stunning, pristine bouquet of bright, pure fruit tones consisting of limes, peaches, sweet apples rests atop loads of minerals, a dollop of honey, leesy tones, spring flowers, and a whisper of vanillin oak. This is Puligny reduced down to its essence. Full-bodied and thick with clean, 1995 fruit on the attack, with a brisk framing of acidity, a huge core of fruit in reserve, impeccable balance, great structure, and a finish that roars out with great grip, wonderful length, and even more intensity than the attack. I cannot imagine a finer, more pure rendition of Puligny. The scary thing is that this wine is still relatively closed! If I had any bottles of this (Lord knows I am trying!), I would not touch a bottle for another six to eight years. However, if you want to open a bottle of yours, I would drop everything and get on the plane! Knowing that Coche has landed in Puligny is the best news I have had in a month. We should be able to look forward to a new level of friendly competition in the commune. 2002-2020. 95.

1959 Musigny- Jacques Prieur

This particular bottle was just beginning to slide past its prime, displaying a note of oxidation on both the nose and palate, however, there is plenty more here to divert one's attention away from the incipient maderization. Scents of chocolate, plums, cassis, smoke, tobacco, truffle, herb tones, and forest floor overwhelmed the signs of decline as the wine sat in the glass. On the palate the wine is big, lush and chocolatey, with 1959's fat fruit now losing some focus from soft acids, but with plenty of truffle and autumnal tones carrying through on the finish. The finish is quite long, complex, and delicious. I suspect that there may well be better examples of this wine still tucked away in people's cellars, but regardless of storage, I would look to start drinking the wine up. 1997-2005 (for pristine bottles). 88.

1964 Romanee-St.-Vivant "Les Quatre Journaux"- Louis Latour

This is one of Latour's flagship reds, and while today it does not get an inordinate amount of attention, it can be a stunning wine. This is the third time I have crossed paths with the 1964 over the last five years, and each bottle seems to get better than the previous one. The nose is magical, with scents of sweet plummy fruit, black raspberry overtones, chocolate, sous bois, venison, vinesmoke, herbs, and a hint of vanillin wood. Deep, lush and beautifully framed with tangy acidity on the palate, with a sweet core of fruit, excellent delineation, and a classic melange of mature Vosne fruit, earth, game and autumnal notes. The finish is long, perfectly-delineated, and snappy, with well-integrated acidity adding a lovely note of freshness. A very classy bottle with years of life ahead of it. 1997-2012. 93.

1964 La Tache- Domaine de la Romanee-Conti

My second bottle of 1964 La Tache in a few months, what could be bad about that? Once again, this vintage of La Tache showed superbly, with an extraordinarily complex nose of raspberry, roasted plums, duck, cloves, bonfires, allspice, forest floor, coffee, earth, and spicy wood. On the palate the wine is full, rich and dramatic, with layers of fruit interwoven with a tapestry of multi-dimensional terroir, perfect balance, melting tannins, bright acids, and a long, complex, tangy finish. The first bottle seemed more primary and still a tad tough on the palate; this bottle was in absolute harmony and caught at its magical summit. A profound vintage of La Tache that suffers from the slightly tarnished reputation of the Domaine's 1964s. Yes, I would drink it again. 1997-2010. 96.

1967 Volnay Caillerets "Ancienne Cuvee Carnot"- Bouchard Pere et Fils

I had no expectations of seriousness when I popped this bottle; we just wanted a glass of red wine to go with a little late pasta dinner. I fully expected to pop, pour two glasses, and watch the wine fade over the ensuing fifteen minutes. With luck, it would be salvageable for cooking wine. The first indication that things were pleasantly off target was the shockingly deep color. The nose on this wine is surprisingly fine as well, with classic mature Volnay notes of bonfires, plums, bittersweet chocolate, herb tones, truffles, earth and a touch of cedary wood. Clearly, this is one hundred percent pinot noir, but can it really be one hundred percent 1967 fruit with this much vigor? Medium-bodied and reasonably concentrated on the palate, with good sweetness on the attack cut short by some tough tannin on the finish. Clearly, this wine is beginning to dry out a bit, but given the vigorous nature of the constituent components that remain, it is a pity that I did not reach it five years ago- it would have been delicious. Still enjoyable for its noteworthy complexity and resolution, and a convincing example of why it is so important to taste everything. Drink up. 1997-1998. 86+ :-)

1969 Vosne-Romanee- Bouchard Pere et Fils

I have recently had some very pleasant surprises with old Bouchard wines, and while this wine was a bit rigid on the palate (and perhaps not 100 percent pinot noir), it was quite tasty. The nose is surprisingly (suspiciously?) black fruity, with scents of plum, chocolate, game tones, spice and forest floor. Medium-full and a bit four-square on the palate, with gamey-like notes o the palate, modest tannins, and just a whisper fo volatile acidity beginning to crop up on the finish. This is certainly a good, chunky, and serviceable bottle that does not deliver quite the precision and purity (of pinot) that some of these other Bouchard bottles have provided. Drink up. 1997-2000. 85.

1972 Vosne-Romanee "Les Beaumonts"- Leroy

I last had this wine in May of 1996, and at the time, I found it to be a pleasant, well-maintained bottle of Vosne-Romanee premier cru that had obviously been resting in the Charles Noellat cellars prior to Madame Leroy purchasing the domaine in 1988 and re-naming it Domaine Leroy. Eighteen months of settling after shipping have improved the wine a bit, but this is still a perfectly well-made and well-preserved example of a middle tier domaine. Once again, the Leroy seal of approval on this wine is a bit perplexing. The nose is typically Vosne, with red fruit tones of raspberry, pomegranate, coffee, herb tones, forest floor and cedary wood. The wine shows fine complexity, but not the breed and dimension this vineyard will show at twenty-five years of age in the post-1988 vintages made by Leroy herself. Medium-full, moderately concentrated, and, on first impression, quite marked by 1972's high acidity and tough tannin on the finish. With air, this wine opened up and softened considerably, with the tangy acids marrying very nicely with the food. It is a tasty bottle of wine that is in no danger of imminent decline, but it is still not up to the expectations that the Leroy label generates. 1997-2005. 89.

1985 Morey St. Denis Premier Cru- Hubert Lignier (375 ml.)

1985 was my first real introduction to the joys of Burgundy. I was in my first position of purchasing responsibility when the vintage was offered, and the quality of many of these wines turned out to be the revelation that marked the start of my continuing love affair with the Cote d'Or. That said, this is the Jimmy Dean vintage of red Burgundy, with all but the top five percent of the wines living fast and intent on leaving a good looking corpse. Out of full bottle, I am sure this wine is still in full flight, but not for long. The half bottle offers up a gorgeous nose of sweet cherry fruit, forest floor, venison, coffee, herbal complications, minerals, roses and cedar. Lovely stuff on the nose. On the palate the wine is medium-full, sweet and complex, with beautiful balance on the attack. However, from the mid-palate back, uh oh. 1985 was always a bit soft-centered as a vintage, without the great core of fruit in reserve that vintages such as 1988 offer. Here the wine tails off from the mid-palate back, with the wine clearly in need of drinking up. The finish is still balanced and complex, but this wine is already (in half bottle format), starting to lose the magic. Drink up. 89.

1987 Richebourg- Jean Gros

Jean Gros' 1987s (deservedly) have a wonderful reputation. It is the last vintage that Madame Gros vinified on her own, before her son Michel took over the wine making responsibilities with the 1988 vintage. I have had the pleasure of tasting the 1987 premier cru Vosne-Romanee "Clos des Reas" on a number of occasions (drink it up, the acids are beginning to get the upper hand on the fruit), but this is the first time I have crossed paths with the '87 Richebourg. It is a magnificent wine at its apogee, but I would opt for drinking this wine up over the next couple of years. The nose is magically complex and aristocratic, with scents of baked plums, raspberry, venison, bonfires, coffee, grilled nuts, sous bois, truffley notes, violets, nutmeg and toasty new oak. Deep and opulent on the attack, the wine displays stunning complexity and poise throughout the mid-palate, with 1987's tangy acidity just perking up a bit on the finish. The wines spent about twenty minutes in decanter before we had at it, and the first couple of sips were quite marked by sharp acidity and some chewy tannin. (The wine had been driven into NYC from New Jersey that evening, so some of the chewy tannin no doubt can be attributed to some fine sediment being kicked up in transit.) As it received more air, the wine briskly softened up and drank well. In fact, the pace of evolution in decanter was so quick that I suspect that this wine is approaching the cusp of decline. Over the next couple of years, the tangy acidity the wine displayed should begin to gain the upper hand, (at which point it will fall of precipitously), so make plans to drink this beautiful wine before the decline commences in earnest. A glorious wine for near-term consumption. 1997-2001. 94.

1988 Gevrey-Chambertin "Aux Combottes"- Dujac

Dujac is one of the first of the "Big Boys" in 1988 to reach the plateau of maturity, and if people still have doubts about the superb 1988 vintage, have yourself a Dujac! This wine is lovely and fully mature, with a very autumnal bouquet of raspberry, coffee, game, sous bois, mushrooms, cinnamon-like spice, nuts and cedary wood. Medium-bodied, round, silky and very complex and autumnal on the palate, with a solid core of fruit, bright, tangy acids, and a long, complex finish. The '88 Clos de la Roche is a big step up (though not quite as a point as the Combottes) on the finish, but that is no reason to disregard this fine wine. 1997-2005. 91.

1988 Morey St. Denis "Clos de la Bussierre"- Roumier

Not quite as advanced as the 1988 Dujacs, this is still a fine bottle of wine. I have been selling this at Gotham to people looking for a relatively mature Burg that won't break the bank. It will certainly be better a year from now (though not available at the Gotham by then), but it is still pretty tasty right now: the nose offers up scents of ripe cherries, vinesmoke, game, herb tones, a touch of tar, mustard, and cedary wood. Medium-full and just a touch rigid still on the palate, this wine possesses a lovely harmony between its fruit, game and earth flavors on the palate. As Christophe Roumier likes to say about the Clos de la Bussierre, it will always be a bit of a block, but it is a tasty block. 1998-2010. 90.

1988 Clos de la Roche-Dujac

Want to blow away the 1988 red Burgundy skeptics? Here's your wine. I have had this wine four times in the last month, and it is stunning juice. The nose explodes from the glass with scents of ripe plums, raspberries, cherries, venison, grilled nuts, woodsmoke, mustard seed, coffee, minerals, sous bois, and cedary, spicy wood. Deep, full and beautifully complex on the palate, with great intensity and only medium weight. The finish is long, very, very, very complex and tangy with bright acids. The tannins are really melting away, leaving behind a wine of wonderful development and plenty of sweet fruit. Remember how sweet the 1985s were out of the blocks? The top thirty percent of the 1988 red burgundies will have that kind of sweetness, coupled with bright acidity and wonderful aromatic development. The future is looking brighter for those with stocks of the top 1988s. 1997-2010. 93.

1989 Volnay Clos des Ducs- Marquis d'Angerville

1989 was a particularly superb vintage in Volnay, where frost and hail during the flowering made for much more concentrated wines in this commune. The '89 Clos des Ducs is a stunning example of Volnay's success in this vintage. Really a lovely, deep color. The bouquet is very complex and belies its origins in the Cote de Beaune, with as much Morey or Vosne on the nose as Volnay. Scents of red cherry, plum, juniper berries, vinesmoke, cinnamon, incipient notes of sous bois, cigar ash, roses, and a deft touch of new oak soar from the glass. On the palate the wine is deep, full and very complex, with plummy, red fruit flavors, great succulence and delineation, moderate tannins, bright acids, and a long, complex, powerful, autumnal finish. It is fascinating to experience how this wine shows all fruit and herb tones through the mid-palate, but with the forest floor notes coming on strong on the finish. This is a great example of Clos des Ducs. It will be interesting to see how it competes against the surreal 1990 "Ducster" when the wines have a decade under their belts. 1999-2015. 93.

1990 Clos Vougeout- Daniel Rion

This is a bottle I had not visited since its early days here in the US. It is evolving brilliantly, but to my palate, I would still opt for giving it another half a decade in the cellar, The nose is still pretty tight, but amazingly deep and complex, with scents of ripe plums, cassis, venison, bonfires, chocolate, herb tones, minerals, and toasty new oak. Deep, full and potentially very opulent on the palate, with a huge core of thick, sweet fruit, impeccable balance, ripe, well-integrated tannins, and a long, complex, powerful finish. While this bottle is delicious right now, the next four or five years will (if gratification can be averted) witness and explosion of nuance and sweet fruit. After restraining myself from 1990 red Burgundies over the last few years, it is a revelation to go back and taste a bottle of Grand Cru and be reminded of how thick and powerful theses wines really are. It certainly was a heady time when these wines were around in relative abundance, and it did not feel like such a crime to pull a few corks. More on the 1990 vintage in five years... 2002-2040. 93.

1990 Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes- Serafin

When the dust settles forty years hence on the 1990 red Burgundy vintage, all anyone will be able to comment on will be the extraordinary fruit that these wines delivered. With the '90 Serafin VV, that thick, luxurious black fruit is readily available today, with an explosive bouquet of ripe cassis, plummy notes, French roast, grilled meats, chocolate, herb tones, minerals and toasty new oak soaring from the glass. Deep, thick and opulent on the palate, with some nuance already emerging, but with the best yet to come. The finish is softly-tannic and rolling in fruit, with fine focus and the grip of a Grand Cru is a lesser vintage. Great juice. 2000-2020. 92.