Burgundy Recommendations
From the March
Vintages Release

Michael Vaughan
Friday, March 7, 2008

Welcome to Friday First, here is an update for this month’s Vintages Burgundy thematic, which features 20 selections. Note that many of the 2005 and 2006 Burgundies are showing great fruit and fine accessibility. If the wine tastes great today, there is no need to put it away for several years for additional aging. New readers who have not seen my publication, as a courtesy, you can download last month’s Vintage Assessments by clicking here.

To see our Ratings, Drinkability & Cellaring Table click here
See LCBO store availability by clicking on the name of the wine

Best New White Burgundies
The best value at $15.95 is Cave Talmard 2006 Maçon-Uchizy (66639), which is ripe and ready to enjoy. It has been consistently recommended – from 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and now 2006. Light yellow colour, the nose shows good complexity with slightly nutty (hazelnuts), spicy, ripe lemon and dried pear notes. On the palate it is spicy, dry, harmonious and medium bodied with ripe lemon-melon-pear fruit and a lingering finish, which has just a wink of toast.

Not to be missed is a sleeper from the southern Côte Chalonnaise Domaine de Chevremont 2005 Paul Jacqueson Rully (65045) at $27.95. Bright light yellow colour, it has a spicy, honeyed, gently floral, ripe melon nose. On the palate it is dry, medium bodied and quite refined with slightly spicy, warm ripe melon flavours and just a hint of vanilla stick on the finish. It too is tasty and ready to drink.

At exactly the same price is a head-turning Chardonnay that is even further south – from the commune of Pouilly-Fuissé. The refined and yet well-structured Domaine Roger Luquet 2006 Pouilly-Fuissé Terroir (907931) at $27.95 shows what can be done if you really try in a great year. Bright light yellow colour, it has a gently spicy, lively, ripe lemon-melon nose. On the palate it is crisp, dry, medium bodied and yet well structured with bright, ripe lemon-melon flavours and a lingering, refreshing, very faintly vanilla-tinged finish.

My top scoring white is the complex, still youthful Bouchard Père & Fils 2005 Beaune de Château 1er Cru 2005 (901207) at $41.95. It has a bright light straw colour and intense, gently toasty, lemon meringue nose with some fresh butter and dried Anjou pear notes. On the palate it is dry, harmonious and medium-full bodied with spicy, ripe lemon-melon meringue flavours with a lingering, buttery, brioche finish. Better with chicken and veal as opposed to seafood. It should improve over the next year and will hold for another two to three years after that.

Best New Red Burgundies
I wish that I could say that I tasted some under $40 head-turning reds. No such luck. However, the best buy of the group the earthy, complex Doudet-Naudin 2005 Domaine Doudet Aloxe-Corton Les Guérets (66530) at $44.95. This 1er Cru Vieilles Vignes has a deep intense purple colour and intense, earthy, complex, baked plum nose with some black cherry notes. On the palate it is dry, fairly well structured and medium-full bodied with plummy, dried ripe red and black cherry flavours and a lingering, cedary finish. This domaine-owned vineyard is an outstanding example of Aloxe Corton in a great year. While it is at the northern end of the Côte de Beaune, it does have some of the dark cherry notes that are found in the Nuits. Give it another year or so to evolve. It will probably be at its peak in three or four years and should last to 2014.

A big surprise in terms of deliciousness is Domaine Vincent Sauvestre 2005 Corton-Maréchaudes (66472) at $57.95. This robust, albeit ready to enjoy if you must Grand Cru is a destination red with its Grand Cru with its smoky ripe black cherry flavours. Fairly deep purple red colour, the nose intense, plummy and surprisingly juicy with spicy, vanilla-tinged, black cherry notes. On the palate it is dry, fairly spicy and medium bodied with ripe plum and juicy cherry flavours along with a long, lingering, smoke-tinged finish. Showing nicely now, Burgundy can go through some gyrations in terms of drinkability - sometimes closing down for a year or so and then opening up once again.

The biggest surprise of the release was a top scoring In-Store-Discovery Bouchard Père & Fils 2004 Beaune Greves de L’Enfant Jesus (972554) at $81.95. I received a sample from the agent and, to be honest, wasn’t expecting too much because 2004 has been a big disappointment usually having dusty, bitter, herbal notes.  This is an exception, scoring 94/100. The nose shows remarkable fruit focusing on ripe red and black cherries with nuances of vanilla stick. It is extremely harmonious with smooth, plummy, ripe cherries and vanilla custard notes flowed up by a long, elegant, lingering finish. Note that the still widely available, youthful *** 2005 was released on October 13, 2007 at $104.95 with a different CSPC 43257.

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