Whither to blow money on White Burgundy....?

White Burgundy Tasting, January 14

This was the first of what I hope will be a long series of tastings, with the theme of splitting the cost of some new arrivals in town, to try to identify what might be worth acquiring, and possibly limiting future disappointment.

All wines tasted blind, notes made, then uncovered and discussed over a couple more hours. All the white wines were opened in advance, poured in full size Burgundy stems, cool, but not cold.

The intro wine served while waiting for everyone to arrive (there were only 5 of us). It was an Henriot NV Champagne Blanc de Blanc, probably from 2004. It showed good Chardonnay character with a very bready, yeasty, and drying nose. It was tasty stuff, with again, more Chardonnay character when tasted. Nice aged fruit, leesy, dry finish. All were quite happy with it. Hand carried from New Brunswick, I did not get the price.

The first wine was a 2005 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Chassange-Montrachet, 1ere Cru La Romanée. It smelled of piney wood, nettles, mineral, with obvious alcohol. It had good acidity, but with an odd finish, burning the upper back corners of my throat. Spicey, peppery. I was not crazy about this one. $103/btl (Canadian dollars)

Next was a 2005 Daniel Rion Nuits-St. George, Les Terres Hautes. This was the wine I’d been wondering about when I heard there was a non-Chardonnay white in the flight. 100% Pinot Blanc, according to their product sheet. It has an interesting, even beguiling nose, perfumey oak and vanilla, with some red berry fruit. As time passed, the wine opened up even more to berry fruit reminiscent of Bakeapples, or white raspberries. It was clean, balanced with very subdued oak. Initially I called the fruit a white peach, and with time it changed to more of the aforementioned white raspberry or Bakeapple berry fruit. It was long. Obviously, I liked this a lot. We had been asked to pick out the Pinot Blanc, and I did. About $85 here.

The third wine was brought by one of the participants, a 2003 William Fevre Chablis Grand Cru Vaudesir. One hears all the traffic on this vintage, and it really is true. This did not remind me of any Chablis I’ve ever had. It was closed at first, but opened up to minerally fruit (good) and then went on to smell like pineapple juice for most of the evening, morphing to other tropical fruit smells as it warmed. It tasted of pineapple juice, and was waxy, honeyed, showed oak, vanilla and a tropical fruit I called breadfruit. Oddly, I liked the wine, but was a bit surprised at where it was from. About $80 here.

Number four was a 2004 Bouchard Pere et Fils Meursault Geneveres. This smelled piney, oakey, woody, with a sharp nose of malolactic at the start. It showed a major mineral character on the palate, grape tannin, OK acidity, and a full body with restrained fruit. Some vanilla. It settled down with time, and although identifiable as Burgundy, was the least balanced of the lot. About $85 here.

The final white Burg was a 2005 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Batard-Montrachet, Grand Cru. It smelled like a middle of the road white Burgundy at the start. Then, as it opened there was some burlap, wood/oak, red fruit, cinnamon, and vanilla. The palate was balanced, young, and the mouthfeel almost watery at the start. With time it filled in, with increasing intensity. Still disjointed, I think we were all guilty of some crime, somewhere, for opening this so early in its life. It is $208/btl here. We had been asked to pick out this wine and I did not come close.


After the whites were mostly gone (some of us still had some of the Pinot Blanc and Batard left in those glasses) the host opened a red for us to have a guess at. It was bricked at the rim, and into the glass at least a centimetre, showed a med red core and was slightly cloudy. It smelled of mushrooms, nettles, pine, and barnyard. It still had good tannins despite the age showing. With dry cherry, earth, and all that good Pinot stuff. It was drinking very well, and I was enjoying it when I had one of those “aha” moments. The first ever OK red Burgundy I had was the 1999 Bouchard Pere et Files Beaune de Chateau, which I paid $34 for back in 2002. Could this be that same wine, now 10 years old?

It was.