The Wine's the Thing
Mitch Kornfeld
5/9

Big Euro Tasting, Part II: Greater Burgundy

Last Week I began reporting on the Third Annual European Wine Council Grand Tasting. I'm going to continue right along reviewing the wines while dropping a few hopefully relevant bon mots about them and where they come from. Before I do that I thought I would mention something I heard during an interview with one of the Coen brothers (I can't remember which one). It was just about the time when "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" was released. I was in my car going to the wine store, really, listening to Fresh Air on NPR and Mr. Coen said that he and his brother would basically work without a script and sometimes just follow where the story would lead them. That's why their films would have so many loose ends that needed tying up, he said. I was quite surprised to hear that but now as I'm writing all the time I see what he meant. When I start out writing a column I know what I want to say beforehand, yet even with an outline the story always seems to dip and bend through uncharted passageways and come out differently than I originally envisioned. I can't say if it's better or worse, just that it's different. (Now to see where this one leads.)

Meanwhile back at the tasting, after sampling the white wines of Italy (see Part I), I was trying to follow the rules of white before red and light before heavy, so I started my journey through the wines of France by visiting Chablis.

Chablis is a place name. The only real Chablis comes from Chablis, department of Yonne, France. Located northwest of Burgundy proper, its wine is usually considered along with the Burgundies. Chablis is made from the same white variety as the white Burgundies: Chardonnay (It's 100% Chardonnay, though it never says so on the label.). It's famous for being dry, steely, and minerally. A common description is "tasting of wet stones." It ages very well, especially for a white, and it is also famous for being good with food, especially oysters. To me Chablis represents the epitome of the French style. It expresses a particular place, and it brings out depth of flavor based on limiting yield and without resorting to the winemaker's bag of tricks. There's no extended lees aging, no secondary malolactic fermentation, and sometimes there's even no aging in oak. I refer to these methods as "complexing agents," and they do just that, but good Chablis is still a world class wine without resorting to any of them.

The first Chablis I tasted was from a producer with the easy to remember name of La Chablisienne. The wines were poured by the importer himself, an amiable, talkative, and extremely knowledgeable fellow who much to my surprise lives in the same town in Massachusetts as my brother. If you're ever in an area Bostonians call the North Shore, and you have a bad back, look up Dr. Joseph E. Kornfeld at Alliance Medical Group in Revere, he has great hands. (When looking for a candidate for Chiropractic school get a shortstop/point guard type like my brother. Come to think of it my hands aren't too bad either. I used to catch hardball and I could steal a strike with the best of them. Our sister is an artist, she even has an MFA from Yale, so maybe artful hands run in the family.) As I was saying, he poured a glass of La Chablisienne 1998 Petit Chablis. (563 words and I'm finally tasting a wine. Our esteemed editor must love this.) It was a nice wine made with some lees contact, which reminded me of oak, though it had no oak aging. This immediately got us into a discussion about the use of oak in Chablis. He asked if I liked oak in my Chablis, and I said yes, but in small amounts. He prefers no oak at all in his, and said that to him no-oak Chablis was the real thing.

The discussion reminded me of an all-Chardonnay tasting I went to in 1994 (It was during a hurricane I might add. Am I dedicated or what?) where the best wine of the tasting, to my taste, was a 1992 Premier Cru Chablis. It was from a producer I only saw in a store one time, Domaine Besson, and it had an absolutely perfect balance between oak and fruit. It was the only wine I went back to for a second glass, and it was far better than their Grand Cru, which was a bigger wine, but after the sublime and beguiling Premier Cru it tasted way overoaked. It's a question of balance. When it comes to Chardonnay I prefer oak to be used as a seasoning, just like salt and pepper. It's really something when they get the balance just right and you can't tell where the fruit leaves off and the oak begins, like that Domaine Besson Premier Cru.

The next wine he poured was a "regular" 1998 Chablis. It had more depth than the Petite and showed good length in the finish, all in all a good Chablis. I finished up with the best wine he brought along, a 1997 Côte De Lechet Premier Cru; 1997 was a better year in Chablis than 1998 or 1999 and this wine showed it. My notes said, "real chardonnay nose, good taste, yummy, balanced, good fruit, still in fine shape." He didn't bring along a La Chabliesienne Grand Cru, but as I recall they get some very high ratings and are on the expensive side, though there are more expensive Grand Crus out there. I really liked their Premier Cru (you'll sometimes see Premier written as "1er"), and I think that Premier Crus offer better value than Grand Crus.

As you surely noticed there is a hierarchy to Chablis wines. Going up the ladder it's: Petit Chablis, regular or "plain," Premier Cru, and Grand Cru, though the classification usually begins with Grand Cru and goes down. This is very similar to the system used in Burgundy proper where it's Grand Cru, Premier Cru, the (take your pick) village/commune/township wine, then the regional "plain" Burgundy (Bourgogne in French). The Grand Crus and Premier Crus usually have the name of the vineyard attached. There are only seven Chablis Grand Cru vineyards, comprising only 125 acres (300 hectares) and 860 acres (about 2,050 hectares) of Chablis Premier Cru vineyards. The Grand Cru vineyards are on hills with direct southern exposures. The Premier Cru vineyards are on less select hills with less select exposures; the plain Chablis come from flatter land close to the town of Chablis, and the Petites Chablis come from flatlands outside of town.

The yields are strictly limited by French law. A Grand Cru vineyard is only allowed to yield about two tons per acre. Premier Crus are at about three tons, and it goes up from there. In theory you get what you pay for and the bottle price reflects the yields of the vineyard. Let's say a bottle of that two ton per acre grand Cru costs $60 a bottle, a three ton per acre Premier Cru would then cost $40 a bottle, and a four ton per acre plain Chablis would then be $30. It all works out to the same money for the winery. As the saying goes, "You pays your money and you takes your pick." If only the best will do, buy a Grand Cru. If you want authenticity and you're on a budget try a plain or a Petit. I find myself gravitating towards the Premier Crus as the best all-around choices.

Back at the tasting I moved over a few tables and tried some more Chablis, this time from the firm of Christian Moreau Pere et Fils. I started with their '99 Chablis (the regular) and my notes said, "good going in, a little short, very dry, good acidity, needs a little time." It's $17 and should be good with food. Next was a '99 Premier Cru from the Vaillons vineyard. The notes said, "better, rounder, still acidic, not bad." It's $30. After that they had a Grand Cru, a '99 from the Les Clos vineyard. The notes said, "more oak, more harmonious and deep, quite good." Unfortunately it's $66.

At the same table as the Moreau wines there were a couple of Pouilly Fuissés. Pouilly is in southern Burgundy, and like Chablis, the wines are 100% Chardonnay. The first one I tried was a '99 from Chateau Fuissé. My notes, "smoky, interesting, has some depth, good." It's $34. The second wine was a 1998, also from Chateau Fuissé. Except for the vintage years the labels were identical but for two words, "Vielles Vignes," which means "old vines." Old vines produce more flavorful grapes. Their roots go down further and pick up more minerals and more flavors from the earth, what the French call goût de terroir. Old vines also give lower yields, which means the flavors are more concentrated. This '98 had a big complex nose with complex flavors to match. It was really excellent, as fine a Pouilly Fuissé as you could ask for. It's around $50.

I kept moving along, and kept trying white Burgundies. Next up was a 1999 Montagny from Cave de Buxy. Montagny is from the Côte Chalonnaise, due south from downtown Burgundy, and it's a place where you might find good value as Burgundies go. This one was an excellent value. It's made from 50 year old vines, tastes like Chardonnay, has good acidity, a good finish, and is only $15.

After the Montagny I tried a 1998 Meursault from Louis Latour. My notes said, "some complexity, not bad but not outstanding." Meursault is a famous wine and maybe I expected too much. I had basically the same experience with a '98 Puligny-Montrachet from Olivier Leflaive. My single entry said, "has some fruit intensity and depth going on." The 1998 vintage wasn't the best in downtown Burgundy, the home of these thoroughbreds, and maybe the subtleties of these wines were eluding me after the twenty or so wines I had tried at that point.

After another break for bread and cheese I tried one last white Burgundy. It was a Chablis form the excellent 1997 vintage, a Premeir Cru Vacoupin from Andre de Villamont. The notes read thusly, "light color, penetrating nose, has excellent length and attack." It's $20 wholesale, and probably $28 to $30 retail. I guess the lesson here is if you're looking for value in fine white Burgundy, buy Chablis from a good vintage.

I then had a nice red Burgundy from Andre de Villamont Selections, a 1998 Moulin-À-Vent from Domaine Sparre (not to be confused with the Sparr in Alsace). That's right, Beaujolais. The ten Beaujolais Crus are legally entitled to the name Burgundy, though the wines are usually quite different. Beaujolais is made from the Gamay grape, which has some Pinot in its heritage, and of course Pinot Noir is the red grape of Burgundy. This Moulin-À-Vent was a real beauty. It had a big kirsch nose, with nice depth, and was just delicious. It can't be beat at $15.

I had one more Beaujolais at the tasting, a '98 Brouilly Chateau de la Perriere from Moillard. It was lighter than the Moulin-À-Vent, as expected, but it also had that kirsch-like nose and was a very nice wine, costing only $10 to $12.

I'm going to finish this installment by reviewing three genuine Pinot Noir Burgundies. The best red wine of the tasting was from Moillard so I'll leave that firm for last. The Burgundy I actually had last was a 1999 Savigny-Les-Beaune Premier Cru Les Guettes from Doudet-Naudin and I'll let my notes speak for themselves. "Delish, depth, small production, the real stuff (especially at this hour)." I didn't catch what the price was but if I find one and it' s anywhere near reasonable I'm buying it.

Of the two red Burgundies from Moillard I started with a '97 Beaune Greves Premier Cru. The notes say, "fairly big nose, a tad of mineraliness, real Burgundy, $35 to $40." I liked it, and $35 to $40 isn't too bad as these things go.

Finally I was given a full glass of 1997 Chambertin. The tasting program gives the obligatory listing as a Grand Cru, but to a wine lover the designation goes without saying. It would be the same as omitting "The First Growth" every time you mentioned, say, Chateau Lafite Rothschild. I did alot of pouring and spitting at this tasting but not this time! I drank the whole glass and I took my time doing it. It was the best Burgundy I've ever had, though truth to tell I don't drink a heck of a lot of them because they are so expensive. Here are my notes: "Fairly dark for Pinot Noir but not that dark. Some tannin, not much, big for Pinot Noir, good richness. Distinguished by its finish that goes on and on. I could drink it all day." Keep in mind that's a 1997, a vintage that can't crack 85 on the vintage charts, and it's a young wine too. As I was drinking and contemplating it the Moillard representative, a suave and debonair Frenchman right out of central casting who definitely added some panache to the proceedings, said to me, "Well, Mitch, what do you zeenk of it?" I said "the finish just goes on and on," and without missing a beat he said, "Yes, and eet will keep doing eet for twenty years." That's what you get from the top Pinot Noir vineyard in the world. (The references to it go back at least 1400 years. That's right. Not since 1400. 1400 years. Since 600 A.D.)

If there ever was an argument why you had to shell out $50 to go to a two-hour tasting, it was in that glass of Chambertin. I did ask the price and our friendly Frenchman said it would be between $150 and $200 a bottle. If you ordered one glass in a wine bar it would probably be $50 all by itself. At this particular tasting you would still have 110 minutes to go and over 500 wines to choose from. I'll see you there next year. (By the way the top producer of Chambertin, the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, gets $600 a bottle for theirs, so the Moillard is definitely a bargain as these things go.)

Next week I'll finish reporting on the Grand European Tasting by discussing some wines from Alsace, Champagne, Côtes du Rhone, and Germany. Bonjour.

© Mitch Kornfeld 2001 All rights reserved

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mitchk@unionsquarejournal.com


Previously by Mitch Kornfeld...

Grand European Tasting (05/01/01)

King Cab, Part V -- Spain, Chile, Argentina, Australia (04/18/01)

King Cab, Part IV -- Italy (04/04/01)

King Cab, Part III -- California (03/21/01)

King Cab, Part II -- Bordeaux (03/07/01)

King Cab, Part I -- Some Basics (02/27/01)

For a Big Red, Think Petite (02/18/02)

Tannic Monsters from the ID (02/08/01)

New York Wine and Restaurant Deals (01/30/01)

Dad's Cardinal Zins and Other Clichés (01/20/01)

Some Basics for a Winter's Eve (01/12/01)

And if They're Spanish That's Fine (01/05/01)

Hello Carbon Dioxide (12/29/00)

Wines for Christmas (12/22/00)

Nouveau Beaujolais, Etc. (11/24/00)

Going to a Tasting 101 (12/01/00)