Côte de Nuits

Following on from my tastings of Pinot Noir from around the world, I attended a session organised by Vins de Bourgogne to learn more about the famous appellations of the Côte de Nuits. Stretching from south of Dijon to the village of Nuits-St-George, the Côte de Nuits is a series of vineyards on east-facing slopes where some of the world's greatest Pinot Noir is grown. The session concentrated on the three villages of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, and Chambolle-Musigny, which lie less than 10km apart yet have very different flavour profiles. Considering their proximity to one another, the differences between the wines from these villages was extraordinary.

the vintage

All the wines came from the 2011 vintage, whose wines were described as fresh, fruity, supple, and lighter than usual but well balanced. In true French style, the weather conditions for 2011 were related to us in some detail: the growing season started early in a dry, sunny spring; conditions changed "dramatically" in July, however, to a cool, wet summer; the end of August reverted to a sunny September with low rainfall. The lightness of the vintage means that the wines generally may not have the ageability of consistently warmer years such as 2012, but the wines we tasted were still young.

the villages

During the nineteenth century at the height of Burgundy's fame, many of the area's small villages took on the name of their most acclaimed vineyards: Gevrey became Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey Morey-St-Denis, and Chambolle Chambolle-Musigny. Generally, the best vineyards - Premier Cru and, for the very greatest, Grand Cru - are on slopes above the villages. These vineyards are called climats, individual sites which have their own particular style, character, and identity. Lower down the slopes are the village appellation wines, the more straightforward expressions of each area. Distinctive but less acclaimed vineyards that go towards village appellation wine also have their own name: lieux-dits.

Gevrey-Chambertin

There are 320ha of vineyards in the village AC, making it one of the largest for red wine in Burgundy. Beyond this broad area, there are some of the most renowned vineyards in the world: 26 Premier Cru (80ha) and 9 Grand Cru. The Premier Cru vineyards are, unusually, higher - at 380m altitude - than the Grand Cru, which are around 300m. The best wines from the village are full, structured, tannic, and long-lived.

Morey-St-Denis

Situated between Gevrey-Chambertin and Chambolle-Musigny, the wines of Morey-St-Denis combine the best characteristics of the two: the powerful structure of the former and the aromatic elegance of the latter. Much smaller than Gevrey-Chambertin, there are just 87ha of Pinot Noir, 35ha of which is Premier Cru. Despite its size, there are still four Grand Cru vineyards, including Clos-St-Denis and its most renowned, Clos-du-Tart.

Chambolle-Musigny

Larger than Morey-St-Denis with 152ha (56 of them Premier Cru), there are two Grand Cru vineyards - Les Bonnes-Mares and Musigny. The former adjoins Morey-St-Denis's Clos-du-Tart and the wines have more structure, depth, and intensity. Musigny, one of Burgundy's greatest vineyards, is more aromatic, the character for which Chambolle-Musigny is known. There are also two Premier Cru vineyards which rank as some of the finest of Burgundy: Les Charmes and Les Amoureuses. Next to and very similar to Musigny, we heard Véronique Drouhin describe the latter's wines as like "wearing a cashmere sweater."

the wines

We tasted two wines from each village: a village appellation wine and a Premier Cru wine.

Jean-Claude Boisset Chambolle-Musigny Les Chardannes 2011

I found this wine somewhat bitter: the wine did not undergo any racking which may have contributed to a slightly reductive nose. Despite this, there's a nice floral character and the relatively high amount of new oak (45%) is well integrated. With soft tannins, this is a balanced, lightly fruity wine but lacking intensity of flavour. ✪✪✪✪

Domaine Frédéric Magnien Les Bourniques Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru 2011

A very perfumed nose, with wild strawberries and redcurrants, and a very subtly integrated amount of new oak (50%). On the gentle palate, the fruits are ripe but very subtle, with light tannins. Despite the wine's soft, fine texture, there is real depth held up by very good acidity. Best drunk 2020 onwards. ✪✪✪✪✪

Domaine des Beaumont Morey-St-Denis 2011

Despite having the second least amount of new oak (30%) of any of the wines we tasted, it felt the most noticeable perhaps because the oak had a higher level of toast. The fruits are bigger, denser, riper, and darker than its Chambolle-Musigny equivalent. Likewise on the palate, the tannins are more noticeable, firmer and more gripping. This is a complex, involved, if slightly rustic wine. ✪✪✪✪✪

Joseph Drouhin Clos Sobré Morey-St-Denis Premier Cru 2011

The nose of this wine is immediate and beautiful, with ripe red fruits and blackcurrants, roses and thorns, and oak and vanilla. The Drouhin style is not too much extraction, and despite the ripeness of the fruits this wine is balanced and elegant. Lightly gripping tannins on the palate, with dried fruits - figs and prunes - as well as raspberries and blackcurrants. There's a discreet use of new oak (20%) with smoke and light pepper spices. The acidity, however, is a bit sharp at this stage. ✪✪✪✪✪

Domaine Harmand-Geoffrey Vielles Vignes Gevrey-Chambertin 2011

An incredibly intense nose, with oak, smoke, earth, dirt, dried roses, blackberries and brambles, and raspberries - the fruits are hiding behind the oak (40% new). On the palate, the fruits are black and ripe, as are the tannins. A dense, interesting, though slightly heavy wine. ✪✪✪✪

Domaine Taupenot-Merme Bel Air Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru 2011

An odd nose that felt a bit grassy and cereal at first, giving way to baked fruits (plums) and oak. The tannins on the palate are gripping and dominant. A big, full mouthfeel that's hard to assess right now - the wine needs another ten years. ✪✪✪✪✪

conclusions

Reading or hearing about the differences between the three villages is one thing; tasting them another. The wines from Chambolle-Musigny were clearly more aromatic and delicate; those of Gevrey-Chambertin more powerful and forceful; the style of Morey-St-Denis lay in between. For that reason, Morey-St-Denis won the day for me - pleasingly elegant but with depth and structure.

Details of my ✪ to ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪ scoring system

Pinot Noir Blind Tasting

I've been tasting lots of Californian wine over the last three months, but it's time I got back into Diploma mode with a blind tasting flight of three wines from around the world. The final Diploma exam on 'Light Wines of the World' isn't till next June, so it's hard to focus on studying for it - but this is such a big subject that I can't put it off too long.

The exam is broken down into two sections: theory and tasting, both lasting two hours. The tasting exam has four flights of three wines, all tasted blind and which might be arranged by theme - grape variety or region, for example - or randomly. Twelve wines in two hours leaves ten minutes to assess each wine - describe the appearance, nose, and palate, and reach a conclusion on the quality of the wine.

For this blind tasting, I knew the theme - all the wines were from Pinot Noir - but didn't know the wines themselves. The key to blind tasting is not to try and second guess yourself: analyse the wine for what it is, not for what you think it might be, and let the wine speak for itself.

The WSET has a "Systematic Approach to Tasting," which breaks down flavours into different categories and forces you to analyse each technical aspect of the wine - acidity, tannins, alcohol - using uniform language. This can be a frustrating, formulaic way of approaching wine, but it does provide consistency to what can be an inconsistent exercise.

As you can see below, these are not the sexiest of tasting notes, lacking the florid poetry that journalists use in wine reviews. However, they should make clear the nature and style of the wine and its quality - rather than the subjective vocabulary of a review, the notes are designed to be objective. Here are my tasting notes as the WSET would expect to see them in the exam:

Wine 1

Appearance
Clear, medium ruby colour, with legs.
Nose
Clean, pronounced intensity, and developing.
Raspberry and cherry red fruits, with toast, smoke, and vanilla from the oak ageing, with sweet spices cinnamon and nutmeg. Floral notes of violets and rose petals.
Palate
Dry, high acidity, with medium, soft tannins. Medium + alcohol, medium + body, with a pronounced flavour intensity and a long, lasting finish.
As with the nose, raspberry and cherry red fruits, as well as strawberry. More herbal on the palate, with rosemary and sage; also rose petals. Backed up by toast, smoke, and vanilla from the oak.
Conclusion
Outstanding: complex balance of fruits, oak, and herbal/floral aromas, with ageing potential due to the good tannins, high acidity, and clear fruit flavours.

The best way to draw a conclusion on a wine is, by using your tasting notes, to follow the acronym BLIC - Balance, Length, Intensity, Complexity - analysing the balance of acidity, tannins, fruits, and oak; the flavour and intensity of the finish; the intensity, depth, and range of flavours; and the overall complexity of the wine.

Wine 2

Appearance
Clear, medium ruby colour, with legs.
Nose
Faulty - medicinal, smells like cough sweets.

A faulty wine will not be poured for the exam - students can assume that the appearance of each wine is "clear" and the nose "clean." This is because there isn't enough to write about a faulty wine - it tastes wrong, and that's about it - and there's no way you can form a conclusion about its quality.

Wine 3

Appearance
Clear, medium ruby colour, with legs.
Nose
Clean, medium + intensity, developing.
Red fruits flavours of strawberry, cherry, and jammy plums, with some black fruits coming through too - blackcurrant, blackberry. Dried fruits too, particularly figs. Use of oak, giving vanilla and smoke.
Palate
Dry, high acidity, with lightly gripping, drying medium + tannins. Medium + alcohol, medium body, with medium + flavour intensity and a medium + finish.
Juicy, jammy red fruits of strawberry, cherry, plums with black fruits - blackcurrant, blackberry - and dried fruits - figs. As with the nose, smoke and vanilla from the oak, as well as pepper.
Conclusion
Very good: an intense, dark wine with forward fruits and integrated use of oak; a wine of balanced complexity but lacking a certain subtlety and elegance.

Describing the flavours of the palate can be repetitive - there's not likely to be much different from the nose. That's why the nose is so important, the taster's first, immediate analysis of the aromas, while the palate is more about the technical details - acidity, tannins, alcohol, body.

so what were the wines?

 

Wine 1 - Cartograph Floodgate Vineyard Russian River 2011 ($44)

Continuing my burgeoning love affair with Sonoma Pinot Noir, a wine of real complexity and depth of flavour.

Wine 2 - Domaine Odoule-Coquard Chambolle-Musigny 2011 ($47)

It was devastating to discover that the corked wine was from Burgundy: its flavours were flat and medicinal, with no hint of its quality.

Wine 3 - Domaine Ostertag Vignoble d'E ($27)

For a wine from cool Alsace, this was a surprisingly full, fruity, dark wine. Its fruits were just a bit too jammy to rank as outstanding.

Tasting wines blind also challenges preconceptions: the most complex and cool of the wines was from California while the wine from Alsace was the darkest and most intense in colour and taste. Three wines from the same grape pushes the taste buds: the flavour profile of each wine is bound to be similar, but the balance, intensity, and complexity of those flavours different. Rather than simply describing the fruits in a wine, it's the latter qualities that matter.