Brooklyn Tasting Group: Burgundy

The Brooklyn Tasting Group got together this past Tuesday 10/28 and drank through some fantastic Burgundies.

Notes can be found here.

2006 Louis Michel & Fils “Montmain” – Chablis Premiere Cru – Burgundy

Straw colored wine with flinty mineral notes. There is also a nice aromatic floral essence along with some nice citrus but the “slate” really comes across the most.

There is a slightly “grassy” taste along with stone fruit but I don’t think this wine comes across as “green.”

Smooth texture with a perfect acidic touch at the end making this a great food pairing white. B. $40 at Chelsea Wine Vault.

2004 Coren Pere & Fils Pouilly-Fuissé (France-Burgundy)

One of the things I like to do is check out new wine shops. What usually happens is that I go in, check out the place, look at the prices and compare them in my head to what I think they should be. (I’m usually disappointed.) Then I buy a bottle of something. Sometimes I’m lucky and the shop has a bottle open to sample or a tasting going on.

This is what happened with this wine. The 2004 Coren Pere & Fils Pouilly-Fuissé was being poured by the chateau owner at the Brooklyn Wine Exchange on Vanderbilt Ave.

The wine… Light golden colored. The nose is very floral and an actual florist could probably nail down a specific scent but I certainly can’t. Underneath this are very light and lovely hints of almond and citrus, almost like an almond cake. Smooth texture with a little zip of acidity and an easy finish. Nice wine that I would give a B to. We bought it for $25 and thought it was worth the price.

2003 Jean Claude Bachelet – Chassagne Montrachet ‘Encegnieres’ 2005 (Burgundy)

This was a “special wine” we bought to go along with Tahirih’s and my Valentine’s Day dinner at Le Gigot, a very nice French Bistro on Cornelia St. in Greenwich Village. The wine cost $95 a bottle so it was definitely a splurge. It was a hard wine to track down on the internet and I couldn’t find the ’03 anywhere. However, it appears the ’04 can be found for around $40 to $50.

The wine itself is golden hued with a lovely and unusual burnt sugar and vanilia nose. There are also caramel, light butter, and a flinty or minerally aspect to the aroma. The texture is smooth and lush with a light buttery texture. This all leads to a wonderful, medium long finish.

This wine also really evolved in the glass as time went on. After about 45 minutes, the burnt sugar more upfront minerality which introduced a light scent of lemon. However, towards the end of the bottle, about an hour and a half later, the caramel and burnt sugar came back in a big way, reminiscent of crème brulle.

It’s not often I have wines like this and due to my own personal tastes, am rarely moved by a white wine. However, this was on the verge of transporting. I can only imagine that hard-core fans of White Burgundy would find this a good solid wine and have had better. But… I don’t have that base of knowledge and truly found this wine on the verge of transporting. A+