Burgundy Encore

Nicolas Dewe was back in St. John’s recently for an encore presentation of wines from Bourgogne de Vigne en Verre (BVV), hosted once again by Greg Winter of Dialog Wines. Nicolas was here in October of 2016 and I was very impressed with his selections and the tasting events: Burgundy is Easy!

BVV is a consortium of small growers and wine-makers in Burgundy who have pooled their resources for marketing and logistics, but retain their individual styles and techniques in wine-making.

This year’s tasting consisted mainly of wines from 2015. Nicolas described the vintage as having lots of sun contributing to good fruit, but quantities were down due to issues such as hailstorms. The extra sun may lead to a slightly more fruity character in some wines than would be expected from Burgundy. He advised that 2016 was very similar to 2015 in terms of quality, but with a little less sun and a more typical Burgundian character. 2017 marks the return to “normal” quantities of production, but the best we can probably hope for is that prices will be stable instead of continuing to rise as they have in recent years.

Here are my notes on the wines, some of which will likely be available in November’s WineFest. Another guest mentioned, and Nicolas amplified, that if you can find a wine-maker who makes a good Bourgogne Rouge, you can be sure all of his/her wines will be good. One such wine and winery is Domaine Dupré (notes at bottom).

White Wines (Chardonnay)

Domaine Moreau Bourgogne Blanc (La Côte Mâconnaise) 2016 – aged in 400 L barrels, so less oak influence. Aromas of matchstick, butter‎, and pear with apples coming through in the mouth. Good, fresh acidity. $27.88 ♥♥

Domaine Bachey-Legros Santenay, En Charron 2015 – young vineyards with hardly any soil using 25% new oak. More matchstick underpinning complex and spicy aromas. A soft textured mouthfeel of buttered apples. Beautiful. $53.77 ♥♥

Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur Mersault, les Corbins 2015 – ‎vinified in a modern style so that is creamy, rather than buttery, and with lots of “tension”. Matchstick again! But beautiful young French oak nonetheless. Nicely crisp on the tongue, very long finish, apple pie! $83.25 ♥♥+

Red Wines (Pinot Noir)

Georges Lignier et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 2015 – Lignier was probably my favourite producer in last year’s tastings, and he did not disappoint with this wine. His aim is not for “big” wines, and he has distinctive citrus (specifically blood orange according to Nicolas) aromatics in his wines. This one shows sour cherry and red cherry aromas, great acidity, is nicely tart with some earthiness, and yes, I can convince myself of hints of blood orange. $80.96 ♥♥+

Philippe Cheron Chambolle-Musigny, Les Quarante Ouvrées 2015‎ – A more traditional style with long maceration and more extract. Red cherry but restrained aroma, more tannin, good attack, drier, weightier, shorter finish. I was odd man out as most seemed to prefer this wine. $100.76 ♥♥

Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur Volnay Pitures, Premier Cru 2015 – The vineyard is almost in Pommard, and the wine shows the backbone of Pommard with the elegance of Volnay. The aroma is lovely sweet cherry fruit with hints of matchstick and barnyard. Delicious acidity with nicely tart red cherry flavours in the mouth. $103.93 ♥♥+

‎Philippe Cheron Gevrey-Chambertin, Champonnet, Premier Cru 2015 – Although Cheron is a new winery it is composed of an assemblage of properties with old vines. This one shows both fruit and power, but in a soft comfortable package. There is rich, expressive fruit, good acidity, sweet cherries and even some bramble fruit. $120.88 ♥♥+