White burgundy tasting

Last night ACC held a tasting of the white wines of Burgundy, mainly 2007s from producers whose 2008s have just become available, so that we could see what they were like with some age on them. It was a stand-up tasting and good to see some of the usual crowd there!

We kicked off with the 2007 Bourgogne Blanc from Domaine Parent which was a beautiful golden colour and went down a treat. It was quite rich for a humble BB and I'm delighted that I have a case stashed away somewhere, and have a case of the 2008 reserved for me - at £115 a case this is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

Then onto the 2008 Bourgogne Blanc from Bzikot and the 2007 Puligny. The '08 BB was lovely! It had quite a floral nose (I'm glad to see looking at my notes from our visit in Jan, I said the same thing) and was very elegant. I'm seriously tempted - at £120 a case it's very good value. The 2007 Puligny was very good but is twice the price and I'm not sure it's twice as good. Anyway, I already have a bottle, hurrah!

After than came a couple of Chablis from Dom. Nathalie & Gilles Fevre who are related to the more famous William Fevre, for those keeping up at the back. (What's the plural of Chablis?) I'd had the 1er cru Fourchaume-Vaulorent before and been impressed by it, and this time I got to try the Grand Cru Les Preuses beside it. Have to admit the premier cru was more my cup of tea, but coming back to the grand cru later I felt it had come on a bit. None of the wines was decanted beforehand, so perhaps it just needed some more air.

On the second table we tried the white Savigny-les-Beaune 2007 from Domaine Michel Martin, made by the chap who owns the gite in Chorey. I've tasted there a couple of times and M. Martin is a genial sort of bloke and always has a twinkle in his eye when he produces this wine, as it's made from pinot beurot, a local term for pinot gris, which is of course totally illegal as at village level, white burg has to be chardonnay. I'll probably get him arrested by the grape police for writing this! Anyway, the Savigny was lovely as always, and AM was particularly impressed with it, not having had it before. Tchah! Where has he been? I've already had several bottles of this wine and like it very much, but probably won't bother getting it en primeur as I prefer just to pick up a bottle here and there when the urge strikes. (I think G has some too so might as well help him drink it before getting more.)

Next was the Ladoix 1er cru Les Grechons from Nudant which was elegant but didn't wow me. I already have some of the 2007 so wasn't in any particular rush to acquire more. We finished off with the 2007 Meursault Vielles Vignes and Meursault Limozin from Sylvain Dussort, both of which I know quite well, but increasingly I feel they are not what I personally am looking for in a Meursault - they're quite restrained and elegant as opposed to big, fat and blowsy. Everyone else in the room adored them so clearly this is just me being difficult.

All in all, a very interesting range of whites, and top marks for the Epoisses and the salmon pate which were provided alongside!