Burgundy Fest

This past Saturday two wine shops had their annual Burgundy tastings. Union Square and Le Du. The first stop was at  Union Square Wines. They usually have some sort of tasting in the back room and since the tastings are complementary, it can be a zoo. The crowds came out for Burgundy. They were pouring twenty-three red and white Burgundy from producers such as Joseph Faivley, Domaine Meo-Camuzet, Francois Raquillet, Domaine Michael LaFarge and others. I tasted all the wines. Nothing really blew me away. I found many of the wines to have high acid that worked better with the whites than the reds. Definately food wines. Some that I liked were Joseph Faivleys 09 Mercury Blanc Clos Rochettes Monopole. Good inexpensive white Burgundy that was nicely balanced and a good sipper. Another I enjoyed was the Simon Bize & Fils 09 Savigny-Les-Beaune Blanc 1er Cru “Aux Vergelesses” Moderate fruit, long finish with some mouth puckering tanning and acid on the finish.

Next stop was Le Du’s Wines. There was a fee to enter this event and the wine shop is out of the way which ensured that only wine geeks made it to this event. They poured twenty-three high-end red and white Burgundy from the 2009 vintage. It was a great opportunity to try some really expensive juice at the cost of two glasses of crappy house wine.

Very nice tasting all around, some of the whites I enjoyed; 09 Bruno Clair Bourgongne Blanc, good low-end Burgunday, and the 09 Ramonet Chassagne Montrachet. My favorite red of the night was the 09 Domaine Bouchard Beaune 1er Cru Greves Vigne de L’Enfant Jesus. Great purfume on the nose with silky, firm fruit and long finish. Some other reds I enjoyed were: 09 Domaine Bruno Clair Clos de Beze, 09 Bruno Clair Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Les Cazetiers”, 09 Domaine Tiery Matrot Blagny La Piece Sous les Bois, 09 Humbert Freres Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Poissenots” and the 09 Domaine Jacques Frederic Mugnier Nuits-St-George 1er Cru “Clos de la Marechale”

The Le Du tastings are fun, casual events with dedicated wine drinkers, I think because of the costs of these wines, the vibe was tighter than usual this time around.