Sometimes the best wine tastings aren’t necessarily the biggest ones with the most wines. On Monday I attended a small tasting that had some outstanding juice with some pretty tasty appetizers. Maison Louis Latour had a tasting of their red and white 2011 Burgundy. The event was held at A Voce restaurant in Columbus Circle and I was able to enjoy the wines with a nice view of Christopher Columbus.
I started with the whites which included the hierarchy of Burgundy wines that included village wines, Premier Cru and Grand Cru wines. It was a great opportunity to drink a horizontal of wines from the same producer. The highlight of the tasting was the opportunity to sample a four vintage vertical of Corton-Charlemagne. All of wines with the exception of the Corton-Charlemage, were barrel samples from the 2011 vintage.
I started with the village wines which include the entry level Beaune then on to the Meursault, the Puligny-Montrachet, and the Chassagnes-Montrachet. The 1er Cru I sampled include the Meusault “Blagnay”, the Meursault “Genevrieres” which was gold in color with a nose of honey and pineapple with steely and mineral notes on the finish. I continued with the Pugliny-Montrachet “La Garenne”, the Pugliny-Montrachet “Les Folatieres”, the Chassagnes-Montrachet ‘Cailleret” and the Chassagnes-Montrachet ‘Morgeot” which was gold in color with great mouth-feel, balanced fruit and a tight miniral finish.
Next up were the Grand Cru. I sampled the Batard-Montrachet and then the vertical of Corton-Charlemagne. The non barrel samples included the 2010 which was light gold, toasty and tight, I didn’t think it was the most balanced of the vertical. The 2009 was beautiful, light gold with a nose of nutmeg with medium fruit with some oak notes on the nice finish. The 2007 was gold in color with a nose of honey and toasty peaches with great balance and a long finish, a really nice glass of wine that I think is at its peak.
After the whites the red were a little anticlimactic and I think the 2011’s really needed some more time for the flavors to round out. The wines I samples were the Santenay, the Beaune, the Pommard, the Aloxe-Corton, the Gevrey-Chambertin, the 1er Crus of Aloxe-Corton “Les Chaillots”, the Volnay “En Chevret”, and the Beaune “Vignes Franches”. The Grand Cru wines were the Corton Close du Roi, the Corton Grancey, and the Chambertin.
It was a tasty afternoon of some excellent Burgundy.
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