I got a lot of feedback after my last post, much of it prompting me to write more and not less during this difficult time. One reason I was presented was “Live life or the terrorists win.” That reason alone wasn’t really enough for me. Ultimately it can be used to justify about anything you want to do. But the second reason really did speak to me – that is, reading about wine brings joy to some, and in this bleak time, any potential joy one can bring is appreciated. And so, I decided to catch up on a few posts and start writing regularly again. This first post deal with burgundy, and as we are just a day away from Thanksgiving, it seems an appropriate place to start.
The truth is this particular post has been a long time coming. Over the last year and a half, I have participated in a number of tastings that have given me the opportunity to review or retaste most kosher higher end burgundies currently on the market. This includes the three new highly anticipated releases from Domaine de Montille. Well, they would have been new if I had this post ready on time. I will give notes on 2020 releases. The 2021 releases are scheduled for later this year.
We have entered the golden age of kosher burgundy production. There are now three major kosher producers making wines in burgundy on a regular basis and a few other niche players as well. Really IMHO, this renaissance is squarely due the folks as Taieb. To me they were without a doubt THE trailblazers – not in one-off productions, but rather in trying to get semi-regular releases of relatively high-quality burgundy wines. Since the start of the last decade, Taieb has led the way with the D’Ardhuy (2010-2015) and Lescure (2014-2017) releases and now the JP Marchand releases (2017-present). IDS joined with its Aegerter releases starting in 2018 and Royal with its Le Hardi releases in 2020. On top of that, we have some smaller players who have started releasing – some wildly successful and some less so. So we can now have over 10 quality releases in a single year as opposed to one every five years, which was the case in the 90’s and 00’s. And so we have what to celebrate in the kosher world – and something to celebrate is nice especially given what is going on in the wider Jewish world right now.
So let’s start out with the wines I really OWE a review to – Domaine de Montille. I will say though that these wines are super exciting; This is the most prestigious Domaine to have done a kosher run. For a nice write up of the winery, you can visit my friend David Raccah’s post and also see his reviews of the wines as well. So I am not going to revisit information that is readily out there even for the kosher consumer. Instead, I am just going to give my reviews of each of the three released wines. I tasted these wines with a group and then took a small amount home with me and retasted over the course of an additional three days to see how they developed.
2020 Domaine de Montille, Puligny-Montrachet, Premier Cru, Les Chalumeaux – This was the wine that I actually was most interested in, as it is the first Puligny-Montrachet that I have had the opportunity to taste (apparently there was another made approximately 20 years ago – but it never made its way to Israel as far as I know, and I wasn’t doing my visits to France back then) – so really outside of reading about what is typical – I came into this with a totally open palate. What a wine! The first thing that hits you is the mix of both the mouth feel and the acid. This wine has both bracing acidity as well as a full rich mouthfeel. The combination results in something super-satisfying. Overall, the profile was lemon and almonds with some nice floral notes. But the wine was closed. While it opened a little on the second day, on day three is really where it began to shine. With complexity deepening, so now there is lemon and almond, quince, floral notes, and the minerality really shining through with a wonderfully long rich finish with stone fruit saline, more citrus, and again crazy mineral. All of this, as noted previously, is balanced out by some truly excellent acidity. This wine is super elegant – and while I prefer the 2020 Aegerter Mersault ever so slightly right now, this wine may prove to be the better wine in the long haul. It is certainly the more elegant of the two. 94
2020 Domaine de Montille, Volnay, Premier Cru, Les Brouillards – Currently we have a few Volnays on the market including the 2020 Aegerter, which was really nice, the 2020 Charles Pere & Fils Premier Crus, which sucked, and the 2021 JP Marchand, which was just OK. I am happy to report the de Montille does not disappoint and is the best of the bunch – beating out the Aegerter by just a bit. On the nose, we have some beautiful black and red fruit, nice earth, smoke, and of course some nice floral notes. In the mouth, you have some real depth of flavor with great blackberry, raspberry, smoke, and again more floral notes. The acidity is perfectly balanced, and the tannin is nice and mouth coating. The finish just unfolds with again more blackberry and raspberry and a hint of chocolate and espresso all wrapped in some rich dense earthiness. This is a beautiful wine. 93.5
2020 Domaine de Montille, Pommard, Premier Cru, Les Grands Epenots – In the world of Pommard, we have been blessed with a number of top quality Pommards over the years – primarily the Taieb produced Domaine Chantal Lescure Pommards of 2014-2017. The 2018 Aegerter, while nice, didn’t really play in the same league. I can finally say we have a wine that beats the Lescures at the Pommard game – by just a hair. Like the Puligny-Montrachet, this wine needed time to really express itself – it was REALLY closed at first. Once it opens you have an ultra-elegant expression of Pommard. While perhaps not as masculine as Lescure, it is beautiful with red and black fruit on the nose, nice oak, and even a little cedar, and then violet. In the mouth, you get tons of blackberry, cedar, plum, and cherry, with a nice mineral core that runs through it. There is nice balancing acidity and mouth coating tannin, providing a really nice structure here. The finish is again VERY long with even more complexity and flavors that slowly unfold, with smoke, baking spices, chocolate, and espresso following the fruit. 94.5 (but may go higher as this improved day after day – I just ran out of wine to taste).
Now, in addition to the de Montille burgundies, I realize that I have never given formal notes on the Le Hardi wines that Royal produced. Usually I taste Royals releases in France with Menachem during my trip with David. These wines were released in the middle of the year, and David tasted them without me – so I had to fend for myself and purchase them here in Israel. I have had the opportunity to taste them a couple of more times over the last year as well. Like the de Montille to date, there has only been a single vintage year release of three wines. While not as good as the de Montilles, these are not from the same appellations and are certainly very nice wines indeed – and at much more approachable pricing.
2020 Domaine du Chateau Philippe le Hardi, Beaune, Premier Cru – We have had a few Beaunes over the years and this is near the top (beaten by 2021 Aegerter, whose note I will publish a in a couple of weeks). There are classic Beaune characteristics here. On the nose we have sweet red fruit, mint, baking spice, and sweet herb. In the mouth, sweet red cherry, plum, strawberry, currant, ripe blackberry, with some toasted herb and oak. There is enough acid and tannin here to hold everything in balance – which is impressive considering the very fruity profile the wine has. The finish is nice with strawberry, cherry, floral notes,. mint and some chocolate. Very nice wine indeed. 92
2020 Domaine du Chateau Philippe le Hardi, Gevrey-Chambertin, Les Crais – Another appellation that has blessed us with a number of expressions recently, including the ’18 and ‘20 – and this one might be my favorite. On the nose, intoxicating aromas of black cherry, mushroom, and earth. In the mouth, all of that plus some mint, dill, soy sauce, some smoke, and hint of white pepper and dark roast coffee. This wine is perfectly balanced. The finish is long red and tart with raspberry, cranberry, followed by smoked paprika, pepper, espresso, and more dense earth. Love it. 93+
2020 Domaine du Chateau Philippe le Hardi, Chambolle-Musigny, Les Athets – This was the wine I was most excited to taste, as I have not ever had a Chambolle-Musigny before. I will say that this is another wine that needs time. It was super closed on opening, with almost nothing on the nose. But again, once it opened up after a day or so, it did not disappoint. Dark red fruit, spice, smoke, and herb. In the mouth, you get cherry, raspberry, mineral, toasted herbs, earth, and more salty mineral. At no point does the wine feel overly fruity or out of balance – even though it is very fruity. It is simply controlled and perfectly balanced. This really is the best of the bunch. The finish is long and full of dense red fruit, earth, smoke, herb, mineral, and roasted coffee. I’m a big fan. 93.5
Most of the main producers I have now written up on the site at one time or another and my notes stand for the most part. Perhaps the only wines that really have not been detailed in some form on this site outside of RCC short notes are the d’Ardhuy wines that Taieb produced sporadically in the first half of the last decade. As noted above, I have had the opportunity to retaste a number of burgundies over the past year and half including 4 of the 5 d’Ardhuy wines that were produced. The 2010 Gevrey-Chambertin was at an RCC (and was likely stored poorly), the 2012 Gevrey-Chambertin was at a private tasting and simply was young and needed time to air out and so I was unable to take notes. Now those two wines are really not available anymore anyway – so I am not going to bother with posting full notes. But I also retasted the 2014 Côte de Beaune Villages and the 2015 Aloxe-Corton. Those you might be able to find. Here are my notes:
2014 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Côte de Beaune Villages – This wine is now close to 10 years old – but it is still SUPER young (like all of the d’Ardhuy wines!). If you give it time to open you get nice red tart fruit, mushrooms, cedar, eucalyptus, and a bit of leather on the nose. In the mouth, you get beautiful earth, cherry, raspberry, mushroom, and some nice rich earth. The tannin is still really intense here and follows through on the finish, which is dominated by earth and mushrooms in addition to some nice mineral. By far this wine has the best QPR score. It is a villages wine with a 93.5 – and it hasn’t really even opened up yet!
2015 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Aloxe-Corton – Another d’Ardhuy baby. This needs a good two days to really be at all expressive now. The nose though is ready to go – with wonderful earth, dark red and black fruit, some smoke, and mushroom. When the wine finally opens, in the mouth you get blackberry, dark red and black plum, black cherry, and then tons of mushrooms. I can tell you this is just a hint of what the wine will eventually offer. It is still SOOOO young. As with all the d’Ardhuy wines, there is a crazy amount of tannin here – but it never feels out of balance. Just young. The finish is full of mint, coffee, cedar, and earth. This is a monster wine. 94+
So I think that apart from the 2021 Aegerter wines from IDS (they will be in an upcoming post), I am now caught up on Burgundy.
For those celebrating, Happy Thanksgiving. May we all have something to be thankful for very soon.