Tasting Domaine Burguet 2013
On Tuesday, I attended the Frederick Wildman & Sons tasting for their 2013 Burgundy portfolio. Overall, the wines showed a truly approachable quality and delightfully refreshing vibrancy. There were more reds than whites to taste at this particular event, and my favorites were the wines of Gevrey-Chambertin, along with the beautiful Morey-St. Denis wines of Lignier-Michelot.
2013 was yet another difficult vintage for Burgundy, with challenges arising from the volume and frequency of rainfall in the Côte de Nuits, and hail in the Côte de Beaune. For the Côte Chalonnaise, 2013 was actually a really good vintage and they did not face the same hardships as their neighbors to the north, so keep your eyes peeled for the under-the-radar appellations: Rully, Mercurey and Givry! These will surely offer some value in a vintage where prices are high.
In 2013, between April and August, some areas of the Côte d’Or had nearly 50% more rainfall than the average for that time period. That’s a lot of rain! And it rained frequently too. Despite the difficulties that were faced, vignerons were mostly successful in managing and preventing disease, and the results of the vintage are some wonderful Burgundies. In his article, “The Côte de Nuits – The 2013 and 2012 Vintages”, Allen Meadows’ quotes one of his favorite Burgundian sayings to describe the 2013 vintage, which translates to “the first glass calls for the second.” This is a great saying, and I have to say that these words rang true with the majority of the wines I tasted on Tuesday…I would have loved to drink a full glass, and a second glass, of many of them!
The highlights for me were the wines of Domaine Burguet (Gevrey), Domaine Lignier-Michelot (Morey-St. Denis), Domaine Humbert Freres (Gevrey) and Domaine Sylvain Cathiard (Vosne-Romanée), with the latter being far too pricey for my pocket book. I loved the Domaine Burguet Gevrey-Chambertins, including ‘Symphonie’, ‘Mes Favorites’, ‘Les Champeaux’ 1er Cru and ‘Les Echezeaux’. The Bourgogne Rouge of Domaine Burguet’s was my favorite of this category at the tasting. Lignier-Michelot’s Borgogne Rouge is also great.
I loved the Lignier-Michelot Morey-St. Denis Vieilles Vignes, which had intriguing sauvage notes, with dark berry fruit and earthy minerality that really sang. The Morey-St. Denis ‘Aux Charmes’ 1er Cru and ‘Faconnieres’ 1er Cru were both distinctive and delightful; the former showing earthy and floral notes of roses, with intensity and minerality through the finish, while the latter was also vibrant with pronounced red fruit and deep minerality. Of course, the Lignier-Michelot Clos de la Roche Grand Cru was stunning with singing flavors of dark berries and cassis.
Domaine Humbert Freres’ line-up was wonderful, from Fixin to Charmes Chambertin, these wines were a pleasure to taste. Don’t miss the Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Petite Chapelle’ 1er Cru and the Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Poissenot’ 1er Cru. Of the two, I have to say that Petite Chapelle was my favorite with its floral aromas, dark fruit, elegance, silky texture and shining minerality.
I have not mentioned the white Burgundies yet because I didn’t have a chance to focus on them due to time constraints, but I did taste through all of Olivier Leflaive’s wines, and they were excellent.
This was my first taste of the 2013 Burgundy vintage and I’m looking forward to tasting more of these wines! We at The Wine Cellarage are starting to work on our offerings and you will see more on the 2013s as we make progress.
