TN: 6 guys taste 11 2006 Bordeaux

I recently went to a tasting of 2006 Bordeaux wines and as a rule I found them not that interesting. I think this may end up being a weak vintage.

Dale, I have no experience with Pinot Gouges, but does it have a typical Pinot Blanc flavor profile? FWIW, I find PB pretty easy to identify, with its aromatic, white floral and mineral nose.

Mark Lipton

While there were some wines I stylistically didn't like, I think my overall impression is good though not great vintage. Of course small sample. I might be a buyer if there are some good price reductions.

I don't really have enough PB experience to say, though this did have some floral and mineral notes.

"An interesting mutant of old vine Pinot Noir that started producing white-skinned grapes was reportedly propagated (1936) in his "Les Perrieres" plot (cru) by Henri Gouges of Burgundy. By 1947 rooted cuttings from these vines were fairly widespread in the district. In his magisterial book "Cote D'Or", 1997, pps. 144/457, Clive Coates whimsically allots the alias name Pinot Gouges to these vines. Other sources refer to it as the Pinot Musigny. At last report there was about 2.5 ha planted, producing a white wine described by Coates as neither Meursault or Corton, but intriguing and produced in different styles that peak in about four to eight years."

Andy

There are several vineyards in areas of Burgundy best known for reds that produce some whites. Most of the white grapes appear to be mutations of Pinot Noir and seem to pop up in Pinot Noir vineyards at random. I will mention a few I have had over the years. D. Ponsot in Morey-Saint-Denis made some Monts-Luisant Blanc which I last tasted in the 90s,. Comte de Vogue made a 1979 Musigny Blanc which I have tasted. I also have tasted the Clos Blanc de Vougeot 1973 from D. L'Heritier Guyot. I also have tasted the Perriers Blanc 1983 from D. Henri Gouges. These wines were interesting to taste, but for my taste I usually like the Chardonnay based white Burgundy from the better vineyards and producers better.

I thought the Musigny Blanc was Chardonnay? I talked to the guy from Vougeraie (the old Guyot estate) a few years ago, he said the Clos Blanc de Vougeot was Chardonnay with a little Pinot Gris interspersed. Recently Frederic Mugnier started producing a white from the Clos de la Marechal in NSG, I believe they said it was Chardonnay that had historically been sold off to make Bourgogne blanc. I think all of these may be priced high due to curiosity factor (though I bought the Gogues for about 30% of normal retail in a closeout)

I have not done research from trusted sources to know exactly which northern Burgundy white wines are made from mutations of red Pinot Noir and which are made from Chardonnay. Perhaps one of Clive Coates' books will have the information. I tend to agree with you that some of these wines tend to be priced high due to the curiosity factor. Also I tasted the wines mentioned many years ago, so more recent vintages could be better or worse, depending on changes at the various estates.

I have looked in Cote d'Or by Clive Coates published in 1997, so some of the information there may be a bit out of date.Coates on p 144 states that in Nuits-Saint-Georges some white wines are produced, both village and premier cru.Separate bottling of white wine here is relatively new, and quantities are very small. However it has always been the practice until relatively recently to plant a few white grape vines with the red to soften the red wines a bit. Before WW II, Henri Gouges discovered mutation of Pinot Noir that produced white grapes in his vineyard. He propagated them from cuttings. He first had enough grapes to make a small amount of wine in 1947. Others obtained cuttings from him. Coates calls this mutation Pinot Gouges. Other producers make white wine from Chardonnay, Pinot Beurot, or from a mixture of all three. At the time of the book, there were only about

The Morey-Saint-Denis appellation applies to white as well as red wines. Production of white was only 80 hl in 1993 from under 3 ha.. Les Monts Lauisants blanc from Ponsot can/or could be found from time to time on the export market. On page 575, Coates describes the white Les Monts-Luisants, and this is rather complicated. The vineyard has red Pinot Noir grapes as well. There used to be some mutated Pinot Noir giving white grapes (Pinot Gouges) but these vines were removed. There also used to be quite a bit of very old Aligote vines dating from 1911. At the time Coates wrote the book, about 50% each of the old Aligote and Chardonnay were being used.

De Vogue has a small plot of Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir in his Musigny holdings. In the past a small amount of Chardonnay often was used in making red Musigny. In more recent times a tiny amount of the Chardonnay alone is bottled as Musigny Blanc. This was nearly impossible to find for a while when new plantings of Chardonnay were made. It tends to be a very full wine, nothing like Corton-Charlemagne or Montrachet. If you do find a bottle, the price is likely to be very high.

The grand cru in Vougeot is Clos de Vougeot. One could easily be misled by labels, but the white wine often called Clos de Vougeot blanc is nothing of the sort and rather comes from the premier cru vineyard Le Clos Blanc (only 3.05 ha.). The grape likely is Chardonnay, but I did not find proof of this in Coates' book.

I guess that one should never expect anything to be simple in Burgundy. Does the region produce many good lawyers as well as good wine?

cwdjrxyz wrote on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:26:31 -0800 (PST):

So how do you stop a lawyer from drowning?

"Shoot him before he hits the water."

Martha Kearns, Irish Independent 2/17/04

DaleW wrote in news:c08daf32-dc00-4e2c-b74d-cd407d39f637 @p8g2000yqb.googlegroups.com:

Interesting. I tasted over 300 wines en primeur and thought that 2006 was actually excellent in Pomerol with Saint Emilion being more irregular.

It might become an interesting and under the radar vintage for Pomerol specially. Sort of a 2001 which gave very good wines that were not hunted by hordes of point drinkers.

s.

I hope to taste some Pomerols! As noted, I think there's a lot of Bdx clogging pipelines, and my prediction is a LOT of sales/dumping after holiday season. Of course, my market predictions are not usually especially accurate!

Thanks for the research, good stuff! I think Vogue still bottles the white, but calls it Bourgogne Blanc right now because the vines are young after replanting.