Wine & Spirits - April 2013 - (Page 102)

Year’s Best White Burgundy Our blind panels tasted 221 new-release white Burgundy wines for this issue. Joshua Greene, our critic for Burgundy, rated 52 as exceptional (90+) and 11 as Best Buys. Find a complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com. Beaune 186463 95 | Joseph Drouhin $120 2010 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches ^ Drouhin owns 17.05 acres, the largest holding in this vineyard at the southern reaches of Beaune. The vines, located mid-slope, average 45 years old and the family has farmed them under biodynamics since the 1990s. They consistently produce one of the great, aristocratic white wines of Burgundy, this 2010 as expansive as a grand cru. It’s already beautiful, with scents of loquat and white truffle girding a flavor that might be described as liquefied seashells, yet the wine’s tension and drive suggest it will continue to evolve for a decade or more. § Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., NY 183781 92 | Domaine Chanson Père & Fils $110 2009 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches ^ Seamlessly integrated, this wine feels open and breezy on the surface, deep and saturated with citrus flavors underneath. Its creamy chamomile richness marries well with its toasty oak. Mouthwatering and delicious, this is approachable now and will age with grace. This comes from the domaine’s 11.11 acres in Clos des Mouches. (W&S 10/12) § Terlato Wines Int’l., Lake Bluff, IL 187455 90 | Dom. de la Vougeraie $56 2010 Beaune ^ Dense pear and red peach skin flavors give this wine a cool tone. Impacted with fruit, the generous fullness of the wine is balanced by equally rich lemony acidity. The lasting impression is dark and smoky, seeming to hold complexities that will emerge with bottle age. § Boisset Family Estates, Sausalito, CA BienvenuesB â ta r d - M o n t r a c h e t 187445 95 | Louis Jadot $280 2009 Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru ^ Sunny and bold with cool undercurrents of earthiness, this wine comes in waves: the churning of fresh butter, the scent 102 WINE & SPIRITS APRIL 2013 of forest mushrooms, the heady buzz of citrus. Though it remains tightly bound up in youthful energy, the wine’s potential is clear. It may begin to reach maturity around ten years from the vintage and should sustain its freshness for years after. § Kobrand, Purchase, NY Bourgogne 187454 90 | Dom. de la Vougeraie $60 2010 Côte de Beaune Les Pierres Blanches ^ Airy and fresh, with creamy notes of vanilla and the crust of crème brulée, this has tart acidity to spark up the finish, bringing out bright orange citrus flavors that last. Oak brings a puff pastry richness to the wine, but it’s balanced by all the citrusy fruit. Decant it for a cream-based seafood stew. § Boisset Family Estates, Sausalito, CA chaBlis 183885 94 | Dom. William Fèvre $115 2010 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos ^ This comes off one of the most prized holdings in Fèvre’s domaine: 10.15 acres on the southfacing hillside of Les Clos, the heart of Chablis’s grand crus. This 2010 is so concentrated and powerful that it’s hard to approach, a deep well of whiteness, of lees and jasmine, lilac and bee pollen, harmony and youthful pallor. There’s no wisdom in drinking this before it’s ten years old or older; if you do open the bottle before then, double decant it back into the bottle and forget about it for a day. (W&S 10/12) § Henriot, NY 183888 93 | Dom. William Fèvre $65 2010 Chablis Premier Cru Vaulorent ^ Fèvre owns 8.96 acres in this vineyard, located on the northwest border of the grand cru Les Preuses. The wine sparkles with its bright white soil character, with an explosion of lemon pith and lemon zest, of juicy pear and crushed oyster shells. It’s wild within tight restraints, a pure essence of Chablis needing bottle age to relax and grow approachable. (W&S 10/12) § Henriot, NY 183884 93 | Dom. William Fèvre $80 92 | Domaine L. Chatelain $69 91 | Dom. Christian Moreau $26 90 | Dom. Romain Collet $25 2010 Chablis Grand Cru Bougros ^ With 10.18 acres, Fèvre owns one-third of this grand cru, a southwest-facing hillside that produced a spherical wine locked in a Kimmeridgian limestone shell. Scents of wildflower honey and creamy Meyer lemon flavors get cut by the blunt youth of the wine’s acidity and soil character. A transmigration of fossilized oyster shells into a chardonnay of today. (W&S 10/12) § Henriot, NY 186520 2010 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos (Best Buy) ^ Tightly wound and difficult to read, this wine’s flavors are so concentrated they are seemingly imperceptible. For now, it hints at the earthiness of fresh mushrooms, the greenness of underripe strawberries and grape stems, the pale weight of butter beans. Underneath the youthful compression, the power of the wine is palpable, needing years to unwind. § Alfio Moriconi Selection/Saranty Imports, Harrison, NY 187850 2011 Chablis (Best Buy) ^ This young Chablis defines chardonnay in its purest form: scents of lemon balm, an electric buzz of acidity, vibrant honeydew melon flavors, deeper tones of lotus root. It’s crunchy and brash, friendly enough to drink now (particular if decanted), balanced for several years of evolution in bottle. § Frederick Wildman and Sons, NY 187516 2010 Chablis Les Pargues (Best Buy) ^ A classical Chablis from the fourth generation of this family domaine, this wine’s crisp green apple and bright lime flavors have fruit intensity that lasts. A central spine of acidity keeps it fresh and lively. For raw oysters now, or wood-roasted oysters if you age this for a few years. § APS Wine & Spirits, Oakland, CA 187515 http://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - April 2013

Wine & Spirits - April 2013
Editor’s Note
Happenings
Contents
Fined & Filtered The Digital List
Cognac: The New Wave
The Funky Bits: Alice Feiring on terroir expression in Comté
Pouilly-Fuissé Premier Cru
Pinot Noir’s Nerve Center
Where Tuscany Meets Liguria
Insider Chianti
Where to Eat & Drink in New York
24th Annual Restaurant Poll
Introduction
US Pinot Noir
Austria
Portugul Reds
White Burgundy
Loire
Tuscan Reds
US New Releases
Imported New Releases
Extreme Values

Wine & Spirits - April 2013