2004 White Burgandy Results

On May 17, we were privileged to taste some excellent example of 2004 White Burgundies, including some excellent examples of Meursaults and Chablis's. 

We were privileged to welcome Sébastien Jacquey as the guest speaker for the evening.  Sébastien comes from the Nevers region of Burgundy. His extensive educational and practical experiences have led him throughout France to many of the most prestigious schools and châteaux including training at Baron Philippe de Rothschild in Pauillac. Sébastien is a Master of Earth and Environment, specializing in Vine Management and Terroir; and an Engineer of Oenology and Viticulture.

Sébastien first spoke to the group about the quality of the 2004 vintage in Burgundy.  Sadly, the 2004 was not one best vintages for the region and started out almost as poorly as the drought filled 2003 season.  Heavy rain in August brought some disease and infection to the vines of the region, but luckily, September was "blessed by the gods" and dried out many of the vineyards.

He also talked about how two very different style would be present in the wines we tasted that night.   Some of the wines, like the Jean Boillot, are very "old school", where as wines like the Domaine LeFlaive and the St. Aubin, were much more of a new generation style.  They use much less oak and try to focus more on letting the terroir come through.

This turned out to be one of more challenging tastings we put on, as the group struggled to come up with a consensus for everything but their top and bottom ranked wines.  The two top wines of the night were the Jean Boillot (Sébastien top pick and the groups 4th) and Marc Colin, St Aubin (The groups top pick and Sébastien's 5th)

When speaking about the Jean Boillot, Sébastien described it as having an intense/complex nose that was full of ripe stone fruit scents.  It was very creamy and fat with flavours of mushroom and limestone minerality.  It showed a fantastic balance between the fruit and minerality with a long, smooth and tight finish.  However he did say that it wasn't a typical Burgundy, and that it tasted almost new world.

The St. Aubin, according to Sébastien, had lots of ripe stone fruit and ripe flower flavours and also some intense citrus notes.  It had good structure with a medium long finish.  He did say that when tasting, that he was searching for a minerality that seemed to be lacking.

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A. Jean-Marc Brocard, Chablis Les Clos	6	7
B. Marc Colin, St Aubin, En Remilly, 1er Cru	1	5
C. Theirry et Pascal Matrot, Meursault, Charmes, 1er Cru	7	8
D. Michel Coutoux, Meursault, Charmes, 1er Cru	3	6
E. Latour-Giraud, Meursault, Charmes, 1er Cru	2	3
F. Henri Boillot, Meursault, Charmes, 1er Cru	5	4
G. Domaine LeFlaive, Puligny-Montrachet, Clavoillon, 1er Cru	8	2
H. Jean Boillot, Puligny-Montrachet, Perrieres, 1er Cru	4	1