Domaine Rapet Père et Fils Pernand-Vergelesses Premier Cru, En Caradeux, 2014
If this wine doesn't make you happy, nothing will. It has a lovely, complex balance of apple peels, flint and, surprisingly, a hint of marzipan. It's full and powerful, but so focused its power comes across very stealthily in the saline, chalky finish. (May 18, 2020)
Domaine Francois Carillon, Bourgogne Blanc, 2016
Carillon was one of the first names in Bourgogne I encountered - in a local wine magazine, back in 2002, along with Ramonet. So it always triggers a faux pas familiarity, even though it took me eleven years to actually drink one of the original Louis Carillon estate's Puligny Premier Crus. It was in bottle shock. The same wine a month later was heavenly. Lime fruit with flint threading through nose and palate. Now, this wine here, from the larger of the two domaines it split into, shows a very similar character. Of course, this isn't as complex or as intense, but it shares the same focus of fruit and electrifying vivacity. (May 4, 2020)
Domaine Les Poëte, Reuilly Blanc, Orphée, 2015
This is a wine I was really looking forward to but didn't really know what to make of once I had it. It's an unusual Sauvignon, fat and creamy, so fleshy its acidity is initially subdued. As it warms up, the Orphée reveals a subtle and delicate expression of exoticism and tropical flavors and aromas, and a finish that wraps dollop of sweet fruit around a couple of grains of salt. I'd hit it again for sure. (May 5, 2020)
Domaine Matrot, Bourgogne Blanc, 2017
Always a dependable introduction to both Meursault and Matrot's vibrant expression of the village style. It's always savory, juicy, lightly sweet fruit, halfway between apples and pears, with a saline backbone, with enough spark beyond mere dependability (May 7, 2020)
Domaine Michelot, Bourgogne Blanc, 2016
This is my first encounter with this domaine and it's a lovely introduction, very clean and pure, delineated with simple, precise lines. Like Matrot, Michelot is a Meursault based family and the Bourgogne comes from parcels around the Meursault commune, although not from the AOC per se. It's one of those Bourgognes where you're impressed at the care the domaine takes with the regional AOC. Its Meursault typicality is expressed in sour-sweet pears, but other than that it's chalkier than I'd expect from the village. (May 10, 2020)
Jules Desjourneys, Pouilly-Vinzelles, Les Longeays, 2015Another wine I was extremely eager to get my hands on. Matchsticks, iodine and lemon on the nose and a pure, well-formed palate, every sip a contrast of smooth delivery and raspy grip. I would have expected the Cote Chalonnaise whites to have been ripe and exotic in 2015, but this is very fresh and lithe, with complex, restrained richness of aromas and flavors. (May 9, 2020)
Feldstein, Rousanne, 2017
Feldstein is the Israeli boutique in the Bourgogne Crown catalog. Rousanne is not my favorite grape, yet Avi makes a wine of it that always shows a different character. This time it's a hot springs bath and garrigue and lime and a chalky texture.
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