In room three we had some fantastic white Burgundies, starting off with Domaine Maroslavac-Leger. This comprised a magnificent vertical tasting of his Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Combettes, starting off with 2008 and going through to the 2004. This showed the lovely rich plump character of the Combettes vineyard terroirs, it was very impressive.
Table two was Domaine Philippe Chavy. This was our first chance to taste his 2008s. 4 different wines starting with the very good and brilliantly valued Puligny Montrachet Corvées des Vignes, followed by another lieu dit Rue Rousseau and finally the two 1er Crus, Folatieres and Pucelles. The later showed very well, there seemed to be a buzz around this table and the wines were excellently received.
On table three we had the wines from Domaine Jean Philippe Fichet and the charming Nicolas Gachon had come over from Burgundy to present the wines. There were five vintages of Meursault Chevalieres often the most mineral of his lieu dits. The 2004 and 2005 were both in magnum and were drinking fantastically well.
At table 4, Emma Sarjeant was showing the wines from the legendary Domaine Francois Jobard, now run by his son Antoine. Emma was showing three different 2006s – Meursault En La Barre, Meursault 1er Cru Genevrieres and Meursault 1er Cru Poruzots. You can see why this estate has such a name for it self. The wines are hugely complex and have the true characteristics of each of the different vineyards.
Manicomio’s prosciutto is always a highlight of our tastings and they were hard at work as always, fortifying the tasters for the reds to come.
The final table was Nicolas Potel’s and he was showing his wines from his new estate Maison Roche de Bellene. He had 2 whites which were a fabulous 2007 Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Referts and an impressive Corton Charlemagne. He also had four very good reds which were a village Volnay, Volnay 1er Cru Santenots, Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Chaumes and finishing off with a Grand Cru Charmes Chambertin.
After the tasting we took the growers out to dinner at a lovely restaurant around the corner called Manicomio and of course we took a few open bottle with us and the Volnay 1er Santenots was absolutely delicious!