Bill Nanson:
Tasted in Meursault with Patrick Essa, 08 March, 2017.
Domaine Buisson-Charles
3 Rue de la Velle
21190 Meursault
Tel: +33 3 80 21 22 32
domaine.buisson.charles.over-blog
Patrick on 2015:
“Really excellent. It was a super harvest and I hope with great wines to follow. For harvesting it’s not a question of acidity; the first people started 23rd August, others the 5th or 6th of September – such a gap is really rare. I think there should be great wines for the patient. Here we began harvesting our reds on the 5th, and our whites on 6th – we finished on the 13th. Despite even (in the end) 13.2° for our Bourgogne Rouge, I had very regular fermentations.”
Patrick on his 2016 yields:
“Because of frost, we had between 30% and zero in our villages plots – though our Meursault in Pellans wasn’t touched – I also decided that some Pommard should be declassified into the Bourgogne. A further 6 barrels of Meursault came from a second harvest in October from later ripening, tiny grapes – and it’s really quite tasty and also quite Meursault – it seems more mineral if less balanced today – I might declassify but will wait and see. On the other hand, some 1er Crus in Meursault or on the hillsides delivered perfectly normal yields – for instance Tessons, normally yields 7 barrels and we had 6. Gouttes d’Or was the most affected by the frost here. Our work and yields are exactly the same as the 1ers as in the Bourgogne – so it’s an expensive Bourgogne at 18 euros, but it sells easily. We are ‘Bio‘ not biodynamic. I made one contact treatment in 2016, and in fact made ‘only‘ 10 treatments, seeing just a little oïdium in Tessons. So-far, I prefer 2015, but 2016 is a super vintage.”
The wines…
First a tour through some 2016s – but no notes as there was a mix of mid- and no-malo wines – then the 2015s. We did discuss Patrick’s Aligoté which is usually at the very highest end of the quality-scale for this cepage – “The density of planting is 16,000 per hectare, and I’m now pruning Guyot-Poussard and training a little higher. I’ve been pruning like this for the last two years and see good aeration and less maladies, but okay, it’s still a little early to judge…”
A brilliant selection here – bravo! Proving that there is no one truth in when to harvest – even in a hot and dry vintage.
2015 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Half each from the communes of Meursault and Puligny – a mid-September harvest.
Ooh, a big nose, floral and fresh. A richness pf texture, but also fresh and layered flavour – a great Bourgogne! Long finishing.
2015 Meursault Vieilles-Vignes
Some vines in Pellans here are from 1945.
A tighter base of aroma. Finer, more mineral, more mouth-watering. Beautiful wine, saline and beautiful. Bravo!
2015 Meursault Cuvée 45
Only 3-4 year old barrels used here.
A modest nose, mineral. Oof – more richness of texture but fully energetic, layered and beautiful. Great Meursault…a finish to die for – so über-long!
2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er En Remilly
From the upper section of the vineyard.
A bigger, more open nose. Intense, long fresh fruit, fine line. Super complexity in the finish. Bravo again!
2015 Meursault 1er Les Charmes
Deep, vibrant nose. Wide, fresh, mineral the antithesis of rich, just in the finish the width and complexity of some oak, but only there. Great wine!
2015 Meursault 1er Bouches-Chères
A deeper register, faints spice. Ooh – again! What a mineral width, fine bubbling energy, wide, wide, wide – oh, and long! Layers in the finish even minutes later.
2015 Meursault 1er Cras
A nose of apricot and freshness. Ooh, this has layers of melting flavour, more over intensity, more line and wow flavour! It’s hard, but this could be my new favourite!
2015 Chablis 1er Les Lys
Beautiful direct, perfumed aroma. Direct, but the intensity melts over the tongue with complexity. A little extra finishing width, perhaps caramel too. But long, long. Super stuff!
2015 Corton-Charlemagne
Made from Aloxe fruit in Charlemagne. Direct south-facing, close to the cross.
Wide not super-overt aromas, but interesting. Ooh this is intense, this could be Chablis mineral, almost metallic. Long. Less wide in the finish than many, but really special, and no less long. Bravo!
2015 Chablis Vaudesir
Pyrazine and menthol on the nose. Wide, silken, energetic, intense – ooh – bravo! Wide and long in the finish.
The reds…
2015 Bourgogne Rouge
From two vines; one Meursault Coutures, and the other Puligny Champans – 50% whole cluster. ‘I like ‘supple’ but I won’t go down the route of making an easy-drinking wine that’s dead in 10 years – this includes the press wine too.’.
Ooh, wow, round supple fresh and complex. Big volume, layers of flavour. Fresh, and really tasty, big in the finish too – delicious and not a hint facile. Bravo Bourgogne!
2015 Volnay 1er Les Santenots
The fruit from 70 year-old vines. All whole cluster. All new oak
Narrower and more floral aromas when opened. Wide, plenty of fresh texture, a base, but not intrusive, of tannin. Oak in the finish – an open-ended finish…
