Gevrey Chambertin Burgundy Wine Tasting 2004
The Whites of the Tasting

The two whites being tasted were both from Maison Henri Boillot, the son of Jean Boillot. The property is 22-23 acres in size. Henri loves the 2002 vintage, and apparently said "this is quite possibly the best vintage we have ever made."

2002 Chassagne Montrachet $54
This light white had a medium bottle, apply and mineral flavors and a nice, gentle finish. Very smooth with a hint of tartness citrussness on the long finish. We were told that this wine actually contained up to a third of the higher end wine in its blend.

2002 Meursault "Poruzots" $82
This was more acidic than the first, with more of a bouquet as well. A long finish with a hint of citrus tartness, with a creamy body. One person found a hint of gasoline in this flavor.

Carole discussed the winemaking techniques that Henri uses. They use large 350 liter barrels, vs the traditional 228 liter casks, in order to minimize the oak flavors added to the wine. Henri was the first winemaker in the region to do this, and now several others have followed in his footsteps. 20% of the wines are done in these large new oak barrels, with the other 80% done in 1-2 year old smaller 128 liter barrels.

Our table's serving

Unfortunately there were two problems with this portion of the dinner. First, our table was skipped on the pouring of the Chassagne. We had to ask to get our pouring when they were going around pouring the reds, and then drink it quickly to catch up.

Second, the food pairing here (after our cheese plate) was a spicy chicken dumpling with "sweet" ponzu sauce. The dumpling was dry and doughy - and the ponzu sauce was super spicy! Even the smallest taste of it was enough to set your tongue burning. We had had the *exact* same problem with the last dinner here and were forewarned so we only tasted a small bit of the sauce. Sure enough, it was enough to ruin our ability to taste the wine. Drinking a lot of water seemed to help out.

Main Burgundy Tasting Page
Maison Henri Boillet notes
Domaine Christian Serafin notes
Domaine Claude Dugat notes
Max's Restaurant for Dessert

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