TN: Marchand and Burch Chambertin Clos De Beze 2009 Grand Cru

[Waiters Friend]

G'day

This was the highlight of a French dinner, and paired well with duck a l'orange (not surprisingly). 2009 was a cracker vintage in Burgundy (and the newly released 2019s are looking pretty special so far too). Double decanted about 3 hours before service.

Complex nose with a mix of dark and red cherries - some brightness to the fruit but also signs of early development. There's mushroom and a little earthiness as well, along with a little strawberry and raspberry. There's spice as well (cloves and star anise), and overall, this was a wine you could just nose for ages.

Fortunately, some passed the lips, and the developing red fruits flowed onto the palate, along with a little cocoa. Tannins were well integrated and velvety, and there's just the right amount of supporting acid. I was surprised by the intensity of flavours, and how they meshed and interacted in the mouth, giving the impression of a very complex and powerful wine indeed. Very long finish, and kept evolving in the glass over 90 minutes or so (i.e. until we finished it )

Excellent wine. I wish I had more.

Cheers
Allan

Clos De Beze.jpg

[JamieBahrain]

Double decanting Red Burgundy would upset some. Unless this an accepted process for 09’s? Good for you Allan. Your note reads like it sure benefitted.

[Waiters Friend]

Double decanting Red Burgundy would upset some. Unless this an accepted process for 09’s? Good for you Allan. Your note reads like it sure benefitted.

Hi Jamie. I hadn't considered that double decanting would be frowned upon, and I don't know why that would be. I would have hated to get to the end of the bottle and find it was just opening up.

Cheers
Allan

[Hacker]

Previously I didn’t decant Burgundies but more recently I have started to do so based on a couple of bottles whereby the last glass was by far the best. I’m talking about some Robert Chevillon 1er’s from 2005 to 2010. It is not an exact science however.

[JamieBahrain]

Mixing with Burgundy tragics abroad, decanting mostly a no-no. I was never particularly enamoured with Red Burgundy so I never followed up on debating the issue.

Nebbiolo has a more divided set of views. The US I’ve noted are often big fans of heavily aerating Barolo. The Europeans and certainly the Piedmontese less so. Blind trialling decanting Barolo the results interesting even amongst the anti-aerators. Inside of 15 years Barolo and Barbaresco has significantly more appreciation when decanting for two hours minimum.

I’m pretty open minded in the subject. Rules are for fools ….

[felixp21]

anything younger than 10 years from both red and white Burgundy should definitely be decanted, the difference is always dramatic. This is particularly important for the whites IMO.

Personally, I don't ever decant Burgundies older than 20 years, but always open the bottle and let it sit for 6-8 hours.

I am not a fan of Marchand and Burch, but it certainly sounds like you got a beauty there!!
PS Many of the 2009's have shut down hard, even at village level!! Go figure!!

[brodie]

anything younger than 10 years from both red and white Burgundy should definitely be decanted, the difference is always dramatic. This is particularly important for the whites IMO.

Personally, I don't ever decant Burgundies older than 20 years, but always open the bottle and let it sit for 6-8 hours.

I am not a fan of Marchand and Burch, but it certainly sounds like you got a beauty there!!
PS Many of the 2009's have shut down hard, even at village level!! Go figure!!

Felix, two questions. First what do you do for bottles between 10 and 20 years old?

Secondly for the older (20+) wines is your approach kind like Audouze method (Pull the cork and leave the wine alone until drinking)?

Thnx

[Mahmoud Ali]

One can choose to air the wine in bottle or in decanter but clearly the decanter hastens the aeration. What definitively makes me chose to decant is when I see sediment in the bottle. I just had a simple Burgundy the other day. It was 15 years old but had no sediment so I chose not to decant.