Burgundy dinner 19 July 2025

[Waiters Friend]

G’day

I was lucky enough to be invited to dinner at Lulu’s Little Bistro by a friend who is a Burgundy fanatic. My friend is very knowledgeable on most things Burgundian, and has visited and tasted there on a few occasions. More importantly, he was keen to share a few bottles with like-minded people and good food, and the French-inspired menu at Lulu’s definitely fitted the bill.

We kicked off with three whites with entree:

2014 Domaine A. & P. de Villaine Bouzeron (Aligoté): Aligoté usually is seen as Chardonnay’s poor cousin. This wine showed how Aligoté can impress. A saline nose, with light peach and honeysuckle. The palate is as much about texture (chalky, waxy, s it is about flavour (more peaches, lemon). The wine shows minerality and some fresh herbs. Reasonable length.

2020 Domaine Francois Raveneau Chablis: A pronounced nose with grapefruit, lemon and brine. The palate shows oyster shell, salinity, a mineral character and honeysuckle, with good supporting acid. The finish is very long and the wine spreads out on the back palate.

2016 Bouchard Pere & Fils Meursault Les Perrieres 1er Cru: Struck match opens the nose, followed by ripe peach, nectarine, spearmint and cedary oak. The palate has prominent acid, more nectarines, and there’s a textural (oak derived) mouthfeel/grip. The wine has considerable length.

We then moved onto reds with the main courses.

2010 Domaine A.F. Gros Vosne-Romanee Maizieres: Ripe (and surprisingly fresh) red cherries on the nose, with some bacon fat and charcuterie. The palate is quite fruit forward (for a 15-year-old wine). There’s some forest floor, with some fine tannins providing modest grip. Supportive acid, and a linear finish.

2012 Domaine Daniel Rion & Fils Les Beaux Monts 1er Cru: A more savoury nose, with developed cherries, forest floor and some earthiness. The palate is more complex, with cherries, cola and five-spice, and some pepper on the back palate. Fine and slightly prickly tannins, and a long finish.

2015 Domaine Confuron-Cotetidot Les Suchots 1er Cru: Developed red and dark cherries and plums on the nose, with fountain pen ink (this descriptor was debated briefly) and some barnyard. The palate is a little rustic, and has a syrupy texture, with powdery tannins. One taster opted for “wood fired marshmallow char”.

2015 Domaine Henri Gouges Les Saint-Georges 1er Cru: Red and dark cherries and five spice on the nose. More five spice on the palate, with fine grippy tannins, prominent acid, and a medium-long finish. These notes might seem slim, but I suspect it is because the wine was overshadowed by the next two.

2015 Bouchard Pere & Fils Le Corton Grand Cru: A full and perfumed nose, with cherries and fragrant five spice. The palate is full flavoured but also restrained / delicate, with soft acid, fine and hardly noticeable tannins contributing to that delicacy. The wine fills out nicely on the back palate and finishes long.

2013 Domaine Faiveley Chambertin Clos de Beze Grand Cru: A highly perfumed nose, with rose petal joining the cherries and five spice. The palate is soft, but intense, with a velvety texture, and everything in balance. Long finish, and again I find that these notes are too slim.
Faulty.

2020 Daniel Bouland Morgon Bellevue 'Sable' (Magnum): This was intended to be the closing wine of the night. Dark and red berries on the nose, more dark fruits on the palate along with some tar or bitumen.

It’s common for the host to hold back a couple of ‘back-up’ wines in the event that one of the intended bottles is corked or faulty (none were). It’s also common for the host to decide that we should open these as well, so ……

2022 Domaine Michel Rebourgeron Les Chouacheux 1er Cru: A perfumed and slightly stalky nose, with dark cherries, strawberry and some spice. The stalkiness persisted through the palate, which also showed cherry and mushroom. Fine tannins and noticeable acid, leading to a moderate finish.

2019 Domaine Leflaive Macon Verze Les Chenes: Struck match on the nose, with ripe peaches and tropical fruits (especially tinned pineapple), cedary oak and cashew. The palate has more tinned or glace pineapple and peaches. Cleansing acid, and sufficient oak for texture. Medium length and a very good wine for the appellation.

White wine of the night was the 2016 Bouchard Pere & Fils Meusault Les Perrieres 1er Cru, while the wine of the night overall was the 2013 Domaine Faiveley Chambertin Clos de Beze Grand Cru.

The wines ranged from very good to sublime and I hope these notes have done them some justice. I especially felt the notes for the Grand Cru wines were lacking, as the components blended together so well that they became harder to describe. I was also surprised that both wines showed very little mushroom, forest floor or other similar characters.

My thanks as usual to Mark, Jodie and the team at Lulu’s Little Bistro, and especially to my host for the evening. I hope we do it again soon.

Cheers
Allan

[felixp21]

Faiveley's Beze just might be the most under-rated GC in all of Burgundy. Label drinkers won't touch it, which can only be a great thing, but when shown blind, it is almost always the number one or two in any Beze line-up.

[WAwineguy]

Faiveley's Beze just might be the most under-rated GC in all of Burgundy. Label drinkers won't touch it, which can only be a great thing, but when shown blind, it is almost always the number one or two in any Beze line-up.

Yes I've got some 2014 and it's fabulous, though still young.