A Tale of Two Burgundies

I opened these two Burgundies back-to-back to compare and contrast them. Both are from the Cote de Beaune, but different villages and vintages. Here are the notes...

2004 Louis Jadot Pernand-Vergelesses 1erCru En Caradeux "Clos de la Croix de Pierre" (Côte de Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru)
It had been a while since I had an 2004 Burgundy, so I popped this to see what was going on. Very elegant aromas, much more so than I was expecting. Red cherry and plum fruit, backed up by underbrush and wet leaves. A smell of beef broth and soy sauce lingers on the end of the nose. With a few hours in the decanter, the fruit aromas really began to come out, and there’s this cool raspberry and almost a cola aroma that I love.

Tangy cranberry and red plum fruit on the palate. Medium+ acid, but not austere. Lots of savory broth flavor to this, along with some pepper and tobacco and a streak of minerals. This isn't green or stemmy like a lot of 2004s. Dusty tannins provide significant structure to the wine. For my palate, this wine is in a great place right now. It is quite expressive at this point, showing some lovely secondary characteristics. Considering I got this on closeout for like $20, I wish I would’ve bought more.

90 points IJB


2005 Roblet-MannotAuxey-Durresse "Le Val" (Côte de Beaune, Auxey-Duresses)
This wine is drinking very well right now, and despite the age worthiness of the 2005 vintage, I think this should probably be consumed in the short term. This wine is uncharacteristically meaty and savory, like a lighter version of a Northern Rhone syrah.

Nice cherry auburn color. Savory aromas of beef broth, venison and peppercorn, like some sort of slow cooker stew with cranberries thrown in. Really unique aromas, which I remembered from the last time I had this wine in 2010. Smooth tannins, high acid and lots of tangy, gritty cranberry and sour cherry fruit. There’s a really funky flavor too, like goat meat and pickle juice. The pickle flavor is a lot more pronounced now than it was in October 2010. I’d say drink ‘em if you got ‘em. Not your average 2005 Burgundy, but good in its own way.

87 points IJB