We met at Golden Palace again. This time a very small group of five, with Andy, Alan and wife, James and myself. The theme? J.F. Mugnier. What were featured were 2000 Les Fuees, Les Amoureuses, Le Musigny plus 2001 Les Fuees and a 2002 Chambolle-Musigny AC. Alan also generously donated a bottle of Mugnier's Musigny 1992. Small group, big appetite!
The Fuees 2000 bottle sported a telltale candied raspberries nose. It entered very sweet, quite velvety, plush in the mouth yet has a touch of firmness which highlighted the lurking minerality. This was utterly delicious, and in spite of the bright and latent minerality this had the cosiness and caramel-infused fruits of a true Chambolle -- in a softer year. Very sappy. Interestingly I actually thought this was a 2001 Fuees...
The Fuees 2001 hit the nose with oily and minerally nose that far exceeded the portion of the preceding wine. This was somewhat more black fruited but there's still these raspberries taste that so typifies all Chambolle. This is more profound and larger sized than the 2000 but also came across as more simple and compact, lacking in midpalate. Very different from the most recent bottle I had at Oso just two weeks back or so (no pun intended). There's some mocha detected too. If Fuees is a mini-Bonnes-Mares, this certainly came closest to that theory.
The next bottle again jumped in the nose with candied, sappy raspberries. Also oily, but to a lesser extent than the previous one, this came across as very linear and held its own in the midpalate too. For a villages Chambolle this was quite a killer. Very impressive, and a proof that Mugnier did exceedingly well in this vintage. Chambolle-Musigny 2002.
Moving up the price level now we're hitting on the Amoureuses 2000. A more regal nose, but with a mixture of black and red raspberries as well as dark cherries and a certain hint of minerality. This had a more classy nose than the preceding three wines and although I'd have preferred a brighter red fruits spectrum, there's no doubting this was both more concentrated and had more breeding. Still quite backward and a deep buried creamy fruits could be found. Still this is still short of a grand cru in terms of volume and overall mouthfeel and finish.
At this point we revisited the Musigny 1992. While initially there was some graininess and skinniness to the wines which I could attribute to the use of stems, this blew off to give a spicier, dustier, lower-toned Musigny palate profile. The sweetness picked up tremendously and the wine turned more juicy as it aerated. While the stemmy edginess was still there (and some dustiness as a result), this was turning out well and for sure the best bottle I've had to-date. Quite savoury and delicious, if not quite as cleansing on the palate.
The 2000 Musigny sang a different tune. While I always mused that 1992 is like 2000 vintage (from taste alone), the fact that Mugnier moved toward destemming made these wines completely different from each other. This was a larger sized Chambolle with definitive grand cru volume (which the Amoureuses lacked) and class. The tannins were fine and plush but the deep fruits were still brooding. There's a sense of effortlessness in this wine that reeks of class and nothing but class, and finished irreproachably cool.
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