At New Orleans Tasting, Everyone Raised a Glass to Vintage Burgundies

It was one of the greatest wine events ever staged.

Two weeks ago, 20 wine connoisseurs experienced one of the greatest Burgundy tastings ever staged in this country.

They learned two things: Some of the best wines of the past may have been tinkered with, making a wine that was technically illegal but nevertheless superb. And there is some evidence that red Burgundy may be, slowly, making a comeback to former glory.

Tasting great Burgundy that has been properly aged, bottles that have attained that sublime richness nearly impossible to describe, is a rare treat. It is possible only for those who had the foresight to stash away some of the great wines while they were still being made and sold for reasonable prices. And in the view of many collectors, that was a long time ago. Today, prices for such old bottles are so high that buying them is unthinkable.

In theory, it’s possible to buy young wines and age them yourself. Burgundies from the 1985, 1988 and 1989 vintages have gained great accolades. But after tasting the wines in New Orleans, I’d say that given the high prices and negative comments about some of the current vintages, even that is pretty dicey.

Moreover, praise for the recent vintages is looked on with great skepticism by people like Lloyd Flatt and Dr. Marvin Overton, two people with an abiding passion for great Burgundy who helped stage the April 21 event here.

Thirty-five older red Burgundies, ranging from the 1942 through the 1959 vintages, were served. The wines showed precisely why well-made old red Burgundy can be the greatest experience any wine lover could imagine.

After the first few wines had been served, Overton, a Fort Worth, Tex., neurosurgeon, said, “What you want all your young Burgundies to smell and taste like are these front wines. There is a kinship between these wines and very young wines, because you see the fruit that was here when the wine was young.”

He said the humidor / tobacco, leather, charred rubber and cherry / beet aromas we saw in some of the wines were elements never seen when the wines were young. “It takes 20, 30 years to get these characteristics.”

He and Flatt, an aerospace engineer, both said today’s red Burgundies simply don’t match up to the wines of the past. Flatt said, “I don’t feel the quality of the wine making today is the same as it was in the 1940s and 1950s.”

The two collectors spoke candidly about Burgundy’s problems over the decades. World War II was not kind to Burgundy, they said; the war was literally fought in the vineyards and the vines took a devastating toll. When the war ended, major replanting was necessary.

“But the growers listened to the university people, who told them what to plant, and they planted the wrong clones,” said Overton. He pointed out that instead of planting the older clone of Pinot Noir, one that trailed along the ground, they opted for one that grew upward, leaving a nice clear path in the vineyard for tractors.

In addition to making for easier tilling of the soil, the so-called Pinot Droit clone produced a larger crop.

The Pinot Droit clone was indicted by Anthony Hanson in his 1982 book “Burgundy” as leading to thinner, less concentrated wine: “Some brokers and merchants believe that even in careful hands, Pinot Droits give inferior quality; that the generally big grapes produce wines lacking in character and short in life span.”

Moreover, in years past, worldwide demand for Burgundy was modest, and small production was not a concern. But as demand rose to its current frantic peak, prices jumped and there was great incentive for growers to make more and more wine from the same soil. It’s simply not possible to produce more wine from the same acreage while simultaneously maintaining its depth and concentration.

Also, both men said some older wines may have been made illegally, but that the results nearly always were superb.

A few of the wines we tasted had a faint Port-like or brandy-like element to either the aroma or taste. Overton and Flatt pointed out that it was not unknown for some wines to have a dollop of brandy or port added before bottling to “fortify it for the long trip” (the aging cellar).

The famed Dr. Barolet wines, collected in the cask by a merchant over many decades, are a case in point. (In the past some wine was shipped to England or Amsterdam in cask and bottled by a merchant, and the merchant could make such additions after tasting the wine. Such a task was usually left to a master blender, and it was considered a high art.)

“Dr. (Arthur) Barolet was a colorful character who spent a lot of time accumulating some great old wines, and in the 1970s I bought a considerable amount of Dr. Barolets at auctions,” said Flatt. “And I have tasted all of them many times and I question whether they’ve been played with, doctored” with the addition of port or brandy. “I’ve heard that even DRC (the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti) had added a little brandy now and then. But even if they do doctor them, well, who cares? The wines are great.”

The New Orleans event ended with wines from the 1959 vintage, which Flatt said was “the last classic heavyweight vintage of Burgundy.” Some of the tasters questioned that, and Overton said, “Well, you still can find a few great wines in the 1960s, but after 1969 you can forget it.”

Overton and Flatt said that a number of Burgundy houses began in the mid 1970s to replant vineyards with the better clones of Pinot Noir, which may account for a measure of the better quality of the more recent vintages.

Dave Gladden, who staged this event for Martin Wine Cellars, noted that a number of Burgundy producers have made strides to create classic wines again, including Pierre Bouree, Domaine Dujac and “one we’ve been happy with, Jean Gros. The intensity of his wines is very exciting.”

Another exciting element of this event was a tasting of the last 11 vintages of Salon Champagne. Salon is made only in great vintages--in the last 60 years only 20 vintages have been made--and these dated to 1948. The older Salon Champagnes showed well, especially the amazing 1976 and 1979, and the astounding 1969 and 1964. The intensity of the fruit of these all-Chardonnay sparkling wines was heady, the tastes rich and layered with complexity.

“I guess this answers those folks who say Champagne doesn’t age well,” said Overton.

Overton said the elegant 1982 Salon, the current release, followed in the footsteps of prior vintages and needed another few years to become as great as its older cousins.

Moreover, when a couple of the Salons had lost all their bubbles, the wine that remained was marvelous. (I asked myself, “Who needs bubbles if the wine underneath is this well made?”)

The best red wine of the tasting? There was no consensus in the room, although everyone felt the 1945 Corton Renardes from Doudet-Naudin was amazingly fresh and round with intense fruit, but I also gave perfect scores to two 1959s and a 1953.

The amazing thing was that every wine was superb, nothing was considered a clunker or an “off bottle.”

Summing it up, well past midnight, Overton said, “If you study Claret (Bordeaux) and study Burgundy, you realize you have to open a lot more Burgundy to do a function like this.”

Flatt agreed: “It’s harder to do a tasting like this than any Bordeaux event,” because of the scarcity of such great wines.

Wine of the Week

1988 Hanna Sauvignon Blanc ($8.75)-- Wonderful spicy lemon-grass and melon aromas with a trace of fresh figs and vanilla make this wine a most complex offering. The entry is almost sweet, and the richness on the palate--due to 13.5% alcohol and oak aging--complete the package. Hanna has made some excellent Sauvignon Blancs and this may be the best yet.