Charles van Canneyt said that he harvest the white (yes, the first Domaine white to be made) on 31 August and began the reds on 7 September. He characterized the yields as “correct" and even “generous" where the vines had been affected by frost in 2016.
There was no whole cluster fermentation. Malic acidities were not real low and malo-lactic fermentations were late.
2017 Meursault Clos des Écoles
This wine is from vines purchased by an investor for exploitation by the domaine. The vines are about fifty years-old. The nose shows classic Meursault minerality and butter. The mouth displays depth, balance and purity with medium-weight and some peach to go with the butter flavors. 91/A
Switching now to the reds:
2017 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Medium-light in weight with red fruits, rust, and some peach, along with sufficient acidity to hold it all together, this wine is a good example of enjoyable, early-drinking wines from lesser appellations that conscientious producers could make in 2017. 87/A-
2017 Chambolle-Musigny
The village Chambolle is light, pure, and lively with fresh red fruits. There may not be a lot of complexity here, but this is a happy wine. (87-90)
2017 Vosne-Romanée
The village Vosne has dark fruits, licorice, and spice, with more weight than the Chambolle, and good concentration. In every way, this is a more serious wine than the Chambolle. (90-92)
2017 Nuits-Saint-Georges Bas de Combe
From a vineyard just below Boudots and bounded on two sides by Vosne-Romanée, this wine is typical of the excellent quality of northern Nuits vineyards. The wine is dense and spicy in the nose. The mouth is concentrated with dense and spicy red fruits and it shows length and good structure. (90-93)
2017 Vougeot 1er Cru Petits Vougeot
This wine is smooth and lighter and less dense than the Nuits. There’s good length here, but the wine hadn’t fully come together when I tasted it. (87-90)
2017 Chambolle-Musingy 1er Cru Les Charmes
The Chambolle-Charmes has mineral dark fruits with good freshness, weight, and length. The wine is precise with some power, but still also finesse. (91-94)
2017 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Murgers
Hudelot-Noëllat’s Nuits-Murgers is deep, pure, spicy, concentrated, long, precise, and fresh. It is one of the estate’s most consistently underrated wines. (92-94)
2017 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaumonts
The Vosne-Beaumonts has dark fruits and minerality. The wine is not quite as concentrated as the Murgers and in fact seemed rather closed on the day I tasted it. But it shows the Beaumonts terroir very well. (92-95)
2017 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots
The Vosne-Suchots displays the Suchots truffliness in its nose. The mouth is pure with great precision to its dense, mineral, and fresh dark fruits. It is outstanding and maybe even more. (93-96)
2017 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Malconsorts
I saw three barrels (900 bottles) of Hudelot-Noëllat’s Vosne-Malconsorts when I visited. The wine should be great, only a little bit behind the Romanée-St-Vivant and Richebourg. The nose and mouth are stony and truffly with great energy, freshness, and definition. The tannins are ripe and round. (95-97)
2017 Clos-de-Vougeot
This wine shows good acidity and freshness to its dark fruits. There’s Clos-de-Vougeot power here, too, but the wine needs time to develop more precision. If the wine does eventually so develop, I may have underrated it here. (92-95)
2017 Romanée-Saint-Vivant
Here we have a smooth texture, purity, length, precision, density, and spice — great Romanée-Saint-Vivant only needing time to develop in bottle. (96-98)
2017 Richebourg
It’s always fascinating to compare the Richebourg and the RSV here (and in the couple of other cellars where it’s possible to do so). This year, I had a very slight preference for the great Richebourg. The RSV has more weight than this wine. Nevertheless, the Richebourg is long, smooth, and pure with dark plum fruit; it is a wine that favors finesse over power. (96-99)