Blair Pethel, an American with passion for Burgundy, began producing wine with the 2004 vintage, and in spring 2019 he announced that he had sold his domaine. I’ve found the wines to be consistently excellent and wish Blair the best for whatever he goes on to. I’ll miss the visits with Blair and his interpretations of future vintages.
Harvesting began on 2 September. As usual, all grapes were destemmed. Malo-lactic fermentations went quickly.
2017 Bourgogne Pinot Noir Les Grandes Terres
From a plot near Volnay, this wine has mineral, pure, crisp strawberry fruit in a medium-light body. (88-90)
2017 Chorey-les-Beaune Les Maladorerottes
The Chorey is mineral with a little more finesse to go with its strawberry fruit. The wine has good length. (87-89)
2017 Savigny-les-Beaune
Dublère’s village Savigny is perfumed and floral with strawberry fruit in both nose and mouth. There’s just a touch of jam to the quality of the strawberry fruit. (88-90)
2017 Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Les Talmettes
The Savigny-Talmettes is more mineral and tighter than the village Savigny. This is a wine to hold a few years and then follow its evolution of more. It features mineral, intense strawberry fruit with good concentration. (89-91)
2017 Beaune 1er Cru Les Blanches Fleurs
The Beaune-Blanches Fleurs is enjoyable for its finesse and pure, mineral strawberry fruit. There’s some structure here, too. (89-91)
2017 Volnay 1er Cru Pitures
Dublère’s Volnay-Pitures is perfumed in the nose with red cherries. The fruit carries in the mouth and the wine is medium-weight and long. (90-93)
2017 Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds
The Volnay-Taillepieds has red cherry fruit, minerality, good tannins, and it is round, but there is also underlying structure here, as one expects of Taillepieds. (91-93)
2017 Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Les Blanchards
The Morey-Blanchards has red currant aromas. The mouth features crystalline red currant fruit and is medium-light with good acidic lift. It is an excellent expression of its terroir. (91-93)
2017 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Bousselots
The Nuits-Bousselots has red fruits with good energy. At this tasting, the wine is less open than the Morey-Blanchards, although showing more body, as one would expect. (90-93)