2010 Blanc Beaune Clos des Mouches 1er Cru

Drouhin’s white Beaune Premier Cru is a classic example of its precise, soil-driven white Burgundies.

Joseph Drouhin’s Beaune Clos des Mouches Blanc is an oxymoron of a Burgundy: an insider’s wine that’s normally made in generous quantities. While some wine oenophiles may turn up their noses at the very idea of white wine from Beaune—not to mention the appellation in particular, as it possesses no Grand Crus, red or white—this Premier Cru is way more interesting, and serious, than it has any right to be. Long-time fans of Drouhin’s pure, elegantly styled white wines are well aware their Clos des Mouches blanc is an outperformer, and a chameleon that can mimic wines from Grand Cru sites on the Côte de Beaune. Time and again, in my tastings of new vintages chez Drouhin, the Clos des Mouches Blanc has taxed my lexicon of descriptors—and that’s a good thing.

The overwhelming majority of the vintages I tasted at Drouhin were in superb condition, and bottles from 1996 and 1995—the first two vintages in which premature oxidation was a serious problem with white Burgundies—were vibrant and youthful. Two older vintages, 1992 and 1979, were in fine form 26 and 39 years after the harvest. Both of these wines were made from generous crop levels—49 and 55 hectoliters per hectare, respectively—and feature moderate acidity, but clearly possess one crucial key to longevity: balance. Perhaps most important, the three youngest vintages I tried—2016, 2015 and 2014—were especially complex and mineral-driven, suggesting that the current team of Drouhins (and Faure-Brac) is a well-oiled machine.

According to winemaker Jerome Faure-Brac, the 2011 whites were radically different after the malolactic fermentations.Even though he did not stir the lees, he said, the wines showed more body and harmony following the malos and revealed much more character.Acidity levels are now generally in the healthy 4.2 to 4.3 grams-per-liter range, added Faure-Brac, although the Meursaults are more like 3.85 to 3.9.Due to coulure in Meursault, Drouhin's yields in this village are barely higher than those of the previous year.Faure-Brac compared 2011 to 2007, "but the new vintage has more body and is more harmonious."Drouhin's 2010s have turned out splendidly but I have omitted notes on the final three wines because they were still in tank at the time of my visit.The Corton-Charlemagne and Batard-Montrachet were about as strong as I suggested they would be in Issue 158, while the hugely rich, structured Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche, which remained on its lees until last December, had gained in complexity and harmoniousness while losing some of its more exotic aspects and appears to offer 94-96 potential.

This is a striking set of wines from Drouhin. Veronique Drouhin describes 2010 as a year with cool temperatures in July and August, but much better weather in September. As is the case throughout the region, I found the Pulignys especially ripe and exotic. I also tasted a range of the 2011s. Drouhin told me she thought the wines would need a little extra time in barrel to give them more body and volume.

In both Chablis and the Cote d'Or, the summer of 2010 was not hot, said Philippe Drouhin, and the plants did not lose their acidity. "We had a high percentage of malic acidity, similar to 2008, but the overall acid level was a bit lower in 2010. We started picking in Puligny-Montrachet several days after the rains on September 12. Those who did not spray late enough risked getting leaf damage, which would have led to slow, incomplete ripening," Drouhin added. "There's a botrytis element in some wines that gives an impression of ripeness even when it's not really there." A few of the 2010s I tasted at Drouhin at the beginning of June were just at the end of their malolactic fermentations.