2006 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.

"The 2006s tasted shockingly good just after the harvest and have been pleasant ever since then," said Philippe Drouhin, who made reference to "the powerful noses" of these wines. The Drouhin team spread the harvest over a wide period in a search for ideal ripeness-for example, picking various sections of their Beaune Clos des Mouches over 11 days (beginning here extremely early, on September 13) and their Montrachet over 8, finishing only on September 26. While rot was not a problem, according to Drouhin, much of the fruit was in surmaturite. The team did a very soft pressing to get the cleanest possible juice, then carried out a fining at the debourbage for the lots most affected by surmaturite. "There was a lot of stuffing in 2006 but also a lot of oxidizable material, and the fining made a big difference," explained Drouhin, who added that virtually no batonnage was done.