Clos de Tart Vertical Tasting at Wine Watch

"Goin' where the water tastes like wine"
Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad by the Grateful Dead

Sounds like the Wine Watch to me!

There are many Burgundies that I adore but the top Grand Cru wines have a special place in the world of fine wines.  The price on the most sought after wines from Burgundy make it a rare treat to taste wines like Clos de Tart.  This is one of the monopole Grand Cru vineyards, meaning there is only one producer that makes wine from this famous vineyard site.  Like the great; Romanee Conti, la Tache and Clos Du Lambrays, Clos Du Tart has been one of the most sought after wines from Burgundy and has been owned by the same family for almost 100 year and has been recognized as a Grand cru with that name and under auspices of one single owner for almost 1000 years!

Join us as we experience 6 vintages of the Grand Cru Monople Clos De Tart, along with a few of its neighbors from even older vintages. 

Wine Watch Catering's Toni Lampasone will be making a few small courses to accompany the tasting wines.  There are only 12 seats available for this "once in a lifetime" tasting event.  The fee for this event is $ 375 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463.

Clos De Tart Tasting at Wine Watch
Thursday, January 31st
7pm

1978 Dujac Clos St. Denis Grand Cru
Price $700

This legendary vintage is a real treat to taste and although I could not find a score of notes on this wine from any of the major publications, I can tell you that the best 1978's like this Clos St. Denis are still drinking incredibly.  This should be a real treat.

1988 H. Lignier Clos de la Roche Grand Cu
Price: $400

(94 Points)  Having a cellar full of 1988 red Burgundies to serve as a constant reminder of why I do not like this hard, tannic vintage, readers can imagine my surprise when I tasted Lignier's outstanding 1988 Clos de la Roche. While most of its counterparts from the Cote d'Or's top producers are drying out, Lignier's '88 has loads of fruit to cope with its firm, tannic backbone. It reveals mouth-watering cedar, tobacco, candle wax, and blackberry aromas. On the palate, this medium-to-full-bodied wine has superb depth to its black cherry and spice cake-flavored character. While it does have copious quantities of firm tannins, its finish remains long, ripe, and sweet. Anticipated maturity: now-2005.  Wine Advocate #131, Oct 2000

1998 Mommessin Clos de Tart Grand Cru
List Price: $325.00

(93 Points)  Brilliant Pinot. A firm Burgundy that offers much character and a real sense of terroir-driven fruit. Structured and rigorous, with toasted, tarlike smoke and plenty of blackberry and red berry character. Elegant, with a crisp, clean, pure, fruity finish. Best from 2003 through 2010. 1,500 cases made. –PM  Wine Spectator Issue: Oct 15, 2000

2000 Mommessin Clos de Tart Grand Cru
List Price: $330.00

(94 Points) Seductive Burgundy. Racy yet thick, full of ripe fruit and supple tannins, a mouthful of pleasure from start to finish, bursting with blackberries and chocolate notes. Full-bodied, with a soft midpalate and a silky finish. Drink now through 2007. 250 cases imported. –PM  Wine Spectator Issue: Feb 28, 2003

2002 Mommessin Clos de Tart Grand Cru
List Price: $375.00

(93 Points) A big red, round and sappy, exhibiting black cherry, kirsch and sweet spice aromas and flavors. Picks up some chocolate and smoke midpalate, with the richness and exuberant fruit of the vintage. Fine length; needs time to absorb the oak and tannins. Best from 2005 through 2010. 350 cases imported. –BS Wine Spectator Issue: Sep 30, 2004

2003 Mommessin Clos de Tart Grand Cru
List Price: $495.00

(95 Points) Aromas of tar and smoke, with very pure, concentrated blackberry and spice notes underneath mark this exotic, seductive red. Silky and complex, it caresses the palate. It needs a little time to absorb the oak, but this is long and has great potential. Best from 2009 through 2030. 1,250 cases made. –BS Wine Spectator Collectibles, Issue: May 15, 2006, Top 100 Wine, Year: 2006 Rank: 82

2004 Mommessin Clos de Tart Grand Cru
List Price: $325.00

(91 Points) A discreetly oaky overlay frames ripe spicy blackberry, dark cherry and a hint of forest floor aromas that lead to rich, full, sweet, thick and powerful flavors that culminate in a linear and penetrating finish. This is a relatively big and concentrated effort that offers a really attractive sense of underlying tension and energy.  Tasted: Jan 01, 2007 Drink: 2014+ Issue 25

2005 Mommessin Clos de Tart Grand Cru
List Price: $800.00

(94 Points) Sylvain Pithiot and his team – whom I did not have a chance to visit in person – scored an impressive success with this venerable Mommessin monopole. For a Burgundy of over 14% alcohol, the 2005 Clos de Tart exhibits remarkably “cool” aromas of blueberry, greenhouse vegetation and flowers, smoked meats, and sea breeze. Nor does its silken-textured, blue- and black-fruited palate impression, while voluminous, evince any heat. Juicy in fruit, savory, saline, and stony throughout, this wine finishes with a lasting impression of concentrated fresh blueberry and blackberry, along with stony, alkaline minerality and black pepper-dusted smoked duck. Wine Advocate

Menu:

Selection of cheese:  Goat, Epoisses, and St. Andre

Salmon with Ancho Chile BBQ served over bulgar wheat, mint and cranberry salad

Duck Confit with Pinot Noir cherry reduction and goat cheese potato gratin

A bit about Clos De Tart:

When I talk about Burgundy to wine novices who want to delve into one of the most fascinating wine regions on Earth, I always advise them to approach these wines with caution and taste before you buy.  A Forest Gumpism comes to mind: “Burgundy is like a box of chocolates- you never know what you are going to get”.  The best wines from Burgundy have power and elegance, a delectable silky, velvet like texture that leaves your tongue salivating for more, however they are some of the most unpredictable wines you will come across in your wine travels.  One day you taste a wine from Burgundy and it is amazing displaying ripe, delectable fruit, a velvet like feel on the tongue and an array of exotic spice that is unparalleled, and the same wine six months later could be flat, dull and boring.  Burgundy goes through peaks and valleys like no wine that I have ever experienced, but once you taste the greatness that these wines have to offer, it will keep you going back time and time again to achieve that same experience. 

There are many different producers in Burgundy and the wines range from just barely acceptable to outstanding in quality.  You have to taste a lot of wine and read numerous reviews to stay abreast of what is happening in this fickle area.  Even the top vineyard sites have turned out some real nose turners on occasion and if you told me a few years ago that I would be promoting the wines of Mommessin, a producer whom was considered to be on the list under the title of “average quality”, I would have said you were smoking something. 

This estate was established in 1865 at La Grange St. Pierre in the heart of Burgundy in an ancient stone building once belonging to the Abbey of Cluny.  First a distiller, then a winemaker, Jean Marie Mommessin, carefully added prestigious vineyards to his holdings, which now boast some of the top grand cru and premier cru holdings in all of Burgundy, including one of the only Monopole grand crus owned by a single family that exists in Burgundy today, Clos Du Tart in Morey St. Denis.  Today, the fourth generation of the Mommessin family run the estate and has expanded their holdings even further into Beaujolais and the Rhone Valley, still in search of the best terroir available. 

Clos De Tart is in Morey St. Denis, in the central part of the Cote De Nuits.  It spreads over more than 7 hectares and has only one owner.  It has belonged to the Mommessin family since 1932, where it was purchased at auction on a rainy day and as rumor has it the rain prevented many potential buyers from showing up that day and the vineyard was acquired for a fraction of what it should have cost.  At the beginning of the 12th Century Clos De Tart was called La Forge.  It was not until 1141 that the vineyard took the name of Clos De Tart after it was acquired by the Bernardines from the abbey of Notre Dame de Tart.  The wines are vinified and bottled on the estate in the Clos cellars.

The Mommessin family made fair to average wines and built a successful business, but the new generation decided that it was time to unleash the potential of this estate and its crown jewel vineyard Clos De Tart.  So in 1997, the Mommessin family sold its négociant business but kept the vineyard.  Flush with money, the Mommessins built a new, $600,000 winery (completed in 1999), renewed the oak barrels (another $300,000) and made other improvements and the results were immediately apparent as the 1998 Clos de Tart is the best in years.

To make that wine, Sylvain Pitiot, the estate's winemaker and director, made severe selection in the cellar. He deemed that one-quarter of the vats were unfit for the first wine. As a result, the domaine will released 1,500 cases of '98 Clos de Tart and 500 cases of a second wine, La Forge. This practice is quite unusual in Burgundy.