Wine: 2004 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
Region: Bordeaux
Sokolin Price: $125/btl
Rating: 94 PR

Wine: 2008 Henri Boillot Puligny Montrachet Clos Mouchere
Region: Burgundy
Sokolin Price: $79.99/btl
Rating: 94 BH

Summer = white wine season, and a few days ago at a restaurant, we opened up two very special bottles of white wine with a few employees - one a Bordeaux blanc & the other a white Burgundy. What a treat these two bottles were! The Bordeaux blanc was a 94 point (RP) bottle of 2004 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc, and the white Burgundy was also a 94 point (BH) bottle of 2006 Henri Boillot Chassagne Montrachet Clos Mouchere. It's not every day that you get to experience wines of this caliber.

Both of these wines were stellar! It's interesting and fun to evaluate how totally different the two were, which we expected since they are not only from different regions and different vintages, but they are also made from completely different grape varietals. The Bordeaux Blanc is predominantly made of sauvignon blanc with semillon making up a minority of the blend (a typical combo for a Bordeaux Blanc), and the white Burgundy is made of 100% chardonnay.

In everyone's opinion, the white Burgundy outdid the Bordeaux blanc, although both were beautiful wines. The 2004 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc had wet stone and flint on the nose, with a subtle creamy texture, and a very noticeable crisp acidity to it at the same time, definitely attributable to the dominant sauvignon blanc portion of the grape blend.

The 2006 Henri Boillot Chassagne Montrachet Clos Mouchere was round, supple, smooth, creamy and velvety, and had more grip than the Bordeaux blanc with its medium-full bodied mouth feel. Its finish was also lengthier and seemed slightly more balanced than the Bordeaux blanc. It continued to pick up weight as the night went on.

While we don't have any of the '06 Chassagne Montrachet in stock, we do have the '08 Puligny Montrachet in stock. And if you've seen any of our recent email offers, you know that 2008 white Burgundy is all the rage right now. There was a recent article published in the New York Times, "The Pour" (by Eric Asimov), praising the 2008 white Burgundy vintage across the board. "Best of all, even as the 2009s come onto market, the '08s are still widely available and are often good values?" (Eric Asimov)

The 2008 Puligny Montrachet Clos Mouchere is Henri Boillot's special cuvee that is one of those wines that represents good value for a white Burgundy. It is a top notch wine that defines greatness and is priced under $80! You can expect quite the finish on this wine!

Recommendation: Pick up some Bordeaux blanc and white Burgundy today, invite some friends over, do something different, and have a fun night of wine comparison this summer!