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Bourgogne Party by Vova Ulianov

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Boris Buliga

A small and humble party dedicated to Bourgogne wines. Forget Aragorn, Vova is our new king.


Some people want to see the world a better place. I didn't watch the Ocean's Twelve movie. But I guess they depicted something similar to what happened this Friday. Twelve people, eight magnificent bottles from Burgundy and only 90 minutes to taste them blindly, rate and attempt to guess. A bit stressful in a therapeutic way. Vova Ulianov knows how to finish this daunting week. And he sets a high bar when it comes to wine tasting events. Bravo.

Any rules? All bottles are served blind, and no one except the waiter knows the order. All wines are revealed at the end. The list of wines is known upfront. What? You say it's easy? Believe it or not, only 25% of participants guessed at least half of the bottles.

Anyway, here is the list of wines in the order they were served.

  1. Philippe Pacalet Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Chaumes 2016
  2. Chandon de Briailles Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Les Vergelesses 2019
  3. Domaine Derain Pommard Les Petits Noizons 2018
  4. Sylvain Pataille Marsannay Chardonnay rose 2020
  5. Frédéric Cossard Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières 2018
  6. Leroy Bourgogne Blanc 2017
  7. Domaine de Chassorney Saint-Romain Combe Bazin 2018
  8. Alice et Olivier De Moor Chablis 1er Cru Vau de Vey 2018

Scores

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Photo by Vova Ulianov
rmssdevfavouritepriceQPR
Wine #14.13900.01212.005490.000.5389
Wine #24.16640.01181.002490.001.2395
Wine #33.96530.02210.002450.000.9259
Wine #44.12680.01521.001950.001.4883
Wine #54.28140.01894.0010900.000.3381
Wine #64.04950.03660.005900.000.4354
Wine #74.10470.03831.002390.001.1687
Wine #84.19750.01443.002271.001.4253

How to read this table:

  • rms is root mean square or quadratic mean. The problem with arithmetic mean is that it is very sensitive to deviations and extreme values in data sets, meaning that even single 5 or 1 might 'drastically' affect the score.
  • sdev is standard deviation. The bigger this value the more controversial the wine is, meaning that people have different opinions on this one.
  • favourite is amount of people who marked this wine as favourite of the event.
  • price is wine price in UAH.
  • QPR is quality price ratio, calculated in as 100 * factorial(rms)/price. The reason behind this totally unprofessional formula is simple. At some point you have to pay more and more to get a little fraction of satisfaction. Factorial used in this formula rewards scores close to the upper bound 120 times more than scores close to the lower bound.

Philippe Pacalet Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Chaumes 2016

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What a beautiful and delicate bouquet! Red flowers, dried cherry and underbrush. The oak is well integrated, and the age starts to kick in. Almost perfectly balanced medium body with a long and flavourful aftertaste. It also has a pleasant finish of rotting bark. Quaffable. Guessed the bottle.

Chandon de Briailles Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Les Vergelesses 2019

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My bet was on Chandon de Briailles based on age perception alone. It's fruitier with a heavier oak influence. Briar, marigold, strawberry and dill. Maybe I wasn't in the mood, but the funkiness was overwhelming. Still, it's complex, elegant and vibrant. Great producer.

Domaine Derain Pommard Les Petits Noizons 2018

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Ooof, a sniff and a sip is all we needed to guess the wine. Funky bouquet and mouthfeel. It's as spiky as the morning star. VA, cranberry, forest floor and rusty iron. High acidity, a bit fizzy and mineral on the palate.

Sylvain Pataille Marsannay Chardonnay rose 2020

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This wine confused me a lot. On the one hand, it has all the qualities to be called a 'pussy crusher' (citation needed). Fried sunflower seeds, pompous stone fruits mixed with tropical fruits, and unmistakable MLF traces. On the other hand, it's complex and well-structured. Me? I didn't guess.

Frédéric Cossard Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières 2018

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What a beautiful bouquet of pinecone jam, hop, juniper, sesame, pastry and white peach. An incredible concentration that still remains delicate. Almost perfectly balanced, round and persistent. It has a lovely bitter finish. It's all about balance. I guessed the producer but not the wine.

Leroy Bourgogne Blanc 2017

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  • producer: Leroy
  • name: Bourgogne Blanc
  • vintage: 2017
  • grapes: Chardonnay
  • appellation: Bourgogne AOC
  • location: Burgundy, France
  • alcohol: 12.5
  • sugar: 0
  • price: 5900 UAH

Beautiful and classical Chardonnay. Deep and sophisticated bouquet with well-integrated oak (same can be said about mouthfeel). Pear, sunflower seeds, honey and pineapple. A bit vulgar in a good sense. Almost perfectly balanced. Citrusy-mineral finish. I guessed the wine.

Domaine de Chassorney Saint-Romain Combe Bazin 2018

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This bottle confused me a lot. It reminded me of Puligny or Chablis yet with a twist. Since it didn't remind the style of De Moor, I guessed the producer yet not the wine. Complex and intriguing wine. Fizzy and a bit funky. Bruised apples, cider, lemon and yeast (hey, autolysis). Vibrant, mineral, balanced and persistent. A beautiful bottle.

Alice et Olivier De Moor Chablis 1er Cru Vau de Vey 2018

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I haven't tasted this particular wine but guessed it based on my other experience with Alice et Olivier De Moor wines. Precise and complex bouquet with baked apples, lemon candy, flowers, wet stone and honey. Intense, mineral, sophisticated and persistent. Would love to taste it again in a less rushy format.

Raw scores

Wine #1Wine #2Wine #3Wine #4Wine #5Wine #6Wine #7Wine #8
Vova U4.204.303.904.004.304.004.204.40
Diana M3.904.003.804.104.403.803.704.00
Serhii H4.004.204.204.104.104.004.304.00
Andrii S4.104.304.104.004.403.904.104.10
Viktoriya Zh4.104.004.204.004.303.704.004.20
Roman R4.104.204.004.304.204.104.004.20
Mykola T4.304.104.004.304.204.104.004.30
Anya I4.104.203.904.204.304.104.104.30
Max D4.154.283.954.204.554.444.504.25
David H4.304.203.704.004.104.304.004.30
Anastasia Yu4.204.204.004.304.104.004.004.10
Boris B4.204.003.804.004.404.104.304.20