By billn on February 4, 2012
The mid-fourteenth century was a time of maximum distress across Europe. The Black Death struck in 1348, though it was by no means the last irruption of the bubonic plague. France was about to descend into the bear pit of the Hundred Years War with England, and the Holy Roman Empire was in uproar over the Golden Bull of 1356 and the introduction of a consolidated imperial constitution and electoral procedures. Thanks to the papal schism, there was one Pope in Rome, and another in Avignon. Those few parts of the Kingdom of Burgundy which had not been lost were often disputed amongst neighbours. To cap it all, mind-boggling crises of succession erupted simultaneously in the Kingdom of France, in the Duchy of Burgundy and the County-Palatine. At this point, faint-hearted readers are advised to take a break.
Phew – I will Norman, I will!
Posted in Books, Maps & Magazines |
By billn on February 3, 2012
2007 du Pavillon, Beaune Les Epenottes
Medium, medium-plus colour. This has a nose that starts with quite a bit of vanilla – it’s also reflected in the early flavours – not my favourite but it just about avoids excess; behind is a raspberry coulee, and very nice that is! In the mouth this has the weight of a 1er cru Epenottes and a good ripe aspect to the fruit which lingers on an understated but fine line of acidity. If told this was a 1er cru from Beaune I don’t expect you’d quibble – though you might reject the barrel vanilla. Over 2-3 hours the unneccessary vanilla make-up fades significantly from both the aromas and flavours but underneath is a wine of excellent value.
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes |
By billn on January 31, 2012
Posted in Other Sites |
By billn on January 31, 2012
Bottle number two from this stash; the first was so impossibly balsamic that I couldn’t even finish a glass.
1972 Pierre Bourée, Gevery-Chambertin
This one has about 7cm of ullage and a cork that crumbles – c’est la vie…
Here is also some balsamic aroma but it’s just a trace, there’s a little beef broth too – neither are my favourite. Slowly both of those components fade to reveal a wine of clarity, silky intensity and a lovely extra creamy dimension of flavour in the mid-palate and into the bright finish. There’s a result! The fruit aromas are of alcohol macerated cherries and oranges. I started to make a coffee in the first few minutes this was opened – I never did finish making it! 
Rebuy – No Chance
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - No Chance! |
By billn on January 30, 2012
Another 2006? Well it seems perfect to compare a Pommard with a Nuits – in reality less-so in this case; a Nuits 1er made by Fédéric Mugnier in the Chambolle style – maybe it’s his yeasts! I also remember the Nuits / Vosne area to be the peak of 2006s so I’d anyway expect a little more from an 06 Nuits versus an 06 Pommard. This may not be a great comparison, but it’s a great bottle!
2006 JF Mugnier, Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos de la Maréchale
Medium-plus colour once more. Here the nose is really about pinot (oops – Nuits! – well, maybe…) with a top to bottom elegance, plenty of floral, violet, references too. In the mouth this has extra sweetness and also is much more silky; yet roll it around in your mouth and you’ll find lovely acidity and no lack of velvety tannin – you just need to look for it. The fruit in the mouth is quite high toned, but very pretty. This is actually very lovely now, but has a reserve of balance – which I hope will allow me to still enjoy my last bottle in at least another 20 years. It’s not super-long, but it is super-tasty. Yum. A point worth noting is that if the wine reaches the heady heights of a mere 20 degrees, it becomes a bit diffuse an less impressive – keep to 18 or below and all is well.
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes |
By billn on January 29, 2012
2006 Xavier Monnot, Pommard Les Vignots
Medium-plus colour, still with purple highlights. The nose is reasonably forward but a bit burly and bulky with hints of cola, only after the bottle has been opened a couple of hours do you start to get some clear, clean and quite pretty fruit notes but it’s only from the last drops in the glass. Like the nose, this a broad-shouldered wine and it wears it’s tannin without a hint of reserve – but the tannin is ripe and not too grippy. There’s a nice breath of fresh acidity and a reasonable length, but I’m missing some excitement – not sure if it’s this wine or also a bit of 2006 thing – will have to check on some.
Rebuy – Maybe
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Maybe |
By billn on January 28, 2012
Hot from the presses this weekend:
Thinking about listing links like those above, you may, or may not, be interested in how some people end up here, or hereabouts.
To the right is a summary of last year’s referrals (links) to this site. If you were to drill down on the ‘search engines’ you see what an effective monopoly of searches Google has; Yahoo and Bing combined reach a measly total of about 2,500 views. Twitter, despite media-darling status, was way down the list with 308 views. Maybe I should consider using it more – but then I never was much of a ‘pusher’!
Posted in Other Sites, Site Updates |
By billn on January 27, 2012
Vins blancs
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET Les Combettes 75cl 66.00 Swiss Francs
MEURSAULT Perrières 75cl 99.00
CORTON CHARLEMAGNE 75cl 129.00
CHEVALIER-MONTRACHET 75cl 209.00
MONTRACHET 75cl 399.00
Vins rouges
BEAUNE Champs-Pimonts 75cl 29.80
VOLNAY Santenots 75cl 56.00
VOLNAY Clos des Santenots 75cl 69.50
CORTON Bressandes 75cl 109.00
CLOS DE VOUGEOT 75cl 118.00
CHAMBERTIN 75cl 179.00
ECHEZEAUX 75cl 179.00
MUSIGNY 75cl 249.00
Historical pricing (2009-2007) you can see here. It’s a strange combination of almost okay prices (Puligny, Volnay, Beaune) plus overly optimistic prices: but who am I to criticise if they sell(?)
Posted in The Market |
By billn on January 26, 2012
Having finally got around to picking up my 6-pack of the redoubtable 2008 Corton I noticed that they have a little wine-sales boutique chez Marchand. I really don’t know who will find it (going through the courtyard and in through the closed door) but this was a very well priced bottle.
2007 Pascal Marchand, Morey St.Denis 1er Clos des Ormes
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is quite interesting; clearly a few stems that are partially obscuring violet flowers but the stems are far from gothic plus, if you swirl, you get a great punch of floral aromas. In the mouth there’s decent weight that despite being a little light on acidity never seems overly heavy. There is sweetness from the fruit, a little more than a suggestion of minerality in the mid-palate and eventually a mouth-watering finish. This is very moreish wine, it shows the vintage more than the village today, but it is very tasty indeed – and that’s before you look at the great price ex domaine.
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes |
By billn on January 25, 2012
Just a few dodgy pics from my phone from last weekend in Mürren.
PS Did I mention that I shook hands with the legend that is (Sir) Steve Redgrave on the finish-line at this race(?) Kudos for leaving the ‘Sir’ off his name on the race bib. He beat me by 40 seconds – over 16 minutes – bugger!
Posted in Travel, Travel Pics |
By billn on January 25, 2012
An overgenerous review from Jamie Goode of the world-renowned wineanorak site. I have to say that I laughed when I realised that he correctly spotted that the domaines are all listed in the index under ‘d’ because they start ‘Domaine…’!
Posted in Books, Maps & Magazines |
By billn on January 24, 2012
1982 Duchet, Corton-Charlemagne
Deep golden hue. The nose started as an old (but correct) white does; interesting, a little diffuse but nuts an d a faint impression there may be some oxidation. In minutes it comes together, delivers more focus and adds a little caramel, some struck-match too. In the mouth, this is less sweet than the nose suggests – you even have the impression that there is a hint of tannic astringency. Quite long flavours and even a little more flavour development in the mid-palate. Certainly this is interesting and even a little rewarding but it will never be cosseting, nor ever was (probably) ‘great’.
Rebuy – No chance
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - No Chance! |
Page 1 of 13612345...102030...»Last »
