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the autumn 2007 burgundy report
The content is now up. The only thing missing is the section with the most recent photos – I’ve now decided you’ve probably seen enough photos of leaves, trees and stones… Thanks for now Bill
barthod 2005 bourgogne rouge
2005 Barthod, Bourgogne Rouge Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. Slightly volatile and high-toned, but these notes mainly disappear with swirling to leave a deeper, cream-edged base – it’s then quite impressive. Fresh in the mouth, dense and slightly furry with very good fruit that follows through into the finish. Very impressive – average 2004 villages quality here – but I’d still mainly drink over the next 2-3 years. Rebuy – Yes PS Unlike the Chambolle, this wine still shows a high level of value…
2005 tollot-beaut, savigny 1er champ-chevrey
2005 Tollot-Beaut, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Champ-Chevrey Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. Wide, sweet and interesting on the rather yummy nose. There’s plenty of grainy tannin, but it doesn’t overwhelm the lovely fruit background that slides slowly into a good, less obviously creamy and oak inflected finish than the 1er Lavières. I almost always like this cuvée and here’s another to add to the list! Rebuy – Yes
2005 tollot-beaut, savigny 1er les lavières
This very adequately followed a half-bottle of Billecart-Salmon…2005 Tollot-Beaut, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Lavières Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. A deep and impressive nose that’s edged with dark cherry and darker oak. The palate is very well concentrated, soft tannin and excellent acidity. The fruit is dark shaded, buttressed by oak flavour and has a nice creamy medium length. Very, very good. Rebuy – Yes
ouch – potential p.ox from a benchmark wine
Thursday was just your average evening: me gatecrashing a dinner in Beaune with 3 former ‘harvest (07) mates’, plus two winemakers and someone ‘ITB’ (in the business) from Australia… Prompted by an earlier Henri Boillot bottle that was more than a little tired I had decided that I had to open a 2001 Corton-Charlemagne. I hadn’t tasted this in the last couple of years, but the first three bottles of a six-pack were seriously (and serially) stunning – I never had a better Charlemagne. I took the same occasion to try another (as yet, recently untasted) 2001 Charlemagne from Dubreuil-Fontaine and added a little Mischief & Mayhem 2005 Puligny Caillerets to oil the wheels: 2005 M&M Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Caillerets: Light colour. With the first [....]
ghislaine barthod 2005 chambolle-musigny
This Barthod has a small problem – it is from a domaine with ever-more renown, hence, prices are on the up – this is a great wine but in a vintage like 2005 the value certainly lies elsewhere; the previous Volnay 1er Brouillards from Voillot costs the same and frankly is such a massive step up in complexity and elegance that the Barthod has no chance to make up the gap! NB this is still a top-class villages, but it’s an expensive one – that said, if you haven’t already bought some, you may already be too late – so it doesn’t really matter! 2005 Ghislaine Barthod, Chambolle-Musigny Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. The nose shows a transient deep and toasty oak nose – then it’s gone. [....]
beaujolais nouveau
Hooray – today is Beaujolais Nouveau day! — But is anyone interested? Although it looks like a nice party, non-one is smiling: the 2003 Beaujolais Nouveau art of Terry Rogers hints at the tacky descent of an award winning marketing campaign which was the saviour of a winemaking region – a campaign that is now baring its teeth to all. Beaujolais Nouveau brought (French) winemaking regions to a whole new clientele, it was marketing mixed with hype and mixed with fun. Over time the hype died. Add to the mix a few dire vintages and the fun was gone too. But can any class of wine truly be on the wane when Riedel are prepared to make an expensive ‘Sommelier Beaujolais Nouveau’ glass? Maybe those [....]
grower profiles
Two very good profiles from Bert: Albert Bichot Alain Burguet Thanks Bert!
2005 voillot volnay 1er brouillards
Burghound went overboard (perhaps) on the 05 Voillots so I was happy to find a few bottles – if this, the ‘smallest’ bottling is any benchmark then Burghound was ‘on the money’ and I can’t wait to try the higher scoring wines. Seems I did very well to pick up a few magnums!2005 Joseph Voillot, Volnay 1er Les Brouillards Medium cherry-red colour – relative to its age and other wines of the vintage it’s quite light in colour. The nose is forward and shows a lovely perfume; floral top notes and bright red berries with red cherry at the base. Fine silken texture, perfect acidity and a slowly fading, cream-edged finish. Not powerful, but it has real dimension, class and elegance – excellent. Rebuy – [....]
dureuil-janthial 2005 nuits st.georges 1er
2005 Dureuil-Janthial, Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos des Argillières Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is wide and fresh, faintly creamy but far from effusive and goes through quite a sulfurous phase before smelling more of violets. In the mouth there is a plush background to soft and creamy red fruit that lasts well into the finish – just a little coconut edged. There is good mid-palate dimension and an oak-driven richness. A very good bottle, but today I’d like a little more personality. Rebuy – Yes
the burgundy wine institute
An interesting new site and initiative worthy of your attention: In 1983 and in their early 20′s, Dennis Sherman and his wife Eleanor went to burgundy for a holiday and never really made it back home. Employment came by setting up their own small-estate Burgundy importation company. Dennis has just launched the ‘Burgundy Wine Institute‘. Collaborating with the BIVB’s Ecoles des Vins de Bourgogne he has put together a selection of programs combining formal classroom work with field study (e.g. making the rounds with a courtier to learn barrel tasting techniques, or a morning with a sommelier). All are small group classes (15 max) mixing weekend, 4 day and 6 day courses. It’s a commercial operation, though apart from swapping a couple of emails I [....]
lafleur(?)
Photo: Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau | John Armit It’s a little outside of the burgundy report comfort zone, but I do admit to having a few bottles of the more-than-tasty 1998 Pensées de Lafleur in the cellar! Bruce Palling is a relatively new name to me – I’m sorry to say – but I very much enjoy his articles.
