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june update
Summer has appeared – with a vengeance. I was in the Côtes yesterday, and the temperature peaked just over 34°C in the latter half of the afternoon – today it was 35°. It’s the first really warm spell of the year, the last weeks were ‘average’ as far as temperature went; say 25°C. Things are moving apace though; a few weeks back it looked like harvesting would be September 10-20th, but current indications (that don’t account for a dark July or August) would suggest September 5th-15th. Not quite another August vintage, but pretty close! There is a litlle humidity that goes with the heatwave, but at least there is some relief amongst growers that projected storms didn’t fully materialise about 2 weeks ago. Many were [....]
2005 maillard père et fils beaune
I’ve had a good run of ‘upper-end’ bottles, so now it’s time to have a modest week or maybe even two! I’ve not had a wine from this domaine before, and the label is not that inviting – it reminds me of bottles on supermarket shelves, but let’s see… 2005 Maillard Père et Fils, Beaune Medium-plus colour. The nose starts with sweet, toasty caramel oak and some associated savoury notes – over time it has a more floral, violets dimension. Sweet fruit with glinting acidity – it’s a nice balance – the tannin of the backbone has depth but is fine and ripe. Relatively linear in the mid-palate – I’m not sure if that’s because it’s tight or because I just finished a Griottes! Well-made [....]
1999 frédéric esmonin griottes-chambertin
Did I mention there was also a Griotte to open? – well, it’s so long since I opened the Fourrier! Now I should also correct myself; Esmonin was one of the rare bottlers to say ‘Griottes’ rather than Griotte! An interesting trio these 99 Esmonins; the Mazy was smooth but full of concentration, power and not a little tension. The Ruchottes was equally smooth but of a lower order of concentration and showing a little oak – then there’s the Griottes which (frankly) far from met expectations; perhaps technically a less good wine than the Mazy, but from a character perspective, the best of the three – now you don’t often get to say that about Griotte(s)! 1999 Frédéric Esmonin, Griottes-Chambertin Medium, medium-plus colour – [....]
beaune 1er les cents vignes for sale
For sure it’s cheaper than the previous Puligny, but is it me – or does €75,000 sound rather a lot for 0.4 of an acre? Anyway: 3,94 ouvrées plantées en cépage Pinot Noir Age de la vigne : environ 40 ans Situation : Belle exposition sud-est Vigne présentant un bel état général Good luck with your bids!
a life uncorked, hugh johnson (2005)
This is quite a big book – not quite a coffee-table book, but close to 400 pages that have weighed down my laptop bag for 5 months or so. 5 months? Well, it’s a book that you can dip into, returning after 2 weeks absence is no loss… Frankly, I was expecting great things – it was the fault of the first page and a half, the preface, it left me with a level of writing expectation that was met only patchily throughout those 400 pages. Wine is first and foremost a social game; only secondarily an interest like music or collecting. It is about human relations, hospitality, bonding, ritual… And what an ‘interesting’ approach Hugh has taken for his book; A tour through ‘how [....]
a vinexpo punch-up plus exclusive lighting
I have to be honest, this really made me laugh over my morning coffee – childish I know! Anna Sério, whose Italissima event is being held throughout the week in the grounds of a hotel by the lake close to the fair told decanter.com that she was injured in a confrontation with Vinexpo marketing director Jean-Francois Ley. Any publicity is good publicity right? Lighting? Are you building or specifying a super-cool new cellar project? Do you want to stand out from the croud with their passé LED lighting? If so, I have the lighting for you: Designer, Guillaume Delvigne’s (with a name like that, what did you expect?) blown glass and Corian ‘Campagne‘ light. Now, wouldn’t that look great in all the nooks and crannies [....]
frédéric esmonin 99 ruchottes-chambertin
1999 Frédéric Esmonin, Ruchottes-Chambertin Medium, medium-plus colour – paler than the Mazy. The nose starts quite dark and oaky – some dark toast notes that take at least 30 minutes to lift. Redder, less dense fruit is the result, though the dark oak slowly turns to make a nice coffee ‘coating’. Nicely balanced concentration with background velvet tannin. Truth be told it has more of a 1er cru weight, the only distinct grand cru element is the mid-palate flavour – pretty red fruit with a distinct creamy edge and excellent length. Some distance behind the quality of the Mazy, and there are probably better premier crus, but they will cost more than this bottle – value has always been the watchword on the Esmonin GCs, [....]
frédéric esmonin 99 mazy-chambertin
The weather was quite warm, so first I opened the bottle, then I left it in the refrigerator for about 90 minutes – clearly it would start too cold, but would be teased to the right temperature in the glass. 1999 Frédéric Esmonin, Mazy-Chambertin Medium-plus colour, still with some last vestige of cherry-red. Right from pouring, cold – say 12°-ish – the nose was just a gorgeously smooth interpretation of macerating dark cherry – wow! The palate, however, was tight, linear, hinting towards tannin but delivering only a dark, faintly oaky but very long finish. As the contents of the glass slowly warm the nose adds a little coffee though slightly tightens, the flavours are expanding though, and with them, the tannin seems to be [....]
a corking corton
Did I say normal service would be resumed? Well Friday evening’s bottle didn’t quite go to plan – it was horribly corked… (I hope tomorrow’s Mazis fares better!)
a few foreign whites
Okay – I know that this is is the ‘big red diary’ and that these are whites, but nothing in this page’s title says where the wines have to come from… We’ve had a few sweltering days – really the first of the summer – and given that my last bottle of Deiss 97 Riesling St.Hyppolite was so good, for sipping under the sun umbrella I decided to pull out a few of these whites from (mainly) a little closer to home; Seppi Landmann 06 Pinot Gris, Bott-Geyl 02 GC Riesling Schönenberg, Bott-Geyl 02 GC Riesling Mandelberg and Josmeyer 00 GC Riesling Brand. The first was lovely, soft easy drinking, the second bigger and fatter, the third had more acidity and the last was rounder. [....]
2005 fourrier gevrey 1er les goulots
I find it hard to open Fourrier’s bottles now – mainly it’s due to the capsules – or lack of capsules. Since the 2005 vintage the domaine has topped their bottles with shiny red wax, and that offers me two problems: one, the wax looks much too pretty to break; and two, wax normally shatters and makes a terrible mess! Maybe Jean-Marie has a new formulation or the 24° of my kitchen had a softening effect, but a knife easily removed the layer covering the cork – and no shattering, no mess! 2005 Fourrier, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Goulots Medium, medium-plus colour – not that deeply coloured for a 1er cru from this vintage. The nose starts with a characteristic note that makes you think of [....]
‘wine magazine seeks discerning palates’
Tong: Sounds like my kind of wine magazine – not full of adverts for cigars and wine ‘investment’ funds. I must get hold of a copy sometime. Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal, but it will revert to ‘subscription’ in a few days, so read it now!
