So – what reason to open a bottle today? Hmm – well, on this day in 1635 Emperor Ferdinand II declared war on France – seems a good enough reason!
I bought these direct from the domaine after tasting from barrel in 2003, but there was a mistake – the labels may have said Petits-Monts, but the (correct!) cork said Malconsorts. So I had to buy 6 more Petits-Monts as I didn’t want to give these Malconsorts back – despite having 6 of those too! Well, after more than 10 years in the cellar, I’d no idea if this was a Malconsorts or PM – it turned out to be Malconsorts.
2002 Nicolas Potel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Malconsorts
I’ve drunk about 4 or 5 of these since they were purchased and this is, by a long way, the least interesting. The nose has fine width, something of the spiciness of Vosne, but it hovers close to brett, or even a hint of oxidation – but the cork looks perfect. In the mouth it’s medium-bodied, rather direct but well-balanced. The finish rolls-off just a little too quickly. I had a second (decent-sized) glass, but overall, I thought this wine not up to standard…
Rebuy – No
Rain was forecast for late-on yesterday. I saw a few flashes of lightning in the sky about 21h00, but none came to Beaune. Today we have no clouds and it’s forecast to pass 25°C in the afternoon.
Today is a quiet day at the home domaine – yet a bit of pre-lunch excitement at the only grapes of the day: Corton-Charlemagne.
They tasted great. Just like the reds of Côte de Beaune, close to zero rot – I saw one piece in 4 pallets-worth of fruit. There were some dried grapes – perhaps due to hail, but none that were split like you’d see in hailed pinot. This required only the most cursory of triage – just to remove the leaves – we even left the occasional cluster of pinot for good luck – well, its grand cru too.
Then all into the press. It was a long, 3-4 hour press – but not too hard – before the juice was run into a stainless-steel tank. The juice will stay in the tank overnight before being run into barrel tomorrow…
