billn
plans for lunch?
If you are feeling peckish, let me suggest this small gala dinner offering: Dish: Creme brulee of foie gras with Tonga beansWine: 1990 Louis Roederer Cristal Tartare of Kobe beef with Imperial Beluga caviar and Belons oyster1995 Krug Clos du Mesnil Mousseline of pattes rouges crayfish with morel mushroom infusion2000 Corton-Charlemagne, Jean François Coche-Dury Tarte Fine with scallops and black truffle1996 Le Montrachet, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Lobster Osso Bucco1985 Romanee-Conti Ravioli with guinea fowl and burrata cheese in a veal reduction1961 Chateau Palmer Saddle of lamb “Leonel”1959 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Sorbet “Dom Perignon” Supreme of pigeon en croute with cepes mushroom sauce and cipollotti1961 Chateau Haut-Brion Veal cheeks with Perigord truffles1955 Chateau Latour Imperial gingerbread pyramid with caramel and salted butter ice-cream1967 Chateau d’Yquem
alex gambal 04 dents de chien
Whilst I thought François and Denis Clair’s Dents de Chien was an okay wine at the price, this is on a completely different level, and to be frank, not that much more expensive… 2004 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Les Murgers des Dents de Chien Pale lemon-yellow. A smooth nose of brioche and mineral notes and some quite bready depth – very appealing. This really stands apart on the palate, very good acidity coupled to nice minerality, yet there is good mid-palate impact. The finish is just a little oak driven at the moment, but this wine has drive and personality. Everyone enjoyed this very much. Rebuy – Yes
2005’s from nicolas potel pt.3
Three more bottled wines: 2005 Nicolas Potel, Nuits St.Georges A fresh and forward, though initially slightly diffuse nose of predominantly red fruit – becomes more interesting and ‘coulis’ in style in the glass. The concentrated palate strikes a masculine pose. Good acidity and intensity too. The finish is a good one, there’s nothing wimpy about this rather ‘honest’ bottle of Nuits. Recommended. Rebuy – Yes 2005 Nicolas Potel, Gevrey-Chambertin This wine also starts a little slowly the glass, but after a short while the aromatics become quite interesting with faint coffee supporting a nice black fruit profile. In the mouth this is very wide and concentrated with a little grain to the tannin. There’s real mid-palate intensity and just a little oak texture on the [....]
coche-dury, meo-camuzet, romanee-conti
Could it be the hyphen in the names? The wines are too expensive – there’s no argument – but they offer the opportunity to deliver something truly sublime. Last night it was multiple Coche and Meo washed down with a bottle of Armand Rousseau. Today it was the 2004 reds from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti – most weeks are not like this! I will probably wait for the next ‘issue’ to give you the notes – otherwise it will be a very thin edition! But despite a number of older Coche wines, only one of them really ‘hooked’ me, and that was a villages. The Meo’s were very good, the Rousseau even better, but the DRC’s are a dream to anyone who wants to make [....]
2005’s from nicolas potel pt.2
Many apologies for the ‘piece-meal’ approach to delivering these notes, but frankly I don’t have the time available to write them all in one shot – besides it might get a little boring around here if I gave you 20 notes and nothing else for the next week The wines below are all Côte de Beaune reds and were tasted after bottling. I have notes from another 3 bottled wines from the Côte de Nuits and lastly 8 sampled from barrel about 2 weeks before bottling which will followin the next days. I’d buy any othe wines below – no problem – but special mention (for my preferences) goes to the Volnay 1er Caillerets. 2005 Nicolas Potel, Volnay Vieilles Vignes Medium-plus cherry-red colour. There’s a [....]
germain 96 beaune 1er teurons
I really enjoyed the 99 Santenay from the other day, but this 96 didn’t quite do the business… 1996 Jacques Germain, Beaune 1er Les Teurons Medium-plus ruby-red colour. The nose is high-toned and wide with a pronounced meaty/savoury aspect – characterful but it didn’t work for me. The main impression from the palate is the acidity – forward but quite soft. The wine is certainly intense and long, but at this stage in its development the aroma and flavour profile don’t endear it to me – more of a spotty adolescent than mature interest. Previous bottles have been much nicer so I will give this the benefit of the doubt. Remaining bottles will not be touched in the next 3-4 years… Rebuy – Maybe
2005′s from nicolas potel pt.1
I always enjoy my visits chez Potel; the wines usually offer value, start with ‘good quality’ as a baseline, and occasional cuvées can be stunning. More importantly, because the house style is largely consistent and neutral (and you have a wide palate of cuvées), you can get a great feel for the vintage in almost half a day, without the wood getting in the way. First up a few whites that are already bottled. Fabrice Lesne has been working at the domaine for a while now, his prior experience came at the Hospices de Nuits, Domaine Bertagna and also looking after the Meursaults of Bouchard Père et Fils. After going through the bottles Fabrice put me on the spot and asked with a smile, “so, [....]
belland 99 santenay 1er comme
I should subtitle this as “don’t worry about the price of 2005 Musigny”. Given that the average 2005 will be (a little) better than the average 1999, this excellent wine really exemplifies what treasures await in 05 – and from all sorts of appellations too – don’t worry about the trophy wines, just fill your storage space with good 05 village and 1er Cru wines and you have the opportunity to drink well for the best part of the next 20 years; and if 2007 is hailed as even better than 2005 – so what! – you can go on holiday to the Maldives instead of chasing the en-primeurs… 1999 Jean-Claude Belland, Santenay 1er Comme Deep colour – actually there’s still just the merest hint [....]
visiting domaine joseph drouhin pt.2
After the whites we made a short tour of duty with reds – with a fine finish: 2004 Jospeph Drouhin, Chorey-lès-Beaune Lovely high-toned pinot fragrance – this is super – slowly starts to develop a cranberry note. The palate shows sweet, slightly dense fruit, it’s got a nice minerality to it and more dimension of fruit on the palate than you expect from Chorey. The mildly grained tannin is well-hidden in the background. This is very, very good. The empty glass smells lovely too – hows that for value… Rebuy – Yes 2003 Joseph Drouhin, Beaune 1er Clos des Mouches It’s a wide, slightly dense nose that slowly develops baked red fruit notes. The palate is also a little dense, showing plenty of grainy tannin [....]
visiting domaine joseph drouhin pt.1
When last in Beaune I had the opportunity to visit Domaine Joseph Drouhin, it was too long since my last visit so I so it was time that I made ammends. Jean-Pierre Cropsal was my guide – I had just missed Laurence Jobard as she had retired just a couple of weeks earlier after 34 years as winemaker. Jean-Pierre and I spoke on many subjects – in fact so much so that we didn’t have all that much time left to taste – but we are professionals, so we coped…;-) It was Jean-Pierre that spoke those words “these wines will define the benchmarks for a generation”, and there was no element of self-serving hype in his delivery as Jospeh Drouhin has largely pre-old their 2005′s; [....]
02 potel vosne malconsorts
What a nightmare, here I am with a lovely glass of wine that I can hardly concentrate on. Even someone who visits the Côtes every second month or so gets excited when the next issue of burghound is released – particularly so when it’s his first look at the 2005′s. I know some laughed at the hyperbolé of “these wines will define the benchmarks for a generation” – but Allen basically exhorts you to sell your house, wife and dog to buy these wines…bugger…what about the tax-man(?), on second thoughts, I have no chance of selling him! Back to this wine: 2002 Nicolas Potel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Aux Malconsorts Medium, medium-plus cherry red – there is very little colour development. The nose starts faintly sweet over [....]
premature oxidation research
I was recently able to meet the press attaché Cécile Mathiaud and Michel Baldassini, the head of the main Burgundy wine growers’ association, the (BIVB) – he is also head of the Cave Coopérative de Lugny. My reason was to try and get a perspective in the research of the BIVB into the phenomenon of ‘premature oxidation’ – or as the BIVB prefer to say – ‘pre-aging’. If there is one thing about this whole episode that particularly rankles, it was the impression that the growers association was rather tight-lipped about the issue. Given that it became apparent that research was underway, I thought it pertinent to ask ‘since when?’ and ‘what the trigger was to start?’: Actually, concerning our researches we did it in [....]
