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niellon 2008 chassagne 1er chenevottes
2008 Michel Niellon, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Chenevottes A faint creme brûlée floats over green and yellow citrus notes – you have to wait some time before the classic Chassagne green herbs finally appear – it’s a tight and ripe at the core. The entry is silky but quite understated, indeed indifferent, but the mid-palate just launches you into the next dimension with minerals, agrumes fruit, mouth-watering acidity and really super intensity. You’re left with a long line of finishing flavour. This is really super. Rebuy – Yes
bejot – one vintage…
You may remember that it was the Maison Bejot that purchased Maison Thomas-Moillard from the family Thomas. Film-maker Jean-Baptiste Avril has made a very pretty (and not too long!) film to reflect one vintage at Maison Bejot – nice! BEJOT – Vins & Terroirs from jb avril on Vimeo. www.jb-avril.com
birds, bottles and links…
It’s the same every year; the orange berries on this tree are completely ignored until we have a severe frost – the frost can be January or it can be like yesterday’s -15°C – then the mistle thrushes appear and devour them all. They patiently wait in the higher trees for their ‘turn’; I counted fourteen (when they stood still for a moment) in the garden yesterday, until Carlo the cat made a poor effort at trying to catch one – to be fair, his charge through 20cm of fluffy snow was never going to be a thing of elegance! The tree is now stripped bare, it only took one day, but the birds remain, surfing through the snow looking for those berries they dropped [....]
take a break…
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 [....]
du pavillon 2007 beaune les epenottes
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 [....]
just so very smelly…
When the fraud squad raided Verget from Verget on Vimeo.
bourée 1972 gevrey villages
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! [....]
jf mugnier nuits 2006 1er clos de la maréchale
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 [....]
xavier monnot 2006 pommard les vignots
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. [....]
saturday links…
Hot from the presses this weekend: Some newish producer recs from Jancis Australian ‘grand cru’ whites Thibault on holiday! 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’!
offer of the day – Jacques Prieur 2010…
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(?)
pascal marchand 2007 morey 1er clos des ormes
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 [....]
