By billn on August 22, 2012
I was travelling the last days so couldn’t post the news, hence, Keith beat me to it. But the news is that the small domaine which includes Gevrey-Chambertin’s most iconic building is now sold. Whilst that (surely) must auger for some eventual improvement in the quality of the wines, there is local angst that the efforts that they made to buy the buildings and vines for the village of Gevrey-Chambertin were thwarted at the last-minute. Locals had amassed a $5 million offer, but lost out to $8 million from a group of Chinese investors (reportedly) from Macau. I’m sure it smarts. The headlines will shout ‘Chinese buyers’ and there will doubtlessly be some ill-thought quasi-xenophobic editorials, yet I expect the biggest shame will come from [....]
Posted in The Market, Vines for Sale |
By billn on July 18, 2012
Part of the de Montille disposals to fund the purchase of the Château de Puligny; unofficially, we’ve known about the new owner for the last couple of weeks, but as the words finally trip from his own mouth, I think I’m safe enough to broadcast it Based on the numbers in the SAFER website, we can assume that with all taxes and fees paid, the final bill was about €3 million, for the only premier cru on the ‘wrong side’ of the RN74… Just bought the 2,2 hectares of the Monopoly Nuits Saint Georges 1er cru “Clos des Grandes Vignes”. A new Monopoly for the Estate (the 3rd…after Clos du Chateau and La Romanée) and a new challenge for myself…try to make some “drinkable” white [....]
Posted in The Market, Vines for Sale |
By billn on June 27, 2012
When I previously reported on the ‘death of Domaine Maume‘, it was based on two news reports and a subsequent conversation I had with Pascal Marchand in Zürich. The reports had never mentioned Bertrand Maume, and actually he was never a subject of my chat with Pascal either – probably driven by me as I assumed Bertrand was now out of the picture – mea-culpa! I did eventually correct myself once the current situation was confirmed to me by ‘Marchand-Tawse’ – i.e. that Bertrand remains at the domaine and that Pascal is merely delivering the benefit of his long careers in consulting and wine-making – but that correction was rather buried in the comments section of the original post. So what better way to make [....]
Posted in The Market |
By billn on June 18, 2012
The best commentary on the Rudy K saga yet, fashioned by somebody who was there as a ‘player’. http://oldvinenotes.com/ [Archived]
Posted in The Market |
By billn on June 15, 2012
French businessman François Pinault just bought 0,417 hectares of Montrachet for 1 million € via @bourgognelive — Caroline PARENT GROS (@cparentgros) Juni 15, 2012 So, following on from yesterday’s news stories, now we know how Etienne de Montille can afford to buy the Château du Puligny-Montrachet But as far as I know the Château de Puligny-Montrachet actually held 0.0428ha – that only produces a little over 200 bottles per year! – so perhaps Caroline’s decimal point slipped: http://chateaudepuligny.com/fiche_technique.php?id=15&type=1 So that would make the whole vineyard worth €186.7 million….! [EDIT] There you go: Uh oh, expensive typo. It is 1million € for 0,0417 hectares of Montrachet that François Pinault bought from Chateau de Puligny. — Caroline PARENT GROS (@cparentgros) Juni 15, 2012
Posted in The Market |
By billn on June 15, 2012
Whilst it doesn’t say that much in itself, I find it highly encouraging that they are so open about this: Investigation at Labouré Roi: Burgundy wine industry joins proceedings as civil party Beaune, le 15 juin 2012 Following the announcement on Wednesday, 13th June of an investigation being carried out jointly by the fraud office and the police into a suspected case of fraudulent activity within the firm Labouré Roi, the Burgundy wine industry has decided to join proceedings as a civil party in order to be fully informed of the details of the case. The Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB), whose primary role is to promote and enhance the image of its wines, recognises the seriousness of the accusations made being brought against this company. [....]
Posted in The Market |
By billn on June 14, 2012
So plenty of hot air is being generated by the fraud story broken by Le Bien Public yesterday, but frankly there seems only hot air; the few known ‘facts’ seem to be an idea of the quantity of fraudulent bottles (one assumes lower appellation wine being given a higher appellation label rather than cutting with vin d’Algerie as was once popular) and that four directors of Labouré-Roi have been arrested. I guess more ‘facts’ might prejudice any trial, but let’s see if anything useful leaches out… Château du Puligny-Montrachet has been bought by the de Montille family of Volnay. The only surprise here is that the official announcement of this has taken so long – there was plenty of ‘chatter’ already at the end of [....]
Posted in The Market |
By billn on June 13, 2012
It’s not just about faking expensive old bottles like Rudy K, fraud can touch all buyers: Bad news from the Côte d’Or – fraud at Laboure-Roi concerning up to 2 million bottles it seems! More information will doubtless follow…
Posted in The Market |
By billn on June 10, 2012
You know, the place where all the bushes are twice the size they were two weeks ago and where the grass definitely now needs clipping! First: catching up on the news of the last two weeks – frankly it’s a meagre bag – assuming you (like me) have little interest in the endless stories about wine investment and the ‘new taste’ for Burgundy in Asia, though (with a wink) didn’t you know that the smart money is already moving into Italian wines… Plonkers By the glass Technique Bikers Burgundy Second: After five hours hacking away in the garden, a wine to curl up with… 1992 Jaffelin, Pommard Medium, aged colour. The nose is different every time you sniff; forest floor, a little green, perfect red [....]
Posted in Degustation, Other Sites, Rebuy - Yes (2012), The Market |
By billn on May 8, 2012
I was lucky enough to catch up with Pascal Marchand yesterday in quite sunny Zürich, mainly presenting his 2010s – it was a good chance to learn more about his new rôle with the former Domaine Maume. We knew already last year that the family Maume wanted to extract the equity in the domaine which had been run so well by Bertrand Maume – sad for him, for sure – it was a source of wines with a lot of personality, but who would come next? There was plenty of speculation, there always is, but it seemed to centre around various large négoce, so it was a bit of surprise when we learned a few weeks back that it was the backer of Pascal Marchand’s [....]
Posted in Degustation, The Market |
By billn on May 3, 2012
It’s a late (only 4 days!) addition to the Spring 2012 Burgundy Report – but it doesn’t make sense to leave it in the drawer until (the Summer Report in) July/August to share with you: So here are the notes to a simply exquisite set of mature and maturing wines from Nicolas Potel. Read em and weep as they say If the launch of these old wines is a thing to cheer the heart, some of the developments surrounding Nicolas’ old label – in the UK at least – are of less cheer. One retailer is now selling 2006 Maison Nicolas Potel wine, which would be fine, except for the fact the Nicolas says he didn’t make the wine that they are selling. To be [....]
Posted in The Market |
By billn on April 16, 2012
Ah, finally some real work for the team at M&M – hope they have trained their backs for all that bending!
Posted in The Market |
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