By billn on November 22, 2012
There is a frisson of excitement when you see the yellow wax top – silly I know! This wine was cheaper (in a great restaurant) than I could buy it retail in Switzerland – clearly I had no choice…
2010 François Raveneau, Chablis Valmur
Medium lemon yellow colour. The nose pulls you in with fine minerals, a little lemon fruit, green herb and the impression of a waxy silkiness. In the mouth this is super-smooth, with a very fine, though not amazing, intensity. The flavour is long, majoring on mineral elements rather than fruit – as you would hope – and holds beautifully. The acidity, despite the wine’s intensity, is just a hint understated – though far from lacking. Just a super-competent wine, rather than the epiphany that prices suggest/promise…
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2012) |
By billn on November 20, 2012
An exceedingly good match with the domestic goddess’s fish pie…
2010 Buisson-Charles, Meursault Vieilles Vignes
Medium yellow. The nose has a lovely depth of sweet peaches and fruit-loaf that pull your nose in deeper. If anything the nose makes you think this might be a little fat and sweet – but no – the balance is lovely: beautiful acidity counterbalances a wine with depth and richness yet minerality too. Lovely mouth-watering flavours in the finish. Benchmark!
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2012) |
By billn on November 19, 2012
I’d seen the construction work since at least July 2012 – it could have been June – but what exactly was going on with those earth-movers up the Chemin des Argillières above the Clos l’Arlot in Nuits St.Georges?
This week I managed to quiz a few locals and an interesting, indeed amazing story was relayed – though let’s be clear, it’s just their ‘story’: This is a vineyard that has been ‘constructed’ – it simply wasn’t there last year – but this is construction on an industrial scale.
Apparently some old building(s?) at the foot of the ancient (1500-1700s or probably older(?)) stone quarry had been bought by a resident of Dijon – who came originally from Premeaux. With hundreds of tonnes of materials he has filled in the space and made a reasonable slope upto what was previously just a stone cliff-face. The basic platform that now waits for vines looks very stony – not much organic material – but has had a ‘faux historic’ entrance and steps constructed as an entrance-way. Only when you look at the southern side of the ‘platform’ do you realise what has actually been done here.
There are a couple of other matters too: This piece of land has no AOC, despite bordering the premier crus of Clos de l’Arlot and Les Argillières. The locals are also far from supportive of the ‘land’ getting an AOC – today even Bourgogne Rouge or Blanc is not allowed. One of the reasons why it might be hard to be awarded AOC could be that it’s not entirely clear where the ‘land-fill’ has come from! However, I suppose that they could ignore AOC completely and make a ‘vin de table’! There is just one more pertinent (I think) point: The buyer, and instigator of this project is apparently aged about 85 years old – so not likely to be drinking any of the wine that this platform may (or may not) ever produce! It is said that a son-in-law could eventually benefit…
-
-
-
-
-
oops – fallen off the end of the ‘platform’
Posted in Vines for Sale |
By billn on November 19, 2012
Picture from the organisers.
The official statement from the organisers.
For what it is worth, I think the prices underline the expected quality of what was harvested, but more-so the quantity that was actually harvested, given that 2012′s lowest yields were seen in the Côte de Beaune. Whilst I personally felt Anthony Hanson’s pre-sale hyperbole about 2005 levels of quality too much, here is his post-sale assessment:
“Many records were broken at the 152nd Hospices de Beaune auction. Star cuvées among the red wines included (with average price per barrel and percentage increase compared with 2011): Clos de la Roche, Cuvée Georges Kritter €55,667 (without premium +94.2%) and Mazis-Chambertin, Cuvée Madeleine Collignon at €38,318 (without premium +57.7%). Thanks to a recent generous donation, a new grand cru from the Côte de Nuits was offered for the first time. This was Echézeaux, Cuvée Jean-Luc Bissey, and all six barrels sold for a magnificent €50,000 (hammer price) per barrel, raising €300,000 for the Hospices. The superb quality of the 2012 vintage wines, combined with the reduced quantity and the progression of demand for great burgundy in many countries, not just Asia, contributed to this astonishing, record result.”
Posted in The Market |
By billn on November 19, 2012
2010 Philippe Livera (Domaine Tilleuls), Fixin
Quite deeply coloured. The nose is deep with dark cherry fruit and subtle oak spice. Lithe, growing in intensity with a fine acidity which is tempered with a ripely grained tannin. So a wine with intensity, rather than concentration of flavour – yet at it’s level, this is well-made, clean and tasty but with no lack of character. A very good buy.
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2012) |
By billn on November 18, 2012
Posted in Picture Gallery |
By billn on November 16, 2012
2010 Bart, Marsannay Les Champs Salomon
Medium, medium-plus colour. The aromas deliver a big punch of sweet, toasty oak – the dark elements behind seem a little more cola-like than fruit. After 1 hour the toast has faded a little but not the sweetness or the cola, even the last drops in the glass are broad and indistinct. Nice balance, decent acidity and understated tannins. It is the flavours that are largely unsatisfying – reflecting the nose they are sweet and broad with almost something tasty and interestingly focused in the mouth-watering mid-palate – almost. No obvious faults here but it’s not really to my taste – I think you guessed that! This is not an expensive bottle – but no excuses – I expect it will improve over the next 2-3 years but the style will surely still shout louder that the place.
Rebuy – No
As a post-script, I vacuvinned this and left it in the fridge for 3 days while in Beaune. On my return – no oxidation but the taste of the wine was really too oak-cream infected. I really didn’t like it, but I think you guessed that too…
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - No (2012) |
By billn on November 15, 2012
I met a couple of RTs at the Gevrey Syndicat 2010 tasting, this time last year (Hmm, must be time for 2011s!). And I was so happy to see that they’d left behind their overwhelming 1990′s ‘wall of toasty oak’ era and you could actually taste and smell the wines – good they were too. Of-course, I’m completely glossing over the wonderful 1990 RT Latricières we had with dinner last month! Anyway, last year I tasted their villages Etelios, rather than this VV, and have the impression that the former should be better than this wine – but bottled and side-by-side, who knows…(?)
2010 Rossignol-Trapet, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose starts with a faint whiff of toasty oak with some higher tones. Time blows away the toast, still with a little high-toned spirits but a slowly growing red fruit and mocha note too – the last drops in the glass are beguiling acid-red notes. In the mouth you need a little time for this to fill out, but even then I feel that it is ‘a bit thin’ yet, the balance is fine, and there’s a nice edge to the tannin. There’s good intensity and an unexpected extra dimension of flavour in the mid-palate and a long, slightly coconut edged, mineral finish. I have enjoyment and disappointment in equal measure. This really needs to add weight to be a rebuy, but the glass is emptying quite easily. Day 2, and the wine has filled out more – acceptably so – the tannin seems more to fore too – but this should be hairy forearmed Gevrey! Okay – good!
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2012) |
By billn on November 14, 2012
I can but speculate.
But unfortunately this page is not currently in-line for an update.
Sadly, this valuable resource (valuable not just for me I’m sure) currently has no ‘vintage 2011′ update for yields by appellation. I found many aspects of this annual document useful when writing FWOB, and Clive Coates used to use the summary information for every one of his vintage reports, but my contact in Beaune now tells me that ‘the direction no-longer want to make this information public’. Is this to remove any semblance of clarity when it comes to the very low yields of 2012 and whatever pricing they attract? Or some other reason?
Right now it’s hard to say, but it is a retrograde step for any organisation that prides itself on openness, it also leads to ill-informed speculation – just like this…
Posted in Harvests |
By billn on November 14, 2012
2010 Michel Noëllat, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Lavières
Medium, medium-plus colour. The very shy nose has a hint of savoury to it, perhaps vaguely reductive – either that or oaky! In the mouth this is very well balanced, there’s a nice intensity and good acidity too. The fruit is a little dark shaded and perhaps shows a little Lavières earth. The tannin is quite polished and far from grainy, though seems to speak a little more of barrel than grape, likewise, the flavour in the finish is quite creamily barrel inflected (as opposed to old-vine cream). I like many aspects of this wine, and the bits I’m less fond of will probably fade as the oak influence subsides – perhaps 6-12 months should be enough. On day two there was little to dislike so 6-12 months sounds about right.
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2012) |
By billn on November 13, 2012
No, not people who go on and on and on and on about Bachelet and Rousseau and, and, and…
I can just see a crusty-fingered vigneron getting to grips with this on his iPhone!
[Archived]
Posted in Other Sites |
By billn on November 13, 2012
Perhaps another domaine worth visiting. This is a monopole of the domaine (of which I hadn’t heard) planted to both red and white.
2010 Maratray-Dubreuil, Ladoix 1er Les Nagets
Medium yellow colour. The nose offers faint patissière with ripe lemons and seems quite concentrated. In the mouth this has quite some richness – the acidity plays understudy to that ripe concentration, and as the primary fruit shrinks with age this may well enjoy better and better balance – but for now, keep it cold or it is ponderous. Just a little creamy padding to the fruit in the finish, maybe with a hint of salt too. More-ish, very, very tasty wine which I’d drink again, but maybe wouldn’t buy again.
Rebuy – Maybe
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Maybe (2012) |
