the château du moulin-à-vent view of 2017

By billn on November 28, 2017 #vintage 2017

Here, for your info, is a personal view of 2017 from the Château du Moulin à Vent. It should be noted, however, that their’s is a view based on being located in the area that was really brutalised by the hail in 2017. 95% of Beaujolais, however, had ‘normal’ yields and healthy fruit. Their results – the wines – will be very interesting to approach in another year-or-so…

2017 in Moulin-à-Vent & Pouilly-Fuissé

a merry, merry-go-round (or wine-criticism eating iteself…)

By billn on November 28, 2017 #the market

I’ve heard that it’s not done to critique other writers, but I think it’s a subject which, in itself, can be approached in a proper manner. So, Burgundy crtics ahoy…

William Kelly who quite recently joined Decanter to write (mainly) about Burgundy is the new appointee in the hot seat of ‘Burgundy’ for the Wine Advocate – or not quite yet: Neal Martin joins the Vinous (Antonio Galloni, at least to start with) critique-plex from February, but William is already employed from January – let’s call that a handover – assuming that they actually get to meet-up under a Wine Advocate ‘roof…’

Neal Martin must be commended for pulling the Wine Advocate out of the Burgundy dark-ages, i.e that considerable length time (25 years?) when Parker (or his oppos) were not allowed to darken the doors of certain producers – why Neal even recently had lunch with Erwan Faiveley – how’s that for progress(?)! Neal did that by hard work and by showing that he had his own ideas about the region, not cow-towing to what had gone before – this was the downfall of one PA Rovani, regardless of his depth of knowledge. It was this Wine Advocate ‘irrelevance‘ to Burgundy buyers that left the door open to another reviewer – Allen Meadows – and he barged right through – it’s hard to believe that his first report covered the 1998/1999 vintage – the best part of 20 years gone by in a flash! For much longer Steve Tanzer was always quietly, diligently, doing a great job, yet seemingly always on the periphery – he is of-course today part of the VinousPlex though by all accounts slowly drifting into retirement…

Allen remains the defacto voice of Burgundy criticism, a one-stop-shop for Burgundy-centric buyers, the Wine Advocate and VinousPlex being portfolio sites have a different buyer profile. Though it’s a fair comment that Allen diluted his worth to some subscribers by commencing coverage on ‘domestic pinot’ (such a ridiculous name) and Champagne – the Acker-Kurniawan smoke and mirrors didn’t help much either. But Allen remains Allen and for all his strengths and weaknesses he remains number 1.

Of-course William will have to get used to awarding Parker-points or being called ‘Parker’ on the shelf-talkers. I found his early stuff for Decanter high on content/info/quotes, but largely missing from personal analysis and comment – so I’ll be interested to see how he has approached the 2016 vintage which will (eventually!) be published by Decanter in the new year – though long after William is (more gainfully) employed elsewhere.

So, do Decanter have a global voice, or are they playing only in the UK-centric, advertisement-driven content space? Certainly they are, once-more, lacking a Burgundian voice – perhaps Jasper Morris can be convinced to do something as there’s another year now until the next Hospices de Christies wine auction. Or as an outliner, maybe David Schildknecht might be convinced to move from Vinous to Decanter? Their ‘visit-to-published‘ timescales are roughly of the same order of magnitude 😉

It seems that Beaune’s merry-go-round won’t be stopping any time soon…

weekend wines – week 47 2017

By billn on November 27, 2017 #degustation


2012 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Murgers des Dents du Chien
This has finally shed a large part of its oak padding – there’s still a little on the nose, and finish is a little more creme brulee than there is St.Aubin, but in the middle it is both poised, concentrated, pure and a little saline – just a very moreish wine – to the extent that two very consistent bottles met their end this weekend.
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Beaujolais Nouveau VV Jean Loron
A massive wine, almost syrup in its concentrated style and smelling like candy-floss top. Not only was it drinking great – despite being aged an extra week(!) – it also fulfilled a secondary purpose with aplomb – replacing the Port in our sauce reduction for our reh (deer) perfectly. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

week 47’s ‘rogues’ gallery

By billn on November 25, 2017 #travels in burgundy 2017

Four days of visits last week – a couple of first appointment Côte de Beaune domaines, but then deep into the Côte de Nuits. The 2016 White Burgundy Report was published last week, and I’m projecting 18-20 December for the 2016 Red Burgundy Report. I’m now back in Switzerland for 10 days, so chance to get a good start on typing those reports 🙂

Have a great weekend…

2016 White Burgundy Report

By billn on November 22, 2017 #reports

There are 550 wines in this issue, 400 of them in the White Report but there’s also plenty of Moulin à Vent & Central Otago pinot noir too. Want to see what you might be missing? Check out my 2014 White Burgundy Report – now free for all…

the chorey chicane and moody morey (mainly)…

By billn on November 22, 2017 #travels in burgundy 2017

No frost in Beaune again but definitely minus on the roads outside of town – I don’t know if that was the excuse of the upside-down car in Chorey-lès-Beaune – there’s not much of chicane there!

More patchy mist/fog this morning, not so much between Beaune and Vougeot, but thereafter plenty. By 10 a.m. the fading mist and the light made me go photo-mad – I took dozens – just a few here for you! Visits today in Morey, Chambolle, Nuits and Fixin – so a few pics along the way…
 

a view from gevrey…

By billn on November 21, 2017 #travels in burgundy 2017

It was as misty this morning as it was yesterday – but without the ice on my windscreen – 3°C. On the positive side, by about 1pm, the mist had largely given way to a nice blue sky – perfect for a little wander around Gevrey – mainly the Côte St.Jacques – before my 2pm appointment.

I noted that some really heavy work was underway in Poissenot/Estournelles St.Jacques – seemingly renovating/carving out tiers from the very top near the trees – there is quite some surface under construction with earth-movers here. The soil is thin and light here, it’s mainly limestone – such that a few generations ago it was though perfect to make white wine – of-course the appellation contrôlée didn’t like that, so it was mandated that the vines had to be ripped-out and replaced with pinot noir – the last of those plantings were pulled out towards the end of the 1960s…
 

mainly vosne…

By billn on November 20, 2017 #travels in burgundy 2017

For the first time this winter, much scraping of the ice from my car windshield, before a quick visit to Savigny. Thereafter a couple of visits in Vosne-Romanée (the pics), before finishing my day in Aloxe…
 

domaine leflaive – info in your inbox

By billn on November 20, 2017 #producer update

Lots of websites allow you to subscribe to an email-list with future info shipped direct to your inbox – though few actually deliver much (this site included :)) – but Leflaive keep sending stuff. You can get it too, if interested, in which case you should be prompted if you go here. (No affiliation!)

Burgundy Report

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