By billn on May 4, 2013
2001 Georges Mugneret-Gibourg, Vosne-Romanée
Medium, medium-plus colour. A nose of soft, sweet fruit and flowers – a hint of herbs too. Acidity, then the fresh flavour wells up into the mid-palate than very slowly fades into the finish – very nice flavour too. There’s still a reasonable slug of tannic texture too, but this wine is schlank. Thin, wiry, perfectly sculptured – but not an ounce of padding. In its youth, this wine was wonderfully generous, rich and textured – over-achieving villages – today it is very different, like Madonna age 20 and 50, very, very different in shape and style. I loved it, but my wife said ‘tastes like vinegar’ – harsh, but beware…
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes |
By billn on May 3, 2013
Don’t you just love those phone calls? – Here.
And, happily, this comes before we get to flowering:
Picture from Caroline l’Estimé in Chassagne this afternoon
Posted in Harvests, Other Sites, Vintage 2013 |
By billn on May 3, 2013
2002 Bouchard Père et Fils, Volnay 1er Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot
Medium-plus colour. The nose has some savoury notes and dried flowers too – it starts mainly in deeper registers – let’s see if it opens out. After an hour there is a little spirit, but also some oak-spiced red fruit. The texture is still velvety, and the acidity is in good shape too – a higher level of balance than the Potel of a few days ago. Nice high-toned fruit in the mid-palate, though, no mistake, this is still a rather masculine wine, tasty though it is. Still a seriously young wine…
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes |
By billn on May 1, 2013
Following on from the post of ‘nine decades of domaine de la romanée-conti‘ there is this follow-up from Stuart George MW referring to the ‘too good to be true‘. It’s missing lots of info, like ‘when was the case bought from the domaine?’, ‘how many owners since then?’ etcetera, etcetera. But interesting nonetheless – I’d have liked to see a pic or two, also…
Actually, I expect this 1937 was genuine from the perspective that it’s (probably) easy to make something young-looking, but to make something that experienced tasters think worthy of 101 points – well, that’s something else again, and rare enough from genuine bottles…!
EDIT: A nice pic from Stuart:
Posted in Other Sites |
By billn on May 1, 2013
6-Pack prices in Swiss Francs, delivered to my cellar.
You know, I finally realised it was time to get my credit card dirty. The Jadot Chardonnay from yesterday apart (and I suppose a couple of bottles of Kiwi when I was over there in February), I haven’t bought any wine this year – none! Of-course there will be ‘standing-order’ cases to pick-up and pay for from the usually suspects in Burgundy, but this is my first in 2013.
Despite all the hullabaloo, 2012 (as you can see) is not particularly more expensive than previous vintages – unless you only want Griotte or Cros Parantoux etcetera, in which case you will most certainly be fleeced…
Posted in The Market |
By billn on May 1, 2013
Well, what a bargain! My local COOP is selling this at 33% discount – this week only – so that’s only 9.95 Swiss Francs. Hmmm, but let’s hold on a second though – 2006, and 2009 were a bit too flabby – the 08 was brilliant but I think I may have missed 07 and 10. Let’s try it first, before reversing the car up to the loading-bay….
2011 Louis Jadot, Bourgogne Chardonnay
The aromas are forward and seem to be of Burgundy – a whiff of oak and ripe but not awkward fruit – quite good I’d say. They say good white Burgundy shouldn’t be served cold, well I’d recommend that you keep this chilled! Direct from the fridge this has the acidity to balance the impact of ripe fruit – it seems quite big in the mid-palate – hmm, 13% in 2011 no-less! The finish is not long but it is a reasonably satisfying if ‘loud’ wine. Let the temperature creep higher and you may well be thinking ‘flabby’ – not to the degree that the 09 and 06 exhibited (suffered!) but certainly lacking zing! It’s certainly drinkable, but even at this price, I don’t think I’ll be heading back to the supermarket.
Rebuy – No
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - No |
By billn on April 30, 2013
I was (very kindly!) invited to this event, but unfortunately couldn’t make the date, which saved me from the nitty-gritty conversation of what constitutes ‘an invite’ – a seat, or a seat I had pay for? 
Regardless; what a treat!
Nine decades of Domaine Romanée-Conti in London, Part 1 and Part 2.
Posted in Degustation, Other Sites |
By billn on April 29, 2013
Quite a big plug (not by me!) for Pierre Bourée…
Posted in Other Sites |
By billn on April 29, 2013
2002 Nicolas Potel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Petits Monts
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose, whilst initially modest, is deep, dark and moderately coffee-inflected and relatively moderately Vosne-spiced too – I can do without an occasional reference to bacon-fat though. The acidity is just a little more forward now that the flesh has withered – so it has become a little gawky – though it’s hardly going to stop you drinking! Time in the glass and perhaps a little extra warmth brings more balance to the experience – the wine is fine enough. There remains fine flavour dimension in the mid-palate and a reasonable finish too.
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes |
By billn on April 27, 2013
With beouf bourguignone, a really interesting set of wines – the Thomas Frères wines coming from an undisturbed Zürich cellar. Wines were served blind…
1966 Thomas Frères, Tastevinage Cote de Nuits Villages
Pronounced, wild aromatics – you have the impression that this could be a young ‘natural’ wine. The palate is all-over the place: decently concentrated and each sip seems differently balanced to the the previous one – clean flavours though. Frankly brilliant for the age/label but sadly it was rather ignored given how good some of the others were…
1967 Thomas Frères, Fixin 1er Cos de la Perrière
This was, quite simply, the wine of the night. Beautiful aromas of fine fruit with a graphite note in the background. The palate was mineral and complex, not really showing it’s age – I may have guessed early 1980s. I wonder if Bénigne Joliet has recaptured this grand cru quality in his last vintages(?)
1968 Thomas Frères, Chassagne-Montrachet (blanc)
The wine we started with – I guessed it was a good condition late 1970s wine. Gunflint, lanolin, power rather than elegance but with great acidity and balance. Excellent.
1993 Jobard, Meursault 1er Genevrieres
Took a little while to open in the glass, but here is an elegant and rather complex wine – lovely aromatics but a very faint musty note in the mid-palate takes away the ‘excellent’ badge – merely very, very good.
1999 Vincent & Denis Berthaut, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Cazetiers
I really loved the aromatics here – I guessed it could have been a Bachelet Charmes from the nose. The palate did not deliver the best equilibrium because the acidity was not completely smooth. Because of that, it was another wine (like the 66) that was a bit unfairly ignored. I could sniff it all night though.
2002 Bart, Chambolle-Musigny Les Varoilles
Another wine that smelled gorgeous – I guessed Chambolle, but chose 2006 as the colour looked rather young. The flavour reflected the the aromas too – very excellent wine this for a villages.
2005 Pierre Morey, Meursault Tessons
I really didn’t like this to start with, the aromas were brash and boorish, I’d have guess a non-Burgundian ringer. Yet, over about 25 minutes the aromas gradually became finer and the flavour less solid. It ended up a quite drinkable but still not covetable.
2007 Comte Liger-Belair, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Chaumes
Jump out of the glass aromas that speak of Louis-Michel’s vinification but with very, very pretty raspberry and wild strawberry fruit. The palate really surprised me because it is rather more mineral and complex than is the reputation for Chaumes – lovely fine acidity too – just a beautiful wine.
2007 Morey-Coffinet, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Farendes
Young colour. The nose shouts Meursault 2010 to me – oops! It really doesn’t smell like Chassagne to me, but it does smell very, very nice indeed. The entry to the palate was frankly a bit loose / unfocused but as the wine slipped into the mid-palate it was very, very impressive with lovely intensity and something of a peacock’s tail of energy and flavour.
A great night…
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - No Chance!, Rebuy - Yes |
By billn on April 26, 2013
Ah, it’s a while since we had a video! Faiveley are producing a series of 4, and here is their first…
Posted in Other Sites |
By billn on April 23, 2013
Not sure what Dominique Lafon was focusing on, but here’s his evidence of the first budbursts in Meursault today!
Pic courtesy D.Lafon
Posted in Vintage 2013 |
