By billn on November 10, 2010
Interesting, but clearly the sub-editor didn’t realise that it went to print without the name on Grégory Patriat’s label!
Posted in Other Sites |
By billn on November 8, 2010
DOMAINE LOUIS JADOT 2009 – Subscription
SAVIGNY-LES-BEAUNE La Dominode 2009 75cl 34.00 (Swiss francs)
BEAUNE Clos des Ursules Monopole 2009 75cl 54.00
BEAUNE Clos des Ursules Monopole 2009 150cl 113.00
CORTON Grèves 2009 75cl 78.00
NUITS-SAINT-GEORGES Les Boudots 200975cl 78.00
VOSNE-ROMANEE Les Beaux-Monts 2009 75cl 89.50
VOSNE-ROMANEE Les Suchots 2009 75cl 89.50
CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY Les Baudes 2009 75cl 79.50
CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY Les Amoureuses 2009 75cl 199.50
GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN Clos Saint-Jacques 2009 75cl 109.50
CLOS DE VOUGEOT 2009 75cl 109.50
ECHEZEAUX 2009 75cl 138.00
CLOS SAINT DENIS 2009 75cl 199.00
CHAMBERTIN Clos de Bèze 2009 75cl 249.00
BONNES-MARES 2009 75cl 229.00
Comment? Pricing is mess. Let us at least start from the basis that 2009 is a very good vintage, and work from there. Savigny pricing is not cheap but ‘reasonable’, likewise the pricing of their iconic Beaune monopole leaves little real scope for complaint. Overall, there is little I can complain about in their Côte de Beaune pricing.
Côte de Nuits – oops – let us not forget that this is a subscription offer, theoretically therefore with advantageous pricing. Their premier crus are rather expensive, I assume the ridiculous price for Amoureuses simply reflects what the market will pay – and I also assume that they anyway don’t have many barrels. More pertinent, can Bonnes-Mares and Bèze really be worth double the price of their Clos de Vougeot and Echézeaux – no, clearly not. Assuming those two lower priced grand crus are not completely rubbish, I can only assume it is their pricing policy which is rubbish!
Posted in The Market |
By billn on November 6, 2010
…Mr. Engerer has been holding off on showing the Burgundy wines until now, because he wanted two years he was proud of to be bottled and ready for tasting. He brought the 2007, the first year he says he mastered, and the 2008 to Hong Kong…
I didn’t meet Mr Engerer when I visited Domaine d’Eugénie, Bordelaise über-klasse or not, I’m sure he was miss-quoted here 
(Hint; does that mean everyone who paid at least €150 per bottle of 2006 Grands-Echézeaux have bottles that Mr Engerer isn’t proud of…(?) Clearly a case of miss-quotation, probably!)
PS I see they have a shiny new website – or perhaps I should say webpage.
Posted in Other Sites |
By billn on November 5, 2010
An enforced drinking holiday right now due to seasonal sniffles…
2007 L & A Lignier, Morey St.Denis Clos Les Sionnières
This is rather a meaty and powerful villages – for a 2007 anyway. Good, frank, red fruit aromas. On the palate it shows a nice acid balance plus good impact in the mid-palate. The tannins seem a hint rustic but that’s just part of the party. On day two the package is smoother if not quite meriting the label ‘refined’ – but who is searching for refinement in villages Morey? Day three a cold intervenes, but it seems smoother still.
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2010) |
By billn on November 2, 2010
2007 Seigneurs de Bligny, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos du Chapitre
Medium colour, just. The aromatics are open sweet and just a little simple – though there is some oak derived (coconut/vanilla) complexity. Forunately there is none of the rubber oak and reduction that the 2006 eventually blew off. Here is a nice, slightly plush mouthfeel, transient sweet red (strawberry mainly) fruit before a finish that reflects the nose, plenty of vanilla flavour. Let’s be clear that this fulfills it’s primary purpose – it’s a tasty wine – I’m sure it will also improve with time, but given its position across the road from the Clos St.Jacques, I really expect a lot more. Even in 2007 and even in such relative youth!
Rebuy – Maybe
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Maybe (2010) |
By billn on November 1, 2010
It was a long hard week, so why not indulge a little?
1978 Daniel Moine-Hudelot, Musigny
Medium mahogany colour. The nose is full but round, a deep core of baked fruit coated with herbs, the fruit just gets fresher and fresher, eventually having a distinct rose-petal aroma. Silky but still a lick of bitter tannin waits in the mid-palate. There’s a lot of fruit here and it’s a big wine in the mid-palate. Good finish. Rather primary to start with, but if you’d been told blind it was from the 90s you’d believe it. Not a life-changing Musigny, but impressive given no lack of power and such a youthful display and, okay, perhaps maybe just a little beguiling.
Rebuy – No Chance
Domaine Moine-Hudelot was sold off in 2008 to Patrick Landanger of Domaine Pouse d’Or when Daniel Moine, former mayor of Chambolle-Musigny retired. The Musigny vines, however, were split (as far as I know) between domaines Leroy and Drouhin-Laroze.
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - No Chance! |
By billn on October 31, 2010
Been busy the last days but there’s still chance to look back at a few bottles, all of them showing their vintage roots. The Morey has the ripeness of the vintage but the acidity is good enough – I didn’t think the remnants of day two as good though. The Liger-Belair also bears the mark of its vintage, but that’s a different mark. Left open overnight, I was able to drink it on day two. The Corton, despite its 1997 vintage, still has that tight central core that is equally central to the wines of the hill, you could probably guess the vintage from the slightly diffuse chocolatey aromatics but there’s still enough material in the mouth to make old bones.
A couple of stories worth passing your way on a Sunday:
- Doing well that boy from Rhys
- Farmers in Pommard
Posted in Degustation, Other Sites |
By billn on October 26, 2010
I decided I’d had enough of that old wine – time for some good new stuff
2008 des Chézeaux (Ponsot), Clos St.Denis Très Vieilles Vignes
Ardea sealed and these things are frankly a pain in the arse to remove. Medium-plus purple-rimmed colour. The nose starts dense and unyielding but very quickly develops a dark macerating fruit aroma, then slowly evolves, adding dimension with beautiful high-toned berries – they take on an exquisite almost jellied dimension. I think I am in the presence of greatness – but before getting carried away, let’s taste. Silky, but it’s pure sinew and muscle, there’s not an ounce of fat. There is plenty of acidity but the flavours it helps introduce are incredibly intense and long lasting – those flavours start as essence of fruit and end as rocks. I dare say that I could really bore you with a long list of adjectives if I follow it for a couple of hours – but I only need five minutes to confirm what the nose suggested: I’m in the presence of greatness.
Rebuy – Yes
Maybe I taste too much nice stuff these days, so rarely do I find that emotional dimension – but it is here.
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2010) |
By billn on October 25, 2010
1972 Félix Clerget, Volnay Crot Martin
Medium-pale, there’s a core of bright red colour but it’s more like old mahogany at the rim. Deep, slightly dark aromas of clean soil and baked red fruit, eventually there’s a nice, quite young acid cherry. This is very silky and shows lovely acidity. The broad mid-palate flavours are sweet enough and for some reason remind me of the complexity of old Maderia, but interestingly without any overt flavours (or aromas) that indicate oxidation. Slowly the finishing flavours develop a raisin character. I must say, this bottle performed well-beyond my modest (40 year-old villages) expectation. Very good.
Rebuy – No Chance!
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - No Chance! |
By billn on October 24, 2010
2008 Seigneurs de Bligny, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Craipillots
Medium, medium-plus purple-edged colour. The aromas have a musky depth though the core of fruit shines through, above is a higher tone of faint cedar. Precociously sweet fruit has a little bitter tannin to balance, and balance it does. The acidity is very well judged too. Slowly mouth-watering in the good and mineral finish. Medium density but more than medium interest, I have to say it’s much nicer than I expected.
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2010) |
By billn on October 20, 2010
Seems we were ‘lucky’ to leave France on Saturday, perhaps a day or two later and we would have been stuck there without ‘juice’ for the car. Still, there would be worse places ‘(eh, dear reader?)’
1985 Guillemard-Dupont et Fils, Pommard
Medium colour with a touch of orange about it. The nose has width, if not depth, and showcases sweetly baked red fruit tarts. In the mouth this is very smooth though if you really search you might come up with a suggestion of tannin near the finish. The fruit in the mouth is also sweet and it’s quite enough to offset a slightly tart impression given by the acidity. This is mature and very drinkable – not significantly complex, but that’s the why its a village label.
Rebuy – Yes
Anybody know anything about the domaine? It seems it was reasonably large and based higher-up the winding road out of Pommard in Meloisey at the time of RM Parker’s 1989 book on Burgundy, but I find no trace of it now.
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2010) |
By billn on October 19, 2010
It’s a shame that you no-longer see tasting notes for wines such as these. In former, more affordable days these bottles were often fun for various get-togethers, nowadays they much more often left in the cellar…
2004 Fourrier, Griotte-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose starts with plenty of mushroom rather than the customary reduction, actually with swirling the reduction does make an appearance – a wine that needs a little air. Air dissolves the mushrooms and delivers a lovely pure red berry note, though this is also a transition to deeper, slightly darker red fruit aromas – rather primary though, as is the Griotte fashon. The well-padded palate starts quite silky though there is some bitterness to the finish, that said it’s in a bitter-chocolate style which is far from problematic. Like a number of 04s the acidity is a little elevated but that’s its position on the aging curve, nothing more. There is an interesting and very slowly emerging stony flavour in the finish. None of the disappointingly monolithic Clos St.Jacques proportions here. A very good wine that drinks quite well considering its age. Not a trace of the vintage malaise either.
Rebuy – Yes
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2010) |
