some weekend wines – week 26 2020

By billn on June 29, 2020 #degustation

weekend wines week 26-2020

Ignoring the corked Vosne that came before the crumbly-corked Savigny, a super selection of wines here – lots of personality and deliciousness too!

2018 Marcel Couturier, Pouilly-Fuissé Les Scellés
Cork-sealed – no branding on the cork.
A lovely and energetic nose that mixes some floral perfume and a suggestion of minerality – that’s a lovely invitation to take a sip. The merest suggestion of gas on the palate and an energy that matches that of the nose. Sweetly mineral – and delicious too – bursting with extra finishing flavour. A delicious treat
Rebuy – Yes

Boisset 2005 Jarrons cork2005 JC Boisset, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Hautes Jarrons
What an awful cork – simply crumbling through the middle. Thankfully without adding insult to injury – it hadn’t tainted the wine.
Plenty of colour. Here’s a nose of depth, of complexity – even a little blood to bind with the forest floor of dried leaves – this has a suggestion of hardness too, but there’s no lacking of attractive complexity. The entry is a little modest for a 2005 but here is a wine that expands wider and wider over the palate, taking its time to show that the intrinsic concentration is good. Balanced, complex and entertaining, but for my taste still a little young today – certainly drink their 06 Monts Luisants (below) in preference to this today – and I hope you get a better cork than mine.
Rebuy – Yes

2018 Clavelier, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Les Acacias
A DIAM-sealed wine.
A floral nose – auto-suggestion acacia! There’s a little oak too – contributing not just to the aromas but perhaps to the silky texture too. Not just silky, there is a fine level of both minerality and energy here – I like the line of this wine, but would wait for the oak to fade – or perhaps decant half an hour before drinking. This is super 2018 – highly recommended so-long that you are not too oak-averse.
Rebuy – Yes

2018 Sébastien Dampt, Chablis 1er Les Beugnons
Another wine that’s sealed with DIAM – a little black wax to top the bottle too.
A deep nose, quite mineral too – almost in a reductive register. Like the nose, there’s lots of depth to this mineral flavoured wine, a wine that slowly expands to fill all the space that it can find. Super, and a rare 2018 Chablis that will obviously benefit from extra cellar time.
Rebuy – Yes

2006 JC Boisset, Morey St.Denis 1er Monts Luisants
This time the cork stayed intact
Not much more than medium colour, but what a beautiful, floral, perfumed nose – reminding of whole-cluster perfume – it’s a beauty! The perfume on the nose is a strong part of the flavour profile too. Fine balance, lovely acidity – a certain sweetness of fruit too – and whilst this wine really doesn’t lack concentration, it has a wonderfully ethereal quality. Just a brilliant wine – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

corks – as always

By billn on June 28, 2020 #seals (not the furry kind)

corked and not corked

Having opened the wine of the Comtesse (de Vazeilles) at the end of last week, I thought why not take in the wine of the Comte (Liger-Belair) to start my weekend(?) – You can see that it is the small things that amuse me!

Clearly one of these producers had paid quite a bit more for their seal – but to no avail – the 2013 Vosne was corked. Not strongly corked, but a little more than liégeux as the French would describe ‘faintly detectably corked.‘ I’d rather be talking about the wine – which for the record was a little reductive – but in this case (comparison) it was the cheaper seal that did the job…

When in doubt, Beaujolais…

By billn on June 25, 2020 #degustation

Bachelards Fleurie

It was a saying that I picked up on yesterday, and thought ‘why not?!

2014 Château des Bachelards, Fleurie
DIAM5 sealed.
Still a young colour – with hints of purple. The nose – now that’s super – very fine cherry-style fruit but there’s more, a graphite-style of minerality too that sometimes hints of cigar tobacco – very pure and not the faintest suggestion of the development that I’m seeing in many 15s, 16s and even some 2017s already! Not a wine of big impact but certainly one with width to the flavour and a growing intensity to that flavour too. Oh – did I mention that it’s a delicious flavour? And growing a little of that graphite complexity in the floral-accented finish too. A pure but complex baby wine – you can keep it for years – even the nose seems to become more perfumed in the glass. Great Fleurie – yes it does exist!
Rebuy – Yes

offer of the day – clos de tart 2018

By billn on June 24, 2020 #the market

WP_20141101_011

I never did see an offer for the 2015s. Today, here are the 2018s and you can compare to the 2017 & 2016 prices which are in the brackets. The new owners are never going to get their €300 million back with only a 50 francs per bottle price increase, are they(?)! 🙂

Clos de Tart Grand Cru 2018 75cl 498.00, (498.00, 448.00)* Swiss francs
Clos de Tart Grand Cru 2018 150cl 1,050.00 (1,026.00, 926.00)
Clos de Tart Grand Cru 2018 300cl 2,300 (2,2042, 2,042.00)
La Forge de Tart 1er Cru 2018 75cl 189.00 (169.00, 188.00)

Additionally, there are some ‘library releases’:
Clos de Tart Grand Cru (Library Release) 1996 75cl 498.00
Clos de Tart Grand Cru (Library Release) 1996 150cl 1’198.00
Clos de Tart Grand Cru (Library Release) 2002 75cl 558.00
Clos de Tart Grand Cru (Library Release) 2005 150cl 1,450.00
Clos de Tart Grand Cru (Library Release) 2006 75cl 448.00
Clos de Tart Grand Cru (Library Release) 2006 150cl 926.00
Clos de Tart Grand Cru (Library Release) 2009 75cl 598.00
La Forge de Tart 1er Cru 2007 75cl 148.00
La Forge de Tart 1er Cru 2011 75cl 135.00
La Forge de Tart 1er Cru 2014 75cl 169.00

* Including delivery, but not including Swiss purchase tax of 7.7%

20 years of wine in the last days…

By billn on June 23, 2020 #degustation

Two wines, 20 years apart…

2018 Savigny-lès-Beaune Clos des Godeaux
Diam5-sealed.
A wine with a tight-ish, quite modest, yet inviting nose. This moves well over the palate with both citrus and mineral – then the impression of a little oak flavour in the finish – I’d probably wait another 6-12 months so that it fades more into the background. It has a super finish though. Excellent.
Rebuy – Yes

1998 Hudelot-Noellat, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
The cork comes out in one piece – wine-saturated through about 40% of its length.
Oh-yes! Now that’s a very attractive nose indeed – wide, complex, very Vosne and such a great invitation. Clean, wide, deliciously flavoured – not even a suggestion of the terrible young tannins of the vintage. Graceful wine, without lacking depth or energy and clearly beautifully made – a quarter of the bottle was left in the fridge, only to be rescued 4 days later – and not a hint of brett, oxidation or other unwelcome guests – less precise for sure but still completely drinkable. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

at last…

By billn on June 20, 2020 #degustation#picture gallery#reports#travels in burgundy 2020

domaines week number 21 2020

I’ve only missed 12 weeks of being able to visit producers, but to be honest, it has seemed longer.

My thanks – of course – to the domaines that had the time to see me this week – they will all be in my June report. I’m planning to be ‘en place‘ for a few days every other week, and there are always many more people worth paying a visit to!

text of the day – a biodynamic critique…

By billn on June 14, 2020 #a bit of science#warning - opinion!

The problem with biodynamics: myths, quacks and pseudoscience
Linked here

A post (above) that’s worth spending a little time over.

I try to avoid discussing Steiner, the man, for exactly the reasons that this author has enunciated. I do believe that there are some aspects of (let me shorten it to) ‘BD’ that, perhaps, science has yet to catch up with, but I wholeheartedly concede that the general critique levelled by Joshua is incontrovertible.

There were great wines before biodynamics – even in the ‘chemical era’ of the 1960s-1990s – though far fewer than today. I believe that organic approaches to viticulture have improved sustainable grape production radically. How much of that is down to BD is a moot point, certainly far, far, less than the recent benevolence of the climate and wine pricing that allows producers to experiment and not always aim for the highest allowed yields.

The ‘DRC Fallacy’ is something of a given, as one should note that not all great farmers are great winemakers – and vice-versa – the great names (labels) happen to combine both aspects. Save for certain ‘hard to explain’ rituals (including burials!) BD is essentially very close to organic farming. For that reason alone, I’m quite happy that more and more people are taking note. That’s possibly my philosophical side speaking but from the perspective of intellectual rigour…

saturday wines…

By billn on June 13, 2020 #degustation

guyon chambolle boisset auxey2010 Jean-Claude Boisset, Auxey-Duresses Les Crais
I’d quite forgotten I had these – two were found while ‘rooting’ for other stuff. The cork is a good one.
Hmm – now that’s quite a deep colour – that said, it’s one of those that inexplicably lightens in colour with more aeration(?) The nose has butterscotch and a suggestion of caramel, deep fruit but no citrus zing, though slowly becomes a little floral. Beautiful shape in the mouth; there’s the butterscotch flavour too, but the clarity and lightness of fine acidity and minerality make this excellent. Certainly some age, but despite the colour there’s no hint of oxidation. Not a big finish, but a fine and mouthwatering one. This is excellent – and I would also say ‘ready!’
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Antonin Guyon, Chambolle-Musigny Clos du Village
Monopole – but a different one to that of Felettig – pff! Burgundy! A spongy, pliable cork – but with no ingress of wine and it comes out in one piece.
For the first couple of minutes, there’s a funky depth to this nose – but not enough to disguise the excitement. With air this is gorgeously perfumed – cliché Chambolle-Musigny – so floral and so attractive – yes! In the mouth, full of energy – but no fat – ingraining flavour and super energy. This is a wine that you could easily enjoy for 10 more years – I hope to do exactly that – but today it is simply top-class villages – you’d be happy with a grand cru showing like this. I instantly ordered a case of 12 (remember those?) of this when I tasted it from barrel – I thought quite expensive at the time – about €220 – but I’m more than happy with the result.
Rebuy – Oh yes!

this week’s mid-weekers

By billn on June 12, 2020 #degustation

pouilly-irancy

The Pouilly was delivered after my last report went online – so a note for you here.

2018 Ferraud, Pouilly-Fuissé L’Entreroches
A decent cork used as a seal – not domaine branded.
The nose starts with a little reduction, possibly oak – but backed with a decent freshness. Some time in the glass and the reductive element is gone and the citrus, faintly saline, is centre-stage. I like the cut, the line, of this wine, it’s incisive and very well balanced. There’s a little richness at the end of the palate where there’s also a little more visible, mineral, structure – but the perfumed flavour is excellent. This will benefit from a little patience, but it remains a very good wine from a very good Pouilly-Fuissé vintage.
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Maison la Chapelle, Irancy
A good Trescases cork – Gregory doesn’t much like the industrial concept/ethos of DIAM.
Lots of colour – in 2017 the Irancys with so much colour usually got that from their césar – but there’s none of that in here. Ouch, I don’t remember this when tasted a couple of years ago, but here’s an almost painful depth of pyrazine aroma – it’s fully visible in the flavours too. I really didn’t like my first glass. Aeration massively diminishes the component and the wine becomes quite enjoyable. Decant for sure if you are sensitive to pyrazines.
Rebuy – No

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