2007 Domaine Vrignaud, Chablis 1er La Fourchaume

2007 Domaine Vrignaud, Chablis 1er Fourchaume
Pale yellow. Faintly citrus over an even fainter sweet core of yellow fruit. Nice freshness that’s emphasised by the citrus acidity. Not a really concentrated nor intense effort but there is a hint of salty seashore in the mid-palate and the bottle was finished in double-quick time on a balmy evening. Despite the intensity being more on a par with a good villages wine, this is quite pretty and still seems good value.
Rebuy – Maybe

CLOS DE TART Grand Cru

CLOS DE TART Grand Cru 2004 75cl 198.00 (Swiss francs)
CLOS DE TART Grand Cru 2005 75cl 389.00
CLOS DE TART Grand Cru 2006 75cl 329.00

LA FORGE DE TART 2007 75cl 159.80

CLOS DE TART Grand Cru 2007 75cl 299.50
CLOS DE TART Grand Cru 2007 150cl 629.00
CLOS DE TART Grand Cru 2007 300cl 1398.00

Hmmm. No-one in my street will be waiting in line to buy…

2007 Michel Bouzereau, Meursault Les Grands Charrons

2007 Michel Bouzereau, Meursault Les Grands Charrons
Medium-pale yellow. The nose starts a little diffuse. In the mouth it’s very fresh but seems overly dilute – I think it’s too cold – let’s wait for the contents of the glass to warm a little. Warmer, the nose is a little tighter though offers slightly sherbert-style fruit aromas. In the mouth it’s gained a surprising amount of fat – this now quite good – slowly lingering in the finish. Quite pretty, fresh and clean – it’s tasty, but it says Meursault on the label and much as I enjoyed it, I’m torn as to whether I see that level of performance.
Rebuy – Maybe

I was recently searching for something-or-other and came across a very different Big Red Diary. Clearly it is run, since 2005, by a red-headed lady – I’ll make no other assumptions in respect of the word ‘big’ – anyway, zero complaints from me! But that got me wondering how many other ‘BRDs’ there could be “out there…”

Not many it seems (though ‘Red Diary’ is more common) except for one interesting piece of social history; an old publication of that name designed by one David Wild in 1973 for Pluto Press, a publisher of radical political pamphlets and books – who still seem to be going strong. According to the official Pluto Press web-page:

“Pluto Press has always had a radical political agenda. Founded in 1969 as a publishing arm of International Socialism, the forerunner of the Socialist Workers Party in the UK, in 1979 we broke with this political affiliation and became truly independent. Today, we represent authors from a wide range of progressive political viewpoints. With over 550 titles in print, Pluto Press is one of the world’s leading radical book publishers. We publish more than 70 new titles each year.”

I didn’t know the history when I appropriated the ‘Big Red Diary’ name, and it seems that ‘red’ mainly stood for something else in the 1970s – though depending on where you live, times have mainly moved on! I found a few old cover-pages of the ‘original’ Red Diary that you might be interested to see. If there are any staunch socialists out there with a penchant for burgundy, then please do send me some scans from any ‘missing’ years that you may still have…

Summer has appeared – with a vengeance. I was in the Côtes yesterday, and the temperature peaked just over 34°C in the latter half of the afternoon – today it was 35°. It’s the first really warm spell of the year, the last weeks were ‘average’ as far as temperature went; say 25°C.

Things are moving apace though; a few weeks back it looked like harvesting would be September 10-20th, but current indications (that don’t account for a dark July or August) would suggest September 5th-15th. Not quite another August vintage, but pretty close!

There is a litlle humidity that goes with the heatwave, but at least there is some relief amongst growers that projected storms didn’t fully materialise about 2 weeks ago. Many were the growers, out patrolling their vines at about 5am one week; I’m not sure what they would have done if the forecasters had been more accurate – turn the hail away in a Canute-esque way(?)

2005 Maillard Père et Fils, Beaune

I’ve had a good run of ‘upper-end’ bottles, so now it’s time to have a modest week or maybe even two! I’ve not had a wine from this domaine before, and the label is not that inviting – it reminds me of bottles on supermarket shelves, but let’s see…

2005 Maillard Père et Fils, Beaune
Medium-plus colour. The nose starts with sweet, toasty caramel oak and some associated savoury notes – over time it has a more floral, violets dimension. Sweet fruit with glinting acidity – it’s a nice balance – the tannin of the backbone has depth but is fine and ripe. Relatively linear in the mid-palate – I’m not sure if that’s because it’s tight or because I just finished a Griottes! Well-made and tasty wine.
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Frédéric Esmonin, Griottes-Chambertin

Did I mention there was also a Griotte to open? – well, it’s so long since I opened the Fourrier! Now I should also correct myself; Esmonin was one of the rare bottlers to say ‘Griottes’ rather than Griotte!

An interesting trio these 99 Esmonins; the Mazy was smooth but full of concentration, power and not a little tension. The Ruchottes was equally smooth but of a lower order of concentration and showing a little oak – then there’s the Griottes which (frankly) far from met expectations; perhaps technically a less good wine than the Mazy, but from a character perspective, the best of the three – now you don’t often get to say that about Griotte(s)!

1999 Frédéric Esmonin, Griottes-Chambertin
Medium, medium-plus colour – still with a little cherry-red shimmer. The nose has a mineral, earthy edge before swirling releases dried currant fruits, finally lovely red berry fruit – even hints of raspberry – hmmm. Intense concentration abetted by perfect acidity. The tannin is is just a little more than ‘background’, and certainly has an astringent edge. I’m bowled over – a Griotte with real character and a little extra dimension in the mid-palate – a Gevrey dimension at that. Chalk and cheese versus the 02 Fourrier – today I’d much, much rather drink this. Character is king…
Rebuy – Yes

For sure it’s cheaper than the previous Puligny, but is it me – or does €75,000 sound rather a lot for 0.4 of an acre?
Anyway:

• 3,94 ouvrées plantées en cépage Pinot Noir
• Age de la vigne : environ 40 ans
• Situation : Belle exposition sud-est
• Vigne présentant un bel état général

Good luck with your bids!

This is quite a big book – not quite a coffee-table book, but close to 400 pages that have weighed down my laptop bag for 5 months or so.

5 months?

Well, it’s a book that you can dip into, returning after 2 weeks absence is no loss…

Frankly, I was expecting great things – it was the fault of the first page and a half, the preface, it left me with a level of writing expectation that was met only patchily throughout those 400 pages.

Wine is first and foremost a social game; only secondarily an interest like music or collecting. It is about human relations, hospitality, bonding, ritual…

And what an ‘interesting’ approach Hugh has taken for his book; A tour through ‘how did I get here?’ followed by bubbly, white wine, red wine and sweet wine; yet gardens, fish eating and sailing are liberally interspersed throughout the text. I was particularly bemused by the fish ’section’ though I suppose we were within the ‘white wine’ chapter!

You will eventually come across a ‘critique’ of the influence of one RM Parker; paraphrasing, Hugh thinks scores irrelevant to him, but is concerned that wines are now very often made with scores/tasting in mind, rather than drinking. A fair point, but one that is easily countered for the vast majority of buyers with significantly higher average quality at medium and lower price-points – buyers who may be less interested in micro-oxygenation or the amount and type of new oak in a Grand Cru Classé…

If Hugh’s grape tastes appear rather catholic – Cabernet and Riesling seem to be his mainstays – there is nothing catholic about where he takes his wine from; USA, Chile, Australia even the Languedoc(!) – and that’s just cabernet.

I find it hard to get worked up about the book, it’s far from a ‘must read’, but even when taking your time, it’s a satisfying read – should that be the equivalent of the commercial kiss of death that is ‘only’ 89 points? Hugh seems a decent ‘bloke’ who tells a decent tale, but in the end, no rocket science here.

I have to be honest, this really made me laugh over my morning coffee – childish I know!

Anna Sério, whose Italissima event is being held throughout the week in the grounds of a hotel by the lake close to the fair told decanter.com that she was injured in a confrontation with Vinexpo marketing director Jean-Francois Ley.

Any publicity is good publicity right?

Lighting?
Are you building or specifying a super-cool new cellar project? Do you want to stand out from the croud with their passé LED lighting?

If so, I have the lighting for you: Designer, Guillaume Delvigne’s (with a name like that, what did you expect?) blown glass and Corian ‘Campagne‘ light.

Now, wouldn’t that look great in all the nooks and crannies of your hand-made hardwood slots?
(Just for the record, my cellar is concrete and full of boxes…)

1999 Frédéric Esmonin, Ruchottes-Chambertin
Medium, medium-plus colour – paler than the Mazy. The nose starts quite dark and oaky – some dark toast notes that take at least 30 minutes to lift. Redder, less dense fruit is the result, though the dark oak slowly turns to make a nice coffee ‘coating’. Nicely balanced concentration with background velvet tannin. Truth be told it has more of a 1er cru weight, the only distinct grand cru element is the mid-palate flavour – pretty red fruit with a distinct creamy edge and excellent length. Some distance behind the quality of the Mazy, and there are probably better premier crus, but they will cost more than this bottle – value has always been the watchword on the Esmonin GCs, and there is plenty of value in this bottle.
Rebuy – Yes
[Next stop the 99 Griotte - I just had to do it!]