And I thought he wasn’t an engineer…

2005 Roger Belland, Santenay 1er Commes
A cork amalgum seal. Richly coloured. A super nose - immediately dark and wide with a faint twist of dark oak, then in an instant has lovely red-edged fruit and a dried cranberry note - yum. The palate is actually much more acid-forward than when tasted in November - it’s a harder drink now. I chose to leave it stoppered for 2 days (actually I didn’t plan 2 days, but I was ‘out’ the following night!); on the third day the aromatics still deliver with just a hint of lactic but very nice - more importantly the balance on the tongue has improved a lot. This was a good buy, but will really need at least 8-10 years of slumber.
Rebuy - Yes

I recently made a few Beaujolais suggestions here. It appears from the ‘complaint’ below, that rather than recover their position and take a forward-looking view, they would rather wither and die…

Jean-Paul Brun’s Beautiful 2007 Beaujolais l’Ancienne Denied the AOC Beaujolais! Can you imagine the stupidity!

“Jean-Paul Brun just learned that 5,222 cases of Beaujolais l’ Ancienne 2007 have been deemed as being atypical by the French wine police. I’ve enjoyed a bunch of these bottles. They are fruity and elegant and a true pleasure to drink. So what’s wrong?

They were not made with the miserable thermo vinification technique that Georges Duboeuf and the Beaujolais Establishment has decided is typical. The wine was not made with enzymes and cultured years but comes only from what the earth and the vine brought into the bottle. It was not made at high yields or high chaptalization, but is a real and natural wine.”

Note for balance that I’ve never tasted the wine concerned, it’s not confirmed exactly WHY the wine was denied AOC, the ‘targets’ are easy ones, and the story is from an importer who has a financial interest, but that said, this still sounds rather bad. Full story here.

Today, another offer to ‘pass on’:

Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé 2006

CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY 75cl 99.50 Swiss Francs
CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY 1er Cru 75cl 189.00
CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY Les Amoureuses 75cl 398.00
BONNES-MARES 75cl 398.00
MUSIGNY Vieilles Vignes 75cl 498.00

Villages wines for 100 francs - I ask you…

With advertising like these, I assumed ‘A bela Sintra‘ was a Brazilian winery - actually seems an upmarket restaurant. I still like the pics

Summer tried to dip its toe in the water this weekend - it looked a little like summer and it was pretty much the right time of the year - but the shorts stayed in their cupboard! Today it also looks like summer, but my jacket remains on - so far.

Chickening out of firing-up the barbecue doesn’t mean it was a completely abstemious weekend though, an eclectic mix of wines were consumed by self and and various house-guests. In the main, I make no formal tasting note, but one looks like it may need drinking up…
2004 Rolly Gasssmann, Sylvaner
2000 Méo-Camuzet, Hautes Côtes de Nuits Clos Saint Philibert
Although still a young colour and with aromatics to match, there are two things in the glass - acidity and sweetness - but they are totally separate entities and seem to be heading of in separate directions - I would drink these up.
2005 Bouchard Père et Fils, Chablis Bougros
2005 David Duband, Hautes Côtes de Nuits Cuvée Louis Auguste
Medium-plus colour. A generally glossy and understated wine - very well made, but not the ultimate in concentration - at least not versus the vintage standard. Nothing to really criticise though - was good.
1998 Penfolds St.Henri Shiraz
1997 Château Lynch Moussas
2000 Pirramimma Petit Verdot

Looks like the sun will anyway hold for the next days - methinks I will have to dust off a few ‘blancs’…

From the third weekend in March, until the third weekend in November there is a new place in Gevrey-Chambertin where you can enjoy food with a selection of domaine wines. Just like Olivier Leflaive’s place in Puligny-Montrachet, those anti-fashionistas at Domaine Pierre Bourée now offer a choice of degustation menus:

Actually the food remains rather constant - it’s the number of wines that you will be charged for. I hope to try it out in two weeks time…

I almost forgot, if you’d like to book it’s open daily from 11-4pm (except Sundays):
40 Route de Beaune
21220 Gevrey-Chambertin
+33 (0)3 80 34 13 97
mail: latabledupierrebouree at orange.fr
site: www.pierre-bouree-fils.com

2006 Jean-Pierre Charton, Mercurey 1er Clos du Roy
A good medium-plus colour. High-toned, faintly blue fruit aromas that slowly take on more width. Cool, high-toned, but slightly black-shaded fruit. Forward acidity and minimal tannin. Fresh, medium-weight and very well made - I’d leave this in the cellar for another 2-3 years, but has a lovely freshness now…
Rebuy - Yes

Just SO…

The functional elegance of this rarefied speak is uniquely captured in one of its most inconspicuous words: “so.” This isn’t “so” the intensifier (”so expensive”); it’s not the “so” that joins two clauses. This is the “so” that introduces a sentence, as in “So as we can see, modified Newtonian dynamics cannot account for the rotation of any of the three observed galaxies.”

Plenty of expensive offers around right now, many are for 2007’s already, but here’s one today for 2006 that I passed on:

COMTES LAFON 2006

18 MEURSAULT 75cl 109.50 Swiss Francs
24 MEURSAULT Clos de la Barre 75cl 119.50
6 MEURSAULT 1er cru Goutte d’Or 75cl 198.00
9 MEURSAULT 1er cru Charmes 75cl 219.00
2 MEURSAULT 1er cru Perrières 75cl 249.00
2 MONTRACHET 75cl 1195.00

1ers and ‘the big one’ can only be bought with village wines. I haven’t checked the holdings, but interesting that the Perrières seems to be ‘allocated’ on the same level as the Montrachet…

Ah, a warm weekend at last. So warm in fact that the vine in my garden started to burst its buds; that’s about five weeks later than the precocious Spring of 2007 - likewise it’s a more ‘normal’ Spring-time in the Côte d’Or - I’m looking forward to visiting in 2 weeks.

Did I mention it was warm? - Better open up something white…
2001 La Buxynoise, Montagny 1er
Eleve en fûts de chêne in bold type on the label. Medium yellow colour. A subtle and quite sophisticated nose that has very faint brioche and very nice yellow-skinned citrus fruit. In the mouth it’s round and soft but with super acidity that leaves the flavour lingering. Great value, I could drink this all summer long, alfresco…
Rebuy - Yes
The acidity seems a little more shrill on day 2 - so drink on day 1

Clearly the 2005 bourgognes have spoiled us - intermediate age wines like these wither in the shadow of those 05’s - but like the recent Côte de Chalonaise, these really need to be judged in about another 3-5+ years time when they have started to show some more maturity.
2001 Ghislaine Barthod, Bourgogne
Medium colour. A soft red fruit nose with a faint cedar top note, slowly develops more density to the red core and eventually a little redcurrant. Well textured with plenty of forward fruit and again a faint edge of cedar - but at this level it’s additive - I do though find the overall profile slightly jammy. A simple but balanced and quite tasty luncheon bourgogne that never quite gets the pulse increasing.
Rebuy - Maybe
2002 Ghislaine Barthod, Bourgogne
Just a little darker in colour. The nose goes darker and deeper; a hint riper and no cedar but clearly a few diffuse alcoholic overtones. In the mouth it’s fuller with an edge more tannin and acidity that is slightly tart - it’s not a problem, just it’s personality. On the back of the acidity is a little burst of intensity on the mid-palate before fading into the finish. Less smooth than the 2001 but more material. I look forward to making another comparison in a few years.
Rebuy - Maybe

2005 des Varoilles, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos des Varoilles
Medium-plus colour. The nose starts with a wild brambly black fruit - slowly goes deeper with faint caramel. Wide and intense - again with dark-hued fruit. Reasonably well-packaged tannin and very good length though the tannin resurfaces here. It’s still brusque and bruising in its intensity so will need a few years in the cellar - but I will buy a few for the ride.
Rebuy - Yes

2002 Joseph Voillot, Pommard 1er Les Rugiens
Medium colour. Initially the nose is tight and thin, 10 minutes brings a savoury depth and faintly floral width. In the mouth it’s a narrow entry, the defining feature of this wine is it’s acidity - it’s slightly forward, but everything flows from it - soft texture and lovely expansion in the mid-palate before an impressively lingering finish. My kind-a wine.
Rebuy - Yes

I know that for years I must have been unlucky, but finally, a Barthod that impresses me! I wouldn’t propose that you drink it now, but…
2002 Ghislaine Barthod, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Fuées
Medium-plus colour. A heavily perfumed nose, high floral tones and low tones of good fruity depth - takes quite some time to take on a modicum of elegance. In the mouth it’s about balanced intensity - almost like the Bonnes-Mares which it borders. Deep red fruit, covered tannins and good acidity bubbling below the surface. It took a little time for me to warm to it but I really savoured those last drops. Leave it at least 5 years in the cellar as it’s close to grand cru quality.
Rebuy - Yes

PLUS: Showcasing Beaujolais