No it isn’t the 1st of April:
One recent, newsworthy project has been the identification of a compound responsible for pepperiness in Australian Shiraz. Called rotundone, it is found in lots of herbs and vegetables, and it’s incredibly potent. For example, just 5 mls of rotundone would be enough to make all wine in Australia taste spicy.
Rotundone. Dr Jamie Goode
The nose doesn’t lie.
When you smell something it passes straight into the brain without any intermediate processing. Unlike vision or hearing, olfaction is unmediated. It’s the real thing, and it works both ways: just as a scent on the air can take us back in time instantaneously and so often overwhelmingly as to be disorienting, so memory can recall smells we have conciously forgotten…
Comrades, Michael Bywater. Granta | 104
Some changes may be obvious, others less-so. I’ve updated the database for the NoteFinder, so 2,800+ notes are now available; of which over 600 are from the 2007/2006 vintages. Performance should have improved too – it was more than a bit flaky of recent – but it turned out to be because of so many ‘concurrent users’ soaking up the available RAM – or some such. Anyway, apparently I have more rams now!
More obvious is the new design – looks not perfect in IExplorer 6, but the 12% of visitors will have to suffer for a better view for the 88%. As previously mentioned, unlike me, it is much cleverer under the skin than before. Currently it mostly works too! I shall be ironing out the odd hiccup over the next days.
Clichés, Eric Asimov. NY Times
When last in Nuits I mentioned I had this wine the cellar and was informed by the Potel-team that I should probably open it as they had problems with the corks and 50% of the bottles were off. I had but one in the cellar so decided to pop the cork – it looked and smelled fine…
1998 Nicolas Potel, Romanée St.Vivant
Double-decanted, poured after an hour. Plenty of lumpy sediment but no fine stuff to cloud things. The nose needs another 30 minutes to open, but it becomes wide and very Vosne; spicy, leafy, somehow ‘warm’ and textured smelling – overall it’s very good though not necessarily better than a (very) good 1er cru. The acidity is slightly forward – though not excessive – no harsh or astringent tannin, just a latent velvet edge. The flavours are a little tart but there’s a slowly deepening intensity in the mid-palate and a width that’s faintly cream-edged. Very good, if not great length. There is no primary fruit here, but it’s a wine that I would leave for at least another 5 or 6 in the cellar. It’s a reasonable grand cru, but today it’s far from a great RSV. This experience was not spoiled by the cork, only by opening the bottle at least 5 years too early…
Rebuy – No regardless of quality, it’s clearly a ‘no’ given the 50% cork lottery.
I ‘know’ the name of this producer, but I’ve no idea of the context of that knowledge as I’ve no wines from the domaine in my cellar – time to start learning I suppose…
2006 Jean-Marc Bouley, Beaune 1er Les Reversées
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose starts with a waft of dark and slightly toasty oak – it’s there in the depth too – I suspect that this may not lift. I was wrong, already within 15 minutes virtually all traces of dark oak are consigned to history, what replaces it is beautiful, slightly creamy red fruit – from heights to depths it’s lovely. The palate is, relative to the nose, ‘merely’ good. There is slightly forward acidity coupled to red cherry-fruit that leaves me with the impression that it could have done with half a degree more ripeness – that said it makes for an interesting and ‘edgy’ personality. This reminds me a little of some 2001s in their youth – no bad thing that. I enjoyed it, but can’t decide whether it would be better to drink now or wait 7-10 years. On reflection I would wait – there are other wines that offer a rounder performance today.
Rebuy – Yes
Anne-Claude Leflaive with Bert
The occasional thing may seem a bit ‘flakey’ around here and maybe for the next few days as I (piece-by-piece) update the site’s structure.
A slightly different design which currently looks okay in internet explorer (7) but is less than perfect in Firefox, I expect it will be about 2 weeks before everything is bedded in. Unlike me, this is much cleverer under the surface! Hopefully it doesn’t break too often!
PS – did I mention the Summer Burgundy Report will go live sometime this evening…(?)
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