I don’t find that many things to alert you to read, but it seems that publications have been saving things up – so here you go, 3 things in one day!
2004 Louis Jadot, Beaune 1er Clos des Ursules
I bought a six-pack on release – this was awful young – how about now?
Deep colour. The nose is a little wild – but deep – a little peanut (old pyrazine) and a darker fruit. Honestly hard to like. Plenty of volume in the mouth, dark fruited but quite a rustic acid/tannin thing going on – dark flavour though nothing particularly endearing. I might be some time looking for the positives – perhaps another 5 years!
Rebuy – No
2014 Goisot, Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre Corps de Garde
Having just visited the domaine, I see this in Beaune’s Athenaeum for a ‘mere’ €19. Why not indeed!
The nose starts with a little biscuity reduction, slowly, slowly fading and offering up dark red fruit. A direct wine to start, very silky textured, the flavour slowly radiating out in slightly creamy finishing waves. This is getting better and better with air but only very slowly. I decide to decant. The nose opens up very well, and shortly behind the palate begins to open too. This is off-ripe – i.e., you shouldn’t expect to enjoy it next to an 09, 15 or 16 – but it looked quite good next to the Jadot 🙂
Rebuy – Maybe
A short first week in Chablis, but there’s two more weeks (plus a bit) to come. Here my first ‘rogues’ galley and already it’s clear that 2016 in Chablis is a fascinating vintage – already three distinct styles – and that’s with only 10 of 60 visits done!
Now recharging the batteries in Beaune for the weekend – cheers!
Beaujolais En Primeur – And from a wine merchant to the Queen too.
For a region that has, for too long, been unfairly ignored this seems like something of a breakthrough. I well remember the first Burgundy En Primeur that BB&R ran – for the 1996 vintage – I bought two cases. Those were very different times, BB&R opting out of doing the same for the 1997s as they thought the quality of the vintage didn’t warrant the effort – nobody would dare to do (say!) that today!
But it’s also possible to be critical of their BJ offer:
– Only 13 options – at release.
– Only one domaine that’s actually from Beaujolais too – and Olivier Merlin excepted, all the rest are long-term suppliers to this merchant from the Côte d‘Or.
But you have to start somewhere, and maybe next year they will have a little more imagination!
*In Case You Missed it…
My favourite short sketch: The General…
[winemaker 1]You know, we have have a pet-name for winemaker 2, we call him the General…
[me]And why do you call him the General?
[winemaker 1]Because he puts all the medals he wins on the labels of his bottles…
[winemaker 2]Not all of my medals (winks!)
My favourite quotes:
“And it’s even cheaper in the southern Beaujolais, where granite gives way to golden limestone. The Burgundians are there, too, less because of gamay than to plant pinot noir and chardonnay. Also because the wines can be labeled “Bourgogne” or “Coteaux Bourguignons,” which is to say that the south Beaujolais stands to become for vineyard-starved Burgundy what Entre-Deux-Mers became for Bordeaux: a factory for cheap knockoffs.”
Jon Bonné, here.
“It tasted, or so I imagined, like a muddy truffle that had been dug up moments earlier by a specially trained pig.”
Anne Fadiman on Haut-Brion – here.
My most memorable wines of 2017 – the magnificent 7:
2015 Paul Janin, Moulin à Vent Les Greneriers
1999 Leroy, Savigny 1er Les Narbantons
1997 Lamarche, La Grande Rue
1997 Nicolas Potel, Echézeaux
2016 PYCM, Corton-Charlemagne
1996 Roulot, Meursault Les Luchets
1995 Pinson, Chablis 1er Montmains…
Best Beaujolais Bike-Ride
Link
How to both end 2017 and start 2018? I think I’ll ‘uncork’ some 2002s…
2002 Domaine des Varoilles, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos des Varoilles
Deep, some impression of dark oak, herb and eventually a silky dark fruit. Ooh, this has a lovely impact in the mouth – super volume combined with freshness – almost a vibration of acidity – but never sharp. The mid-palate has quite high-toned, almost floral, fruit. An energetic, bold and tasty wine. Not silken, but that’s its character. Lovely wine that is probably entering an early period of semi-maturity. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes
2002 Hudelot-Noellat, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
This starts with a weight of sous-bois aroma – just a little sweeter and more complex than the Varoilles. Very similar in the mouth to the Varoilles in terms of both volume and freshness, possibly less fine textured but with more mid and finishing complexity. Less finishing weight but a little extra complexity. The cloth is cut the same for these two wines, but the pattern is modestly different. Also yum, and just a little nicer today – but both are fine.
Rebuy – Yes
2002 Bouchard Père et Fils, Beaune 1er du Chateau
The nose starts a little lactic, but already with just 2 minutes of air this is singing with pure red fruits, and almost a spruce/blood-red fruit. Nice round shape in the mouth, no hard edges and a slowly melting flavour of sucrosity and friendliness. Oh – this is easily the most delicious of these three wines, so far. Yum, yum, yum!
Rebuy – Yes
2002 Louis Jadot, Vosne-Romanée 1er Petits Monts
Deep coloured. The nose is the same – deep – nicely spiced almost mulled dark but fresh fruit. Nicely textured – more silk than velvet – fresh and intense. Pretty wine of good depth of flavour. Less seriously structured than either the Suchots or Varoilles but more delicious than either of those two, but with a distinguished mid and finishing flavour. Very nice!
Rebuy – Yes
The Beaune remains the wine to drink with the most pleasure today – admittedly something of a surprise! – but there’s nothing here that can’t be revisited with pleasure – it seems that there’s nothing scary about approaching 2002s right now – at least at 1er Cru level. These four provided a great start to 2018…
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