Entries from 2019

2018 – it’s not your father’s burgundy…

By billn on December 02, 2019 #degustation#reports

Dominique Gallois
My white report will be out in not much more than a week, covering over 40 domaines’ wines and the white vintage assessed in detail.

But here’s a weekend red – my first bottled 2018 red burgundy at home – and it’s more than a good one for the vintage – though I’ve only visited 44 (mainly) red domaines so far. Dominique Gallois has made super, punchy, balanced wines with fine energy in 2018 – they are well above the average – but here you can see, firsthand, the (my) stylistic conundrum of the vintage:

2018 Dominique Gallois, Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Very deep colour. Directly from the fridge (as all my wines), I can’t really describe this as pinot from Burgundy, it smells more like a good gamay cru – but at least there’s no bubble-gum here. Likewise in the mouth, this starts in direct, concentrated, even assertive style. It’s fresh, you might even convince me that it’s pinot – but, initially, not from Burgundy. As the wine warms in the glass the texture becomes more overtly velvet, the structure and flavours relax over the palate – even the nose smells a little more like pinot. It’s absolutely delicious wine of sufficient freshness, purity of (dark) fruit, no hard edges and a concentration that you don’t often find in a villages wine. It is a great regional wine – if you like the style – I can happily drink it despite its overt sweetness, but stylistically, 10,11,12,13,14 are all much more attractive to me. And blind, I still wouldn’t guess that it was from Burgundy…
Rebuy – Maybe

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week 48 in the côtes…

By billn on November 29, 2019 #reports#travels in burgundy 2019

Above, the people who actually said ‘yes’ to a visit by me this week!

The weather was very changeable this week – lots of rain, plenty of winter mist, but some patches of sun too – even in the hautes côtes 😉

I loved a quote from one of the vignerons pictured above; “In 2019 it was easy to work in the vines, the weeds hardly grew due to the dry heat. Now, at the end of November, we have plenty of rain, so they are starting to grow!” And you can see just that as the ‘herbs’ and flowers start pushing in some images below, in Mazis-Chambertin.

Now a weekend in rainy Switzerland before returning for the appointments of the next two weeks…

Clos de Vougeot
On guard
Lalou’s
Mazis-Chambertin
St.Vincent’s coming…
The cathedral
The Musigny doesn’t really fill this tank
Old stuff!
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that’s enough 2019 for now

By billn on November 28, 2019 #reports

I should mention that the September report for subscribers is online – all you could concievably want to know aboout the 2019 vintage before the 2018s are ready!

Look out for the first 2018 report – 10th December – for 2018 white burgundy. Provided my keyboard doesn’t wear out 😉

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offer of the day – drouhin-laroze 2018

By billn on November 27, 2019 #the market

DOMAINE DROUHIN-LAROZE 2018 – En Primeur
Prices of the 2017s and 2016s, from the same offers in previous years, from the same merchant.

Gevrey-Chambertin En Champs 2018 75cl 55.00* (49.50, 49.50) Swiss Francs
Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaut-St-Jacques 1er Cru 2018 75cl 69.50 (69.00, 65.00)

GRAND CRUS
Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru 2018 75 cl 135.00 (125.00, 119.00)
Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2018 75cl 139.00 (129.00, 125.00)
Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2018 75cl 168.00 (149.00, 145.00)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 2018 75cl 188.00 (165.00, 158.00)

*There is 8% Tax to add in Switzerland, but then these are delivered prices

It seems quite rare for the 2018s to come down in price – eh?

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a couple of weekend wines, week 47 2019

By billn on November 26, 2019 #degustation

Hmm – week 47 – there’s not many weeks left this year!

Two similarly priced wines – similarly good too:

2016 Jean-Marc Pillot, Montagny 1er Les Gouresses
Such a vibrant and perfumed nose of sweet citrus and faint minerality. A punch of freshness, complexity and energy. Yes!
Rebuy – Yes

2016 Bourgogne-Devaux, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune La Dalignère
Plenty of red colour here. Plenty of red fruit aroma too. Silky wine, but one with plenty of volume. There’s some minerality in this deeply fruited wine, but it’s balanced excellent wine.
Rebuy – Yes

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nouveau – non

By billn on November 22, 2019 #degustation

It’s a truism in Burgundy that there are great wines, but often you can’t buy them. I seem to have found that also with Beaujolais Nouveau this year. This bottle was the only option in my (Swiss) supermarket this year – for a princely 5.95 Swiss francs. To be honest, most of the wines I tasted here were superior to this particular bottle – but, again, this was my only choice.

It’s unclear who actually made it – the back label is generic and notes only that the wine was imported from Beaujolais by my supermarket. I disliked it not because it was thin and weedy – rather for completely opposite reasons – it was fat, well-textured, obviously concentrated, but it was also cloyingly sweet – no gamay freshness – so no second glass. The rest should be okay for boeuf bourguignone. We drank some 2016 Jean-Marc Pillot 1er Montagny for our second (and) third glasses – that restored us!

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offer of the day – faiveley 2018…

By billn on November 21, 2019 #the market

I missed the 2014s, but here you can see the ‘progression’ of the prices (in Switzerland) for the 12s, 13s, 15s, 16s, 17s and now the 2018s from the same Swiss merchant. The format here for the prices is simple: 2018 (2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012) and — if not previously offered…

DOMAINE FAIVELEY 2018 – En Primeur

PREMIERS CRUS
Pommard Rugiens 2018 75cl 82.00 (75.00, 86.00, —)
Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers 2018 75cl 85.00 (79.00, 84.00, 78.00, 72.50, 69.80) Swiss Francs*
Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers 2018 150cl 175.00 (163.00, 173.00, 161.00, —, —)
Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Saint-Georges 2018 75cl 105.00 (99.00, 115.00, 98.00, 98.00, 98.00)
Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Saint-Georges 2018 150cl 215.00 (—, 235.00, —)
Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuées 2018 75cl 139.00 (125.00, 135.00, 128.00, 119.00, 119.00)
Chambolle-Musigny la Combe d’Orveau 2018 75cl 135.00 (119.00, 132.00, 124.00, 119.00, 119.00)

GRAND CRUS
Corton Clos des Cortons 2018 75cl 169.00 (149.00, 169.00, 149.00, 139.00, 139)
Corton Clos des Cortons 2018 150cl 343.00 (303.00, 343.00, 303.00, 283.00, 283)
Corton Clos des Cortons 2018 300cl 736.00 (656.00, 736.00, 656.00, —, —)
Echezeaux 2018 75cl 169.00 (—, 165.00, 149.00, —, —)
Mazis-Chambertin 2018 75cl 198.00 (178.00, 198.00, 179.00, 167.00, 169)
Mazis-Chambertin 2018 150cl 401.00 (361.00, 401.00, 363.00, —, —)
Mazis-Chambertin 2018 300cl 852.00 (776.00, 852.00, 776.00, —, —)
Grands Echezeaux 2018 75cl 198.00 (188.00, 208.00, 198.00, 198.00, —)
Latricières-Chambertin 2018 75cl 189.00 (165.00, 189.00, —)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze 2018 75cl 285.00 (249.00, 299.00, 278.00, 249.00, 235)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze 2018 150cl 575.00 (503.00, 603.00, 561.00, 503.00, 475)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze 2018 300cl 1,200.00 (1,056.00, 1,256.00, 1,172.00, —, —)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze Les Ouvrées Rodin 2018 75cl 875.00 (698.00, 745.00, 659.00, 598.00, 598)

Corton Charlemagne 2018 75cl 189.00 (189.00, 189.00, 169.00, 169.00, 159)

*There is 8% Tax to add in Switzerland, but then these are delivered prices
After the decreases (red) in 2017, we are once-more on the way up – but Côte de Nuits pricing is generally equal or still lower than in 2016.

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and the winners are…

By billn on November 21, 2019 #annual laurels#degustation

I previously mentioned the first-round tasting for Burgundy’s young winemaking talents 2019, well for the weekend of the Vend du Vin, the final blind taste-off was done and the winners chosen.

And the results?

On Friday 15 November evening, at the Palais des Congrès in Beaune, the GJPV organization awarded their seven regional trophies to the following young winemakers:

  • Damien MARTIN – Domaine de LA DENANTE – Mâconnais
  • Arnaud et Xavier DESFONTAINE – Château de CHAMILLY – Côte Chalonnaise
  • Laurent GAY – Domaine Michel GAY & Fils – Côte de Beaune
  • Prune AMIOT – Domaine AMIOT-SERVELLE – Côte de Nuits
  • Charly NICOLLE – Domaine CHARLY NICOLLE – Chablis
  • Bastien MATHIAS – Domaine Alain MATHIAS – Grand Auxerrois
  • Cyril CHIROUZE – Château des JACQUES – Beaujolais
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week number 47 already!

By billn on November 20, 2019 #reports

Just the first two days in Beaune this week – so only 10 visits, but I’ll be back next week. I needed to be home to catch up on my growing mountain of typing! The 2018 reds remain highly variable – stylistically – whilst far from homogenous, the whites are significantly easier to appraise and position this year.

Onwards…

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