Just a few weekend pics – in this case the Saturday market in Bern, not Beaune!
Earlier in the week I showed you images of the candles and wind-machines that were waiting in the vines – because this was forecast.
Above is an image shared by Olivier Lamy in St.Aubin, taken last-night, but I’ve seen pictures from Chablis and the rest of the Côte d’Or – e.g. Sylvie Esmonin’s Clos St.Jacques – not just with candles burning through last-night, but also the return of burning straw in Santenay, Savigny and Volnay.
On the positive side, temperatures were ‘only’ about -1°C to -3°C in the Côte d’Or but as low as -4°C in Chablis, and only a small percentage of the buds have actually started to open – we are of-course much earlier in the growing season than when the big frost of 2016 (and Chablis 2017) hit. On the negative side, there is surely still some modest damage and the total cost can’t be calculated before the fruit-set – i.e. how well the flowering goes and how that translates to (latent) grapes on the vines.
Growers in Pouilly-Fuissé and St.Véran shake their heads when asked about the frost – ‘I’m sure we have some losses – but it’s too early to tell‘ is a composite response.
The situation is similar in Beaujolais; temperatures as low as -3°C, and whilst the vast majority of buds were not yet open, there is still some expectation of reduced yields – all the way from the crus to the south of the appellation – I asked half a dozen vignerons from north to south Beaujolais, and they are anticipating 10-15% losses in the gamay, more in the chardonnay. All say, however, that it will depend on whether the vines keep pushing over the next couple of weeks, or whether the frost causes a pause in growth – if the latter, then they are sure that they will have lost more…
I will, of-course, keep you posted. We have one more night that may bring some frost – tonight – though perhaps not in Chablis as the clouds may offer protection there – before calmer weather returns…
L’aspersion a tourné ce matin à Maligny près de #Chablis. Le but : créer un cocon de glace protecteur autour du bourgeon. La température a pu descendre jusqu’à -4 dans des bas-fonds, mais dans beaucoup d’endroits elle est restée > à -1 ou -2. Les dégâts devraient être limités. pic.twitter.com/vmBWoAcg0U
— Vins de Chablis (@vinsdechablis) April 5, 2019
2017 Jean-Claude Ramonet, Mâcon-Péronne
Cork-sealed.
Modestly lemon-yellow colour. A width of airy yellow fruit, accented with both a faint oak spice and an impression of limestone minerality. Wide over the palate too – bubbling with mid and finishing energy – silken, yellow citrus but more mineral than fruit today. Narrowing in the, modest impact but, tasty finish. An open and very tasty wine – less delicious than the 2016 was at this stage but it’s close – this will certainly get better in the short to medium term though. I’m pleased to have bought the last half-dozen in the shop!
Rebuy – Yes (but now all sold-out)
The bipolar organisation that is Baghera seem to have another big hit on their hands!
Bipolar? – Well they keep having sales with bottles that stretch not just credulity, but also their narrative behind the ownership of the bottles in the last sale was completely inconsistent too. Then we have a sale that follows seems to be from a dream, offering perfect provenance – like the Jayer sale did – but now with the aid of the Engel family, we will seemingly have the same with bottles from the old Domaine René Engel.
I have a few of those myself – almost all of mine are Grands-Echézeaux – I may not have the wines of the 1920s which will be in the sale, but I’ve got something that they don’t have – the 2005 Grands-Echézeaux. It was Albéric Bichot who bought the Domaine Engel crop on the vines just before the harvest (Philippe died on his summer holiday) and whilst they sold-on the Brûlées, they bottled the Grands-Echézeaux with their négoce label. I bought 9 and still have (perhaps) 6, plus their Clos Frantin wine to compare it with one day…
Anyway, this sale will doubtless be a big hit – and perhaps, hopefully, be bought by a wider selection of buyers than the unobtainium that was the Jayer sale. Linked here.
I’m happy that they posted this video only about 12-13 hours ago – if it had been 24 hours ago – April 1st – I probably wouldn’t have believed it!
– with the weather!
The vines are only about 10 days ahead of the average – so-far – this year. The year has been incredibly dry too – you can walk in all the vineyards – the clay is hard and/or powder – or, more like pottery as one vigneron described it! But tonight it’s changing – rain is already falling – and the temperature will also do so. Today was 20°C – tomorrow may be below 10°C. There’s also the possibility of frost on Thursday evening.
So-far, apart from particular clones – 99% of leaves are held tightly within their buds – they won’t unduly be bothered by -2°C – but the precocious ones will be more borderline, particularly if it’s wet beforehand. In preparation, I saw candles already deployed in two young-vines sections in Puligny – climat Rue Rousseau (Just below Bienvenues but villages-rated) and 1er cru Clos de la Mouchère. Of-course, you could also go Hi-Tech with your own wind machine – it’s probably more environmentally friendly too!
Tasted with the wine-maker – so of-course I didn’t buy this – not yet! O as in zero. Just 500 bottles, practically experimental – a natural wine chez Domaine Laroche from vines above Vaudesir – I’m the first to taste 🙂 – a no sulfur wine:
2018 Domaine Laroche, Chablis Cuvée O
Not perfectly bright – tasted just a few days before bottling. The nose has a width of aroma that implies low sulfur with none of the occasional negatives that that can bring. Bright, round, but with direction and that rare thing from a zero sulfur wine – clarity! Delicious! with acidity and a real salinity in the finish. For what it is, no question – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes
4 wines – 4 different seals!
2014 Dampt Frères, Bourgogne Tonnerre Le Clos du Chateau
The cork proudly proclaims (translated) ‘Natural cork, matured 18 months, washed without peroxides or solvents’ – okay we can quibble about what constitutes a solvent, because if something dissolves in water, then water is a solvent in this case – lets just call this marketing. But to the point, the last bottle of this had a strange aromatic component that took well over one hour to blow-off – this is perfect right from the start – so natural cork, no peroxides and no solvents or not, the last had some minor problem associated with the cork – just saying!
That’s a long intro, but enough to say that this wine is perfect in all dimensions – you wont spend a better €12-13 (less than 10 at the domaine!) on white burgundy. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes
2012 Chezeaux/Ponsot, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
There are many 2012s that are tight as a drum – here’s one that most definitely isn’t!
Plenty of colour. Ooh – what a nose – a perfect flower, porcelain-like in its fine clarity and beautiful perfume – ravishing wine! In the mouth, here’s a wave of fresh fruit flavour – a wave that you can surf into the mid and finishing mouth-watering flavours. So good, just so good. Enjoy – I did!
Rebuy – Yes
2017 Louis Jadot, Bourgogne Chardonnay
DIAM sealed.
A perfectly clean nose of ripe citrus and a modest but present creamy oak note. Wide over the palate with a lovely intensity of driving acidity – no hard edges – the acidity is cushioned and the flavour delicious. A judicious touch of oak, just enough that you should guess that it’s Burgundy without site of the label. Simply delicious – the best of this cuvée since the 2014. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes
And the riesling? – whilst I’m normally a big fan of Alsace riesling, this was too perfumed/aromatic for me – I would hardly be surprised if there was some gewurz in the mix!
Plus – some pics from the old (Swiss) town of Biel and the lake of Biel on Saturday:
‘The sale was led by Romanée Conti 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, with three 12-bottle lots selling for HK$2,728,000 / US$347,520 each’
I first mentioned this three-day sale at the end of January – it completed over the weekend, and, as expected, lots of dollars were spent.
Coche-Dury was the largest domaine represented with over 600 individual lots, and whilst they hardly feature in the headlines of the sale, the prices for their wines also far exceeded the pre-sale estimates. To quote Sotheby’s:
“…three-day sale of Tran-scend-ent Wines concluded with a grand total of HK$233,582,518 / US$29,756,077, far surpassing its pre-sale low estimate of HK$147 million / US$19 million, and with 98% of lots sold.”
Too late! I bet you forgot to put it in your agenda – eh?
But only because one of these was completely corked!
2014 Nicolas Maillet, Mâcon-Verzé
Another from this case – and just as good as the first!
A full, ripe, but fresh yellow citrus nose. Fuller of energy and flavour too – such a great balance to these 2014s – Love, and too quickly drunk!
Rebuy – Yes!
2009 David Clark, Bourgogne Au Pelson
A great looking cork, but…
What is this dirty nose, growing in dirty power – it is TCA – I won’t be drinking that then! I think a few more lay in the cellar, but it was easier to find this:
2012 des Varoilles, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos des Varoilles
Bang! What a great nose – I needn’t have worried about whether this wine was closed or not! Still some aromatic oak spice but beautiful fruit – even a little blue-skinned fruit in the mix – yes! In the mouth there’s decent acidity to balance layers of fine flavour – the oak still subtly present but it’s almost closed the door behind itself! Delicious wine, like that of Nicolas Maillet – too easy to drink. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes
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