Time to clean…
At 01h20 this morning came the thunder – followed by around 12 mm of rain – in Beaune anyway.
Seemingly there was plenty in Savigny too, at least if judging by the muddy boots of our pickers today… And talking of Savigny, there were the grapes of new vines in our cuverie today; the domaine has been (both) shopping and planting over the last year – they have 10.7 hectares now with plenty of new vines in Savigny. Tomorrow comes Savigny Les Jarrons, of which the home domaine now has an impressive 1.2 hectares. Today we finished with the (also) new Savigny Narbantons – a much smaller parcel but lovely grapes – our triage effectively only being for leaves and the odd second-set bunch that shouldn’t have been collected. These were attractive bunches of small grapes – this will be an interesting wine to follow. The large parcel of Jarrons was previously exploited by ‘a négoce,’ I neglected to ask the question about the Narbantons.
But I’m getting ahead of myself: We actually started the day with good quality grapes from the last of our Savigny villages parcel before changing to a modestly sized parcel of Bourgogne Côte d’Or – the second vintage for vines planted only in 2016. These vines are sited in the commune of Chorey-lès-Beaune. For such young vines, excellent grapes again. Then came our Chorey blanc – a little more oïdium than the whites I triaged yesterday, though saying one bunch in a hundred was affected would be a major overstatement. On the positive side, hardly any of the dried/roasted grapes to triage that were seen yesterday.
While I’m remembering all my ‘mask-moaning‘ points from yesterday, here’s one I forgot: If there’s something smelly on the triage table, you’ll hardly notice it until all the grapes have passed you by. A good thing for stink-bugs – I accept! – but less good if you have something bacterial on your table. That said, I haven’t smelled anything like that latter point since at least 2016…
At least ‘pre-overnight-rain,’ the effects of the dry summer and the roasting of some grapes are apparent; yesterdays Beaune-Reversées delivered 19 hl/ha – but that’s up from the 16 of last year! The villages Savigny delivered only 30 hl/ha – so about 2/3rds of what the domaine would have been anticipating. It will be interesting to compare these numbers with other vines to be harvested in the following days.
Lunch today came at much more comfortable 13h30. The wines were good too. We started with a 2017 Savigny-Vergelesses Blanc from the domaine, followed by two delicious contributions – the younger of which was mine:
2000 Vougeraie, Vougeot 1er Les Cras
What a great and indeed long (54mm) cork. The wine stain had hardly managed to penetrate more than one of those 54 millimetres! Based on this showing, I’m sad to say that this is the last or perhaps penultimate from my 6-pack.
Medium, semi-mature, colour, but no overt browning. An airy nose, not full-power but beautifully delicate and complex – full of spice and flower suggestions – a beautiful invitation. Open, indeed mouth-filling wine. Not a wine of great impact, but mouth-wateringly complex and balanced flavour – actually a good acidity. No drops of this were left…
Rebuy – Yes
1985 Michel Gaunoux, Pommard 1er Grands Epenots
This cork was a little shorter – less robust too. Despite the last third of the cork breaking-off and seeming to sink deeper into the neck, I somehow managed to rescue it without the need for decanting – hooray!
Well, what another super nose! Airy, floral, almost a complexity of acid cherry – a touch less width but more warm depth to the fruit with just a shade of leather in these deep notes. In the mouth another wine in tip-top condition; A little more structural than the ‘Cras’ – like a recent Epentots at home, I’m sure I might have been guessing Clos de Vougeot, rather than Pommard. With 8 of us sitting down for lunch, this was also consumed very quickly. Really a top wine!
Rebuy – Yes
