I’ve only missed 12 weeks of being able to visit producers, but to be honest, it has seemed longer.
My thanks – of course – to the domaines that had the time to see me this week – they will all be in my June report. I’m planning to be ‘en place‘ for a few days every other week, and there are always many more people worth paying a visit to!
A post (above) that’s worth spending a little time over.
I try to avoid discussing Steiner, the man, for exactly the reasons that this author has enunciated. I do believe that there are some aspects of (let me shorten it to) ‘BD’ that, perhaps, science has yet to catch up with, but I wholeheartedly concede that the general critique levelled by Joshua is incontrovertible.
There were great wines before biodynamics – even in the ‘chemical era’ of the 1960s-1990s – though far fewer than today. I believe that organic approaches to viticulture have improved sustainable grape production radically. How much of that is down to BD is a moot point, certainly far, far, less than the recent benevolence of the climate and wine pricing that allows producers to experiment and not always aim for the highest allowed yields.
The ‘DRC Fallacy’ is something of a given, as one should note that not all great farmers are great winemakers – and vice-versa – the great names (labels) happen to combine both aspects. Save for certain ‘hard to explain’ rituals (including burials!) BD is essentially very close to organic farming. For that reason alone, I’m quite happy that more and more people are taking note. That’s possibly my philosophical side speaking but from the perspective of intellectual rigour…
2010 Jean-Claude Boisset, Auxey-Duresses Les Crais
I’d quite forgotten I had these – two were found while ‘rooting’ for other stuff. The cork is a good one.
Hmm – now that’s quite a deep colour – that said, it’s one of those that inexplicably lightens in colour with more aeration(?) The nose has butterscotch and a suggestion of caramel, deep fruit but no citrus zing, though slowly becomes a little floral. Beautiful shape in the mouth; there’s the butterscotch flavour too, but the clarity and lightness of fine acidity and minerality make this excellent. Certainly some age, but despite the colour there’s no hint of oxidation. Not a big finish, but a fine and mouthwatering one. This is excellent – and I would also say ‘ready!’
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Antonin Guyon, Chambolle-Musigny Clos du Village
Monopole – but a different one to that of Felettig – pff! Burgundy! A spongy, pliable cork – but with no ingress of wine and it comes out in one piece.
For the first couple of minutes, there’s a funky depth to this nose – but not enough to disguise the excitement. With air this is gorgeously perfumed – cliché Chambolle-Musigny – so floral and so attractive – yes! In the mouth, full of energy – but no fat – ingraining flavour and super energy. This is a wine that you could easily enjoy for 10 more years – I hope to do exactly that – but today it is simply top-class villages – you’d be happy with a grand cru showing like this. I instantly ordered a case of 12 (remember those?) of this when I tasted it from barrel – I thought quite expensive at the time – about €220 – but I’m more than happy with the result.
Rebuy – Oh yes!
The Pouilly was delivered after my last report went online – so a note for you here.
2018 Ferraud, Pouilly-Fuissé L’Entreroches
A decent cork used as a seal – not domaine branded.
The nose starts with a little reduction, possibly oak – but backed with a decent freshness. Some time in the glass and the reductive element is gone and the citrus, faintly saline, is centre-stage. I like the cut, the line, of this wine, it’s incisive and very well balanced. There’s a little richness at the end of the palate where there’s also a little more visible, mineral, structure – but the perfumed flavour is excellent. This will benefit from a little patience, but it remains a very good wine from a very good Pouilly-Fuissé vintage.
Rebuy – Yes
2017 Maison la Chapelle, Irancy
A good Trescases cork – Gregory doesn’t much like the industrial concept/ethos of DIAM.
Lots of colour – in 2017 the Irancys with so much colour usually got that from their césar – but there’s none of that in here. Ouch, I don’t remember this when tasted a couple of years ago, but here’s an almost painful depth of pyrazine aroma – it’s fully visible in the flavours too. I really didn’t like my first glass. Aeration massively diminishes the component and the wine becomes quite enjoyable. Decant for sure if you are sensitive to pyrazines.
Rebuy – No
Hail! In the last week there has been rain everywhere – anywhere between 12-36mm – and in some places it has been accompanied by hail; near Meursault-Puligny and Marsannay on June 3rd plus another (shorter) episode took place between Chambolle and Gevrey on June 8th. Vineyard damage was rare not least because the ‘grapes’ are so small. It does keep everyone on their toes, though!
For now, the 2020 vintage remains just ahead of the 2007 and 2011 vintages in terms of precocity and 3 weeks ahead of 2019 – that’s despite the cooler, wetter weather of the last days. Last week only the Hautes Côtes still had some flowering to complete, but now it’s all done.
Short and sweet – that’s enough for now!
I see this reported in the French press today:
The Pasteur Institute, owner of the Château des Ravatys, has decided to sell the estate to help fund their research. Apparently, this follows long reflection and there is no link between this decision and the backdrop of covid-19 infections.
Set at the foot of the Mont Brouilly, the Pasteur Institute has owned this property in Saint-Lager since 1937, the sale price is estimated at 6.9 million euros. In the context of the Côte d’Or that’s practically nothing for holdings that extend to:
Ravatys also have a small plot of Chassagne-Montrachet white (pictured) it’s not clear if that is included in the transaction – their version is rather oaky.
Although the quality was not quite to the same level in 2018, the reds from here in 2017 could be favourably compared to those of a near neighbour – Château Thivin – save for Laurent Martray, there is no higher benchmark in the area.
Here’s a Bourgogne that always takes time to shed a certain austerity – it’s simply perfect right now. The second wine also has a touch of structure to subsume…
2002 Ghislaine Barthod, Bourgogne
The cork is obviously going to a problem! As the waiter’s friend exerts its pressure to lift the cork, it’s clear that the middle of the cork is soft and the worm will just pull out leaving a messy hole in the middle and the rest of the cork in place. Pff! The Ah-So is clearly the better tool here. This cork, however, still wants to extract its pound of flesh so anyway breaks and crumbles – the last 20% staying lodged in the neck but most of that was extracted by the worm of the waiter’s friend. It’s often the case that the end result of such a trial, to add insult to injury, delivers a tainted wine too – fortunately, that wasn’t the case with this bottle – my last of a half-case.
A modest, medium colour. The nose has a little smoke and soil but clarity and appealing cleanliness too – it’s very inviting – almost a grainy impression to these aromas. Pure, with beautiful acidity. This is such a mouth-watering, almost juicy-flavoured, medium-bodied wine. Red-fruited, not a bit ‘old’ just drinking beautifully. A bottle that empties much faster than most – and that’s the highest recommendation. I think I will wait a little longer for my 2005s!
Rebuy – Yes
2014 Joseph Drouhin, Côte de Beaune
Here’s a fine-looking and easy cork to extract – a little darker – perhaps ‘hardly’ treated. Starting a modest wine but as one of Drouhin’s flag-waving cuvées – hence, the similarity of the label to their Clos des Mouches. not least because the young vine fruit of that vineyard also ends up in these bottles – this is a wine that keeps getting better.
Of-course a younger colour than Ghislaine’s wine – but not deeper-coloured. The nose has a young and fresh perfume, though this nose also hints at a little structure. Despite the ‘village’ AOC the flavours are a little less weighty than the Bourgogne and, yes, there is just a little structural hardness here – but easy flavours are mainly the order of the day. This is a good wine but at this age, it offers no real competition for the excellence of the Bourgogne. I’d say that, structurally, I’d be waiting at least another 2-3 years for this wine – hopefully, this pause brings more interest – many 2014s are delicious right now, this is ‘easy’ but much less ‘giving’ – or at least that was the case with my home-made Shepherd’s Pie! On day two with cep risotto, this wine is transformed – more aromatic depth with blood and tobacco in the mix – also an easier-going palate of good depth of flavour. This transformation bodes well for the future I think!
Rebuy – Maybe on day one Rebuy – Yes on day 2!
Well, it was delayed a couple of months, and the format had to change to allow social-distancing but the Spring 2020 Tastevinage tasting happened on the 29th May. The results were just released, so here you go:
If there’s one part of the wine industry that seems very active during lockdown – at-least, judging by my inbox – then it’s wine auctions.
Sotheby’s are hammering it with practically simultaneous auctions in London, New York and Hong Kong; it’s the former with all those rather rare Domaine des Chézeaux bottles and magnums that I’ll be following the most – The Cointreau Collection – not least because I have quite a bit of those wines myself!
But their other auctions remain far from academic despite wall-to-wall DRC and Roumier in New York, and with so many magnums too, though I particularly loved the juxtaposition of lots 325 and 326 – bottles of Faiveley’s Musigny, next to Drouhin’s Côte de Nuits Villages 🙂
As for Sotheby’s Hong Kong ‘Summit‘ sale, many of the DRC, Rousseau and Dujac bottles are so large, and relatively young, that I seriously doubt that they were ever bought for drinking – and that’s sad.
Of course, it’s not just Sotheby’s and their clients; witness Australian author and critic James Halliday selling off (some/all?) of his collection of DRC. At 80-years-old and a couple of years senior to Aubert de Villaine of the that Vosne-Romanée domaine, this seems nothing more than sense. I just hope that a) I’m still around and b) can still, unaided, operate a corkscrew at the same age!
Enjoy your auction lots!
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