Entries from 2022

weekend wines – week 44 2022

By billn on November 06, 2022 #degustation

weekend wines wee 44 2022
Three very easy winners this weekend!

2020 Thivin, Côte de Brouilly Clos Bertrand
A deep nose, a wide nose, of pure dark fruit. I like this shape, direct in style but with fine texture and depth to its pure fruit – delicious!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Thibert, Pouilly-Vinzelles Les Longeays
Broad, properly fresh but still ripe yellow citrus – faintly waxy. Mouth-filling, with just a little fat to this but it’s another wine with a fine, silky, texture. A width of beautiful, pure, clinging on for life, ripe citrus for a finish. Certainly a little padding but, frankly, ultra-delicious wine that just hints of the minerality to come with a couple more years in the cellar.
Rebuy – Yes

2019 Dominique Gallois, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes
Dark colour. A sweet core of dark fruited aroma, perfumed too. Mouth-filling, structural yet beautifully fluid despite a couple of mm of cushioning, indeed quite direct shaped. Juicy, long, silky, intense – slightly old-vine creamy in the finish. Fabulous.
Rebuy – Yes

it’s warm out there…

By billn on November 01, 2022 #vintage 2022

Saturday morning coffee - with a view...
Saturday morning coffee – with a view…

French average monthly temperatures (so far) versus the historical averages from Serge ZakaIt’s been an amazing last couple of weeks – over 20°C most days in Beaune and over 23°C for a few of those. Just see the effect on the monthly temperatures versus the average – right – from the redoutable Dr Serge Zaka

At home, I can jog in the mountains in November and there’s no snow right now at 2,300 metres – I did that yesterday – in shorts and a t-shirt – but it would have been the same today, i.e. November! One of my neighbours’ trees has some cherry blossom and returning to Beaune for a moment I’ve seen photos of vines developing new leaves! Of course, that may end with a bump at the end of this week when there maybe a chance of frost on Saturday.

The most obvious result of the year’s weather in Beaune is that the trees in the town are yet to shed their leaves – I’ve never seen so many birds coming to roost at night. It’s a very dangerous place to park right now – and doesn’t smell so great either – such that the local town council are becoming worried about the Hospices de Beaune wine auction in 3 weeks – there are lots of white tents in Beaune at this time 😉 They have reportedly considered trying to shoot some of the birds but there are literally thousands of them so this seems a no-starter. I have helpfully suggested that they could cut down all the trees 🙂

Back to Beaune today but for now, how about some nice (snow free!) mountain tracks/views between 1,500 and 2,100 metres from yesterday:

a new report online

By billn on October 28, 2022 #reports

Already online for a couple of days – here

June 2020 - Burgundy Report

“Mainly 2020s from 12 domaines, an important vineyard profile and a look at how the 1996 vintage for reds is coming along – spoiler – the Musigny was the best wine!”

a couple of mid-weekers…

By billn on October 27, 2022 #degustation

week 43 2022 - a couple of midweekers

Week 43, 2022 – already! And you can see that my cold has improved – right? 🙂

2017 Domaine Verret, Bourgogne Côte d’Auxerre Les Gaudiers
Young colour. A nose that is incisive to start but still shows plenty of creamy oak in the background. Just as incisive in the mouth – this has a great structural shape, intensity and concentration of lemon-citrus fruit – but again a lot of creamy, almost vanilla oak which seems to add excessive sweetness. A wine that’s seriously great in parts but, too much, resembles a lemon pie with too much creamy vanilla – in my glass, anyway – normally, I don’t decline lemon pie!
Rebuy – No

2019 Berthaut-Gerbet, Vosne-Romanée
Such depth of colour! This nose is deeply, darkly, red-fruited, but with such fine purity to that fruit. Supple, perhaps with a couple of millimetres of cushion to the silky flavours. Sweetly ripe but not in the ‘make-up’ style of the Verret. Very modest bitters in this finish but no overt tannin – just a silky texture. A wine that adds dimensions as it warms and takes in air in your glass. Far too easy to drink for such a baby and just beautifully proportioned.
Rebuy – Yes

weekend wines – week 42 2022

By billn on October 25, 2022 #degustation

weekend wines week 42 2022

Disappointingly, I’m at home this week*: A cold that developed over the weekend has left me coughing like a horse – not a good look while trying to taste wines retailing for $1,000 a bottle – even when triple-negative tested! Only about 15 domaine visits to be rescheduled – I think I’ll probably be fit (and presentable!) to taste again by Friday.

But before I started losing any of my senses, there were two nice bottles at the weekend:

2016 Château Bonnet, Juliénas
Broad and exciting aromas – faintly with some development but that characteristic oxidative note of gamay/Beaujolais – like Marsala – is hardly yet evident. Broad, great energy and long finishing make this wine completely delicious. Despite not being anywhere like fully mature I’d still say à point!
Rebuy – Yes

2018 Maison Harbour, Santenay 1er Les Gravières Blanc
Hmm – here’s a generous, clean and attractive nose – a fine invitation. Mouth-filling, structural but also generously flavoured – there’s so much packed into this wine. Long, energetic and concentrated – large-scaled but never wearing. The second completely delicious wine of the weekend!
Rebuy – Yes

*Still, it means that I’m catching up on writing visit reports – 5 done today!

Adieu – Hubert Lamy

By billn on October 24, 2022 #sad losses...

Olivier LamyI was sad to hear last week of the passing of Hubert Lamy, father of Olivier, and still with his name firmly fixed to the side of this irreproachable 18 hectare St.Aubin domaine. And doesn’t this photo of Hubert – shared by Olivier – show a strong resemblance between father and son!

Hubert passed away on October 14, 2022 – he was 79 years young.

Hubert had worked with his father, Jean, before creating in 1973 the domaine that’s so well-known today.

Hubert began with a focus on regional appellations and was one of the earliest domaines in St.Aubin to bottle their own wines. Expansion came in the 1990s and during this period Hubert and his domaine were equally energised by the arrival of his son, Olivier, who joined the domaine in 1995. I remember asking Olivier, around 2002, if he was considering changing the name of the domaine to ‘Olivier,’ he smiled and said “There’s really no reason for me to do that as it was my father who created what we have today…

A service was held last Thursday at St.Aubin’s church. RIP Hubert…

the foot-stabber’s guide

By billn on October 23, 2022 #warning - opinion!

Andrew Jefford: ‘Perhaps they think “drinkers like oak”. Really?’

I don’t find a lot to inspire me in most of the current glut of semi-regurgitated articles, but there’s not much to argue with here!

it rained today so how about some pics from the previous 2 days :)

By billn on October 20, 2022 #travels in burgundy 2022

But that’s another week without any gas needed for the central heating – 23-24°C in downtown Beaune this week:

Of course, so far, there have been some vignerons to see 🙂 Of course, you will meet them in the coming Burgundy reports…

birthday weekend

By billn on October 17, 2022 #annual laurels#degustation

I may have taken a couple of days out of my Burgundy tasting schedule but as you might see, not all of Burgundy was taken out of my days 😉

On Friday, the only place in Switzerland that wasn’t rainy was Ticino – so we took a trip to Lugano and Morcote – pizza for lunch! We returned via Luzern’s Wilden Mann restaurant. Saturday with family, starting with an impeccable Montrachet – so young with firework reduction and still some creme brulee. Then followed the 1962 Nuits 1er Clos des Forêts St.Georges. This dates from the time, before l’Arlot, of Domaine Belin. When Axa bought Belin, the old cellar of Belin wasn’t included in the sale. For some time the cellar, containing many wines from the 1960s, resided with Domaine Louis Max in Nuits – where a name change appeared during covid times. I have an appointment to get a bit more info on what’s afoot with Louis Max (by another name…)

Anyway, about 10 years ago I asked, chez Louis Max, if I could buy some 1962 Clos des Forêts and they said they would get back to me. It turned out that not all the old bottles were in the best shape, but they decided to put two (and a bit!) good ones together, with a dab of sulfur, and make a magnum – well, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity! And you know what? 10 years later it was brilliant. All the concentration and sweet depth of flavour that I’ve found characterises the 1962 vintage – only the first couple of sips suggested a faint oxidation – and then it was gone. It’s a simple measure of whether a wine is good or not – it was drunk to the last few millilitres of its earthy sediment – and only 3 of us were drinking! Brilliant – simply a joy!

Burgundy Report

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