I was in sunny Ludwigshafen yesterday – and I don’t mean on the Bodensee! – only a 17 hour round-trip!
By the time I returned home it was too late to open something, but I see I did not deliver you a note on this bottle yet: 1999 Joseph Drouhin, Côtes de Nuits Villages
Medium colour. A deep nose of spice and cedar plus faint, sweet and maturing background fruit. Quite silky, a slightly unripe impression to the fruit, good acidity and largely diminished tannin. A pretty length until some finishing bitterness. Interesting parts and great value, but missing charm today. Rebuy – No
Pierre Morey Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2006 Pierre Morey, Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Medium colour. High tones, with pretty red berry and cherry fruit – it’s really lovely. The palate is not quite how I remember it; the texture is reasonably silky with just an edge of fat, but the acidity is much more in the ascendant than when I first had it – it’s also quite tart. Mouth-watering length, not surprisingly, but with a sneaky creamy edge. The fruit on the nose remains super. I would not touch another of these for at least 3 years as I does remind me of the ’96 Leroy bourgogne at the same stage, and that’s a beauty now! Rebuy – Yes but not for drinking now…
Another 250+ notes uploaded into the NoteFinder application, about 500 of which cover only 2006 & 2007 wines…
2006 Roger Belland, Bourgogne Pinot Noir
A relatively rare ‘Diam’ cork-amalgum seal. Medium, medium-plus colour. A nice, forward blend of red and black cherry that with swirling concentrates more on the red – the last drops are super and redcurranty. A surprising amount of fat for the appellation, relatively fine tannin and good acidity. In the mid-palate I have the impression of some savoury flavour that goes into a decent finish. Very superior Bourgogne and perfect for pouring now. Excellent. Rebuy – Yes (and I did)
2004 Lignier-Michelot, Chambolle-Musigny Les Gammaires
Medium-plus colour. The nose starts with a fine depth and only the faintest of the vintage taint – slowly that a builds to an almost unpleasant level – after 2 hours it fades a little, giving a faint spearmint edge and some nice red berry notes. In the mouth there’s reasonable density and slightly forward acidity. The texture is okay, as is the slightly savoury length – maybe even a first hint of mushroom is there. If a little overwhelming on the nose the ’04 character’ remains only a faintly interesting note on the palate. Rebuy – No
I can buy it at a great price, but I (unfortunately) just couldn’t warm to it… 1999 Joseph Drouhin, Vosne-Romanée
Some meaty depth on the nose, covered by a slightly alcoholic note. Lots of acidity, tannin that only shows itself in the mid-palate and certainly some dimension. This, today, needs either a little more density or ripeness to offset acidity that has a tart edge to it. Just a trace of bitterness in the finish. Rebuy – No
I see that Virgile will have a new label design for his 2007’s, but the ‘old label’ 2006 was great start to the week… 2006 Lignier-Michelot, Morey St.Denis 1er Aux Charmes
Wide with a forward black-cherry note, even a hint of Sage – slowly a beautiful clear note of fruit runs through the middle – very precocious, very impressive. Fine tannin with good acidity that forms the basis of a lovely mouth-watering finish – and there’s even a little reprise after a minute. Wide on the palate with fruit that’s almost as good as nose. A really super wine that had the density and presence to walk all over the ’95 Pomerol (Lagrange) that preceded it. Rebuy – Yes
Matterhorn from Gornergrat, 3rd April p.m.
Back from a very nice week-long break. Whilst we only skiied for 2.5 days it was good to recharge the batteries. I received a number of emails and ‘comments’ during the week that were related to the Spring Issue of the Burgundy Report – I’ll work my way through them in the next days – but thanks for taking the time to write.
Whilst away I got this amazing email from a (normally) trustworthy merchant:
2008 Griottes Chambertin, Domaine Fourrier
Did you know that huge swathes of the greatest vineyards inBurgundy are not planted with vines? It’s the tractors. They need space to turn at the end of the vine rows, with the result that vineyards are robbed of their full potential due to a simple but inescapable mathematical necessity. Thus countless barrels of the finest grands crus are not available to the ever growing band of Burgundy enthusiasts.
But a solution has been found. After years of hard work, using technology of mind-mangling complexity, a tractor has been developed that can turn almost on itself over the vines, meaning that precious space can now be planted. It works by extending spider-like arms that lift and support the machine as it rotates above the canopy. The hydraulics are so sensitive that even densely planted vineyards can benefit, and it has been designed to avoid impacting the soil. The project has been developed jointly by the University of Bordeaux, under the direction of Professor Thomas Delaronde, and Château Pétrus, with some participation by Domaine du Clos de Tart. Jean-Marie Fourrier, the intellectual winemaker and rising star of Gevrey-Chambertin, expressed strong interest in the idea almost from the beginning five years ago. In 2004, he planted a sélection massale of his finest vines at the upper end of the Griotte vineyard, just below Chambertin Clos de Bèze, and has tested several prototypes of these fantastically expensive tractors on the plot. Now that the experimental stage is reaching its conclusion, many other domaines in Burgundy are expected to follow suit.
In 2008 the first grapes were harvested, vinifed apart, and are now awaiting malolactic fermentation in the domaines’s cellars. ‘I had no idea of the quality of this terroir, but now I know what it can do. It’s the perfect segue from Clos de Bèze to Griotte, with all the spice of the latter with the soft intensity of the former. It is so different from my regular Griottes, and in years to come will show greater complexity as the vines age,’ he says. The wine from this tiny parcel has been christened ‘cuvée du tracteur Thomas’ after its inventor.
As Jean-Maries’s earliest and principal importer in the UK, we are delighted to be able to offer this unique wine to our customers. Quantities are miniscule, and anticipated demand for this rarity is high, so there is a limit of 6 bottles per customer, on a first come first serve basis. For those lucky enough to be regular purchasers of Jean-Marie’s Griottes, it will provide a fascinating comparison.
2008 Griottes Chambertin, ‘cuvée du tracteur Thomas’ £480 per 6 ibd London. (expected delivery Winter 2010-2011)
Even via my mobile phone I was typing what I considered an ‘appropriate response’, only to note the date – 1st April. I deleted my text and instead sent congratulations on a good story – I also asked how many cases he’d managed to sell – the answer, 1 hour after sending his mail, was already 15 cases!
Anyway, I took 14 bottles to the holiday appartment, a real mix of countries and vintages, but took no notes. Yesterday though, I opened the following wine. I’ve opened one every couple of years since release and they have mainly been too tight – seems it’s now, slowly, starting to become interesting:
1997 Nicolas Potel, Volnay
A medium-plus core of ruby-red colour. The nose starts a little dense and unyielding, only slowly and partially opening to give a tense, brooding red cherry impression against fainter savoury elements, perhaps hinting at brett. In the mouth this is silkily textured, still with a grain to the background tannin. The acidity is not perfectly seamless in the mid-palate, but makes your mouth gently water. In the mid-palate there’s a very impressive concentration of clean and tasty fruit that does have a small burst of additional dimension. A good finish. This wine has only very slowly opened in the last couple of years and I would say it needs another couple of years to start drinking well, I’m just a little concerned about that bretty element on the nose. A successful ’97. Rebuy – Maybe
It’s holiday time – but in part-payment for my absence, I leave you with the Spring Report. Over 280 tasting notes dotted around 15 pages. Feel free to comment and argue, but my moderatory tones will only return in a week…
Cheers
Here is an archetypal 1996, one that many would fail to understand and is almost a self-chastisement even for enthusiasts with it’s piercing acidity, yet – for me at least – there is a lovely fruit and complexity enough to balance. 1996 Joseph Drouhin, Clos de Vougeot
Like all these Clos de Vougeots there’s deep core of colour. The nose has width and high, faintly alcoholic tones but also beautiful red fruits and violets though you destroy the picture if you swirl. A mouthful of perfume, fine but forward acidity, little obvious tannin, yet a very long finish that is borne on the vintage acidity. If you give it sufficient time – more than 2 hours – the mid-palate really fills out with dimension such that the acidity is apparently more balanced. I winced, but I really enjoyed it. Day two the palate is fuller and less pain-inducing – even better! Rebuy – Yes
