- People it seems, trust bottles not banks
- A Road Map to the ‘Best’ of Burgundy
- French Wineries Hire U.S. Whiz to Reverse Their Slipping Sales
Entries from 2008
mischief and mayhem 05 corton bressandes
This was open at the same time as the 05 Bourée St.Jacques, it’s not as dense or as concentrated but it is a polished grand cru all the same.
2005 Mischief and Mayhem, Corton Bressandes
A deep cherry-red core. Fine, high-toned red fruits and some dried cranberry – very nice indeed. There’s plenty of background tannin but it has fine grain. Good acidity that pushes a creamy depth of fruit very long. This is a very executive Corton and dare I say it, elegant! Not the concentration of many 2005 grand crus, but so what? Lovely wine and a very nice length.
Rebuy – Yes
on with harvesting
Even ‘nameplate’ domaines are starting to gird their loins and plan their first pickings – some are already picking. ‘My’ domaine starts on Thursday with Bourgogne Rouge – despite me not arriving until Saturday – they didn’t wait!
The weather is in a dry and bright window that is exactly what’s required to ripen the grapes, the fact that it’s a ‘late’ Autumnal cold outside means that rot is less rampant than previous years – of-course there’s time yet for anything to happen, but that northerly wind is exactly what the doctor ordered to help concentrate the grapes – much like 2002. Many grapes are anyway in need of picking – it’s already 105 days + since flowering. If the forecast turns bad, you will not be able to see the vines for people with secateurs!
I’m agnostic until I see the grapes (of-course), but I’m actually quite excited from a distance; that’s because I believe that pinot noir needs the highs and lows of temperature to bring out its full complexity – I’m just not sure if we had enough highs this year 😉
oops..
Once a pastry cook in Vesoul, Dominique Laurent admitted her passion for wine in 1987, and set up as a wine merchant in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Her philosophy? decanting, minimum sulphur and bottling without fining or filtering.Â
pierre bourée 2005 gevrey-chambertin 1er clos st.jacques
2005 Pierre Bourée, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
Deeply coloured – purple at the rim. The nose starts with plenty of oak that has a hint of toast but no more – it’s very wide and covers dark-skinned fruit. It slowly evolves, but never shows the complexity and stems of the 2004. Mouth-filling, again there’s oak flavour and some well grained tannin too. The acidity starts a tiny bit forward, though only exacerbates the superb length – those flavours are a lot to do with oak and are eventually just a little bitter, but this is very impressive. Quite some concentration in the mid-palate and certainly it’s a little rustic, but it’s clearly full of wine – better than some GC’s! This will need several years for the wood to move into the background, but it’s a real quality effort that shows personality. I initially bought three, but am now going back for a couple more – clearly built for the long-haul. As a post-script, day two shows little obvious oak, still no stems and a better balance. All good signs – okay, maybe I’d have liked a little stems…
Rebuy – Yes
I had a glass of a more than worthy 2005 Corton (note tomorrow) next to this. The Corton was long and more elegant though didn’t have the oomph or chutzpah of the Bourée!
pierre bourée 2004 gevrey-chambertin 1er clos st.jacques
Currently the only ‘other’ négoce St.Jacques I can think of outside of Dominique Laurent’s – though I’ve heard of a Patrice Rion(?) – drop me a line if you can think of others…
2004 Pierre Bourée, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
A rare négoce bottle of Clos St.Jacques. A deep core of already ruby-red colour – quite deeply coloured for a Bourée. The nose is the usual interesting blend of smoky Bourée stems a faint undertow of cedar, earthy Gevrey notes and another faint undertow of mushroom – the last droops in the glass hold a lovely pure redcurrant note. In the mouth there’s good texture; the plentiful tannins are not so astringent and are very well covered. There’s clearly plenty of concentration here, though the acidity shows a little too tart for the first hour, hence, defining the wine and becoming the major aspect of a very long finish. Density and complexity on the mid-palate is very good. This is a very young wine that improved in the glass such that the acidity was much less forward (maybe I was just ‘used’ to it) after an hour or so, but it is also today, slightly compromised by low levels of the 2004 green but there’s is plenty of wine here so my remaining bottles will stay at least 10 years in the cellar – if the green fades into the background it will be an excellent wine.
Rebuy – Maybe
dujac 1992 clos saint denis
A nice restaurant with a super wine-list. Actually they don’t have a list, you have to wander around the underground rooms that make up the cellar and just find a bottle – or two! About 50% of the bottles are priced, for the rest you must ask. I wanted something reasonably mature, so ended up with a short-list of 3: 1991 Dujac Gevrey 1er Combottes, 1991 Ponsot Latrcières-Chambertin and 1992 Dujac Clos St.Denis. All were roughly the same price – I could have taken any number of 1995’s (Rousseau St.Jacques, Drouhin Musigny etc.,etc., for less money – but in the end I went for the (expected) mature 1992 and saved the 91’s for another day 😉
1992 Dujac, Clos St.Denis
A medium, quite mature colour. The nose starts deep, stemmy and interesting – over the next two hours it goes from strength to strength, with red berries, mineral notes of pencil lead, occasional caramel or cream etc., etc. – it was first class. In the mouth I expected it would have little chance of competing with the aromatics and so it turned out – but it was still a worthy choice. Not the density of of a grand cru from most (recent) vintages, medium bodied with very slightly elevated acidity, but as the wine developed and became sweeter this was hardly noticeable. The faintest hint of tannin remains and the wine never withered in 2 hours, rather it became more interesting and complex. This is mature, reasonably long and tasty. Nine from ten for the nose and more like seven for taste. Lovely.
Rebuy – Yes
clap me in irons?
I guess it’s a good job I keep a low profile – I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to block the French – unlike their truck drivers!
from the bivb
Quoted verbatim from the BIVB
“At 10 September, the grapes were continuing to ripen in the vineyards of Burgundy. The maturation stage was reached at the beginning of September. Maturation is when the grapes change colour (most visible on the Pinot Noir grape) before starting to ripen.
Since then, the grapes have been ripening nicely, increasing in sweetness and losing acidity. Consequently, the first grapes are unlikely to be cut (for still wines) before 20 September. Vineyards producing Burgundy Crémants (sparkling) could begin harvesting a few days earlier.
Quantity forecasts for the 2008 harvest are average: a little over 1.5 million hectolitres, according to estimates by the Technique and Quality Centre of the Interprofessional Bureau of Burgundy Wines. This is a level comparable to the two previous vintages. It is too early to judge the quality of this year’s vintage… for that we must wait for the results of the first vinifications!“