Entries from 2022

‘frostwatch’ – 2022 part 2

By billn on April 04, 2022 #vintage 2022

Vine caterpillar
Blagny – last Wednesday – they were everywhere.

Less than one week ago, it was munching caterpillars that were the main cause of ire for vigneron(ne)s – of course, for the moment, they have been forgotten.

Looking at things from afar, it doesn’t look good: Part of the départment of Champagne (Marne) registered the lowest (non-alpine) April temperature since 1947 when French records began: -9°C, with more than 90% of France being touched by the frost of Sunday into Monday – seemingly it was only Paris that escaped it.

Look closer – at least in (greater) Burgundy – and I’m more optimistic:

  1. Although the frost has arrived at the same time as in 2021, the vines in 2022 are generally a few days behind their position in 2021 – the buds are mainly in their ‘cotton’ stage and few of them are open – just a few in the most precocious locations and/or very young vines – and, as ever, it’s the chardonnay that is the most precocious.
  2. Although it makes for dramatic photos (see the tweet below) there are generally fewer candles in the vines right now than was the case in 2021.
  3. Unlike the black, Winter, frost of 2021, we have seen a more classically Spring-frost this time – so the wind turbines have some utility this year.
  4. The frost lasted multiple (7-10) days in 2021 – it looks like no more than 2-3 days this year.
  5. The lowest temperature on Sunday/Monday in Chablis (which was slightly colder than the Côte d’Or) was around -6.5°C – though one domaine has told me -9°C also in Vaillons – more generally -3° to -5°C. The positive for the growers was that it was quite dry in the vines (except where they have been using water-sprays!). They have a little more concern for Friday and Saturday night where temperatures were closer to -2°C but the buds were wet from snow and rain. Today there was zero evidence of snow on the hills of Chablis – I arrived at lunchtime to a sunny Spring day.
  6. I have heard, however, that Courgis may have fared less well than the rest of Chablis – let’s see – I’ll be there on Thursday!

So losses for sure – the fertility of even the unopened buds can be affected by low temperatures. Other than a potentially cold night next Saturday, the worst seems now to be over and certainly no frost is forecast for the next days except for the caveat for Saturday.

As always, I’ll keep you posted.

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weekend wines, week 13 2022…

By billn on April 03, 2022 #degustation

weekend wines - week 13 2022

To accompany the heaviest snow of this winter at home:

2018 Auvigue, Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles-Vignes
The nose reflects the palate – round, a certain richness, but somehow still inviting. The palate is fleshy and quite delicious but the generosity of this wine would be taken to a, more interesting, higher level with a touch more energy and/or acidity. Tasty for sure, but my eye is starting to wander before the first glass is drained…
Rebuy – No

2019 Dr Loosen, Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese
Of- course, there is sweetness but the deliciousness, more importantly, the moreishness, that was lacking in the last can be found here 10x over. The 9% means that you can drink more of it too! The tiniest fault is only one brought about by my lack of patience – a faint extra whisp of SO2 at the end of the, otherwise super, nose. A treat!
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Bouchard Père, Volnay 1er Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot
What a great cork – hardly a mm of wine ingress. The wine has depth of colour and weight of aroma – good aroma – that’s showing some signs of development but still of power. The palate is concentrated yet beautifully balanced. Day 1 showing a little young but very drinkable, indeed enjoyable. Day 2 and the wine is more sullen, less open but has not moved in the direction of any faults – it’s just tighter. A fine bottle whose best time is certainly still to come.
Rebuy – Yes

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The 109th edition of the Tastevinage tasting

By billn on April 01, 2022 #degustation

And as I have the theme of Clos de Vougeot (yesterday) what better than the results of the twice-yearly Tastevinage, held by Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, which was held in the château just a week ago?

This tasting was on Friday 25th March and included 442 wines that were assessed, blind, by the tasters.

Of the 442, 147 of these wines were assessed as meriting the Tastevinage label, of which 50 wear a Bourgogne label, 61 villages, 33 premier cru and, finally, 3 grand crus – there seem to be relatively fewer and fewer grand crus, and even 1er crus, presented these days. There are lots of new names on this list that I hope to discover this year; Galopière, Desertaux-Ferrand, Ponsard-Chevalier and others.

If you click on this link, you can find the list of successful producers and their wines.

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the charity clos de vougeot for the abbaye de cîteaux

By billn on March 31, 2022 #degustation#events

Chateau du Clos de Vougeot in November 21...

In just over one week – Friday April 8th 2022 – Sotheby’s will commence an online charity auction of wines from Burgundy. The final recipient of these funds will be the Cistercian Abbey of Cîteaux, established in 1098.
sothebys.com/vougeotpourciteaux

The syndicate of producers of Clos de Vougeot and the Fondation du Patrimoine – so a group of domaines in addition to the syndicate – are coming together for this event in order to aid the restoration and conservation of the Définitoire of Cîteaux Abbey in Burgundy. Those additional domaines from up and down the Côte d’Or donating wines (red and white) as additional lots for the auction.

Twenty four* of the syndicate of producers of Clos de Vougeot have donated wine from their 2020 vintage. The elevage of this assembly has been entrusted to Château de la Tour with a planned bottling time in September 2022. There is a little over 2-barrels worth of wine – 570-litres – that has been set aside for this auction.

*Clos de Vougeot Contributors: Domaine d’Ardhuy, Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils, Domaine Capitain-Gagnerot, Domaine Charlopin-Parizot, Domaine du Clos Frantin (Albert Bichot), Domaine Drouhin-Laroze, Maison Dufouleur Frères, Domaine d’Eugenie, Domaine Faiveley, Domaine François Lamarche, Domaine Jacques Prieur, Maison Joseph Drouhin, Maison Louis-Jadot, Domaine Méo-Camuzet, Domaine Michel Noëllat, Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg, Château Philippe le Hardi, Domaine H. Rebourseau, Maison Remoissenet, Domaine René Dubois, Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair, Château de la Tour, Domaine de la Vougeraie.
Contributors of other lots: Domaine Marquis d’Angerville, Domaine du Comte Armand, Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur, Domaine Henri Boillot, Domaine Bonneau du Martray, Domaine Dujac, Domaine des Hospices de Beaune, Domaine Kloster Eberbach, Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Domaine des Lambrays, Domaine Leflaive, Domaine Leroy, Château de Vosne Romanée – Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair, Domaine Jacques Frédéric Mugnier, Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Domaine Emmanuel Rouget, Domaine Georges Roumier, Domaine Armand Rousseau, Domaine Taupenot-Merme, Domaine Comte George de Vogüé.

In addition, on Saturday, April 23rd 2022, there will be a charity dinner in the Château du Clos de Vougeot – which includes a tour of the Abbaye de Cîteaux – tickets for this 5-course charity dinner are available online and cost €228 per person. The internet auction will close during this dinner. Honourary guests will include the Abbot of Cîteaux, Father Pierre-André Burton, Aubert de Villaine, and Guillaume Poitrinal who is the president of the Fondation du Patrimoine – plus, of course, multiple winegrowers who are supporting this project. Arnaud Orsel of the Tastevinage, headquartered in the Château du Clos de Vougeot makes the following comment “Seat of the Climats de Bourgogne World Heritage Site, the Château du Clos de Vougeot was owned and occupied by the monks for more than seven hundred years. It was only natural then to put our savoir-faire at the service of Cîteaux Abbey by conceiving, organizing and hosting this charity auction which will take place in the Great Cistercian Cellar.”

The wine…

A label has been designed for this cuvée that amply highlights the link to the Abbey of Cîteaux – done with pure-gold elements that are redolent of the old texts and manuscripts of the monks. The label is the work of artisan caligrapher Christelle Sordel – and took her over 80 hours to complete the original artwork.

Clos de Vougeot 2020 Cuvée Cîteaux

2020 Clos de Vougeot, Cuvée de l’Abbaye de Cîteaux
Tasted today. Only 13.5°, which is modest for 2020, likewise there’s plenty of colour but this is far from saturated. Hmm, that‘s a sophisticated nose – wide, faintly oak-spiced and saline with some implied silk to the aroma – still, it’s a little tighter in the higher tones as there’s no obvious floral component here – today. In the recent run of warmer vintages, you can forget the old chestnut of ‘austere Clos de Vougeot;‘ this wine is framed by the most modest of tannin – über-fine-grained – and whilst this tannin modifies the texture so that it becomes more velvet in textural style, this tannin has no dryness. Balanced, with fine width of flavour, delivered in layers – some oak complexity here for sure. A wine that’s neither overtly vibrant nor mineral but soothing, complex and certainly well-concentrated, like the nose, there remains impressive sophistication. Not an obviously grand vin today but with more elevage to come, it is still a very good, potentially excellent, grand cru – and with zero faults. Almost too tasty for young CV!

In French you may see some of the scope of the rennovation:

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frost watch and electric cables…

By billn on March 30, 2022 #travels in burgundy 2022#vintage 2022

I shared a photo with you from Monday afternoon as the team of Eric Germain at Vincent Girardin were placing candles in their vines – these buds not just in the ‘cotton‘ stage but also starting to open. That said, these are the buds of the more precocious young vines – the more mature vines being less obviously advanced.

This is an important point for now – the timing of this week’s warmth and next week’s (forecast) snow and negative temperatures being exactly as per last year, but:

  • The high temperatures have been less high than in 2021.
  • The forecast low temperatures for the coming days will be less low than in 2021
  • Given that the last few weeks of fine weather have usually started their days with morning frosts, the vines are less advanced in their growth-cycle than last year.

So – it’s still an issue for the young vines in the next days – and the Saint-Glace – the day after which the growers can forget about frosts – is still more than 6 weeks away. So what more can the growers do?

I noted on Monday that the upper part (of the lower part!) of Meursault-Genevrières was being prepared for trace electrical heating cables. This generally requires a lot of infrastructure work to bring the electricity supply into the vines – though is otherwise much more environmentally conscious than the use of candles – including the more expensive ‘organic’ candles option. Or you bring a generator into the vineyards to power the cables for the time that you’re going to need them – this was the approach of Bonneau du Martry in their vines yesterday – see the images below.

Of-course, the windmills are still an option this year as it doesn’t look like the deep Winter frost that came in 2021 is expected this year – ‘just‘ the Spring variant. These windmills are starting to crop up in the vines, in waiting. Of course, they also use their own generators to function.

Finally, just a few other photos from yesterday – including a reprehensible 12-rows, or-so, of Grands-Echézeaux vines that have been laced with herbicide. I bet the owners of the nicely ploughed rows on both sides of this dirty dozen are ecstatic!

Starting the day somewhere quite well-known…
Bonneau du Martray – generator lower in the vines….
Bonneau du Martray – generator lower in the vines….
Bonneau du Martray – easy connections….
Charles Lachaux having fun with poles in RSV…
Grands Echézeaux – Chemical Cru…
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hot, a couple of rocks and the return of the…

By billn on March 28, 2022 #travels in burgundy 2022#vintage 2022

Almost 23°C in the Côte de Beaune this afternoon.

This same week, last year, I saw 27°C in Chablis and we all know what happened the week after. Some people are already preparing for the next days – the forecasts are suggesting that heading into the weekend it could snow…

Vergisson
Rock of Solutre
Rock of Solutre and friend!
Château Rully
Oops – Puligny 1er Combettes (Young Vines)
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Monternot’s 2016 Fruit & Terroir…

By billn on March 25, 2022 #degustation

Monternot's 2016 Fruit & Terroir

The twins weren’t available for a visit to taste 2020s earlier this year. It’s close to retirement time for them – hopefully, they have a good succession plan underway as they always produce highly interesting and well-priced wines:

2016 Monternot Les Jumeaux, Beaujolais Villages Fruit & Terroir
More terroir than fruit today. To be honest, I was expecting this 2016 to be a bit more accessible – but it’s concentrated and young – even a little herbed. Of-course, we still managed to knock off the majority of the bottle!
Dark coloured. A nose of weight, impact and still plenty of freshness – yet far from cliché Beaujolais fruit – concentrated and with some herby flashes. In the mouth, this is broad and has super balance, yet the structure – without harshness – retards the drinking pleasure a little – certainly the drinking speed! Good, if not great – but obviously still a baby – I wonder how long it will take for my VV cuvée from 2019 to start to show itself! I might try one soon anyway 🙂
Rebuy – No

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Two 1996 Cortons – well, that was a waste of time!

By billn on March 24, 2022 #degustation

1996 Cortons

The 1996 Castagnier of the weekend was just so damn good – so why not a couple more from 1996?

I’d been doing a little cellar-sorting and had happened upon (as you do…) some older Cortons – that would work!

1996 Thomas-Moillard, Corton Clos du Roi
A cuvée that Clive Coates used to love from this producer that, like most Corton of the era, was something of a masochistic pleasure when younger. The cork had no more than a mm of wine that had had tried to travel up its length and was very impressively robust – a great cork! Or not. The wine was actually corked!!!
Rebuy – No

1996 Hospices de Beaune, Corton Cuvée Charlotte Dumay
Way back when, I scored a whole case of this – do you remember 12-bottle cases of grand crus? Just two remained from this case – a wine equivalently masochistic as the TM when young but, historically, a bit less energy and flavour precision than the TM. Also a decent cork but a wine that smelled much sweeter – though with a tell-tale accent of brett. Just for information, I like Marmite (Vegemite) on my toast but within short order, this wine absolutely stank of the stuff. Pinch your nose and you could lose some of it – but NO! I could no-longer put it in my mouth. Reject!
Rebuy – No

Some weeks, the cellar depletes faster than other weeks!

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offer of the day – Christophe Perrot-Minot 2019…

By billn on March 23, 2022 #the market

2019 Perrot-MinotOnce more, just to give you that fuzzy and warm feeling that you could buy these – if you really wanted!

As usual, the prices are delivered in Switzerland – but here, include purchase tax. Note that these are special introductory prices – the price goes up at the end of the offer 🙂 In the brackets – 2018, then 2017 & 2016 prices and — indicates not offered:

VINS ROUGES
Bourgogne Gravières des Chaponnières 2019 75cl 52.65* (—) (*Swiss Francs)

Gevrey-Chambertin Justice des Seuvrées 2019 75cl 171.00 (117.00, 120.60, 94.50)
Morey Saint-Denis En la Rue de Vergy 2019 75 cl 171.00 (—)
Nuits St-Georges 1er ‘Les Murgers des Cras’ 2019 75cl 171.00 (117.00, 120.60, 100.80)
Vosne-Romanée Ormes des Chalendins 2019 75cl 189.00 (135.00, 138.60, —)
Chambolle-Musigny Orveaux des Bussières 2019 75cl 220.50 (135.00, 138.60, —)

Vosne-Romanée Les Champs Perdrix Vieilles Vignes 2019 75cl 240.00 (170.00, 156.60, 128.70)
Morey Saint-Denis 1er Cru La Riotte Vieilles Vignes 2019 75cl 265.00 (171,00, 174.60, 163.80)
Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts Vieilles Vignes 2019 75cl 395.00 (240.00, 249.00, 193.50)
Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuées 660.00 (—) 2019 75cl
Chambolle-Musigny Combe d’Orveau 1er Cru “Ultra” Vieilles-Vignes 2019 75cl 660.00 (375.00, 389.00, —)
Nuits Saint-Georges 1er Cru La Richemone “Ultra” Vieilles Vignes 2019 75cl 594.00 (337.50, 389.00, 385.00)

Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru Vieilles Vignes 2019 75cl 679.50 (425.00, 444.00, 420.00)
Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru Vieilles Vignes 2019 75cl 679.50 (382.50, 444.00, 420.00)
Mazoyères-Chambertin Grand Cru Vieilles Vignes 2019 75cl 679.50 (382.50, 444.00, 420.00)

There are 3 more grand crus; Griotte, Bèze & Chambertin but all are ‘price on application.’ These increases are anyway as ‘punchy’ as I have seen from anyone and given that Christophe puts his wines on the market later than most others, then he’s benefitting from the price increases of the 2020s (and then some!) already with his 2019s!

*As noted, these are delivered prices, but this email offer is discounted – whatever is sold from their normal catalogue is at a higher price – typically about 10% more…

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