2005 Camille Giroud, Bourgogne Pinot Noir
A wide and ripe nose with red-shaded fruit – eventually a toffee note comes through too. On the palate there’s still some dissolved carbon dioxide – 2005 was the first year that David Croix didn’t rack during elevage. There’s good depth and balance and a very above average length for the appellation. A very easy re-buy choice, as blind you would think this at least a villages wine.
Rebuy – Yes
Did you already eat?
Bertrand Celce is bringing plenty of colour to your desktop…
2004 des Chézeaux (Ponsot), Griotte-Chambertin
The nose starts high-toned with a backdrop of vintage 2004 cedar. Slowly the cedar recedes giving space for a much more mineral aspect than is usual for this vineyard and certainly less alluring. The palate is silky with fresh acidity and super intensity, but unusually the length is again very mineral. It’s actually quite super, but I’d never pick it as Griotte. Day 2 the nose is transformed to the classic soft, but deep red cherry, perhaps including also a shade of raspberry and importantly the cedar is totally vanished – that’s very promising. The palate gains a little more depth and the finish remains unchanged – mineral but very long. This could become a super wine – but wait for 2015 as a minimum – I think it will need it as it was even slightly better on day 3!
Rebuy – Yes
Many people – pundits included – like to have a definitive answer for why there is the green-streak in (possibly) a majority of 2004 reds, some growers say that even whites show it. The most common response (given reason) is phenolic maturity with equal second place (should that be third?) going to hail/rot. Well many that show the trait saw no hail and also no rot – the phenolic ripeness crew are now looking smug – but wait: Here is a wine made by Laurent Ponsot – the last of the late pickers – that shows the trait, do you really expect me to believe it’s a ripeness issue? On opening, his Griotte initially shows it to an even higher level, more of that when I eventually write the note.
In the end I feel pretty safe to continue describing this as a ‘post-bottling vintage phenomenon’ which I hope will fade as it arrived i.e. unheralded, because the unimpaired 2004’s continue to drink like 1996’s with fruit – in fact fresh fruit coulis wines.
2004 des Chézeaux (Ponsot), Chambolle-Musigny 1er Charmes
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. The nose starts virtually cedar-free with a tight, round core of red fruit. Slowly there develops a lovely deep red cherry note and bit-by-bit a background of cedar emerges – not enough to spoil the wine, just enough to point to its origin. Good texture and lovely acidity, it’s a wine that starts narrow but opens wider and wider, expanding into a good if rather mineral-infused finish. There’s a reasonable amount of tannin but it’s finely grained. I’d leave this about 5 years before revisiting. Day 2 the cedar is 90% gone (hopefully a positive sign) and we have a lovely, long and tasty wine that would be a certain rebuy.
Rebuy – Yes
Here is a bottle designed to cause injury to delivery personnel – at about 50% heavier than the standard bottle it will add 4 kilos (9 pounds) to a 12-pack – though perhaps they only come in six-packs. Some might call this a statement, but it’s a more like ‘mine’s bigger than yours’ if you ask me…
Anyway I’ve wanted to get to grips with a wine from this maker for a while – he seems to polarise opinion; ‘brilliant wines, but not my style’ say influentiul critics. I’m assuming there will be a lot of oak – but let’s see.
2004 Lucien Le Moine, Bourgogne Rouge
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Obviously a 2004 with soft cedar top-notes that mingle with raspberry and eventually redcurrant. When opened there is too much carbon dioxide; you can see the density and good texture but little else. I stoppered it and returned next day. The CO2 is gone and the fine texture and good depth remain. I’m sure there’s more villages wine than than ‘regional’ in this blend – it’s almost good and apart from the texture I see little overt oak. So what’s the rub? – Well, €18 per bottle (in Beaune) – it’s good, but not that good.
Rebuy – Maybe
I probably won’t pay the (high) entry price to check on the more famous labels.
A very wet and grey day, but who needs the sun when it can pour from the glass!
Tasting highlight of the day was clearly at Domaine Liger-Belair; Louis-Michel’s wines attest to the ascendency of producer over vintage – at least in the recent vintages – his 2006’s are stunning, truly stunning. Of-course that causes problems; the old mixed case was expensive enough – but now with another 7 cuvées – I am lost!
I arrived today for 4 days in the Côtes, only to be greeted by April weather.
Whilst April was more like June – warm and dry with very fast vine growth that pushed forward some of the flowering into the equally warm first two weeks of May – mid-May has seen a break in the weather; it’s turned to 14°C with April showers and there’s intermittent hail in the mix too. Given that hail arrived in the south just after the setting of the flowers, and in the north just before flowering (mainly) we can (so far) reasonably expect only some diminshing of the yields.
The unpruned vines are close to 1.5 metres tall ~5 feet – that’s almost 3 times more growth than normal – it’s been a nightmare for people trying to de-bud…
Only one tasting today – in Fixin at Pierre Gelin. Tomorrow I increase the load a little with 2+ visits, peaking on Thursday with 4-6, ‘coming down’ again on Friday (only 2) before heading back to (currently) rainy and cold Switzerland.
More info to follow – if interesting!
Cheers
1998 Robert Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée
Bright, shiny, medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour. The nose starts with quite a waft of spicy, toasty oak but fortunately this hangs around for only 10 minutes or-so. The end result is wide, with higher tones and mainly red fruits that have just an edge of black about them. There is good concentration with even an extra kick in the mid-palate – it’s all coupled with good, smooth texture too. Excellent acidity and long finishing – very successful and better than many a 1er cru.
Rebuy – Yes
Two interesting pieces I noted in the interweb in the last days; one on terroir and the other about a burgundy ‘transplant‘.
Enjoy…
Back home from a few days travelling and I was really looking forward to a nice bottle. No1 was an excruciatingly corked Clos de la Roche. Now things were getting desperate so here is bottle No2; I bought this from the producer’s shop and thought it might be useful substitute – wrong…
1998 Thomas-Moillard, Vosne-Romanée 1er Malconsorts
A rather unnattractively muddy, if deep mahogany red colour. The nose is high-toned but the fruit seems a little cooked in profile, wide but unappealing in a stewed tea kind of way. The tannin rather sticks out and I suppose that this was one of those hideously astringent 98’s in it’s first couple of years, but the tannins have moderated – if only a little. The acidity is quite clean and good and eventually you find the one redeeming feature of the wine; nice fruit in the finish with a creamy edge and an understated length. Only two more lie in the cellar, fortunately, and I expect that in the normal Thomas-Moillard style they won’t be close to mature for at least another 10 years. I think they will always be rather uncouth and lacking style. Shame, as the starting material hints of much more potential. It’s very rare that I ‘waste’ wine, but this bottle was poured down the sink on day 2…
Rebuy – No
You are using an outdated browser. Please update your browser to view this website correctly: https://browsehappy.com/;