the right tool for the job – i.e. not me!

By billn on November 06, 2006 #degustation #travel

ploughing in argillieres That’s most-likely the last visit to the Côtes over for this year – so I expect a slowing down of posts. My last domaine visit was at Prieure Roch in Premeaux – the horse to the left was ploughing just down the road in Les Argillières before my visit.

Talking of Tools; I got over the first hurdle no problem; the worm of the ‘screwpull’ snaked easily into the cork without pushing it into the neck. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I got to the second hurdle; it was easy to withdraw the corkscrew – unfortunately all but the centre of the cork stayed put. I knew I didn’t have one of those two-pronged implements (note to self – personal Christmas present list), so I was going to have to make do with two angled worms: bum! – that didn’t work either. Helpfully, as I was clearing the cork debris from the top of the bottle, the rest (~65%) of the cork fell into the wine. C’est la vie – but fortunately, there were no cat-calling witnesses!

1976 Tollot-Beaut, Aloxe-Corton
Clean and bright, medium, medium-plus colour – a mahogany rim but clearly still a ruby-red core. From opening, this was just a little monolithic on the nose; faint baked fruit and a savoury undercurrent. If you wait – over 1 hour – the nose tightens to a very nice and tight powdery red fruit impression The palate is surprisingly plush and intense – it’s hard to keep hold of the wine, as your mouth starts watering in response to the acidity. I’m very impressed by the balance here. Slowly some sweetness builds to counterbalance an edge of tartness in the finish. The tannins are still there and quite chewy. This is a surprisingly robust and healthy wine – just like the label says, this is a village wine so no real fireworks or mind-bending length, but it’s always interesting to drink a wine that was harvested around your 14th birthday!

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pommard #5

By billn on November 06, 2006 #degustation

#5 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2005 d’Ardhuy, Pommard 1er Fremiers
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. Soft and round, this has a lovely high-toned nose and a very faint caramel-coffee edge. Ripe and sweet palate – again with a lovely extra 1er cru dimension to the fruit. Well balanced with some faintly astringent tannin and a super finish.
Rebuy – Yes – and actually I did!

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pommard #4

By billn on November 05, 2006 #degustation

#4 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2004 d’Ardhuy, Pommard 1er Fremiers
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. The nose has faint cedar and a powdery red fruit aspect of quite some width, depth develops only slowly though I’d like more precision. The palate has just an edge to it, like the acidity is only-just ripe – which would be a surprise considering it was picked at 13.9° natural – on the positive side here you can easily see why this is a premier cru; for the first time we have a wine with more than one dimension on the mid-palate, and nice fruit it is too. There is nothing like the density of the previous Dugat-Py wine, but then this 1er cru is less than half the price of that villages wine!
Rebuy – Maybe

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update at d’ardhuy

By billn on November 05, 2006 #producer update

ardhuy vosne I visited Domaine d’Ardhuy on Thursday.

That meant that I had to visit again of Friday.

Why? – well to collect the wines I ordered after the tasting of-course. It’s just one of those occupational hazards that one has to be prepared for…!

Carel Voorhuis took me through a few barrels of pre-malolactic 2006’s, and then some of the remaining 2005’s in barrel. Finally we took a look at a few wines in bottle – quite a number of the 2005’s are already bottled at this estate. See some of my notes below from those already bottled wines:
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Ladoix Blanc
High-toned sweet nose. Nicely round palate with a good finish. Sound value. Rebuy – Yes
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Sous les Puits
Aromatics are deep but quite linear (narrow) with subtle edge of oak. Well textured and well balanced, quite a bit more length than the Ladoix. Certainly a good wine. Rebuy – Maybe
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Ladoix 1er Rognets
From a small enclave of vines high on the hill of Corton that border Corton-Charlemagne. High-toned nose with the implication of some density. Delivers on the palate; mouthwatering, full of flavour and good length. Perhaps a junior Charlemagne. Rebuy – Yes And I did.
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Corton-Charlemagne
High-toned and very wide nose, just slightly estery. Density without too much weight yet the mid-palate is packed with dimension. Very expressive and super length with an edge of coconut(?) Rebuy – Yes
2003 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Corton Renardes
Medium-plus colour. Very nice nose of high-toned and wide (mainly black) fruit. A nicely soft entry, the flavour etches onto your tongue – plenty of dimension, though the finish seems to be not so long for a grand cru. Rebuy – Maybe
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Peuillets
Medium-plus colour. Fresh red fruit – maybe a hint of blue too. Medium density ripe fruit in the mid-palate. Good, furry tannin and a lingering finish. Very nice Savigny. Rebuy – Yes
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Narbantons
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Plenty of ripe red and black fruit on the nose. The tannin is on a slightly higher level than the Peuillets and the finish is nicely long with a mouthwatering edge. Even better than the Peuillets. Rebuy – Yes I did.
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Volnay 1er Chanlins
From high-up on the hillside. A wide and very fine nose – I could sniff this for ages. The palate is a little more mineral than the nose, and also than the previous Savignys. Nice density and balance and a nice diminuendo to the finish. Very pretty. Rebuy – Yes
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium-plus colour. Black and red fruit with a touch of earth. In the mouth the fruit ishas a nice high-toned aspect and it’s well matched to the tannin. This certainly a more ‘masculine’ wine than the previous bottles, but a good example all the same.
Rebuy – Maybe
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Chaumes
The second time tasted in the last month. Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Fresh red fruits, some raisin on the nose – the drained glass continues to smell wonderfull. Many dimensions on the palate, very good balance too – the finish brings disappointment, not because it’s short, but rather that you don’t want it to end! Lovely. Rebuy – Yes

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la bourgogne vue du ciel

By billn on November 04, 2006 #books, maps, magazines, films even podcasts!

aerial views of burgundy
First published in 1990, I found this book at a bargain-price in a second-hand book store – the condition is far from perfect, but it’s very serviceable.

This is really just a coffee-table book, but it’s chock-full of very pretty pictures taken from the air – one of a series by the authors. There are, of-course, photos of vineyards and grand houses in the Côte d’Or, but ‘Burgundy’ is a much wider area and landscape.

This book was a very nice acquisition – but be careful not to spill coffee on it!

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pommard #3

By billn on November 04, 2006 #degustation

dugat-py pommard 2004 Dugat-Py, Pommard Le Levrière
Deep cherry-red. The nose starts quite reduced with sulfur and hints of mushroom – hard to get at the fruit – slowly it warms to give a bright, high-toned beacon of pure red fruit. The palate has a perfectly (oak) upholstered texture, really impressive concentration, good acidity and surprisingly only a mild grain to the tannin. This is quite mineral and shows a long finish, akin to having (I’m assuming!) a piece of coal in your mouth. From the mid-palate onwards this is much more impressive than the Coche. Very impressive.
Rebuy – Yes

My ‘rebuy’ decision is based purely on the quality of this wine with respect to its appellation – note that I didn’t take the cost of the bottle into consideration! Given my previous experience with Dugat-Py’s 2004 Vosne-Romanée, I would suggest opening 8 hours before serving or very vigorous decating/aeration 1-2 hours before drinking.

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update at mischief & mayhem

By billn on November 03, 2006 #aloxe-corton #producer update

mischief and mayhem cellar door
As discussed in my report back in July, the team at M&M have opened (only last weekend) their new ‘cellar-door’ facility – rather nice it is too – but if today was anything to go by, in January the refridgerator will be used to keep the wine warm!

mischief and mayhem cellar door Best news from this follow-up visit is that I no-longer have taster’s angst – I liked the wines a lot in my first report, but Burghound was lukewarm – to be fair, Dr Meadows had the wines in the post only 5 days after they were bottled – anyway that bastion of good taste the wine spectator (actually Bruce Sanderson) weighed in with scores in the range 91-92/100 – shame then (for me) that M&M have already sold out in Aloxe-Corton – they had no license to sell direct when I last visited.

A few new wines have been added while they forge their bottle contracts (already 90% complete) for next year – see below:

2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Chablis
Establishing yourself in this business is about over-delivering, and here is a prime example; this wine is really a 1er cru from Côte de Lechets, but is labelled and priced as ‘Chablis’. The colour is pale yellow. High-toned aromas of citrusy pear swoon from the cold glass. The palate is fresh, wide and clean, tailing into a medium length. As it should be, a very, very good ‘Chablis’.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Pinot Noir
A high-toned, narrow, ripe red and faintly blue coloured nose. In the mouth this is fresh and very pinot with clean, pure flavours and a finish that’s reasonably long for the regional appellation. Perfect sipping, chilled on a warm sunny day.
Rebuy – Yes
2003 Mischief & Mayhem, Charmes-Chambertin
Medium-plus cherry-red colour. As seems to be the house style, here also are nicely high-toned aromatics, just a little minerality edging the fresh cherry – this temperature (let’s say a little under 18°) is ideal for most 2003’s, any higher and most 2003’s start to become a little flabby. In the mouth this wine is a little more obviously 2003 with a ripe density, though it’s admirably fresh and the tannins are in no-way unruly. No fireworks in the mid-palate, rather a linear expression going into the good finish
Rebuy – Yes

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pommard #2

By billn on November 03, 2006 #degustation

coche-dury pommard 04
2004 Coche-Dury, Pommard Vaumuriens
Medium-plus cherry red. The nose is sweet ripe and only with time betrays the faintest trace of cedar. Wide and friendly, the aromatics are sweet oak with a creamy edge to the red fruit. One sip and you’re hit by fresh, crunchy red and black fruit and grainy tannin – quite the extrovert – given the nose I expected something much more plush. The finish is quite long for a villages, showcasing those grainy tannins. This improved in the glass and was quite a crowd-pleaser.
Rebuy – Yes

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the first frost

By billn on November 02, 2006 #degustation #travel

november in savigny Everything was coated in a layer of frost this morning, and despite the perfect blue sky there’s more than a hint of chill to the breeze. In the Côtes, most of the vines have lost their leaves, but here and there, there are parcels that still reflect yellow and red in the sun – I’ll add a picture later…

This morning I visited Domaine Antonin Guyon in Savigny, for its size this is a seriously ‘under-the-radar’ domaine which produces good+ quality as its basic level and can hit wonderful heights – a full report in about 2 weeks in the November issue.

This afternoon (in an hour) I will taste with Carel Voorhuis at d’Ardhuy for appraising some 2005’s and to ask him about those pine-needles in the Pommard below…

😉

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Entries from 2006

the right tool for the job – i.e. not me!

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pommard #5

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pommard #4

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update at d’ardhuy

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la bourgogne vue du ciel

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pommard #3

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update at mischief & mayhem

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pommard #2

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the first frost

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