Tasted with Julien Barraud, 19 October 2020.
Domaine Barraud
Le Nambre
71960 Vergisson
Tel: +33 3 85 35 84 25
www.domainebarraud.com
Julien (a little) on 2019 & 2018:
“I’m planning to bottle the 2019s a little later as I need the space for the moment – you can’t push the walls out wider – so, for now, I prefer to show the 2018s. In 2018 we had a year that had great weather conditions. The vines grew very well and had nice grapes. No maladies, good flowering and we could use all the grapes! It was a year that brought a surprise of-course as we had all these beautiful grapes at harvest – the clusters weren’t so big – but there was plenty of them. It reminds us very much of 1982 – perhaps because we had the chance to always to harvest at the optimal time as the maturities didn’t come too fast – or all at the same time. So we could make a number of pauses – so it was a longer harvest than usual.”
The wines…
No 2019s, but these 18s were refreshing and showed some mouth-watering finesse. There’s still some oak to wait for but in 1-2 years they will be ripe for harvesting.
2018 Macon-Vergisson La Roche
Wide, airy, lime-fruited. Ooh – that’s good. A wine that fills the mouth, slowly mouth-watering energy and plenty of lime-fruited complexity – still a little hardness of minerality but delicious all the same – you won’t have to wait too long for this! I love – and it’s so long too…
2018 St.Véran Les Pommards
NE-facing 55 yo vines in an old quarry…
A little less width of aroma but with more depth and concentration. There’s a suggestion of oak in the middle but also a lovely clarity of concentrated flavour – not richness as the balance is very fine. A more subdued finish – but wide and long and tasty…
2018 Pouilly-Fuissé En France
In Vergisson but really a very clay-based soil with some blue clay and plenty of sand too.
Again a compact nose – much depth, hiding a little oak in there too – perhaps. Clarity, minerality, energy, a little modest oak frames the wine. You could already drink this with some pleasure. Slightly structured – it will last and last… Saline, mouth-watering, excellent in the finish.
This in potential 1er Marechale – might have to change the name to wear the 1er cru label (eventually!)
This nose is a little more open, but the fruit is compact, ripe, slightly green citrus. Bright, fresh, mouth-filling wine. A touch of barrel and more energetic finishing than the last – lime again. This is super.