Mark Haisma – 2013

23.12.2014billn

DSC05178Tasted in St.Philibert with Mark Haisma, 9th October 2014.

Mark Haisma
1 Route de Saint-Philibert
21220, Gevrey-Chambertin
www.markhaisma.co.uk

Mark, who began with the 2007 vintage, works out of Pierre Naigon’s facility, 5 minutes east of Gevrey in St.Philibert. It’s really an industrial area, but it offers plenty of space to for his triage and his big concrete tanks – he thinks himself quite lucky.

Mark is clearly an Australian, but with a french mother. He knew Pierre Naigon from Australia where Pierre also makes wine. One night, Mark confided in Pierre, over a beer, that he would love to make wine, so came over and did the harvest with Pierre in 2007. Mark bought some of that wine and labelled it himself, thereafter doing more and more of the work, each year, himself.

It’s worked out well for Mark, because his English wife anyway wanted to return home from Australia. So now Mark commutes from his family in the UK to his winery!

The wines…

I asked Mark what he was looking for in his wines:

“I don’t want the effect of my work to be seen, but I do quite like the question ‘Is there, or isn’t there?’ I want to see texture and fullness, but I also want to see verve, and if the texture of whole clusters begins to dominate, then I’ve failed as a winemaker. I want my wine to ravish people… To pleasure people…”

– Amen to that!

Mark sells direct via a list which you should be able to access – here. He made 42 barrels of wine in 2013 and has 45 for 2014. Just occasionally you might find a little Cornas from him too – you can take the boy out of the shiraz, but you can’t…

2013 Saint Romain Le Jarrons
A cold plot, planted in the 1950s, that can get frosted early in the growth-cycle, very often with millerande fruit.
Here’s a fresh and mineral nose – nice. Lovely texture, slightly soft but with fine balance. There’s a stony-fruit flavour in the finish. Actually, very nice.

2013 Saint Romain Combe Bazin
All the work is done the same as in Le Jarrons, but this is a warmer place – plus a mix of older and young (10yo) vines.
A deep, ripe, round lemon nose. Here is a lovely combination of sweet citrus and fine acidity – Yum! – A really lovely finish!

2013 Santenay Saint Jean
“A beautiful place that stays warm in the evenings. I love to prune up there with the phone turned off!”
I find a faint burnt sugar on the nose – reduction I think. Round, opulent, faintly reduced flavours but with decent acidity. A wine that slowly opens up more and more on the palate.

Les Rouges…

2013 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Great pinot fruit aroma, just maybe with a hint of chocolate to augment the dark-red fruit. Wide and fresh in the mouth with fine concentration and crunch, juicy fruit. Very, very good BPN…

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin Croix de Champs
Powdery, sweet, dark fruit. Direct flavours rather than wide, a bit of a racehorse wine with good structure and balance. The finish has plenty of flavour – you can chew a little. Yum!

2013 Nuits St.Georges La Charmotte
Only this and the BPN 100% de-stemmed.
There’s depth and texture to this nose – darker fruit and some herbs. Plenty of tannin but it’s ripe tannin that underpins lovely, lovely fruit flavour that seems higher-toned in the finish. Lovely (again!).

2013 Volnay Les Grands Poisots
Mark put his foot in it earlier in the year, by writing about how this wine was a little smelly, probably from hail damage, despite his hard triage. His note was published on Jancis’s site where Mark said he wouldn’t be offering the wine. Now he has a ‘communication opportunity’ to explain to everyone why he will be offering it – the smell upped and left during malo! 😉 Just one barrel.
The nose seems pure enough – just high tones and pretty red fruit. Here is a nice velvet texture with pretty red fruit like the nose. Impressive from the mid-palate into the finish. Tasty Volnay.

2013 Morey St.Denis 1er Les Chaffots
50% whole clusters used here.
Here’s a really lovely depth of dark fruit. Faint gas, but velvet texture with very good concentration and a sprightly dark fruit impression as you head into the finish. Super!

2013 Bonnes-Mares
This is the only wine fermented in wooden tank, no new oak in the elevage.
A fine nose with width, and seemingly a little texture and plenty of fine dark fruit. There’s also plenty of structure, of-course but the flavour is super and forms the impression of a width of flavour as you enter the finish. Long lasting!

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

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