Tasted in Gilly les Citeaux with Mark Haisma, 14 November 2016.
Mark Haisma
Lot 4, Parc d’Activités “La Petite Champagne”
21640 Gilly les Citeaux
www.markhaisma.co.uk
Mark is now in his new premises, just a stone-throw away from Vougeot – well, a stone-throw if you have a strong arm. He is still waiting for his wines though, as his permit from the douane has not yet arrived.
Mark on the 2016 vintage:
Well, I had 65 barrels of 2015 from the Côte d’Or, compared to 15 barrels worth directly after the harvest in 2016!
Mark on the 2015 vintage:
“For whites I see the inverse of 2014. But we’ve got freshness and brightness in mind and we have lovely drinking. There’s ampleness and deliciousness but there’s not the clarity of 2014.
“For the reds, there’s precision, brightness, they are uplifting, stunning. They began their life as dense and opulent – slightly flabby, maybe with a bit too much on the sweet fruit – I like to be on the razors edge, and these didn’t show that at the start.
“I set out to make wines that people want to gobble up – if they last for years in the bottle that’s a plus! I had to work spectacularly hard for it, but after a massive trie we had good stuff. ”
The wines…
2015 Bourgogne Aligoté
From the Côte de Nuits and Hautes Côtes de Nuits – half elevage in barrel, half in tank.
A freshness but a suggestion of warmth too – a combination that only aligoté can deliver. A lovely line and salinity.
2015 Saint Romain
A combination of the two vineyards from last year. ‘It seemed really to deliver the best of both in one wine.’
Ooh, nice! A very faint oak padding but with a fine citrus. Layers, weight, a slow burn of acidity – really an understated acidity, but a growing mineral dimension to the finishing flavour. Super length too.
Les rouges
Chambolle and Gevrey communes from old vines
Ooh – now this smells better than any bourgogne has a right to – beautiful, fresh and with fine definition. Effortless and beautifully unfolding. A weight of flavour in the mid-palate, perfectly delivered. A nice mineral last glance too. Bravo!
2915 Volnay Peux Bois
‘Up high on the white stoney, lime-stony stuff’
A little vibration of whole clusters? Yes about 15%. Wide, faintly textured, weight of both light and energy. Impressive intensity yet packed so it wont hurt. 25% new wood. Beautiful!
Charmots below 1ers on vosne side with deep gravels.
A softer fruit nose today – recently sulfured. Ohh what a beautiful fruit! A bright wave of fine flavour rides through the mid-palate. Great length. Even better than the Volnay! Bravo!
Croix de Champs and Le Justice
Wide and fine. Ooh this has width, depth and a simply gorgeous flavour. 50% whole bunch but it doesn’t show it. Complex mid-palate, a faintly saline crust. Perfect balance between fresh fruit and savoury. Bravo!
2015 Pommard 1er Clos des Arvelets
Only 20% whole cluster 350 l barrel, 50% new
Almost a stricter aroma – some flowers and engaging structure – this is very inviting. Supple, floral flavours and very modest tannin – and no obvious oak artifacts. Modest intensity in the finish yet long finishing. Very tasty wine indeed.
75% whole bunch
Floral, roses, silkiness – super inviting. Fresh, wide, slowly growing volume, a faint base of velvet tannin. This the minerality takes over – and this wine adds more of a line. Chewy, tasty finishing. Bravo!
The last vintage. 50% whole bunch. Always been fermented in a 500l barrel.
Here is a faint reduction. Then a modest herb. Both of those lift to reveal a fabulously complex and finely focused fruit – gorgeous. Wide and layered and, and, and… There’s a weight of mid-palate flavour, complex flavour, that just goes long, long, long and wide into the finish – the long goodbye!
2015 Vin de france
“I was searching for this for a long while, so outside of AOC, not really focusing on where it comes from, I just want beautiful drinking wines. That and the vintage is enough – syrah, grenache 1:1 from the Ardeche on schist. A vin-de-soif? I don’t care what you call it, it just has to be great drinking for a good price. This will be priced same as my bourgogne – this isn’t cheap shit, just because some land doesn’t have an AOC designation, doesn’t mean that it can’t be great!”
Much deeper colour. Floral depth, and darkly fruited – fresh and inviting. Wide, a good texture and equally good volume. Floral fruit in the mid-palate. A weight of finishing flavour with a little licorice. Very wide in the finish too. Very tasty wine!
2015 Cornas
A super and wide, faintly spicy, very faintly reduced nose. Wonderful combination of width, texture and dark complexity. A last twist of modest tannin in the finish. Big wine, gorgeous wine. Super length too.