Tasted in Gilly les Citeaux with Mark Haisma, 28 November 2018.
Mark Haisma
Lot 4, Parc d’Activités “La Petite Champagne”
21640 Gilly les Citeaux
www.markhaisma.co.uk
Mark on 2017:
“I have 90 barrels, that’s the most ever, but that’s because I’ve sourced new things, not because yields were so high! I’ve things that I never dreamt of having – grand crus! – and it seems to be because I’ve my own place now, the courtiers treat me very differently now…
“In 2017, for me, the wines surprise – for their minerality and their fresh brightness – they speak of acidity despite it apparently being the third warmest vintage on record. A testament to good viticulture, and picking on time. Certainly some people over-cropped, they over-reacted to the lean years – there were some impenetrable walls of fruit – then they complain that their wines have no colour and no structure! But anyone who cropped sensibly have made a classic, sensible, forward and delicious 2017s. 2017 is also fundamentally important for me as it’s my first vintage doing everything under my own steam from picking to elevage, everything in my own cuverie and the pleasure of making my wines under my own roof has been a treat – it’s been my long time aim – so it was an important vintage for me and I couldn’t be happier.
“I pinch myself when I think that I’m going to put some of this stuff in bottle – I just try to do a clean job, because it’s great ground with great vignerons – I just try to stay clean in the middle. It’s an honour for me…”
The wines…
Mark never ceases to surprise, and what a simply great set of 2017s – top to bottom – Côteaux Bourguignone to Echézeaux – I’m hooked. Bravo!
Jarrons and Le Villages assembled – ‘I’ve always looked at the two individually and the blend was actually the nicest wine possible, and that’s my aim…’ Mainly 500 litre barrels, 20% new.
Hmm, there’s depth to this very pretty yellow citrus fruit. A hit of freshness, then melting acidulated fruit, spreading out over the palate. A rush – a super wine – bravo!
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet
From Gougons but not on the label because in the future there’s still a chance that another vineyard may be blended into it. ‘It’s not royalty like Puligny, but I like the honesty of chardonnay grown in red soil’ – 50% new wood – you simply can’t see it!
Hmm, a nice vibrant nose, slightly mineral. Fuller but absolutely fresh, wide, mineral – there is plenty of tension here, juicily mouth-watering! Lovely wine.
2017 Saint Pré – Marsanne-Roussane
‘Vinification in situ to keep the AOC, then elevage here in the Côtes’ 50% Marsanne-Roussane – the first in tank, the second in wood. 4 barrels, ‘It’s my little rebellion…’
Fine sweet quince, it’s a tropical nose. Lots more volume but fresh, mineral, with an extra weight, not quite fat – great acidity and a flavour profile that absolutely clings to the palate.
Les rouges:
2017 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
All used to be CdN, but now predominantly Pommard with a little gevrey too. All destemmed
A modest nose yet open and airy – pretty fruit. Nice fruit in the mouth, nice fresh volume – lovely fresh fruit too with a little more blocky tannin though no real grain – wait 12+ months but this is a beautiful, open pinot. ‘I don’t want to step away from the tannins but I didn’t want the stalks in my Bourgogne.’
‘But a proper PTG with about 1/3 pinot, from the commune of Vosne, all vinified together’ – vinified with 1 year-old wood also from a Vosne domaine. It’s going to be called a Bogen in Bogandy!
A big bright, punchy, very inviting nose. Volume, freshness, full-flavoured, great crunchy fabulous energy, a touch of finishing oak but absolutely delicious. Bravo!
2017 Nuits St.Georges
‘One of the ups and downs of my life, sometimes fruit, sometimes not.’ A mix of north and south Nuits fruit so no lieu-dit. 30% new oak – I don’t see it again.
A tighter nose, with a little rose-petal but no whole clusters. Round, open, floral a hint of structure – certainly more composed than the ‘Bogan’ certainly an elegant 2017 Nuits. Lovely.
Highest lieu-dit all on limestone. Lost all in 2016, and this may also be the last vintage…
Plenty of colour. Ooh, that’s both deep and fresh, beautifully attractive fruit – a really great nose. Quite full, but open, a small touch of tannin, but pure fruit – gorgeous long finishing fruit – bravo!
2017 Gevrey-Chambertin
A blend of Justice and Croix des Champs – already working 10 years with some of these vines…
A wider, fresher but overall much tighter nose, some rose-petal and this time there is a little wc. Fresh, lovely energy, a lick of finishing tannin – but no grain, just a small touch of transient astringency. Lovely stuff but wait at least 1-2 years before harvesting from your cellar, but it’s a proper, characterful Gevrey…
2017 Pommard 1er Clos des Arvelets
More modest colour. Another slightly lifted freshness that resembles whole clusters – lovely – but there are none again! Ooh – bigger and much more impact than the colour suggests – lots of growing energy, and depth of flavour – super flavour. Lots of finishing flavour with a slight touch of finishing oak today…
2017 Morey St.Denis 1er Les Chaffots
Just a touch more colour, not much. Completely different fruit profile, darker, tighter clusters of fruit. Fresh, lithe, a wine of direction and slowly melting flavour – widening over the palate. Juicy finishing. Here with a slightly fumé tannin. Lovely wine – Plenty of whole cluster here, but hardly visible today…
Again a very slight touch more of colour. A big punch of aroma – some whole cluster here – a great complexity of aroma. Penetrating volume, yet a round wine, complexity in all directions – aromatic on the palate too. Just a tiny touch of finishing tannin – what a great wine!
‘The vineyard is in the right place in the middle next to Grands Echezeaux, the vines are old too.’
Ooh – that’s a great width of aroma – complex – not so full as the Chambolle. – growing a more floral dimension too. Great volume in the mouth – freshness, depth of flavour, a mobile complexity, some barrel in the complexity but very modest, just ramping up as you get in the finish – but really a bravo finish – soooo long!
Hmm that’s a lovely big nose. More whole cluster roses, more red fruit. Full in the mouth again, less fresh attack, more cushioned Vosne-style complexity – it’s like putting a cloak over the CV but with complexity though – it’s a give and take and that’s essentially the difference between the two vineyards for me, and Mark has perfectly captured it – bravo!
2017 Cornas
Yes a bit more colour. Deep, concentrated but acidulated dark fruit. A big, full, comfy, velvet wine – of delicious flavour. And vibrant length too – totally different flavour profile but delicious.
2017 Syrah-Grenache Vin de France
A mix of tank and wood elevage.
A fresher nose, less amplitude but more intense fruit. More contemplative, more perfumed – a drag to the texture but no direct grain, but ‘mmmm’ flavour…