Tasted in Gilly les Citeaux with Mark Haisma, 26 November 2020.
Mark Haisma
Lot 4, Parc d’Activités “La Petite Champagne”
21640 Gilly les Citeaux
www.markhaisma.co.uk
More reports for Mark Haisma
Mark on 2019:
“Well in 2019 I was certainly impacted by the frost with the whites; in some areas I expecting 8-9 barrels but got 4 – particularly Chassagne! Overall, one out of the textbooks, a classic. All the numbers from my analytics – 12.5-13° with proper acidities – properly with phenolic ripeness. I felt that if you couldn’t make a decent drop of booze in that year you didn’t know how to do it. Yes, there were lower yields, but generally as a grape buyer I got what I needed – some cuvées were missing where the grower didn’t have enough, but generally I wasn’t too affected as I had a few extra contracts too. The whites brought around 13.5° across the board – except slightly less for the St.Romain – the whites were higher than the reds…
“It’s a vintage with the elegance and finesse that was certainly lacking for the most part for 2018, and excepting certain areas in 2017, has been lacking since at least 2015.”
With Mark’s acquisitions in Mâcon and Gevrey, he’s now controlling 4 hectares. 3.3 of which will be producing wine in 2021…
A grower who talks about pricing?
“I’ve dropped my prices this year, not a lot, but it’s important to start giving something back and try to send the right message.”
The wines…
Mark makes wines from the perspective of being a big enthusiast of the region – and it shows in those wines – he has a really super range of 2019s – I had a preference for the reds on this day – but there’s also at least one white that’s worth a special search. Bravo!
Nothing bottled as usual, he will be waiting for the start of 2021:
2019 St.Romain
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.
Now that’s a proper, freshly citrus St.Romain nose – many St.Romains in 19 are less recognizable but this is classic. Mouth-filling, with citrus intensity, layers of finishing flavour. Slightly creamy oak in the finish today. Delicious!
2019 Chassagne-Montrachet
A blend of two parcels; one high and one low.
Deeper, riper but vibrant aroma. Extra weight in the base of the wine but with fine energy. Long a little suppleness of texture, faintly tannic. Simply an excellent villages…
2019 Meursault Sous la Velle
Here the nose a shade more diffuse but that could also be the spice of Meursault. Wide, open, texturally super, there’s a depth of flavour, accented with some barrel. Lot’s of sweetness, there’s a mouth-watering aspect too which just about balances the sweetness – I’d like a bit more cut but it’s completely delicious wine again.
Plenty of colour. More focus, depth and clarity – that’s a very nice nose. More together in the mouth – a density, but not heavy, slowly melting over the palate, a certain opulence but what a fine wine – bravo!
Les rouges:
2019 Bogan in Burgundy, Côteaux Bourguignonne
30% gamay
That’s got a fine freshness of red berries and some attractive aromatic depth too. Lots of open energy here, slightly structured, easy but oh-so tasty over the palate. Just an oh-so tasty finish too. Serious wine, without taking itself seriously!
All Côte de Nuits fruit – it did previously have a little Pommard in it too, in earlier vintages.
More depth of aroma – not the widest but all good – quite perfumed above. Mouth-filling, plenty of depth to this flavour – it will embarass many villages wines with this fine depth of flavour. Top, over-performing Bourgogne – bravo once more for this cuvée.
‘Grand Poisots – back to where I started in 2012!’
Big, deep, perfumed – that’s pungently impressive though not clichée ‘Volnay-elegant.’ Incisive, faintly saline, wide and mouth-watering. Beautifully balanced and completely delicious – holding a great line of finishing flavour. Bravo!
Half a dozen different locations around Gevrey – I just want to bring a lovely representation of Gevrey to the table…
That’s a deeply perfumed nose – the first of these with a bit of whole cluster – powerful but not to excess. Lovely texture, sophisticated wine, layer, super mouth-watering. Just a beautiful wine – bravo!
2019 Chambolle-Musigny Aux Echezeaux
This nose is also forward and powerful, some wc again but showing the anticipated extra elegance of Chambolle. Just a little extra grain of tannin vs the Gevrey, but then it’s gone! Wide, supple, a combination of the airy and concentrated – I like that! Excellent wine.
2019 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Guelpines
The only vintage for this.
A big, broad, instantly comforting and inviting nose with plenty of wc perfume. There’s plenty of energy here, balanced with a few mm of richness to the texture. Excellent again, with persistent waves of finishing flavour.
2018 Pommard 1er Clos des Arvelets
A more vertical nose, less wide but with a depth of fruit and higher, more perfumed, tones. A kick of freshness, love this energy – wide and insistently flavoured – deliciously too! The structure is visible but with no grain to the tannin. A beautiful, excellent wine once more, indeed, like the man himself, very classy!
2019 Volnay 1er Frémiets
At the top of the vines
This has an extra depth of aroma, part fruit, part mineral. Wider, beautifully textured, almost chewy depth of flavour but highlighted with fine acidity, slowly mouth-watering. Classy wine again with an appealing freshness – indeed appealing for another glass!
That’s the most beautifully perfumed of all the wines so far, an ethereal aroma. Gorgeously tactile, open, never heavy, long. A little structure in the middle – but only a little – long, long and contemplative – engrossing a better word as it is not over-burdoned with energy today but who cares? Simply a great wine! Bravo!
2019 Echézeaux
100% stems but not – they cut out the main thicker stem of each bunch – for a number of hours!
Much more width of aroma here but still quite an ethereal nose. More defined structure vs the Chaffots, rather sweetly flavoured but with fine width and texture. Such a large-scaled finish too. This is excellent Echézeaux and great wine in general.
2019 Cornas
Deep, dark, wildly involving nose of graphite minerality and others. Extra depth, extra grain, nicely mouth-watering acidity, a touch of creamy barrel, less long, yet subtly long.