I found the time!
A bunch of you had been hassling me for this – and for a while – maybe a year đ
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Asides
chateau pommard
— đ ±ïžill nanson (@billnanson) March 23, 2020
2018 white burgundy report
I know that this Diary page has been a little quiet for the last days, but there’s been much, furious, typing in the background whilst in my winter hideaway in Nice! If the weather had been poorer – as was the forecast – it would have been online sooner đ
My October Burgundy Report is now online – that means 2018 White Burgundy – the biggest coverage to-date, with 66 domaines’ wines evaluated – well over 700 wines.
You can see it here.
week 19, 2019 â the weekend winesâŠ
A weekend in Beaune – just a few things that fell to hand đ
2017 Vaudoisey-Creusefond, Bourgogne CĂŽte d’Or Pinot Noir
It’s far from a deep colour – though too dark for a rosĂ© – but it’s a vibrant colour. The nose is like cordial but fresh and inviting – quite some volume of aroma for so modest a colour. Likewise in the mouth the flavour is forward, almost a crunch to the jammy fruit experience – but fresh and moreish. Gotta say, delicious if a little non-standard in style. Definitely yum!
Rebuy – Yes
2011 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Murgers Des Dents du Chien
I’ve never yet experienced an oxidised or even an advanced wine from this producer, but here is certainly some obvious age.
The colour is rather deep, and whilst there is some modest aromatic development, it’s more a nose that’s (over!) full with caramel-vanilla oak – a very sweet nose – not my favourite. Fortunately in the mouth there’s a lovely drive to this wine – very fine acidity – the wine is fresh, wide and mineral in the middle – fine – but the finish reflects the nose with a sweet caramel finish that I don’t like. It’s showing well though.
Rebuy – No
2002 Nicolas Potel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Aux Malconsorts
Plenty of depth to the colour – much more than the 2017 – but clearly there’s some age going on here. The first nose (from opening) shows a little brett, but with aeration it’s clearly volatile as it fades. The palate doesn’t show it in any overt manner; nice volume in the mouth, layers of fresh, complex, and energetic flavour – ooh that’s super. The mid-palate has excellent depth of flavour and there’s real depth and length to the finishing flavour too. Ooh this is so good – given time the nose is relatively appealing – the flavour is, however, non-stop super!
Rebuy – Maybe
mainly puligny…
hallellulia – burgundy report version 6…
To those on my old, almost forgotten, mailing list, plus subscribers new and old, I’ll send out a mailshot this week – my roughly annual mailshot!
For those of you happy enough to browse just here, then here’s the news: On Friday, after 13 years of server stability and slowly growing this site, 100% self-developed (okay, 90%!) since 2002, I finally bit the bullet and got professionals to fix all my bad plumbing!
Midday on Friday (that’s European time for those further afield – plus Brexiters) this site will move to a new service provider and will change a lot. The starting point will be:
- Wow that’s a lot faster!
- Wow that’s a lot more stable too – no more intermittent ‘memory errors!’
- Wow – it now displays properly on tablets and phones – which 50% and growing of you all seem to use now
- A few subscribers will have noted instability in their subscriptions – always extra work monitoring and fixing for me – I’m led to believe that with this bleeding-edge software, that will be a thing of the past.
- I’ll describe the design as workmanlike and pragmatic for this first (but expensive) iteration. I’ll see how it beds in and may look at a phase 2 in 6-12 months – but that will just be 80% cosmetic. Let’s see…
Hopefully you will get along okay with everything.
Bill
weekend wines â week 16 2019
A super-successful, eclectic, bunch of wines this weekend…
2017 Sylvain Pataille, Marsannay Blanc Chardonnay Rose
I’d already tasted one with him last week, but as I was leaving his cellar Sylvain thrust this unlabeled bottle into my hands – and why not! ‘Chardonnay rose’ is a mutation of chardonnay that seems to be found only in Marsannay. Sylvain Pataille noted that he had these pink grapes amongst the usual yellow-green as far back as 2002, and since then he’s decided not just to propagate this mutation, he’s also planted them at high density – 2014 was his first vintage for this cuvĂ©e.
A little roundness and silky texture to this wine – freshness and purity that not everyone manages to achieve with whites in this village – there differentiator, I think, versus ‘normal’ chardonnay, is that there is a more overt floral flavour-aroma – or as Burghound used to say ‘inner mouth perfume.’ Very easy – and delicious – wine to drink without ever seeming to be outstanding in a particular direction…
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Volnay
As I tell you every time, there’s a lot of 1er cru juice in this wine, and as I also tell you every time – this is one of those very, very tight 2005s – since the beginning – except…
What’s this? A much more open nose than I remember ever from this cuvĂ©e. In the mouth it has the silky directness that I’ve come to expect – and almost appreciate – but for the first time, this wine is starting to widen over the palate, flavour that’s beginning to melt, offering mouth-watering deliciousness – if still in a direct form. The fruit is that supposedly classic but actually quite rare thing in Burgundy – strawberry – actually a lovely airy flavour. Easily the best outing for this wine – it’s only taken about 13 years since bottling – so far!
Rebuy – Yes
2013 Comte Liger-Belair, Vosne-Romanée Clos du ColombiÚre
Modestly coloured. The nose and palate are very airy and have slight firework reduction – just like all the 2012s did. This is always the lighter, more airy of the Louis-Michel’s Vosnes. Open, tasty, only very slowly losing that vibration of reduction. Importantly, it’s very delicious wine – but don’t come here for impact or concentration.
Rebuy – Yes
2015 JC Bessin, Chablis 1er Fourchaume La PiĂšce au Comte
Of all this weekend’s wines, this takes the crown. A wine that’s intense, sparkling with personality and just so pure and complex – the vintage adding a hint of charm that’s probably still missing in the domaine’s 2014. Long, saline – but a wine that sparkles with complexity – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes
2017 Alice et Olivier de Moor, Bourgogne Chitry
I’m ashamed to say, that we drank this rather quickly – so a proper tasting note is out of the question 2 days later – but the lasting impression was of a sweetly mineral wine of fine texture – delicious wine!
Rebuy – Yes
I live at 580m in Switzerland, so unsurprisingly, my vines are a week or-so behind those of the CĂŽtes – but they are coming on:
Chardonnay…
Pinot…
tourist-board photos of poilly-sur-serein
tuesday, st.romain via volnay…
The tree at the top of Volnay Clos des Santenots – in full bloom!
I often get distracted whilst underway – at least when the rain stops! The almond tree in Santenots this morning was just the latest example – it didn’t make me too late for my appointment today, though.
I’ve meant to do it for years, but this morning I finally visited a tonnellerie, and not just any, but François FrĂšres a) of St.Romain but b) of rather more global fame. More in my March report, but here’s a ‘flavour’ of my visit:
Oak (barrels)
Oak (barrels)
Oak (barrels)
Oak (barrels)
Oak (barrels)
Oak (barrel waste)
Oak (barrels)
Oak (barrels)
(Oak) barrels
(Oak) barrels
Nude (oak) barrels
A finished oak barrel….