Something short and interesting:
Something a little longer and a little picturesque – longer to download too as it’s 10.3mb – it’s from another place of-course, but then there wouldn’t be room for any of that in Burgundy would there(?)
What a wine; 3 days, three different results. Drunk over three nights, whilst over-nighting in the refigerator.
1997 Michel Lafarge, Volnay 1er Cru
Day 1. Medium rusty-red colour. Despite a certain 1997 ripeness to the fruit aromas, there is something of a cool edge and plenty of herbal notes – overall it’s ruff and gruff – not a lacy picture of Volnay. The leading edge is the acidity, though behind it the tannin is quite fine. The first flavours have a slight oxidised impression, but the best part of the wine is its extra dimension of very nice mid-palate flavour. Overall this wine lacks a lot of charm, and some aspects give me concern for further cellaring – still, this was my last.
Rebuy – No
Day 2. Same room, same time of day – looks less rust coloured (!?) The aromatics have really cleaned up, it’s still slightly austere but a little less herbal. More balance, and that slight oxidised flavour is gone, the fruit has an altogether younger and darker impression – I would even go as far as to say appeal! Whilst still not charming, I would say this is an altogether more ‘correct’ performance – one that indicates the vigour of youth rather than the previous day’s pallor of age…
Rebuy – Yes
Day 3. Like day 2, but more diffuse. Today the austerity coupled to the loose performance would give it the thumbs down. Interesting that the day 1 problem seemed to be something volatile in the wine – once it was gone, things really came together.
Rebuy – No
Matt Kramer has the answer…
I know that this is in the ‘wrong’ place, but I think it cuts rather a dash – don’t you?
This made me laugh today…
“Burgundy has got bigger and riper,” wine writer Robert Joseph told Reuters. “Alsace, in North East France, which used to make very light red wine, now makes much fuller red wine. Germany which used to very light red wine, is now making fuller red wine.”
You know that ‘provenance’ – i.e. knowing somethings ownership history – is not just a special thing when buying older (for which I class everything that has been on the market for more than 2 years!) wine, it is everything! That’s not because I’m particularly concerned about where the seller got the bottles from – though I suppose I should be – rather because a few weeks of inappropriate storage will render the contents of those bottles dead.
The main source of older bottles is at auction. Apart from rare sales where bottles come direct from producer’s cellars, buying is, based on my experience, a complete lottery – hence, today I only bid low. There is, however, an outstanding chance to acquire older bottles at a sale in Paris in December. I mentioned it briefly here last week, but having taken a look at the online catalogue I thought I would mention the sale of wines from “La Tour d’Argent” again.
Provenance is perfect, and the bottles even look like they’ve been in a good cellar. Estimates (at least) look very fair, but I expect the realised prices will be higher than estimates.
Anyway, worth a look if you need an 1898 RomanĂ©e St-Vivant for the weekend…
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