It’s a little outside of the burgundy report comfort zone, but I do admit to having a few bottles of the more-than-tasty 1998 Pensées de Lafleur in the cellar! Bruce Palling is a relatively new name to me – I’m sorry to say – but I very much enjoy his articles.
Cheap red Burgundy can be one of the most unpleasant of wine experiences (especially in a rain-sodden or chilly vintage) so avoid anything under £6.
That’s a cheery thought – but read on. In my experience you can buy lovely bourgogne for under £6, but only direct from the domaine and only in ‘almost good’ or better vintages. If you don’t have the same buying chance, follow the advice of Rose!
Worried about the provenance of your new acquisition?
WineAuthentication.com exists because wine counterfeiting has become a greater and greater problem for buyers and sellers of wine.
And just in case you ever craved a ‘wet lipstick kiss’ from Ann Colgin…
A surprisingly serious article – for a website – noting the ‘thriving English vineyards back in the 1200’s’.
I’ll have to open a bottle (2005 Corton-Perrières looks the favourite) as it’s the 1,500th (day) anniversary of the Big Red Diary – hola! Anyway, today on the airwaves:
Tomorrow, visits in Fixin, Gevrey, Nuits and Beaune – I’m hoping for sunshine – even though I’ll be in cellars!
As I have nothing useful to say for myself, and my (slowly abating) cold precludes opening bottles – and even worse, no travelling to the Côte d’Or this week – I shall instead scrape around for a few interesting stories for you.
For this site, I’m slowly updating the NoteFinder database. There are today about 50 notes more than last week, and over the next week or so I will be adding ~150 more. I should be close to up-to-date by then.
Looking further afield, I found some articles worth reading:
Lastly, let me recommend to you a site which is packed with info despite it’s ‘work in progress’ status. There has been little under this URL for the last months (years), but it seems that Becky has finally ordered her troops (or could it be vice-versa!) into line.
Already a great resource.
Cheers
My cold has intensified so no bottles, I just round up a few loose-ends. If it carries on, by Tuesday I’ll have to cancel my appointments in Burgundy, set for Friday 🙁
Anyway, I thought I’d ‘book-end’ the 2007 burgundy harvest report with a round-up of some producer reports. We have here the last of the reports from Domaine de la Vougeraie and interestingly for a predominantly négociant, Alex Gambal who had the luxury for many cuvées to pick his own harvesting dates, turns out to be one of the latest of the late pickers – so a great summary of not just the process, but also here the trials and tribulations of the decisions from Alex too, amongst a few memorable quotes I particularly like:
“All the mumbo jumbo about physiological ripeness and the quality of the tannins are but words for the “experts.” What it comes down to is how ripe are the seeds and thus how ripe are the tannins; here is where the farming comes in”
For grand cru watchers, here’s the brief summary of Louis-Michel Liger-Belair from the Château de Vosne-Romanée:
We made the harvest between September the 1st and the 4th. We made a hard triage but easier than ’04 !
Last but not least, the balance of the reports from Domaine de la Vougeraie:
Finally, a little lite Sunday burgundy reading.
After three 2005’s tinged with a measure of disappointment, normal service is resumed.
2005 Daniel Rion, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux-Monts
Medium-plus cherry-red colour. Initially a nose of deep, soft and sweet medium-toast oak and a little peppery dark fruit, time bestows more caramel and red fruit. Mouthfilling and concentrated yet remaining athletic rather than fat, the tannins are buried beneath the fruit. The mid-palate is expanded in the mouth by lush acidity. Finally it’s a very low-key, but long finish. Here is a 2005 that is not yet guarding its wares. An out-and-out bargain at the en-primeur purchase price of 43 Swiss francs per, that’s 26 Euros. Who says there is no value in Burgundy?
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Lignier-Michelot, Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. The nose starts with a forward mix of red and black cherry plus a rather mineral note. The longer it stays in the glass, it becomes redder and finer but with much less volume. The palate is mainly about balance – reasonable concentration and a sneaky extra cherry dimension that goes into the palate too.
It’s quite lithe, not too muscular and again a little mineral. Today it’s a classy if slightly anonymous bottle – a very good bottle for sure, but one that I hope will become even better. Given it’s lowly en-primeur purchase price of 29 Swiss francs it remains an easy and bargain rebuy, if you can find some for that…
Rebuy – Yes
Worth reading:
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