2014 is the greatest white wine vintage that I’ve ever tasted…
Online yesterday for subscribers. The full info on why, what to buy, and from whom, here. 38 producers and almost 400 wines…
Comments for this entry
Pages
2013s… (and a bit of gevrey!)
Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles today…
The 2013 whites were rather accurately reported I think, but I really felt that the reporting on the 2013 reds was all over the place – more-so than the wines themselves.
Of-course I’m talking about good addresses, and, in the main, Côte de Nuits domaines (which I’m visiting this month), but the wines where I’ve re-tasted (as much as any new wines tasted) show that the 2013s have put on more weight and richness versus the November-December tasting jamboree. The end of 2014 had more dissolved CO2, more forward acidity (emphasised by the gas) and less richness than the wines show today.
I keep telling myself “November is a great time to taste, but that’s not what gets bottled…” – it seems that others (erroneously imho) think that they can be more definitive without any attempt to extrapolate.
Effectively, the problem with many reports I saw was that they described only the wines (ergo the vintage) at that moment in time, to say that this vintage is ‘x’ without using other vintages as reference points – with those reference points in place, you can reasonably say that a vintage should be x or y in character once (maybe in more than 6 months) it’s bottled – this was largely absent from any critique. Oh-well…
And for Dan, as I’ve written elsewhere, today those wines show more like a blend of 2010 and 2009, than the hypothetical 2010/2008 impression they gave in November.
Anyway, a bit of Gevrey-Chambertin today:
Château de Gevrey…
But why the Harry Potter reference?
Une grande maison at the point of Champeaux…
Goulots…
More Goulots…
Evocelles…
Champeaux…
NIcely renovated cabotte…
Village (en fleur…)
2013 white burgundy report – now online
Now online here: 10-2014-burgundy-report-extra
Le Grappin 2013s
Tasted with Andrew Nielsen in Beaune 29th October, 2014. Pictured right, Andrew and Emma Nielsen.
Le Grappin
@legrappin
www.legrappin.com
Well, there was no point in making you wait 2+ more weeks for the October issue of Burgundy Report EXTRA! to read this – because the Le Grappin 2013 offer closes on the 4th of November – so here you go for a free view of what’s assembled in the EXTRA! The highlighted wines are personal my favourites.
Andrew and Emma were moving, scrubbing and moving (again) everything in sight when I visited. The former cuverie of Fanny Sabre in the centre of Beaune remains their compact and bijou home. It could have been an even tighter squeeze were it not for the hail of 2013: With the addition of a contract for Santenay-Gravières blanc they had the potential to produce roughly 35 barrels of wine in 2013, but of-course their vines were hit by hail – so just 18 barrels of 13s await…
The wines…
Andrew plans to bottle his whole production next week – he notes that the year he used a contract bottler for his 18 barrels, it took them just a few hours – when he did the same himself last year it took them over a week! I guess the contract option looks rather appealing 😉 Overall, a lovely set of wines – there’s nothing here that I wouldn’t consider buying:
2013 Savigny-lès-Beaune
From 60 year-old, organic managed, vines in Aux Fourneau. Really badly hit by hail in 13 so he was able to get a few more rows from the same grower, but they took a whole week, pre-harvest, to drop sub-standard and damaged fruit. That said, they took a further 14 hours to sort the remaining 3 barrels-worth of fruit once harvested. Still, they managed to find about 10% good whole-clusters too. There was no pigeage and just 3 remontages with the whole-clusters on the top of the grapes.
Really great colour. The nose has fine depth of aroma, and is seemingly almost textured – really lovely. Round yet with the upmarket concentration expected of a 1er cru – lovely weight of extract. I think this an excellent result
From 60 year-old, organic managed, vines in Aux Fourneau. Really badly hit by hail in 13 so he was able to get a few more rows from the same grower, but they took a whole week, pre-harvest, to drop sub-standard and damaged fruit. That said, they took a further 14 hours to sort the remaining 3 barrels-worth of fruit once harvested. Still, they managed to find about 10% good whole-clusters too. There was no pigeage and just 3 remontages with the whole-clusters on the top of the grapes.
Really great colour. The nose has fine depth of aroma, and is seemingly almost textured – really lovely. Round yet with the upmarket concentration expected of a 1er cru – lovely weight of extract. I think this an excellent result
2013 Beaune 1er Boucherottes
Also hailed, but less dramatically than in Savigny – it was also ‘hit-and-miss’ hail – unlike Savigny where every single cluster was damaged, in this plot some remained perfect. Andrew has managed to make 7 barrels worth, and also include 25% whole-clusters in his recipe. Daily remontage plus 4 days of light pigeage here.
Again excellent medium-plus colour. The nose is darker and just faintly spicy. Despite a little CO2 this is clearly a more direct and transparent wine of good intensity. Lovely width and purity to the flavours from the mid-palate onwards into the finish. Really good!
2013 Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc
This plot was basically destroyed by the hail: Instead of his normal 4-5 barrels, Andrew was able to assemble only 90 litres of pressed juice. Although he prefers to make only from the same plots each year, there wasn’t enough to properly vinify, so he was forced to buy must from a grower in a neighbouring plot. He now has 3 barrels worth – ‘It had to be done’ he says…
The aromatic here is nicely round with a slowly growing, fresher aspect. Round in the mouth too with a slowly bubbling acidity below. It would be even better with just a twist more of acidity, but the depth of flavour is lovely – it remains a really tasty wine.
2013 Santenay 1er Les Gravières Blanc
The grower tells Andrew that this is the only chardonnay on the terres blanches of Gravières – easy for him to say 😉 Vines have a good age of about 40 years and provided enough for two (older) barrels worth of wine.
Here is a fresher, modestly mineral nose that has fine floral top-notes. There’s faint CO2 on the palate but behind, the wine is clearly lithe, wide and very tasty. I find a fine tension from the mid-palate into the finish. Very lovely!
The grower tells Andrew that this is the only chardonnay on the terres blanches of Gravières – easy for him to say 😉 Vines have a good age of about 40 years and provided enough for two (older) barrels worth of wine.
Here is a fresher, modestly mineral nose that has fine floral top-notes. There’s faint CO2 on the palate but behind, the wine is clearly lithe, wide and very tasty. I find a fine tension from the mid-palate into the finish. Very lovely!
2013 Beaune 1er Les Grèves Blanc
Again, lower yields due to hail, There’s no new oak used here.
Once-more there’s something floral in the aromatic – but below is more depth of aroma. Lithe and wide in the mouth – the depth of flavour growing all the time and leaving a suggestion of salt on your tongue. Lovely wine again.
March Issue of Burgundy Report EXTRA!
Is now online for subscribers.
- The first of three parts beginning my exploration of Chablis; starting with the town itself and a view on the wines of 2012. Its Grand Cru vineyards, its producers – there are already 20 domaines lined up – and even Petit Chablis will come under scrutiny in part.2, in the April-EXTRA!
- Then there are few domaines visited – more 2012s.
- Finally, a round-up of the tastings I made during the Grands Jours de Bourgogne; over-whelmingly focused on the latest vintage, 2012.
- Well-over 300 wines tasted on your behalf 😉
Enjoy – HERE.
The first Burgundy-Report Extra! (by subscription)
The next days will see some technical improvements to what you see (I think!) and the updating of the Homepage to reflect this new dimension to Burgundy Report.
But the basic implementation seems to work – unless you tell me otherwise…(?)
So here is the first report, which contains the link to become a subscriber. I hope you enjoy it – 300 wines from 2012 from some important producers, together with their comments on the quality and pricing of the vintage.
Issue two (February) will follow in two weeks and the first articles for March, two weeks later.
very proud…
exuberant hospices de beaune 2010…
Auction prices were up by about 20% versus last year – so not too irrational pricing (reds at least will offer high potential quality) – perhaps because the Chinese actor couldn’t get to the sale, the Chinese (for now) kept their powder relatively dry.
Reuters report here.
auction weekend…
It’s that time of year again. This weekend is the auction for the Hospices de Beaune – and there is added spice.
It’s the 150th auction and the (red) grapes looked very fine, but with Christies driving the marketing of the sale into China, part-Chinese auction catalogues and a Chinese actress to stand beside the French actor at the sale, there is a clear, if unstated intent. The ballooning prices attained at recent auctions have had nothing to do with ‘worth’, only face, as Chinese buyers have squared up to each other – they could have bought from a merchant at a fraction of the prices they so publicly paid. But such scenes would be great for the charitable foundation, let’s just hope that the rest of the market remains rational!
I suppose I should have shared this link with you earlier, but there was a chance this year to buy the auction wines – almost direct – without having to sign-up for a full barrel. Don’t worry, there’s always another vintage!
Anyway, that reminds me that I should update my list of Hospices cuvées; there’s a new one and a couple of others have been ‘jigged around’. Another thing for the to-do list!