p.ox

great reds but more p.ox too…

By billn on August 04, 2016 #degustation#p.ox

WP_20160802_12_39_31_Pro

I wasn’t really picking on M&M in the last couple of weeks, it’s only that their bottles were close to hand. The Pillot that follows was still fabulous a couple of years ago, but not today…

2008 Paul Pillot, Chassagne-Montrachtet 1er Les Caillerets
Bottle #1: Dark colour – oops. The nose has a kind of oxidised honey aroma. The palate is flabby and not the tastiest.
Bottle #2: Similar colour but much less obviously oxidative. In the mouth there’s just a small oxidative character, but this wine retains it’s intensity of line and just sufficient interest that I take more than one glass. Day 2 this is completely dead.
Rebuy – No

2005 Lignier-Michelot, Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes
What a great wine! This needs a little aeration before the nose tends more to elegance, but this is full in the mouth, with fine texture and shows super waves of concentrated flavour in the mid-palate. It’s really still a baby, but it’s open and super-tasty. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Chenu, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Haut-Jarrons
Medium red. The nose has a similar medium red-coloured berry that’s attractive, fresh and inviting. This is also fresh and red in the mouth, with an engaging complexity – these 2006 Chenus are really showing well right now – not a hint of sous bois but complex and fresh, aided by hint of phenolic. Just really tasty, medium-bodied wine.
Rebuy – Yes

3 bottles – only a modest return…

By billn on July 28, 2016 #degustation#p.ox

WP_20160727_19_38_14_Pro

2014 Domaine Gueguen, Chablis 1er Vosgros
This wine is burly yet impressive – there are flashes of fine flavour and aroma too, but compared to the domaine’s Vaucoupin (here) this is a longer-term prospect – you should wait 2-3 years I think. This, today, and good as it still is, is simply not in the same class of deliciousness as that other wine. Still very good though!
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champs Gain
The identical twin of the last bottle. I forced half a glass down, before the rest was disposed of.

For those with an interest, the Achaval was simply too sweet – like jam. Their 2000 Finca Altimera was much nicer at Christmas…

pre-weekend p.ox

By billn on July 09, 2016 #degustation#p.ox

WP_20160708_20_56_50_Pro

Following the bad 05 Caillerets, I decided to keep with a 2005 theme before the start of the weekend – with mixed results:

2005 Jomain, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Combottes
Not just deeply coloured and ‘over-the-borderline’ oxidised, it was corked too!

2005 Jomain, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Perrières
A little lighter in colour than the last wine – if not by much. The nose starts with an apple-y note, but becomes clearer and finer in the glass. A nice line of flavour with a fresh intensity for the ride. 2005s are very often a little dense, but here is enough energy and flavour complexity to overcome the density. Tasty – and drunk over 3 days (the fridge in-between) with fine stability. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

I think I will extend the 05 exercise into next week – there’s no point keeping them if they are ‘off‘…

shame – 2005 puligny caillerets…

By billn on July 07, 2016 #degustation#p.ox

WP_20160706_17_42_09_Pro

Well my last 2005 (Bougros) was just sooooo good, that having also found a bunch of these (2007s too!), I decided I had the right material for Wales vs Portugal…

2005 Mischief and Mayhem, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Caillerets
Ouf – now that’s deeply coloured… The nose rotates between states of apple cider, a vendanges tardives style and an aroma redolent of a wine from the Jura. It’s big, sweet, long and complex, with exotic fruit but with oxidative overtones too. Nothing for it – I decanted it and left it in the refrigerator for 1 hour – fortunately I had started early 😉 Early or not, this wine was completely stable – even 3 hours later, it hadn’t budged an inch. Nothing for it; where’s the cork-screw?
Rebuy – No

2008 Roty, Gevrey-Chambertin La Brunelle
The Roty starts all smoky and with a little gunpowder reduction too – slowly there’s a fine, slightly cushioned and certainly attractive fruit. Modest of weight but fleet of foot and with super delicacy to the flavour. For the football, maybe I should have taken something more ‘obvious’ and easy – this demands some attention, but in the best way…
Rebuy – Yes

I appear to have had decent luck avoiding the p.ox with most of my whites, but like Wales, tonight it wasn’t to be…

where was the p.ox?

By billn on June 14, 2016 #degustation#p.ox

WP_20160613_20_39_04_Pro

Yes, I know that we were lucky girls and boys, but 14 whites were opened and appraised (drunk!) last night in Zürich – and we were all very happy bunnies. 13x Meursault and one ‘pirate’ a Puligny! Hardly an oxidative note – save a couple that smelled of cider, but didn’t taste like that! Generally, all-round happy faces.

I’ll right it up for the report, but always good to know…

p.ox? or the disturbing whiff of the emperor’s new clothes…

By billn on September 12, 2013 #other sites#p.ox

pox-australian-pox
A picture whose orign I would cite, but it’s been on my hard-drive for so long I can’t remember!
Anyway, p.ox, Aussie-style…

This piece, posted yesterday by Tyler Coleman on Winesearcher is at first glance a ‘holding story’ about p.ox; one that keeps (justifiably) the story in the (wine-)public conscious, and perhaps brings a new angle or two to the story, adding a little red-scare-mongering, but essentially, nothing new.

Nothing new except, perhaps, a fairytale flashback due to a quote from the University of Bordeaux’s Denis Dubourdieu (a.k.a. ‘the Emperor’)

“Vines that are too weak, and with a poor nitrogen intake, produce grapes low in glutathione. Summer drought conditions and/or competition from grass left to grow between the vine rows also worsens this deficit,” he explains.

This statement immediately struck a chord in my mind, being a paraphrasing of the reason that leading scientists (of the day) attributed to the death of vines due to phylloxera – it wasn’t the bug that was directly responsible, phylloxera was only having an effect because the vines were already tired or diseased! I mean, is this the best that we can expect from academics (with strong financial ties!) these days? Of-course Tyler Coleman may be short-changing us, and Prof. Dubourdieu might have full data to back up exactly what age a vine becomes tired, and due to what level of competition from grass, or ‘how much drought’ causes a problem – though, by the way, my 1976 whites are still brilliant, and I’ve never seen a p.oxed 2003 despite plenty of otherwise bizarre ones!

Maybe Denis has a real point somewhere along the line, and can explain why vines are tired today when they weren’t 30 years ago, and why his quote only looks bad because it’s out of context and has been dumbed down… Maybe…

As a scientist, I’m simply taken aback!

va-va-va-vaillons….

By billn on July 01, 2013 #degustation#p.ox

va-va-va-vaillons

The other day, from a retailer’s sale selection, I could buy 4x Chablis Vaillons spanning the 2007-2010 vintages – so why not! Here are the first two (not an auspicious start!)…

2007 Domaine Servin, Chablis 1er Vaillons
The cork smelled fine, but what happened to the colour? – deep, almost amber. The nose hasn’t a hint of traditional ‘oxidation’ but it’s clearly there in another form; the colour and aroma are of cider, indeed not just the smell of apples, but bruised apples – there’s a little lanolin too, which you normally have to wait 15+ years for, not 5! Flavour-wise, again no sherry-style oxidation, but the bruised apple theme is a consistent one. The acidity is good and this is concentrated and silky – but clearly should have been drunk before its third birthday – probably!
Rebuy – No

What a difference a year makes – or was it the producer, or the DIAM seal, or none of the above…(?)
Interestingly, because of the cheesy reduction, I give this a bit of a Fourrier shake to see if it might help. I’d no impression of CO2 like I often get in reds, but there was much more hidden in here – interesting how we don’t perceive that – or maybe we’ve just become accustomed to it!

2008 William Fevre, Chablis 1er Vaillons
Medium lemon yellow colour. The nose really needs a bit of time to clean up as there’s a bit of reduction and something a bit cheesy – sulfites probably – but even from the start, a vigorous swirl released pretty, citrus fruit aroma. Half an hour later, the nose is much better, though the fruit is still a little cloying. In the mouth this is lithe, just a little silky and finely transparent – don’t let it warm though as it can get blousy. Overall, nicely incisive, but the weird aroma was also a component of the flavour. Clearly in better shape than the 2007, but not particularly more drinkable. Day 2, and this is a more interesting proposition – intensity, zing and hardly any element of that odd flavour or aroma – indeed, quite nice.
Rebuy – Maybe

offer of the day – henri boillot 2011s…

By billn on October 10, 2012 #p.ox#the market

VILLAGES BLANCS 2011
BOURGOGNE Chardonnay 75cl 20.00 (Swiss francs)
MEURSAULT 75cl 39.00
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET 75cl 42.00

PREMIERS CRUS BLANCS 2010
MEURSAULT Les Genevrières 75cl 79.00 (68.00)
MEURSAULT Les Perrières 75cl 79.00 (69.00)
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET Clos de La Mouchère 75cl 72.00 (68.00)
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET Les Caillerets 75cl 75.00 (69.00)
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET Les Pucelles 75cl 78.00 (72.00)

GRANDS CRUS BLANCS 2010
CORTON CHARLEMAGNE 75cl 99.50 (98.00)
CRIOTS BÂTARD MONTRACHET 75cl 168.00 (159.00)
BIENVENUES BÂTARD MONTRACHET 75cl 189.00 (178.00)
BÂTARD MONTRACHET 75cl 249.00 (235.00)
CHEVALIER-MONTRACHET 75cl 359.00 (349.00)
MONTRACHET 75cl 448.00 (399.00)

VILLAGE & PREMIERS CRUS ROUGES 2010
VOLNAY 75cl 39.00
VOLNAY Les Caillerets 75cl 69.00 (66.00)
POMMARD Les Rugiens 75cl 69.00

GRANDS CRUS ROUGES 2010
CLOS DE VOUGEOT 75cl 105.00 (98.00)
BONNES MARES 75cl 169.00 (159.00)
CHAMBERTIN 75cl 169.00 (159.00)

2011 was certainly a vintage with modest yields, though I expect the miserly yields of 2012 will put things in a starker focus. Above are the local offer prices for 2011 with the equivalent 2010 price in brackets afterwards – no bracket, then no price change. It seems that, Rugiens excepted, only the villages wines have escaped increases.

And while we’re on the subject of buying wine, here’s a worthwhile article. Though therein, in reference to premature oxidation, I note the following quote – I wonder how they ‘control’ that then!!!

Burgundians claim that these issues have all now been addressed. The Burgundy Wine Council now controls the amount of oxygen that enters during bottling and has issued directives about how oxygen-free bottling can best be done.
Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast Magazine [Archived]

Burgundy Report

Translate »

You are using an outdated browser. Please update your browser to view this website correctly: https://browsehappy.com/;