In my inbox today – I offer the comparison with the price (in brackets) of the 2015 this time last year…

Domaine de l’Arlot

Nuits-Saint-Georges Mont des Oiseaux 1er Cru 2016 75cl – – (59.00)* Swiss Francs
Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos de l’Arlot 1er Cru 2016 75cl 85.00 (79.00)
Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos Forêts St-Georges 1er Cru 2016 75cl 85.00 (79.00)
Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos Forêts St-Georges 1er Cru 2016 150cl 175.00 (- -)
Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 1er Cru 2016 75cl 119.00 (109.00)
Romanée Saint Vivant Grand Cru 2016 75cl 486.00 (445.00)

– – = not offered
*Note that 8% sales tax is also due, but delivery cost is included…

 Image cite: http://maisonilan.com/

Often an epitaph is used as a form of honour – and that clearly shouldn’t be the case here – I simply choose to use this word in the context of remembering something has, eventually, officially, died.

The wheels of French justice are certainly not the fastest – it has taken 18 months – but Maison Ilan is now officially being liquidated. This means that despite the piecemeal promises of its former owner to those whose money he took, they will see nothing in return. Okay, perhaps there may be a few cents on the dollar / pennies on the pound – but that assumes somebody will buy what remains. The bottles – as many as 3,000 of them – will without doubt find a buyer, somewhere, but the barrels of 2015, 2014 and even a couple of 2013s? It’s equally likely that the administrators will have to pay to dispose of them.

Think what you will of the former owner most recently choosing to blame his children; his wife; racists; personal vendettas; bit-part bloggers; defamers; stalkers; moles; #FrenchCustoms; oh and himself – if only in part – I’m sorry if have missed a few…

Only because he’s a friend, and you might be able to get your hands on some, here’s a Christmas in magnums offer received today.
There will be no kick-backs (he doesn’t know that I’ve posted this) as I already have my Christmas magnums prepared:
1992 Francois Jobard, Meursault Genevrières
1997 Lamarche, La Grande Rue
2010 Pascal Marchand, Fixin Clos de la Chapitre

Oh – I suppose that you will need a link…
Cheers!

DOMAINE DROUHIN-LAROZE 2016 – En Primeur

Gevrey-Chambertin En Champs 2016 75cl 49.50* Swiss Francs
Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaut-St-Jacques 1er Cru 2016 75cl 65.00

GRAND CRUS
Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru 2016 75 cl 119.00
Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2016 75cl 125.00
Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2016 75cl 145.00
Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 2016 75cl 158.00

*There is 8% Tax to add in Switzerland, but then these are delivered prices

One could say that these are relatively modest prices when compared to those of Clos des Lambrays which I published a few days ago…

Here you go – the 2016 for you from the usual Swiss merchant. Only the grand cru is offered, so no 1er cru and no whites.

In the brackets, you can see the price comparison with the last two vintages, in the format 2016 (2015, 2014). – – means ‘not offered.’

DOMAINE DES LAMBRAYS 2016 – En Primeur

GRAND CRU
2016 Clos des Lambrays 75cl 225.00 (199.00, 159.00) *Swiss francs
2016 Clos des Lambrays 150cl 455.00 (403.00, – -)
2016 Clos des Lambrays 300cl 960.00 (856.00, – -)

*8% Swiss purchase tax to be added, but these are delivered prices. Clos des Lambrays is no-longer the bargain grand cru that it once was, and that’s despite ‘very nice’ yields in 2016. But as part of the LVMH stable, we already knew that that would be the case…

The linked article gives the impression that the new Bourgogne Côte d’Or label could be potentially problematic from the perspective of either price, or because it’s an ‘extra complication.’ I’d like to challenge that:

Complication?
Let’s be clear: For Côte d’Or producers making wine from pinot noir – assuming those vines are also in the Côte d’Or – this new label makes absolutely no change to their wine! Some producers may decide to take this new label, some might not, but that’s it. Indeed it helps the consumer because they know exactly that they are buying a pinot from the Côte d’Or – period! So it’s not a new tier per-se, it’s the rubber stamp that what is in the bottle, is what people already overwhelmingly assumed was in the bottle!

Higher Pricing?
See above – overwhelmingly no, because nothing has changed for many, many producers! Except – and this is where it gets interesting – if they were buying and blending cheaper pinot grapes from the Chalonnais/Mâconnais/Beaujolais – or, less well-known, gamay – because, yes, up to 15% gamay is allowed in Bourgogne Rouge!* If you don’t want either of those things, then the Bourgogne Côte d’Or label is exactly the control you have been waiting for. And if your supplier wants a big price increase vs their previous cuvées, you can simply ask the question – “Why, what was in your wine before?”

Fortunately, this change won’t be from the 2016 vintage, because the bourgogne land was brutalized by frost – so there’s not much, and it might indeed go up in price – but that’s the supply and demand market, and nothing to do with a label-change…

The only excuse for '20% higher priced' would be that fruit was previously bought in cheaper regions or up to 15% was gamay. 'Domaine' Bourgognes won't rise 20% even if they take a Bourgogne Côte d'Or label – because nothing changes for them.https://t.co/JQBZI1uWig

— 🅱️ill nanson (@billnanson) November 29, 2017

*Note this is exactly the same for chardonnay too – except that here it is even simpler – Bourgogne blanc never contained gamay 🙂

Just a little update to my previous post: It seems that regardless of their prices, the (Swiss) market has lapped up all the grand crus from this offer, but the Bourgogne, Puligny, Clavoillons, Folatières and Pucelles remain unsold for now – the merchant has had to send out a second email – who knows, the middle the (Leflaive) market may not be endlessly elastic!

I’ve heard that it’s not done to critique other writers, but I think it’s a subject which, in itself, can be approached in a proper manner. So, Burgundy crtics ahoy…

William Kelly who quite recently joined Decanter to write (mainly) about Burgundy is the new appointee in the hot seat of ‘Burgundy’ for the Wine Advocate – or not quite yet: Neal Martin joins the Vinous (Antonio Galloni, at least to start with) critique-plex from February, but William is already employed from January – let’s call that a handover – assuming that they actually get to meet-up under a Wine Advocate ‘roof…’

Neal Martin must be commended for pulling the Wine Advocate out of the Burgundy dark-ages, i.e that considerable length time (25 years?) when Parker (or his oppos) were not allowed to darken the doors of certain producers – why Neal even recently had lunch with Erwan Faiveley – how’s that for progress(?)! Neal did that by hard work and by showing that he had his own ideas about the region, not cow-towing to what had gone before – this was the downfall of one PA Rovani, regardless of his depth of knowledge. It was this Wine Advocate ‘irrelevance‘ to Burgundy buyers that left the door open to another reviewer – Allen Meadows – and he barged right through – it’s hard to believe that his first report covered the 1998/1999 vintage – the best part of 20 years gone by in a flash! For much longer Steve Tanzer was always quietly, diligently, doing a great job, yet seemingly always on the periphery – he is of-course today part of the VinousPlex though by all accounts slowly drifting into retirement…

Allen remains the defacto voice of Burgundy criticism, a one-stop-shop for Burgundy-centric buyers, the Wine Advocate and VinousPlex being portfolio sites have a different buyer profile. Though it’s a fair comment that Allen diluted his worth to some subscribers by commencing coverage on ‘domestic pinot’ (such a ridiculous name) and Champagne – the Acker-Kurniawan smoke and mirrors didn’t help much either. But Allen remains Allen and for all his strengths and weaknesses he remains number 1.

Of-course William will have to get used to awarding Parker-points or being called ‘Parker’ on the shelf-talkers. I found his early stuff for Decanter high on content/info/quotes, but largely missing from personal analysis and comment – so I’ll be interested to see how he has approached the 2016 vintage which will (eventually!) be published by Decanter in the new year – though long after William is (more gainfully) employed elsewhere.

So, do Decanter have a global voice, or are they playing only in the UK-centric, advertisement-driven content space? Certainly they are, once-more, lacking a Burgundian voice – perhaps Jasper Morris can be convinced to do something as there’s another year now until the next Hospices de Christies wine auction. Or as an outliner, maybe David Schildknecht might be convinced to move from Vinous to Decanter? Their ‘visit-to-published‘ timescales are roughly of the same order of magnitude 😉

It seems that Beaune’s merry-go-round won’t be stopping any time soon…