I don’t, as a rule, give names and links to offers, because it’s a little ‘too’ commercial for this site, I prefer to give market indications without naming the merchants, but this is simply a great offer:

I really rated this Clos Vougeot in my vintage write-up chez Prieur, and this is a throwback to pre-2005 prices! Of-course those are Swiss francs and you have to live in Switzerland, probably…

Two new classifications for Burgundy’s Crémant de Bourgogne producers:

The producers of Burgundy’s sparklers now account for at least 10% of all burgundy production, and they now have two new ‘top-level’ wine segmentations at their disposal:

1. Crémant Eminent
   Which must be a wine with at least 24 months of aging
2. Crémant Grand Eminent
   Which must have at least 36 months of aging, but also must be made exclusively from the first press of either pinot noir or chardonnay (and I assume blends thereof.)

The overseeing of these labels is to be done by an ‘independent body’ – whatever that means. Do we need more new labels? Well of-course not, but it should keep the marketing departments occupied for a few more months…

Silly prices? Perhaps, though they are directly in-line with name villages, 1ers and GC wines from noted Côte d’Or producers – though I did pay 50-something euros for 2010 Butteaux in Au Fils du Zinc a couple of weeks ago! That said, I so rarely see an offer, so here you go:

Domaine Raveneau 2015 – Chablis

Chablis 2015 75cl 54.00 Swiss francs*
Chablis Montée-de-Tonnerre 2015 75cl 108.00
Chablis Butteaux 2015 75cl 108.00
Chablis Valmur 2015 75cl 238.00
Chablis Les Clos 2015 75cl very limited, price on application!

*price includes delivery, but not (yet!) the 8% Swiss VAT (tax)

Vézelay from the air via AuxerreTV – here.

You may have come across the label Bourgogne Vézelay – an appellation/label created only in 1998 – but one that’s already going to be phased out. The new kid in town is Vézelay – and it’s a villages appellation.

The INAO (Institut National des Appellations d’Origine) voted on May 3rd to install the new communal appellation of Vézelay. This appellation is for dry white wine, produced from the chardonnay grape with the ‘traditional’ Burgundian approaches of high planting densities, short pruning, plus training of the vines – vines only from the communes of Asquins, Saint Père, Tharoiseau and of-course Vélelay! – all in the south of the Yonne department (89). Maximum yields per hectare will have to drop from 60 to 55 hectoliters per hectare, and the required minimum alcoholic degree will increase by 0.5°.

According to the INAO:

• The Vézelay AOC covers about 90 hectares, divided between 25 producers, 10 of which are members of a cooperative. One-third of the area is farmed with an organic approach. The production is close to 2,800 hectolitres. Export is growing and accounts for 20% of the production volume.
• The ‘Vézelien’ region is located at the edge of the Morvan Natural Regional Park, in the south of the Yonne department in Burgundy. The vines are grouped on the hillsides of the four communes of Asquins, Saint Père, Tharoiseau and Vézelay on both sides of the valley of the Cure – a river of the Yonne.
• The vineyard occupies the slopes of the Cure and its lateral valleys between 250 and 300 meters of altitude. On the left bank, the subsoils consist of Bathonian marls and limestones of the middle Jurassic period, while the right bank slopes consist of a more predominant clay over rock from the lower Jurassic period.

The previous appellation of Bourgogne Vézelay had a potential planting area of 330 hectares, though it was actually very far from reaching these levels – currently there are 110 hectares planted – and with multiple grape varieties – only 90 of which are currently chardonnay. Note that about two-thirds of the vines were frosted in 2016, and there was frost again this year. Outside of the delimited area it will still be possible to produce Bourgogne Rouge and Bourgogne Blanc.

Whilst 2017 is anticipated to be the first vintage for the new label, everything (administrative) in France is complicated; first the old Bourgogne-Vézelay label must disappear, but then it’s also necessary to get all the ‘wine-growing syndicats‘ to agree – and anything regarding regional appellations has been hard work in recent years. So let’s see!

Only tittle-tattle, of-course, but I understand after buying the domaine, that LVMH had an internal candidate lined up for the job at Clos des Lambrays – contracts were done, only waiting to be signed. Reading between the lines, there might have been an obvious problem – their first choice wasn’t French! Quelle horreur! I’m not quite sure at what stage they may have noted their error.

Internal candidate? Well, let’s not forget that LVMH have a very nice winery in a significant rugby-playing nation south of the equator! I heard this from somebody who was also approached by the head-hunters for the Lambrays rôle…

Interestingly my last comparison with this merchant is 2008 (in brackets) I think – all the wines are cheaper now!

CHABLIS WILLIAM FEVRE CHABLIS 2015
CHABLIS Village 75cl 19.00 (24.00) Swiss Francs
PREMIERS CRUS – DOMAINE
CHABLIS Montée de Tonnerre 75cl 38.00 (39.50)
GRANDS CRUS – DOMAINE
CHABLIS Preuses 75cl 65.00 (69.00)
CHABLIS Bougros Côtes de Bouquerots 75cl 65.00 (69.00)
CHABLIS Les Clos 75cl 75.00 (79.00)

So these prices are lower than 2008, which itself was lower than 2007 – in Swiss Francs – though the euro is much weaker since then…
These are good prices, and whilst I still have some concern about Les Clos, I would have confidence with the others, all DIAM sealed…

Not to forget, just a few days ago we had the 56th auction of the wines of the Hospices de Nuits St.Georges – held this year at the Château du Clos de Vougeot.

Maître Daniel Herry, auctioneers from Beaune, were responsible for a sale that raised 1.157 million Euros, much of which will go toward the cost of refurbishment of the hospital in Nuits St.Georges. Given the frost of 2016, there were only 90.5 228 litre barrels in the sale – versus 120 barrels of 2015 auctioned in 2016 – also a low volume vintage. The average price, per barrel, increased by 14%, so proceeds passed the €1 million mark for only the second time and the total sum achieved was only €150,000 away from the record total for this sale.