A sort of co-op tasting, rather than the larger merchant Burgundy tasting, I’m more than happy to pass on Mr Haisma’s message/invitation:

The Vinoteca Tasting
With Mark Haisma, the Dagon Clan Clan, Jeremy Recchione, Jane Eyre and Andrew Nielsen all in attendance with their wines.
Thursday,12th of January, 2017 @ Vinoteca, Soho
Upstairs
53-55 Beak Street, London, W1F 9SH
020 3544 7411
10 am till 8pm.

For all details about buying Andrew Nielsen wines please visit: www.legrappin.com.
We are charging £15 entry fee, refundable upon purchase. Those who have already bought are exempt from this fee.
You will be able to buy on the day. Cash or Credit Card (fees may apply).
If you can make it before 4pm we do recommend it. It normally gets very busy afterwards.
Mark Haisma’s 2015s

Offer of the day, once again from my tame Swiss merchant, the first for this producer:

DOMAINE PONSOT 2014 – Morey St.Denis

PREMIERS CRUS
Morey St.Denis 1er Clos des Monts Luisants TVV (blanc) 75cl 99.00 (Swiss Francs)
Morey St.Denis 1er Clos des Monts Luisants TVV (blanc) 150cl 208.00
Morey St.Denis 1er Cuvée des Alouettes 75cl 99.00

GRANDS CRUS
Corton Cuvée du Bourdon 75cl 189.00
Corton Bressandes 75cl 219.00
Charmes-Chambertin Cuvée des Merles 75cl 239.00
Chapelle-Chambertin 75cl 299.00
Griotte-Chambertin 75cl 319.00
Clos de la Roche 75cl 499.00
Clos de la Roche 75cl 1,078.00

I need a rest, and I only typed that. I wonder how I’d have felt if I’d paid that!

Offer of the day from my tame Swiss merchant again – unfortunately I never saw an offer for 2014s:

DOMAINE LEFLAIVE 2015 – Puligny-Montrachet (En Primeur)
Just for reflection, you will see the same offer prices of their (2013s, 2012s) in the brackets.

Pouilly-Fuissé 2015 75cl 37.00
Bourgogne 2015 75cl 38.00 Swiss Francs (35.00, 35.00)
Puligny-Montrachet 2015 75cl 69.00 (65.00, 65.00)

PREMIERS CRUS
Puligny-Montrachet Les Clavoillons 75cl 89.00 (88.00, 85.00)
Meursault Sous Le Dos d’Âne 75cl 99.00 (99.00, 96.00)
Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières 75cl 145.00 (148.00, 139.00)
Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes 75cl 155.00 (159.00, 149.00)
Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles 75cl 195.00 (175.00, 175.00)

GRANDS CRUS
Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet 75cl 325.00 (319.00. 289.00)
Bâtard-Montrachet 75cl 348.00 (355.00, 310.00)
Chevalier-Montrachet 75cl 445.00 (450.00, 395.00)

A vintage where on one hand they give (a little), and on the other hand they take – relative to 2013…

Not from a merchant this time, as Le Grappin sell direct. But you can see their offer here.

No afilliation, et-cetera, but you can find my report and notes on their 2015s in my last (October) Burgundy Report – here.

 Base image courtesy Christie’s.

The 156^th wine auction for the Hospices de Beaune started in a sombre mood, beginning with a minute of silence in honour of the 28-year veteran of the Hospices, its former director, Antoine Jacquet, who recently and unexpectedly died whilst travelling and promoting the sale.

Thereafter, in-line with the massive crowds in Beaune, the usual momentum took over. I was surprised to see that Ludivine Griveau had managed to coax more wine out the Hospice’s vineyards in 2016 than in 2015 – 596 barrels versus 575. I don’t like to taste wine pre-malo, but those with some experience suggest that the 16s looked quite good – despite their suits of oaken armour.

The bidding wasn’t quite up to the fever-pitch of 2015, yet it was still the second-highest sales result ever – amassing almost €8.4 million – though this ‘second best’ result fell way short of last year’s €11.35 million. There was a little less exuberance over the star ‘President’s Barrel’ this year, which was bid up to €200,000, but by an interesting combination of Jean-Claude Bernard (of Beaune’s Hotel Le Cep) and Ms Yan-Hong Cao from China – Ms Cao also bought the President’s barrel at the 2013 auction. Last year’s price was €480,000 for the barrel, but the proceeds of that purchase was slated for the victims of that year’s terrorist attacks in Paris – so with 2016 and 2015 we are most-likely not comparing apples with apples.

The average price for a barrel in 2016 was €13,833 versus €18,880 in 2015 and €13,658 in 2014.

So, despite the global marketing might of Christie’s, and Jasper Morris replacing the retired Anthony Hanson, this sale showed (modestly) less exuberance than last year but still higher prices than 2014. Will that have an effect on the pricing of 2016s? Well, despite the sale recording average reductions of -37% for the whites and -26% for the reds, I would say that given the combination of the short-volume, frosted 2016 vintage, when coupled with mainly empty cellars, this year’s sale is nothing more than a side-show in the great market for burgundy wine…

I missed the 14s, but here you can see the same merchant’s prices (in Switzerland) for the 12s, 13s and 15s:
The format here for the prices is simple: 2015 (2013, 2012) and — if not previously seen…

DOMAINE FAIVELEY 2015 – En Primeur

PREMIERS CRUS
Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers 2015 75cl 78.00 (72.50, 69.80) Swiss Francs
Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers 2015 150cl 161.00
Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Saint-Georges 2015 75cl 98.00 (98.00, 98.00)
Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuées 2015 75cl 128.00 (119.00, 119.00)
Chambolle-Musigny la Combe d’Orveau 2015 75cl 124.00 (119.00, 119.00)
Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses 2015 75cl 229.00 (228.00, 228.00)

GRAND CRUS
Corton Clos des Cortons 2015 75cl 149.00 (139.00, 139)
Corton Clos des Cortons 2015 150cl 303.00 (283.00, 283)
Corton Clos des Cortons 2015 300cl 656.00 (—)
Echezeaux 2015 75cl 149.00 (—)
Mazis-Chambertin 2015 75cl 179.00 (167.00, 169)
Mazis-Chambertin 2015 150cl 363.00 (—)
Mazis-Chambertin 2015 300cl 776.00 (—)
Grands Echezeaux 2015 75cl 198.00 (198.00, —)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze 2015 75cl 278.00 (249.00, 235)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze 2015 150cl 561.00 (503.00, 475)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze 2015 300cl 1,172.00 (—)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze Les Ouvrées Rodin 2015 75cl 659.00 (598.00, 598)

Corton Charlemagne 2015 75cl 169.00 (169.00, 159)
(8% Tax to add in Switzerland, but then these are delivered prices)

To be honest, I’m relatively surprised by the price restraint here, 2015 is certainly (largely) better than the other vintages shown here, and I must admit that I bought that Charlemagne in 2012 – I must (eventually) try to find a bottle!

Not in this case for burgundy wine, but certainly wine IN Burgundy.

Apparently it happened in 2012; ‘Les Frauds’ visited a négoce bulk wine producer in Morey St.Denis and decided to test some samples of SAS Corbet’s Vins de Table – red and white. Both are blends of wine from various regions of France – the grape varieties were deemed, after analysis, not a problem.

But apparently the water they contained was a problem – 20% too much for the red and 15% for the white. Two of the company’s 4 tanks were at fault. I’m impressed that analytically they can tell that this water’s source wasn’t grapes. It’s an easy way to add 20% to your top line – eh?

Well it was. This afternoon The ‘Tribunal Correctionnel de Dijon’ handed down it’s judgement that they had ‘falsified the quality’ of their Vins de France, by diluting them with water.

The company was fined €20,000…

Well, this retailer is back on the email trail – it was only in August that they made an offer of the 2014s from this producer.

I won’t make this list even more unintelligible than the prices in the link above, I’ll just bring it down to the 2015 and the 2014 prices as a comparison:

VILLAGES BLANCS 2015
BOURGOGNE Chardonnay 75cl 23.00 (22.00 – price for the 2014) Swiss francs
MEURSAULT 75cl 45.00 (44.00)
Saint Aubin 75 cl 34.00 (32.00)
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET 75cl 49.00 (48.00)

PREMIERS CRUS BLANCS 2014
MEURSAULT Les Charmes 75cl 78.00
MEURSAULT Les Genevrières 75cl 99.00 (79.50)
MEURSAULT Les Perrières 75cl 99.00 (89.50)
Puligny Les Perrières 75 cl 89.50 (79.50)
Puligny Les Combettes 75 cl 99.00 (89.50)
Puligny Les Folatières 75 cl 99.00 (89.50)
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET Clos de La Mouchère 75cl 89.50
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET Les Pucelles 75cl 99.00

GRANDS CRUS BLANCS 2014
CORTON CHARLEMAGNE 75cl 145.00 (139.00)
CRIOTS BÂTARD MONTRACHET 75cl 268.00 (249.00)
BIENVENUES BÂTARD MONTRACHET 75cl 349.00 (319.00)
BÂTARD MONTRACHET 75cl 419.00 (389.00)
MONTRACHET 75cl 698.00

VILLAGE & PREMIERS CRUS ROUGES 2014
VOLNAY 75cl 46.00
Volnay Les Chevrets 75 cl 78.00 (73.00)
VOLNAY Les Caillerets 75cl 89.50 (79.50)
POMMARD Les Rugiens 75cl 89.50 (79.50)

GRANDS CRUS ROUGES 2014
CLOS DE VOUGEOT 75cl 139.00 (129.00)
BONNES-MARES 75cl 248.00 (229.00)

The 2014s went down a little vs the previous highest prices for the 2012 vintage. The 2015s return to the 2012 prices, or even higher!