…symbolic of femininity and also the transmission of know-how from woman to woman, to design a unique jeroboam wine label as well as a custom made piece of furniture…
Beauty will be in the eye of the beholder!
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The Market
offer of the day – henri boillot 2011s…
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]
‘parasitical & inflationary’
château de gevrey-chambertin – sold!
I was travelling the last days so couldn’t post the news, hence, Keith beat me to it. But the news is that the small domaine which includes Gevrey-Chambertin’s most iconic building is now sold.
Whilst that (surely) must auger for some eventual improvement in the quality of the wines, there is local angst that the efforts that they made to buy the buildings and vines for the village of Gevrey-Chambertin were thwarted at the last-minute. Locals had amassed a $5 million offer, but lost out to $8 million from a group of Chinese investors (reportedly) from Macau. I’m sure it smarts.
The headlines will shout ‘Chinese buyers’ and there will doubtlessly be some ill-thought quasi-xenophobic editorials, yet I expect the biggest shame will come from not finding that local solution…
PS: An important little bird tells me that Eric Rousseau is currently caring for those vines – that sounds a good start – no?
a new owner of the nsg clos des grandes vignes…
Part of the de Montille disposals to fund the purchase of the Château de Puligny; unofficially, we’ve known about the new owner for the last couple of weeks, but as the words finally trip from his own mouth, I think I’m safe enough to broadcast it 😉 Based on the numbers in the SAFER website, we can assume that with all taxes and fees paid, the final bill was about €3 million, for the only premier cru on the ‘wrong side’ of the RN74…
Just bought the 2,2 hectares of the Monopoly Nuits Saint Georges 1er cru “Clos des Grandes Vignes”. A new Monopoly for the Estate (the 3rd…after Clos du Chateau and La Romanée) and a new challenge for myself…try to make some “drinkable” white wine. Part of the Clos des Grandes Vignes (0,35 ha) is in Chardonnay!
Louis-Michel Liger-Belair
I only tasted one vintage at Château Puligny – 05 was (I think) their first vintage after the vines were acquired from the ‘dissolving’ Domaine Thomas-Moillard – that was the 2009, and I thought it excellent, the ‘villages’ cuvée seemed fine too (it’s a split vineyard with villages and 1er cru portions) but those were from barrel. I never saw Etienne’s bottles on the market. The chardonnay at the bottom of the vineyard was a ‘re-graft’ by Etienne a few years ago – it can be difficult here as the drainage is poor at the bottom of the vineyard, but Etienne had already done considerable work in the vines to allow their certification as biodynamic. 2012 will be Louis-Michel’s first harvest…
domaine maume – alive and well, despite other reports…
When I previously reported on the ‘death of Domaine Maume‘, it was based on two news reports and a subsequent conversation I had with Pascal Marchand in Zürich. The reports had never mentioned Bertrand Maume, and actually he was never a subject of my chat with Pascal either – probably driven by me as I assumed Bertrand was now out of the picture – mea-culpa!
I did eventually correct myself once the current situation was confirmed to me by ‘Marchand-Tawse’ – i.e. that Bertrand remains at the domaine and that Pascal is merely delivering the benefit of his long careers in consulting and wine-making – but that correction was rather buried in the comments section of the original post. So what better way to make a correction, than to ask for a nice image of the duo together, and to publish it – so here you go – the image came to me on Monday.
Best wishes to everyone at (still!) Domaine Maume. I can’t wait to taste their first biodynamic (approach not certification) vintage (2012), assuming the mildew allows a few bunches to reach the triage table!
more rudy k…
The best commentary on the Rudy K saga yet, fashioned by somebody who was there as a ‘player’.
now there’s a thing – a new owner in montrachet…
French businessman François Pinault just bought 0,417 hectares of Montrachet for 1 million € via @BourgogneLive
— Caroline PARENT GROS (@cparentgros) June 15, 2012
So, following on from yesterday’s news stories, now we know how Etienne de Montille can afford to buy the Château du Puligny-Montrachet 😉 But as far as I know the Château de Puligny-Montrachet actually held 0.0428ha – that only produces a little over 200 bottles per year! – so perhaps Caroline’s decimal point slipped:
http://chateaudepuligny.com/fiche_technique.php?id=15&type=1
So that would make the whole vineyard worth €186.7 million….!
[EDIT] There you go:
Uh oh, expensive typo. It is 1million € for 0,0417 hectares of Montrachet that François Pinault bought from Chateau de Puligny.
— Caroline PARENT GROS (@cparentgros) June 15, 2012
fraud – a statement from the BIVB
Whilst it doesn’t say that much in itself, I find it highly encouraging that they are so open about this:
Investigation at Labouré Roi:
Burgundy wine industry joins proceedings as civil party
Beaune, le 15 juin 2012Following the announcement on Wednesday, 13th June of an investigation being carried out jointly by the fraud office and the police into a suspected case of fraudulent activity within the firm Labouré Roi, the Burgundy wine industry has decided to join proceedings as a civil party in order to be fully informed of the details of the case.
The Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB), whose primary role is to promote and enhance the image of its wines, recognises the seriousness of the accusations made being brought against this company.
It is on behalf of all the men and women who devote themselves to improving the quality of their wines every day and to making every bottle special that the BIVB intends to react in a determined fashion. It is therefore joining proceedings as a civil party in order to assess the allegations levelled against this firm and, consequently, the harm suffered by the industry.
Burgundy wines are renowned across the world for their prestigious appellations and their intangible and profound connection with the terroir. “More than half of Burgundy wines are exported to some 150 countries. This is why any suspicion of dishonest practice that might tarnish the reputation of these wines cannot be tolerated”, explains Michel Baldassini, Deputy Chairman of the BIVB.
Once the case has been analysed, the industry will of course take all necessary measures to prevent this type of situation from ever happening again.
“This affair must not be allowed to affect the vast majority of Burgundy producers and wine merchants who scrupulously comply with Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée principles”, concludes Pierre-Henry Gagey, Chairman of the BIVB.
Key figures about Burgundy wines:
3% of the French vineyard (28,000 ha)
100 Appellations d’Origine Contrôlées (or 22 % of French AOCs)
200 million bottles sold, 50% of which are sold in France
3 800 wine-growing estates
250 wine merchants
23 cooperative cellars
