Last weekend was the inaugural 2011 trip to the mountains, and what weather! Middle of January – hum! – more like the middle of April; at 1,900m and at 10am it was 12°C! Still there was plenty of sunshine to warm the wobbly legs. Snow was a bit sticky by 1:00pm though.

I took a couple of recent Camille Giroud purchases with me; 1. The 2007 Corton-Charlemagne. During harvesting I thought this super, so bought what turned out to be their last bottles, all three of them! This Charlemagne manages to be comforting and generous yet witty and communicative at the same time – lovely wine. 2. The 2008 ‘Corton’. No bruiser this, more of a technically gifted middle-weight – lovely again and more giving than you might expect from the vintage. My host, a drinker of Bordeaux, suggested that if all Burgundy tasted like this he would swap allegiance in a jiffy – job done methinks 🙂

So I left those sunny slopes behind, but that was only a warm-up for this week’s skiing. I’ll be heading to the focus of those grey and wet webcam pictures. Hopefully the weather will be nicer by the end of the week, ‘only’ Swiss wine to ease aching limbs this weekend though.

The weather had to change (of-course) and on Saturday we awoke to precipitation – the camera is not likely to be exercised. Still, I have a tasting in Volnay at 10am and another in Savigny at 3:15 – not bad for a Saturday – sandwiched in-between is a lunch in the café of Puligny and a quick scoot around the bookshop in Beaune.

After a week of eating and tasting, a simple plate of cheese on toast is perfect for the last hours at home – the ’83 Nuits is also not too bad! This is now a monopole of Prieuré-Roch and I note was imported into Switzerland by (possibly still) the most important Swiss merchant – well, they distribute DRC anyway!

1983 Pierre Ponnelle, Nuits St.Georges 1er Le Clos des Corvées
Some signs of seepage above the cork, but it comes out without major headaches and the wine seems fresh enough. Dark, fresh aromas of berries and bramble – it’s certainly at the darker end of the fruit-colour spectrum but there’s nothing cooked about it and there is no sense of decay – it’s very nice indeed. The palate is a bit of a surprise as there is a dryness from still obvious tannin – this must have been an absolute brute in its youth! Good acidity and likewise there’s energy too – the juxtaposition with the nose is that you expect more sweetness on the palate than this wine is prepared to give. Without sight of the vintage I’d have ventured to suggest leaving it in the cellar another 5 years or so – in some respects it reminds me of some 95s I’ve tasted!
Rebuy – Maybe