benjamin leroux 2009 volnay 1er clos de la cave des ducs

By billn on April 02, 2011 #degustation

benjamin-leroux-volnay

Burgundy needs vintages like 2009.

This wine is outrageously easy to drink; yet despite the relative expense of 2009s, I expect that many will be drunk as babies – just like this. But they might also bring a new audience to Burgundy who afterwards may also learn to appreciate the focus and clarity of a ‘classic’ vintage like 2008. This is particularly important with 2010 in the pipeline – it is not enough that ‘just’ the old hands might eventually prefer the 2008s and 2010s to the 2009s, in the end the wines have to sell to the wider market too. 2009 is really a vintage for the uninitiated to learn and appreciate, as well as me 😉

2009 Benjamin Leroux, Volnay 1er Clos de la Cave des Ducs
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose has some dark depth and the slightly musky, heavy perfume often to be found in 09s. Slowly the floral disentangles itself from the fruit – it’s lovely to follow. Likewise the palate is the archetypal full, round sweetness of the vintage – yet despite understated acidity it is completely balanced – I can certainly cope with its pleasure-seeking approach! The tannin is quite fine and very-much in the background – you’ll have to search it out. The flavour seems rather perfumed, slowly turning bitter in the finish and showing a hint of wood texture – both barrel derived though the texture (at least) will be gone in six months. Tasty as this is, I feel just a tweak more acidity might have given it the energy to reach another dimension – but I’m being really, really picky – it is lovely!
Rebuy – Yes

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2001 de courcel pommard 1er grand clos des épenots

By billn on April 01, 2011 #degustation

2001 de Courcel Pommard 1er Grand Clos des Épenots
Medium colour with a hint of salmon red at the rim. Rose petals, faint stems and an undertow of meat on the nose. Still a little tannin, which, if you look closely enough has an element of astringency. Really interesting fruit that’s powdery and red with just enough sweetness – this really perks up with food. Very good but not yet great…
Rebuy – Yes

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astounding scientific discoveries of great import to vougeot!

By billn on April 01, 2011 #a bit of science

Okay, I know it’s blatent product placement – but today, at least, Boisset worked hard for it 😉

clos-blanc-de-vougeotThe secret of Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot revealed:
Its taste comes from “moonstone”

A mystical and mythical wine, at once full-bodied and with good minerality, the celebrated Vougeot Premier Cru Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot today lifts the lid on the mystery of its origins.

This Domaine de la Vougeraie monopole in the shadow of the celebrated Clos Vougeot is one of the oldest vintages and can trace its history back as far as 1110, when it was the wine used at mass by the monks of Cîteaux. Since the French Revolution and the separation of Church and State, this vineyard covering two hectares has never been subdivided and remains in the same configuration it had in the Middle Ages: A large triangle which opens to the East and points towards Musigny in the west.

Thanks to the winter planting, the soil at Le Clos Blanc recently revealed a secret that has been buried for some 1500 years. The team of vine workers made an astonishing discovery, which could revolutionize the very notion of terroir for the appellations of Burgundy.

Initial analyses carried out by the government research organization, the CNRS, has confirmed this startling find: The sub-soil of Le Clos Blanc contains a substance not previously recorded on Earth. It is an amalgam of limestone from the Bajocian age (around 170m years ago in the Middle Jurassic), interspersed with stripes of a yellow rock which at first glance look like gold, but when crumbled breaks up in contact with oxygen. Scientists have dubbed it “moonstone”, because it gives off a faint glow in the light of the full moon.

After extensive tasting, it has now been demonstrated that this strange rock is indeed the origin of the inimitable terroir flavor that is usually referred to as “mineral”. This suggests that one could now safely say the taste of the wine grown in Le Clos Blanc is truly eternal, pending further investigation into the mysterious origins of this stone. A “divine” concoction, whose secret the monks of Cîteaux kept closely guarded for 900 years!

It should be noted that other theories – some of them quite far-fetched – have previously been put forward to explain the miraculous properties of the local soil, including a subterranean Fountain of Youth. It is no doubt no coincidence that this “golden” triangle, the most revered in the vineyards of Burgundy, symbol of eternal life for pre-Colombian and Egyptian civilizations, is also the coded sign of many religious orders. In any case, it is imbued with strong mystical connotations.

The vine may choose one day to yield us more of its secrets, but in Burgundy, truth is often found at the bottom of the glass.

Press Release April 1st 2011.

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@betanmich versus @sucklingpig…

By billn on March 30, 2011 #the market

Got to have some sympathy with Michel Bettane here.

I guess His-RMP-ness of Monkton might have been a long-time exception, but he never rocked the boat or caused problems as he wasn’t out to scoop anyone; of-course that’s not @sucklingpig’s game. The current situation is heading for a disorganised free-for-all – come to think of it, a bit like Burgundy! 🙂

The difference is that Burgundy never had ‘a system’; people taste all year-round to their advantage or the wine’s advantage, or not – usually not! For instance I’m proud to have tasted 2010 Romanée-Conti, but sad too; pre-malo it’s just a fruity cordial – not Romanée-Conti – that takes away some of its mistique. But anyway, mere details compared to the ‘scoop factor’ – I should have made a video that costs everyone 4.99 Euros to watch(!)

It seems clear to me that this Bordeaux ‘system’ has always reinforced their ‘next-big-thing’ marketing machine and built up a well of comment at exactly the same time each year, and notably, from all associated to their ‘game’ (more from @Jancis here). Tinker with that system, and the focus is gone, consequently much might change…

Anyway, well-done Michel – you either have a system or you don’t – I’m 99 points on that!

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alex gambal 2008 dents du chien…

By billn on March 28, 2011 #degustation

Alex Gambal 2008 saint aubin dents du chien

2008 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Les Murgers des Dents du Chien
Soft, vanilla accented aromas of fresh fruit. Just a little smoothness of texture, lovely flavours, slightly linear, with balanced intensity then a lingering finish. Few words, but alround excellent wine!
Rebuy – Yes

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the ultimate cellar?

By billn on March 27, 2011 #the market

I haven’t bought any wine through Sotheby’s for the best part of ten years – I certainly don’t have a catalogue subscription. Last week, despite that latter minor detail, a hardbacked catalogue arrived – it must have cost a fortune to send given that the auction is in Hong Kong. The Coulthard-jawed ‘wife of Saruman’ smiles from the the introduction – actually she could be from from Hong Kong!

The USP of this sale is 2,800 bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s finest. Mainly in wooden cases and many sourced directly from the domaine – apparently. If I’m honest I have the impression of bling and ostentation – the estimates are modest by recent standards so I expect they are clearly under-estimates.

I guess that auctions are two-edged swords for some; the domaine would probably have been happy at such a profile-raiser in the 1970s, 1980s and even much of the 1990s, but of-course the boot is on the other foot today when they could probably sell ten times what they currently produce – people can have short memories. Given the domaine’s harsh stance of ‘disenfranchising’ those caught selling their recent meagre allocations I assume they are not too impressed by this and the seller concerned will not be welcome at the domaine’s impressive new stone, glass and oak offices. I guess that Sotheby’s will also not be Maison du Jour in Vosne-Romanée – particularly as the catalogue is full of quotes attributed to Aubert de Villaine and also a few pictures of him as if endorsing the sale!

I’ve never been disappointed by a DRC – actually not true, there was once a corked 1997 La Tâche! – okay I’ve never been disappointed by a DRC with a decent cork, but it seems to me that the wines bear little relevance these days even to mainstream Burgundy drinkers – only the domaine’s viticulture does.

If somebody lays on a Barbie-pink Bentley, some nice gold chains and diamond tooth studs I think I could be persuaded to attend though

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