2005 David Clark, Bourgogne Au Pelson From vines between Morey and Chambolle, but on the ‘wrong’ side of the Route Nationale 74. Deep colour. The nose is a brooding affair with faint spice and herb top-notes and a tight concentration of fruit below, eventually a faint milk-chocolate note surfaces. In the mouth this is unexpectedly intense for the appellation, rather tight and narrow in form which allows the acidity to gain the upper-hand – the classic face for many 2005s now. The tannin is a background velvet texture and the fruit is dark and fresh, finishing with a dried cranberry/raisin element. I suspect that this wine would have been absolutely singing a couple of years ago. Today, despite the appellation, this is a wine about future potential – I still find much to enjoy, but such a shame it was my only bottle. I don’t see either Morey or Chambolle in this, but it is anyway very impressive indeed, this clearly has the intensity, structure and balance of a very decent villages! Rebuy – Yes
I brought your attention to the auction of part of the cellar from the Tour d’Argent that was held in Paris last week. I myself made some bids on what looked like reasonably priced (and perfect provenance!) 1993s, the estimates were, however, rather under-estimates – the wines made 2.5 to 4x mid-estimate. Needless to say I ended up with no bottles!
Tim Atkin made a visit to La Tour d’Argent and made an interesting report here.
2006 Gaston et Pierre Ravaut, Ladoix Les Carrières
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose soars with beautiful raspberry and blackberry notes – it’s a peach – or maybe that’s confusing! There is some sweetness of fruit, nice texture and a significant length, but to be honest after a number of successful vintages in my cellar, this one is rather ‘acid rich’ – and that’s before it loses its puppy fat! The tannin has the faintest astringency, but nothing amiss there. I easily managed to find something to enjoy here, but other bottles will be a challenge in middle years… Rebuy – No
The Autumn 2009 Burgundy Report is finally online. You’ve already seen the ‘Vintage Viewpoint’, but amongst others, there are reports of my walk in the vines of Corton with Aubert de Villaine and Didier Dubois and a review of Clive Coates ‘warts’n’all’ recent book.
Now that’s done I’ve found time to do a little tidying up. This newsletter from Domaine de la Vougeraie has been hanging around in my inbox for a while, but since quite a lot of you downloaded the last issue, I thought you may also like this one…
Cheers
With a few (very) good contacts, M&M were able to fashion this blend of two iconic Gevrey 1ers – if you buy some wine from them, they might tell you what’s in the bottle – they probably won’t tell you who they got if from though!
2004 Mischief & Mayhem, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er, Crazy Love
Medium colour. The nose starts very tight, just a little warmth, slowly it develops a heavy floral scent – in-part it’s derived from a little of the vintage character, but on a low and ‘nice’ level. There is some fat, silky texture, high-toned fruit, balance and a very impressive length that shows some licorice. Initially I noticed the ‘character’ more in the flavours than the aromas, but the flavours seemed to clear completely. A lovely wine, and indeed a very serious wine… Rebuy – Yes
Do you think this (empty) bottle is worth something because of the miss-printed label? Me Neither!
With the exception of a Chambolle that seemed a little too sweet, I have to say that I’ve been impressed by the 03 Lachaux range; they never really closed, and whilst externally they do offer a slightly facile if opulent glass, there is certainly more below the surface if you care to look…
2003 Pascal Lachaux, Latricières-Chambertin
Medium-plus colour. Brooding aromas of dark cherry and cassis that are framed with warm, sweet coffee. Mouth-filling, slightly acid-shy but good texture and fantastic length. There’s a slight bitterness that mingles with the creamy fruit in the mid-palate, tannin is fine with the merest leading-edge of astringency. Really, this a bottle to wallow in rather than intellectualise over, yet the IQ is there if you want to challenge it. Very impressive indeed. Rebuy – Yes
Given how I abused this bottle, this is rather an impressive showing – and from a producer I hadn’t heard of. The bottle was pulled from the shelves of Caves Madeleine restaurant in Beaune. The small-ish glasses in the restaurant and lack of time for the wine to open up gave only an impression of balance but little else. More than half-drunk, it had the cork rammed back in, spent the rest of the day in the back of the car (December) before finally coming to rest in the refrigerator at home. Not the next day, but the day after, I poured the last glass and a half from which this note is culled:
2006 François Legros, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Perrières
Medium-plus colour. Deep, velvety aromas over a hint of volatility that wasn’t there on day one. Smooth, yet with plenty of finely grained, underlying tannin. Long, concentrated and balanced, the fruit is dark before a higher-toned burst of fruit in the mid-palate, there is a nice depth of flavour before the wine slowly fades into the finish. Plenty of structure but it’s not a burly Nuits expression, rather (perhaps) a softer Perrières expression. Very nice wine. Rebuy – Yes
2006 wines from Nuits and Vosne continue to repay my confidence…
Aubert de Villaine - after being made to wait in the cold!Monday was just your average away-day to Burgundy:
5:30am – Alarm, cereal, wash, shave then eventually open my eyes.
6:25am – In the car and away. Plenty of rain as we went through the ‘Doubs’ and around Besançon. If the sky didn’t exactly clear, at least there was no rain when, at 9:10am, I pulled into the parking area in Aloxe-Corton. The meeting time was 9:30, so we made good time. Or at least I thought we’d made good time, but when it got to 9:40 I realised, aided by a telephone message from the secretary of Aubert de Villaine (oops!), that he was waiting (since 9:30) by a different vineyard map in Corton. Ah-well, nothing like making an impression!
11:00am – picked up some wine and blagged a coffee and a Waitrose plain-chocolate coated ginger biscuit (mmm…) from M&M in Aloxe, before heading for lunch in Caves Madeleine – rustic jambon persille, beef bouguignone and some tasty, runny cheese – lovely! Washed down with a 2006 Nuits 1er Perrières – the last 3rd of the bottle I will drink tonight. Hubert de Montille was taking lunch beside us – nice chap, he liked our dog despite her bad habit of scanning the dining table…
2:20pm – picked up some more wine (these trips can be expensive) from Blair Pethel, who was recovering from the grippe! Hardly time even to say hello before running off (nothing to do with worring about his infections!) to arrive at 2:30pm (on-time) at the Bouchard Père et Fils winery in Savigny (well close to Savigny anyway). Unfortunately there was a mix-up, and Philippe Prost was waiting for me in Beaune – bugger – I could have walked there from Caves Madeleine! We finally sat together in the tasting room at about 2:50pm. Philippe is a goldmine of info and I always enjoy our chats, but by 4pm we were only just finishing the reds, and there was an equally table-groaning number of whites waiting to taste; at that point I had to call friends of friends to get a telephone number of somebody to pass on a message (…!) to say that there would be no chance to make my 4-4:30pm appointment and maybe we could do it next time. I hope they will have me back in January! We actually stepped out into the rain at 5:30pm, and headed straight for a coffee…!
6:45pm – arrived in Morey St.Denis at Domaine David Clark to pick up some wine (!) after accepting his kindly offer of dinner with him and his parents. While there I got to see the new bottling machine as conceived and implemented by l’equipe technique du domaine; DRC and Leflaive will be so jealous of this gentle approach to bottling! Did I mention bottling? Guess what the parents will be doing as you read this 😉 We left after espressos as the clock reached 9:15pm. One stop in the services at Besançon for a splash of fuel (no point filling up in France, it’s much cheaper in Switzerland) for the car, and another espresso fuel for me. Finally arrived home at about 12:20am to lots of rain.
1:00am – Showered and soundly asleep! (Thanks to all who made it so worthwhile.)
I 
