If you are free on the Saturday 27th June and would like to taste a few Volnays, in Volnay, look no further than here.
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two philiberts…
2 notes for the price of 1!
2000/01 Méo-Camuzet, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Clos St.Philibert
Like chalk and cheese these two wines. The 2000 has a quite young, medium yellow colour whereas the 2001 is much more golden. Despite the colours, the 2000 is the more toasty and faintly madirised, the 2001 is aromatically much more like a classic white burgundy. The 2000 needs time in the glass as it starts also with madirised flavours – but they all-but disappear with 1 hour’s aeration, leaving some sweetness, good concentration and balance. The 2001 is very balanced but much more austere in the mid-palate and finish – just needs a little more sweetness for ‘solo’ drinking, however, it fits really well with food. Overall, decent value wines that I occasionally see at reasonable prices on restaurant lists.
Rebuy – Maybe
thinking time…
I might not feel like opening bottles right now, but there’s nothing like a new project to get your mind off things. This week the majority of my UK-stored stocks arrived at my house – 406 kgs apparently – all on one pallet.
Clearly a pallet is not something that goes up or down steps, so multiple cases were first piled by the front door before being moved into a differently shaped big pile in the cellar. The joy of discovery (the 1995 Brunello (Rennina) Pieve de la Santa Restituta that I bought after having the same wine in Montalcino in 2001) is mixed with the frustration of not easily finding stuff. I also see how my buying habits have changed in the last 5 years; 243 bottles, but more than 50% are grand crus from 1997-2004 – today (due to price increases) less than 10% of what I buy is grand cru.
Anyway the cellar looks tidy(ish!), but it will be a nightmare to get at things. I already have about 30 bottles standing to attention for a slow, hopefully pleasurable, appraisal over the next couple of months.
we lost a friend…
Not quite Burgundy …
… but this one comes about as close as I have tasted from Australia. I am constantly trying out New World Pinot Noirs at home as well as at trade fairs, looking for the delicacy and definition that excites me in Burgundy. Oh – and looking for better values too. I find it hard work, as I am burdened with a palate that is very sensitive to alcohol levels, and loves – perhaps even craves – acidity. I mention those things because for anyone more tolerant of alcohol than I seem to be, this would be an absolute gem. The only downside is that it costs pretty much the same as a decent premier cru. Vive le marketing.
Kooyong – Meres Pinot Noir 2005 (Mornington Peninsula, Victoria)
Medium-full ruby, broad paler rim showing a touch pinkish. Lovely full Pinot nose. Juicy and ripe with a very refined oak frame. This is really lovely and classy, spicy and with a touch of game meat – could be a fat Vosne-Romanee. Mouth entry is nice and taut but with juicy cherry fruit right behind. Good acidity and a real sense of compressed energy here. Fat and spicy in style on the mid-palate, but paradoxically seems to lack body. There is a touch of licorice and very refined cherry/damson fruit. Finish is firm, slightly drying, and just a touch hot (i.e. too alcoholic). This has real beauty at the start, but became less convincing on the mid-palate and worrying on the finish. I feel (hope?) it should come good, but that alcohol on the finish is too much for me.
a really nice bottle, plus recent ‘things’ of interest…
1999 Nicolas Potel, Volnay Vieilles Vignes
A medium, medium-plus quite young looking colour. If it wasn’t so sweetly fruity I’d describe the nose as perfumed; it starts as a creamy ‘summer pudding’ with undertones of caramel, 2 hours is enough to focus the aromas to a beam of pure red berry – as perfect as a young villages Volnay can be. On your tongue it has A1 balance and a very understated impact. A characterful flavour in the finish that nods to the barrel but without any of the wood tannin texture. I spent most of my time sniffing, but it tastes rather good too. I rather wish I’d bought this in magnums – but hey-ho…
Rebuy – Yes
Galaxy’s centre tastes of raspberries and smells of rum, say ‘experts’
- All the hot news here of course! Perhaps the horse-head nebula brings a little brettanomyces too. 😉
- Or maybe the wine in your glass only “responds to the Moon’s rhythms“(?) Jamie Goode is anyway pooh-poohing the notion.
- Some lovely new photos again from Vincent Dancer; this time horses plouging and also ‘Montrachet Awakening’:
Link: Vincent Dancerthe one that got away
A little tardy, but I thought I would share with you my notes on probably the only dinner that Bill didn’t get to in Glasgow last month. There were some beauties here, not least of which was the gorgeous Pernot-Fourrier. This is the same domaine as is run today by Jean-Marie Fourrier. Before Jean-Claude took over the domaine, the wines were made by his uncle Fernand Pernot … and a darn good job he made of it, if this bottle is anything to go by.
Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchots 1992
Rich, even slightly madeirised on the nose. Very rich in the mouth – touches of pinepapple, but with a hard mineral core. Surprisingly little acidity showing here, fully resolved, and with a very long finish. Impressive rather than loveable. 4
Potinet-Ampeau Meursault Charmes 1966
Initially quite fat and waxy, quite unpromising, but this blossomed sensationally over 30 minutes in the glass. Nutty and complete. Broad and ample in the mouth, but with an astonishing lightness too. Lovely. 5-
Remoissenet Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 1986
Big and bold on the nose, still with an edge of citric freshness to it. Very big and bright in the mouth, even buxom, but with a core of minerality. Good length on the finish too, but isn’t really harmonious and lacks sophistication after the Meursault. 4+
Meo-Camuzet Vosne Romanee Cros Parantoux 1993
Big, intense and heady perfume : “in your face”. Great perfume and suppleness in the mouth. Meaty and intense, with overtones of violets. Dense and dark but with real purity. Big and long. Still really very tight, and still didn’t come together even after an hour in the glass. Hold for 10 years plus. 5
Pernot-Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St Jacques 1978
Almost feral on the nose, but there is lovely ripe red fruit beneath aswell as that earthy gaminess. A classic mature Gevrey, though it doesn’t display the sheer class of the CP. Wonderfully smooth and together in the mouth with great acidity pointing up the fruit (but not intruding). Great drinking with the deer, but not truly great. 4+
97 daniel rion nuits st.georges 1er vignes rondes
1997 Daniel Rion, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Vignes Rondes
Medium, medium-plus colour still. The nose is full of sweet-edged undergrowth and below there’s still a dark edge of oak-toast. In the mouth there’s a silkiness and good, if not totally seamless acidity. The dark flavours mirror the nose but have a nice extra creamy dimension, there’s still a bitter-chocolate edge to the tannins too. No sharp edges and only just beginning to enter its drinking window, despite its oaky beginings being still on display, this is becoming a very above average 1997.
Rebuy – Yes (and I don’t say yes to many ’97’s…)
