2002 Louis Jadot, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Petits Monts
Hmm – great aromatic volume here – obviously Vosne-spiced too. Supple concentration in the mouth, still a little tannic texture – good volume too – not pinched by any age or any tightness. Nicely finishing if now showing a more modest width. Tasty, moreish wine – Yum! Jacques Lardière once told me that he thought Petits Monts a ‘second division’ Vosne 1er – regardless – he did a great job here!
Rebuy – Yes
2000 de la Vougeraie, Clos de Vougeot
Medium-plus colour, with certainly some maturity of colour. The nose starts with a deep and earthy oak impression – this could have been reduction but it it was stable – it has the slightest cigarette ash impression – just falling short of too much though. It’s rather a complex and sweet nose for all that. Very nice volume in the mouth without any overt fat – this is structural and alive, lovely waves of acid-led flavour with still just a hint of finishing bitters. There is enough sweetness here to counter the acidity and leave something that is super-tasty – almost completely delicious. I’m torn between admiring and enjoying this wine – it’s a super 2000 and not fully mature. Easy to enjoy…
Rebuy – Yes
After more than 10 years in the preparation, the dossier with all the work to justify certain parcels of Pouilly-Fuissé becoming 1er Crus is completed. This week all the vigneron(ne)s of Pouilly voted that they take the next step. The ‘next step’ is actually a number of public consultations et-cetera where anyone can have a say, but it seems that they are on ‘a good way’ and could have the final ‘yes’ in less than two years, at which time they can back-date vintages from 2017 as 1ers.
About 22% of the appellation is slated to be upgraded to 1er Cru, and for these parcels the rules will change slightly; the allowed yields will decrease from 60 to 56 hectolitres per hectare, and the minimum alcohol requirement will raise from 11 to 11.5%. For good producers the rules will make no difference whatsoever – the average yields being closer to 40 hl/ha and usually over 12° at harvest time.
Good luck to them…
A beautiful day in the Côtes today – 26°C – and the vines are just starting to change colour. Better make the most of it, tomorrow is rain. Oh, and it will rain on Sunday too!
Today was the 100th Tastevinage – I’m still mightily impressed by the tasting teams I’ve joined with – nothing sub-par gets through. Talking of sub-par – today I encountered my first p.oxed 2014 white, and to add insult to that injury, a couple of minutes later my first p.oxed 2015! We checked the second bottle of the later – it was the same. The new tasting glass is massively better than the old one – so it should be given the difference in size – though I heard that it was a little fragile – some breakages already this day…
We had 228 tasters (a good Burgundian number) for 480 wines, then lunch in the château. A big thumbs-up for the kitchen staff and servers; 250 for lunch, another 600 for dinner in the evening – then tomorrow they have a wedding party – chapeau!
My 2014 White Burgundy Report – The October 2015 issue of Burgundy-Report
I promise all the producers – and readers too(!) – that my subscription reports are available to all, less than 2 years after subscribers get them. So here you go, the best vintage of whites that I ever tasted from barrel…
I felt fortunate at the time in managing to secure a mixed case from David from this, his last vintage – I think Berry Bros. bought-out just about his whole production! This is the first from that case, a mixed pack of 4 of these and 4 each of his Morey St.Denis and his Vosne-Romanée. There was one sacrifice that David had to make when selling his domaine to Yann Charlopin, it meant that the elevage for his 2012s needed to be a little shorter than for his other vintages…
2012 David Clark, Côte de Nuits Villages Vieilles-Vignes
Medium color. The nose of this 2012 CDN has pretty red fruits and even prettier floral notes. A sleek wine, rather than a big wine. It really has a floral perfume in the mouth too – with beautiful purity – though also lots of frank acidity. I like acidity and I like this wine very much, but I know plenty of people who would find this a little too much – though it’s not aggressive. The finish is still a little young – here the structure has to soften – hopefully that beautiful aroma and flavour won’t be sacrificed in the meantime. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes
The first offer on 2016s that I’ve seen – the comparison to the 2015 offer from the same merchant is in the brackets.
Whilst there was frost in 2016, and much was lost, it was highly variable with some white wine vineyards offering full yields. Here the increases are seemingly across the board – Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits – there is nothing here to suggest the variability of the frost and therefore the yields. The Bonnes-Mares is a case in point – Chambolle lost 80%, the next village, Morey had high yields…
At first sight, very disappointing…
VILLAGES BLANCS 2016
BOURGOGNE Chardonnay 75cl Not offered (23.00) Swiss francs*
MEURSAULT 75cl 49.00 (45.00)
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET 75cl 52.00 (49.00)
PREMIERS CRUS BLANCS 2016
MEURSAULT Les Charmes 75cl 89.00 (78.00)
MEURSAULT Les Genevrières 75cl 108.00 (99.00)
MEURSAULT Les Perrières 75cl 108.00 (99.00)
Puligny Les Perrières 75 cl 99.00 (89.50)
Puligny Les Combettes 75 cl 108.00 (99.00)
Puligny Les Folatières 75 cl Not offered (99.00)
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET Clos de La Mouchère 75cl 99.00 (89.50)
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET Les Pucelles 75cl 108.00 (99.00)
GRANDS CRUS BLANCS 2016
CORTON CHARLEMAGNE 75cl 149.00 (145.00)
BÂTARD MONTRACHET 75cl 455.00 (419.00)
VILLAGE & PREMIERS CRUS ROUGES 2016
VOLNAY 75cl not offered (46.00)
Volnay Les Chevrets 75 cl 89.00 (78.00)
VOLNAY Les Caillerets 75cl 99.00 (89.50)
POMMARD Les Rugiens 75cl 99.00 (89.50)
GRANDS CRUS ROUGES 2016
CLOS DE VOUGEOT 75cl 149.50 (139.00)
BONNES-MARES 75cl 269.00 (248.00)
CHAMBERTIN 75cl 269.00
*Prices are ‘delivered’ but will incur another 8% Swiss purchase tax
I suppose that given the title, you might be forgiven for assuming that sub-title could be ‘A Las Vegas Wedding!’
Boringly, this is actually about wine, but certainly not about boring wines…
1959 Maison Roger Moreau, Gevrey-Chambertin “Clos Saint Jacques”
I bought a few of these at an auction in Switzerland – maybe 10 years-or-so ago. What can we make of the label? There’s no mention of 1er crus, and only ‘Gevrey-Chambertin Appellation Contrôlée’ though on separate lines. So it could easily be a villages Gevrey with a (not allowed) cuvée/brand name of CSJ – or it could actually be a Clos Saint Jacques – I will never know…
The nose starts with a note that makes me think ‘corked’ but it gets cleaner and cleaner, despite a little bloody iron and balsamic. With air the nose also offers flashes of beautiful florals – not enough for my taste – but sometimes – you never know what you’re going to get. The palate has weight, concentration and plenty of sweetness. It’s tasty enough, if never quite as nice as the (more and more) excellent nose – yet it’s a wine that’s very easy to take another glass – and I do! First question: Is it a real 1959? The weight and bulky sweetness, plus the lack of overt acidity are consistent with other wines from that vintage. Is it Clos Saint Jacques – well that’s anybody’s guess, but it’s holding up in excellent fashion – certainly more than you would expect from a villages wine – real or adulterated!
2015 Louis Jadot, Bourgogne Chardonnay
On 33% discount in my local co-op, so a logical choice at only 10.95 Swiss francs! DIAM sealed.
The first whiffs of aroma are classically, clichéd white burgundy; a toasty depth with a little side-plate of melted butter – time adding some weighty, ripe fruit – papya-style. Cold from the fridge this is both delicious and textured like silk. Some weight of modestly fat flavour but with fine balance – but only so long as keep it cool – not so much of a worry now we’re heading into the Autumn. Delicious wine for the price – really – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes
Another week/weekend of 1997 research for the forthcoming Burgundy Report – but I managed to slip in another bottle…
2011 Domaine Albert Joly, Puligny-Montrachet Les Tremblots
A little deeper colour than seems correct for such a (theoretically) youthful wine. Waxy lemon and a suggestion of caramel on the nose – but alive and attractive. Mouth-filling, fresh, mouth-watering too, plenty of density and but nothing hard or abrupt. Just a little caramel in the finish, like the nose. Tasty wine on which I wouldn’t take a chance by keeping longer – but it’s tasty enough today!
Rebuy – Maybe
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