I asked a couple of producers this morning if it was bad, or really bad, both said the latter.
Without doubt it is a very important event, though I’m sure it’s better to wait until after the fruit-set to see if 30% or 75% of the potential harvest is lost. But however we look at it, it’s a massive loss, which (so far anecdotally) is a loss shared equally between the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits – for once!
Whilst it’s still a tiny snapshot, I walked in a lot of the Côte de Beaune vineyards today:
From what I looked at, the top vines did better than the bottom vines, but a couple of vignerons told me it was the reverse in some places. The leaves ‘burned’ by the frost are obvious – already silver grey and crispy dry versus the green of healthy leaves. Pinot often looks okay, probably because it is a little behind chardonnay in the growth cycle, but there were also pinots with tiny but clearly frosted buds…
I will be charging around the Côte de Nuits tomorrow…
Whilst in ‘relatively’ warm Beaujolais this week, I’ve watched all the pictures of ‘candles’ and water-sprays to combat the frost in Chablis, but this morning it seems the Côte d’Or has been touched – and it seems to have been more severe than a ‘touch.’
“I think I lost 90% in the villages and regional appellations. For the 1er crus in the order of 40 to 60%…”
Jean Pierre Charlot – Joseph Voillot, Volnay
I’ll be in Côte d’Or vines in both côtes over the next two days looking at the potential damage. I’ll keep you posted…
Checking frost damage from last night:
Our Chablis Grand Cru Ok
Our Chablis Ier Cru Ok at 85… https://t.co/7jMYUYdHap— christian Moreau (@chidotakumo1) April 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/Patrick_Essa/status/725269404796260352
Last night many of our parcels have been touched by the #frost. Too early to assess the damages but probably more than 50%. #Burgundy
— Caroline PARENT GROS (@cparentgros) April 27, 2016
After 3 days this week and about 230 wines tasted, I think it’s time to head back to Beaune today!
And for those who’d like to taste some black-coloured Fleurie, 6 months too early, here’s a link 😉
Hmm – a nice selection I thought – but there were a couple of disappointments.
2013 Olivier Leflaive, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champ Canet
A hint of oak spice and a width of engaging aroma. Ooh! This is nice; layers of beautiful flavour and a fine line of enlivening acidity. Fine finishing too – really super wine – Yum! I’m always ready for a top-up…
Rebuy – Yes
2013 Nathalie & Gilles Fevre, Chablis Preuses
This is wide and deeply fruited, ripely fruited – lots of sweetness and apricot – interesting but not obviously Chablis. In the mouth this is big, layered and sweet – everybody but me seems happy – it’s a long way from classic Chablis with lots of botrytis-fruit. It’s quite long, but I have to revert to the Puligny which, by comparison, is outstanding. I also thought this was outstanding when I tasted it at the domaine in January 2015, but like many, many 2013s it has developed quickly, and in a direction that’s not to my taste…
Rebuy – No
2012 Comte Liger-Belair, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Cras
The nose has an obvious fire-work style reduction – the bottle lasted about 1.5 hours but the reduction outlasted the wine – if I opened another, I would decant the wine. In the mouth this feels lovely, complex and finely textured – lots of fine flavour here but it remains framed with the same reduction from the nose. Decant!
Rebuy – Maybe
2014 Château des Bachelards, Saint-Amour
The nose starts all mineral and herbs – not what I expected – here is another wine that needs decanting, but bring out the aromas rather than chase away reduction. Time brings a simmering, deep and silkily-dark fruit and even occasional suggestions of flowers. Immediately more concentration, a little more plushness and silk of texture versus the Liger-Belair. An impression of layers of flavour – clearly we are drinking this WAY too early, yet it cushions and caresses the palate with, frankly, super fruit that has a faintly salted accent. Big, long-finishing, wine but brilliant! This will be ever-greater, the longer you wait…
Rebuy – Yes
Friday I had to rush back from Beaujolais because I had friends coming to stay for the weekend – amongst touristy vineyard viewing we managed to squeeze-in a Friday-dinner at Ma Cuisine and a Sunday-lunch at Auprès du Clocher. I think that all our expectations were met 😉
Saturday began with croissants, pain-au-chocolat and lots of coffee – perhaps more than first intended as it was raining! By 11am we anyway decided to brave the rain and attack the market to buy something for our dinner. Always one of the best omelettes at Bistro Carnot was followed by a tour through the vines of Pernand, Corton, Aloxe, Nuits, Vosne, Chambolle, Morey and Gevrey – including visiting Huguette for coffee in Gevrey! Then came the cooking and the bottles!
On Sunday there was sunshine! There was also (still) croissants, pain-au-chocolate and coffee, but but it was a little less ambitious pile of pastries as we knew that lunch awaited! Before lunch we took in the vineyards and views of Santenay, Chassagne, Puligny and Meursault. After lunch, at a reduced pace, Pommard and Beaune.
A shame to wave them goodbye in the afternoon!
The week (mainly) was in Beaujolais, visiting producers. Next week I’ll be back for the third week in a row, but with just one task – to taste through 250 bottles of 2014s. Call me a wimp, but I’m going to do it over 3 days…
First some pics from Wednesday:
Then some more pics from Thursday and Friday:
La Romanée today…
Simply a beautiful day today – almost 18°C, despite a cool start – and a cloudless sky too.
I took in a few sites around the Côtes today, before heading back to Bojolais tomorrow. I passed a couple of nice horses along the way, but really I was more interested by the seemingly ridiculous work on the hillside above the Clos des Perrières in Vougeot. You see, here on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, are planted a couple of small plots of vines, which because of the way that the maps were drawn, are (were!) theoretically classed as Musigny. One was particularly precarious with a 20 feet drop into the Clos des Perrières for anyone who stepped back without thinking. Now it looks like a major construction project – probably just to add a safety wall!
You know, life would have been far simpler if they had left the ‘cliff’ as it was!
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