Above, some (light!) preparation for Saturday’s half-marathon from Nuits St.Georges. In front is Romanée St.Vivant. The wall on the left is that of Romanée-Conti…
I didn’t feel the need to prove myself in this one, having been well beaten by Boris Champy, and pipped by Frederic Barnier in the last one – it’s better for me to concentrate on the training 😉
2013 des Chezeaux, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Cazetiers
Versus the recent 13 Lavaux of this domaine, this has more modest, medium, medium-plus colour. The nose starts rather undemonstrative and with a faintly toasted reduction. This cleans-up its act in the glass, becoming perfectly clean with a deep well of faint fruit but the top notes are very tight. After the nose, this is such a surprise in the mouth; super-open with ebullient, beautiful dark fruit – almost a blueberry and cherry blend – non-standard for sure, but utterly delicious. Clean, refreshing lines, you will have to dig hard to find the tannin. Silky, super-tasty wine, and roll it around over your palate and you will be treated to a fine finish – otherwise this an up-front, delicious wine that will comfort, rather than challenge you – today! Really super-yum.
Rebuy – Yes
2012 Albert Boillot, Volnay Les Petits Poisots
Medium, medium-plus colour. A lovely, fresh, silky, herbed but fine red-fruited nose – this is very attractive. Fresh and wide across the palate. Good complexity of dark-red fruit, very faintly accented with spice. Like the nose, there’s a little herb in the mid-palate, almost a suggestion of bitterness – but bitter-chocolate style, not a negative. Fresh and nicely finishing. Simply a tasty wine.
Rebuy – Yes
Today’s press release from the Château de Pommard.
Under their new ownership, they are very much moving forward with a business-centric approach:
Château de Pommard builds its international sales network
Hires Ann Feely as Chief Commercial Officer
Pommard, France 14th March 2016
Château de Pommard is expanding its sales and marketing organization and create an international sales network. Previously, all wines were sold directly from the Château by a dedicated sales team in Pommard. To create the global go-to-market strategy, establish partnerships with agents and importers in key markets and to manage the global sales and marketing team, the Château has hired Ann Feely as Chief Commercial Officer. ”Ann, our Cellar Master Emmanuel Sala and I want to share our unique terroir with the world by creating a global network of partnerships.” said Michael Baum, proprietaire.
Ann Feely has over 20-years of international wine industry experience. Previously she was Vice President of Marketing and Brand Management for the Wilson Daniels Terroir Collection and Private Client Group, and responsible for the import portfolio including the Burgundy portfolio, featuring Domaine de La Romanée Conti and Domaine Leflaive. Ann recently founded her own international wine sales and marketing consultancy based in the San Francisco Bay Area, “By joining our team, Ann combines the experience and knowledge which will allow us to share the story of Clos de Château de Pommard, the largest Monopole in Burgundy. The Clos contains two plots, ‘Simone’ and ‘Chantrerie’, with one of the highest levels of clay density in Burgundy. Similar levels have been found only in two grand crus: Richebourg and Musigny,” said Emmanuel Sala, Cellar Master at the Château for the last nine years.
Before joining Wilson Daniels, Ann was Vice President of Wine Sourcing and Sales at Vinfolio, an on-line fine wine retailer. Prior her position at Vinfolio, she was the General Manager of Broadbent Selections Inc., a boutique wine import agency in San Francisco. Other previous positions include tenures as Export Manager for the UK and Ireland for Constellation Wines US and International Sales Manager for St Supéry Vineyards & Winery in the Napa Valley. Before joining the wine industry, Ann was Director of International Trade Services for a law firm in Washington, DC and was the first non-lawyer to be elected partner in a firm of 300 attorneys.
Ann holds a Wine MBA from KEDGE Business School in Bordeaux, France, where she now lectures on luxury wine marketing in the US. In addition to teaching, she enjoys learning and has previously taken on the challenge of becoming a Master of Wine while also participating in the US Court of Master Sommeliers study program at the Advanced level. Ann also holds a Masters degree in International Transactions from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Political Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
“I am honored to be a part of a collaborative effort with Michael and Emmanuel to bring Château de Pommard the international recognition it deserves. As the owner, Michael brings his vision combined with the soul of an entrepreneur, while as the winemaker, Emmanuel shares his unique sensibility and true passion for the wines crafted from this distinct terroir. The three of us are anxious to share what up until now has been a secret reserved only for visitors who have traveled to the Château. Soon we will share this very special story in the glass with the rest of the world,” said Ann.
Château de Pommard dates back 300 years thanks to one of Pommard’s oldest families, the Micault family. Advisor to King Louis XV, Vivant Micault undertook to construct Château de Pommard in true Regency style. In the 18th century the Marey family, one of the greatest families of Nuit Saint-Georges were the stewards of the Clos and forged a strong reputation for the wines of Château de Pommard. Both the Château Micault and the Château Marey Monge are must see place inside of the 20 hectare clos, the largest of a single owner in all of Burgundy. Château de Pommard is today owned by the Carabello-Baum family, the fifth family since 1726 to operate the domain, a truly exceptional destination in Burgundy.
A lovely lunch at the Rotisserie de Chambertin at the end of last week – as, to-date, always.
Interestingly we were introduced to the following wine (right), described on their ‘open wines’ blackboard list as 2002 Gevrey 1er Les Corbeaux, by Trapet – it was a €14 glass – but that seemed reasonable for a well-cellared wine of some age. What arrived was a cellar-marked bottle, wearing the label of the Rotisserie, and made by Rossignol-Trapet, rather than Trapet – but details! Much more interesting was the story that actually these vines belonged to the Rotisserie and that Rossignol-Trapet were the metayeurs.
I was driving so didn’t drink, but it smelled fine, and my lunch partner said it tasted good. I should have asked if the vines remained with the Rotisserie – after all it opened under new management less than two years ago. But that gives me the excuse to go back again and ask 😉
And Saturday? That was a lovely day! First, breakfast in Hotel Le Montrachet. The day was 8-9°C with a chilly wind, but fine for our walk in Vougeot. We finished with a coffee (certainly expensive coffees!) in The Château de Gilly, and somewhat bizarre service too: Two coffees were ordered, and then the question was ‘do you have anything sweet?’ ‘I will check with the kitchen’ was the reasonable answer. 10-15 minutes later, the coffees arrived – but we were very comfortable, so not worth complaining. I asked the server (not the same person) if they had anything sweet in the kitchen (again) and the confusing answer was that something should come. Less confusing when two plates of gateaux arrived 5 minutes later. Of-course the luke-warm coffee was already finished and these €10 each plates hadn’t actually been ordered by us, only delivered – I would have declined if they had been offered as the only selection, rather taking an apple/apricot/plum pie or similar. But they were here and we’d waited long enough – but bizarre! €32 for 2 coffees and two un-ordered slices of gateaux…
Vougeot:
The last rays of sun over Romanée-Conti towards the Clos de Vougeot.
Never more than 4°C, plus a chilly wind, but lovely views across the Côte de Nuits yesterday…
Okay, perhaps not all the seasons – the amount of sun was a little more limited – but there was a little in Beaune today!
It seems bizarre that we have had 10-12°C for most of the winter, and then in the last days, flurries of snow – only a flurry this morning in Beaune and nothing remains. In the Côte de Nuits it was a little more than a flurry and all was white!
This time last year, it was more like 20°C…
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