a viennese weekend…

By billn on October 05, 2015 #degustation#events#picture gallery

All quiet here over the weekend, but that was because I had to see some horses, some blue sky and a brilliant range of 1985 (mainly) grand crus.
Cheers! 😉
 

emmental pinot?

By billn on October 01, 2015 #travel pics

Just 20km from my door, what an idyllic place to make a few bottles of wine – eh?
 


 
Too much contrast for you to see it, but from the top of this vineyard you could see the snow-covered peaks of the Eiger, M̦nch and Jungfrau Рgorgeoous!

Is there a future for this, or other forum(s)?

By billn on October 01, 2015 #site updates#the market#warning - opinion!

WARNING – for me, at least, a long-ish post. And because many people will not follow this discussion if it stays on the Burgundy Report forum, I’m also posting it in my Diary 😉

I guess, as background, some of my experience may be mirrored by others, but…

I stopped with the forum of erobertparker when the junta closed it down – it was mainly closed due to critique, and much of it both unrepeatable and unnecessary, despite the general undertow of brown-nosing – but it was the best ‘meeting place’ I’ve ever known on the web. I paid a small subscription to go back and delete as many of my previous posts as I could (my freely given content) but much had already been archived – one could say stolen…

I started this forum by popular – well at least a dozen people(!) – demand, people who needed a new place ‘to go’. It took some work to set up, and then much more work to weed out and eventually stop the spam. But it seems, to say the very least now, to be in a persistent vegetative state…

I had a dalliance with wineberserkers, but often the tenor of discussion was (is) unpleasant – never to me – but plenty of shilling and self-importance was carried over from erp. I only go there today if somebody specifically points me to a link, or a bunch of people come to Burgundy Report because of a discussion there.

What I have noticed is that a couple of Burgundy-related groups (two, only because the moderators of the first had a fall-out!) on Facebook now have thousands of members and whilst as always it’s a small core of posters, wines and even sometimes tasting-notes, abound. There’s definitely a core of ‘look at me with my Leroy’ posters, who have not that much to say, but I like that it’s a different demographic – many more from China/HK/Singapore et-cetera than the ‘traditional’ fora. Plus, Facebook seems to have an ever finer focus – first, Burgundy Geeks group, then come individual village groups like Vosne-Romanée – I expect it might take longer for somebody to set up a group devoted to Monthèlie!

So, is Facebook the forum for the next years? In the current circumstances, I don’t see much possibility of this particular forum surviving 2016.

But that’s up to you of-course 😉

Did somebody say free stuff?

By billn on October 01, 2015 #site updates

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Those of you with good memories will of-course remember my promise to make the older subscription Burgundy Reports free to view.

Burgundy is about sharing, so I feel it important that things don’t remain hidden. Yet the people who support this site deserve that their inside line on the new vintages, new wines and new producers remains theirs for long enough that they can derive the benefits from that info.

So, all of the Burgundy Reports that have been published for more than 18 months (currently January & February 2014) are now free to view. It’s automatic, so I won’t send you an email alert every month 😉

You will find them at the bottom of this page.

Looking Forward…

The 11 reports per year publishing schedule of Burgundy Report seems to be bedding in and you can already look forward to the following, each published at the end of the month that follows:

  • September – The 2015 growing season and all about those grapes…
  • October – Vintage 2014 Whites – the Domaines
  • November – Vintage 2014 Reds – the Domaines
  • December – Vintage 2014 – the Grands Maisons
  • January – Vintage 2014 – Chablis
  • February to July – Reportage, new domaines, vineyard profiles et-cetera

For those of you with such a focused interest, individual reports can be purchased, starting with the October 2015 Burgundy Report.
Cheers!

some weekend stuff….

By billn on September 28, 2015 #degustation

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2012 Alex Gambal, Meursault Clos du Cromin
This wine has always had ample width and weight – almost old-style Meursault from both the aromas and impression across the tongue – but there’s really plenty of energy to keep pace. That said, it’s a bottle that I prefer to drink a glass of, before moving onto a red – it stays open 3 days, and it’s just as good at the end as the start. Good wine.
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Domaine Ramonet, Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Oh how pleased I am! I bought both the 2009 and 2010 on release. The 09 was lovely but the 10 was hard and a bit acidic. about 3 years down the line and this has really settled into it’s stride. The aromas are precise, fresh and inviting, and in the mouth it’s still fresh but now mouth-wateringly-so and very tasty too. Indeed Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

wine of the year – with a bullet – so far…

By billn on September 27, 2015 #annual laurels#degustation

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No, not the one on the right – very good as it was – the one on the left. It was a Paulée wine. Only two bottles remained in the cellar; this one with a little air-space and a second one which had a perfect fill – presumably from re-corking. You know when everybody puts their nose in their glass and almost en ensemble exhorts – ouf! – that was this wine. We never felt the need to open the second bottle, there was, however, also the 2005 previously opened, and there was a clear family resemblance…

ponsot’s 2005…

By billn on September 27, 2015 #degustation

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Okay, I realise that was just a bit clickbaity, but I really did open one – if only the Bourgogne Rouge – fortunately it was drinking very well indeed 😉

Since Allen Meadows scored this domaine’s 2005s, they basically departed the world’s list of ‘available’ wines – at least for mere mortal pricing. My recent cellar move was allowed me discover lots of interesting bottles, so here was the tester.

2005 Ponsot, Bourgogne Cuvée du Pinson
According to the label there were just 1704 bottles of this domaine wine produced, (plus magnum+jeroboams? – probably not…) and it reached a mere 12.6% alcohol – according to the label anyway. The temperature ‘spot’ on my label remains pristine and white – though don’t take that as a guarantee of anything in particular as the earlier implementations are notoriously unreliable.
A good, not too young colour that you can easily see through – no opaque monster. Hmm – nice – the nose is clearly ripe but also freshly direct like fresh cranberry juice. In the mouth too, this is certainly not in the top league of powerful, extracted 2005 bourgognes, rather it is a wine of nice intensity, really excellent balance and an uncommonly silky texture. Very yum drinking now, and really no rush at all to consume. Excellent Bourgogne if not a ‘special’ wine in the context of the vintage!
Rebuy – Yes (if ever seen)

not half good – 1999 mugnier chambolle

By billn on September 25, 2015 #degustation

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I’m really at a loss with these half bottles – luckily I have less and less of them…

Way-back-when, when the 1999s were released I was fortunate enough to buy Mugnier’s Musigny, Amoureuses and villages Chambolle. I didn’t have much of the villages, but it tasted great, so I jumped in and bought a dozen halves too – just as well, I thought, as those 75cls are long-gone.

I drank an early Musigny at it was brilliant (note that I’m very happy to have drunk that young bottle, despite Frederic deciding it’s not up to us when to drink them). I’ve had a couple of Amoureuses too – the last 2 years ago – and, likewise, it was brilliant – perhaps even more brilliant, certainly aromatically. But! I’ve ‘tested’ these villages halves every 2-3 years, and frankly they have never been that great, i.e. consistently not great – I think I now have 3 or 4 left. This week’s bottle seems to offer a modest but not classically Chambolle aroma, but the finishing flavours are frankly bitter and not that much fun. I don’t, however, see any obvious faults, just a not very tasty, 15 year-old villages, from a renowned producer. I questioned my timing in previous years, but at some stage that becomes a false crutch.

Good storage, good looking condition, consistently poor results versus the excellent ‘other’ Mugnier 99s from the same source in my cellar.

I remain bemused …

changing the guard at clos de tart…

By billn on September 24, 2015 #producer update

It’s en Français but here is a great post by Jacques Perrin, covering the recent Clos de Tart tastings, celebrating the vintages and retirement of Sylvain Pitiot as winemaker. There will another, similar, tasting at his UK importers in October, but unfortunately I’m fully booked!

Look out for the floral descriptor ‘gentiane’ (gentian) in the notes – that’s French-taster-speak for pyrazine 😉 Anyway, a great map of the Clos is included – it’s not attributed, but I assume it was directly the handiwork of Sylvain…

Here.

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