Véraison has begun! pic.twitter.com/qDWFKpKdjS
— Jeremy Seysses (@JeremySeysses) July 21, 2014
Début de #véraison dans les #NuitsstGeorges, pourquoi ce pied la et pas les autres? Peut être du pinot gris pic.twitter.com/9MtLikSBvh
— Gregory Patriat (@GregoryPatriat) July 21, 2014
Interesting on the Clos de Vougeot…
I simply love this line, arcade, procession, avenue of trees on the Quai Dumorey in Nuits St.Georges. I guess I’m lucky I don’t have such ‘cherry-picker’ equipment at home – otherwise I’d spend my life pruning and then lying back, thinking I’d missed a bit:
Just to show that even the most hideously expensive domaines don’t always get the quantity of spray just right – no-matter how green, bio, biodynamic, Demeter they may be! Madame B-L’s Richebourg:
Also, just to show that not everyone is suffering with yields! – Again in Richebourg:
Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2012, Jean Claude Boisset has been awarded IWC Champion Red Wine #IWC2014
— Int'l Wine Challenge (@WineChallenge) July 16, 2014
See, I told you months ago that it was a brilliant wine, now didn’t I 😉
I visited Amélie Berthaut in Fixin today and tasted her very lovely 2013s. I mentioned that I’d some 92s from the domaine that I bought at auction and they tasted rather good. At the end of our tasting she disappeared into the cellar and came back with a tissue-wrapped bottle – “You did say 1982 didn’t you?” she inquired. “Oh well, I’ve got this now!” Wax topped, labelled and with only about 1cm of level-loss, this most perfect of provenance wines looked as good as any 30+ year-old wine could. We had a quick taste and Amélie wasn’t impressed – I said it would almost certainly improve with air, so she said “Take it with you and let me know…” Well, it seemed rude not to!
1982 Vincent et Denis Berthaut, Fixin
Opened ~18h15 – almost no colour on pouring, but it looks fine in the glass. The nose starts a little cheesy but it’s rounder and riper in the mouth than I expected. Driven back to the apartment and put in the fridge at about 19h15 without the cork. Removed at 22h00 and poured at 22h30: The wine’s still cold but the cheesiness of earlier is gone, to be replaced by slightly blurred red fruit and something more ‘brown!’ It’s not super-inviting, but still, no Epoisses! In the mouth it’s a lovely bright attack but the acidity has a slightly balsamic/metallic impression/flavour. Take a chance and swallow and there’s good intensity to the slightly sweet finish. Wait one more hour with the wine in the glass and the nose is a little bit cleaner and has more depth – the brown note is now almost brown sugar. In the mouth the acidity still has a sharp-ish edge but is clearly a little more drinkable – twist my arm, and I might even say tasty! This is a bottle that’s ‘hanging on,’ one that was almost certainly better 10 years ago, maybe 15 – but the next bottle may be gorgeous, who knows…
Rebuy – No Chance!
I thought it was about time that I added my wines of the year – so far – so see the updated ‘A-List’ to the right of this page. I’ve noted that 93s are starting to become not just potentially brilliant, but downright brilliant, the 96s are becoming rather rewarding too. My enjoyment of 95s remains variable. Oh, and many of those critically slighted vintages (where was Pierre Antoine Rovani two weeks ago) offer supreme pleasure right now – in the right hands of-course! See exhibits 1993, 1998 and 2000…
Of-course there was no more space in the ‘widget-thing’ on right-hand side of this page, so the A-List of 2006 is gone to make space for 2014 – oh well – and what was once obviously the year ‘tab’ has shrunk to a hard-to-understand single digit. Oh well, again! Normally I don’t include ‘impossible to obtain’ wines in this list, but some are there to amplify the vintage point made above.
Three of the wines on this list are from the hailed-on, rained-on, dinner of the Elegance de Volnay, 2 weeks ago. I’d brought with me 93 Lafon Volnay Santenots de Milieu, only to later find that Dominique Lafon was sitting at my table – oops! – What happens if it’s not nice or corked, or, or… I briefly discussed with my invitee that I decided to serve it blind – just in-case it was rubbish! I found a (clean!) sock and poured! When I returned to the table (after touring the other tables with my quickly emptying bottle) Dominique shot me a wicked smile and said “I find it a bit simple!” Of-course my invitee had told him! I needn’t have worried, because we also ended up with 98 from bottle and magnum, the 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007 of this wine passing our table – of-course, amongst many others. The 98 ‘Milieu’ was brilliant but I still had a slight preference for my 93 – until the 98 in magnum arrived – this was the best – a wine that, on the night, was only bettered (maybe) by the 2000 Roumier Bonnes-Mores – a wine of sleek muscle and brilliant dynamism – bottled brilliance! I also cannot go without mentioning our starting wine – the 2009 Meursault Clos de la Barre (mag), poured by Dominique himself. My tour of 2009 whites from barrel had placed this domaine in #1 spot. This wine was everything that I can remember – perfection…
OOPS! Sorry, I forgot. We’re not supposed to like 2009 whites ether, are we(?)!!!
Despite the weather, the wines engendered so many smiles and so much cameraderie…
Back in old Beaune town – it seems like ages I was away – hmm – 8 days!
The road to Beaune was shared yesterday evening with the service vehicles of the Tour de France – at least as far as Besançon. They were all much faster than me – even with a dozen bicycles on their roofs – I suppose somebody has to observe the speed limits 😉
Here in the Côte d’Or the first half of July has been wetter and cooler, virtually since the big storm of the 28th, but this morning we’re already in the mid 20°s at 09h00 and the forecast is for 30°+ by Thursday. It’s a beautiful blue sky too.
On this post-Bastille Day I think I’ll ease myself in with a coffee on the place Carnot and then formulate my plan of whom to annoy!
Why you shd be v v circumspect when buying Volnay 2013 http://t.co/PhnXMyu19R
— Jancis Robinson (@JancisRobinson) July 11, 2014
One of the best articles I’ve read in a while, on Jancis’s site, written by Mark Haisma. I really should try to visit Mark!
As you will note from the tweet of Jancis above, she’s worried about 2013 Volnays and urging caution. This is only a small part of the article, but to my mind, this article is the perfect example of why you won’t have a problem with 2013 Volnay if you buy from respected names. My reasoning?
Now if you buy from a négoce that you don’t know, then of-course, caveat emptor…
I often have difficulty with young wines from Bart – too much CO2 or too much toasty oak. Here’s a wine that is slowly coming round to my palate – but it still needs a couple of years I think.
2008 Domaine Bart, Chambolle-Musigny Les Veroilles
A little more than medium colour. There’s still a little rubbery oak here – not very much Chambolle aroma – except for the last drops in the glass, which show a lovely acid-redcurrant note. After two hours it gives a slightly more toffeed expression. The texture is quite nice and the flavours play across the tongue in a very nice way – understated freshness for the vintage plus a faint oak flavour in the finish. Where this wine shows real interest is in its concentrated mid-palate fruit flavour. Nothing much of Chambolle to see yet, but maybe in a couple more years…
Rebuy – Maybe
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