EDIT: Published today (24th) – perhaps it’s the Carla effect 😉
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poulleau père 2010 volnay vv
My first Poulleau – the label is a little for your Grandmother, but she will surely enjoy the contents!
2010 Poulleau Père et Fils, Volnay Vieilles Vignes
Bright, medium, medium-plus colour. High tones, with a growing floral note – quite nice. This is quite fine; lovely acidity and tannin with a little drag but little grain – the fruit is red shaded and grows in intensity through the mid-palate – give it time, and there’s a clear strawberry note. Good finishing flavour with a well of acidity, and decent focus too – a good Volnay.
Rebuy – Yes
françois raveneau 2010 chablis valmur
There is a frisson of excitement when you see the yellow wax top – silly I know! This wine was cheaper (in a great restaurant) than I could buy it retail in Switzerland – clearly I had no choice…
2010 François Raveneau, Chablis Valmur
Medium lemon yellow colour. The nose pulls you in with fine minerals, a little lemon fruit, green herb and the impression of a waxy silkiness. In the mouth this is super-smooth, with a very fine, though not amazing, intensity. The flavour is long, majoring on mineral elements rather than fruit – as you would hope – and holds beautifully. The acidity, despite the wine’s intensity, is just a hint understated – though far from lacking. Just a super-competent wine, rather than the epiphany that prices suggest/promise…
Rebuy – Yes
meursault 2010 vv – buisson-charles
An exceedingly good match with the domestic goddess’s fish pie…
2010 Buisson-Charles, Meursault Vieilles Vignes
Medium yellow. The nose has a lovely depth of sweet peaches and fruit-loaf that pull your nose in deeper. If anything the nose makes you think this might be a little fat and sweet – but no – the balance is lovely: beautiful acidity counterbalances a wine with depth and richness yet minerality too. Lovely mouth-watering flavours in the finish. Benchmark!
Rebuy – Yes
diy vineyards – but only vin de table?
I’d seen the construction work since at least July 2012 – it could have been June – but what exactly was going on with those earth-movers up the Chemin des Argillières above the Clos l’Arlot in Nuits St.Georges?
This week I managed to quiz a few locals and an interesting, indeed amazing story was relayed – though let’s be clear, it’s just their ‘story’: This is a vineyard that has been ‘constructed’ – it simply wasn’t there last year – but this is construction on an industrial scale.
Apparently some old building(s?) at the foot of the ancient (1500-1700s or probably older(?)) stone quarry had been bought by a resident of Dijon – who came originally from Premeaux. With hundreds of tonnes of materials he has filled in the space and made a reasonable slope upto what was previously just a stone cliff-face. The basic platform that now waits for vines looks very stony – not much organic material – but has had a ‘faux historic’ entrance and steps constructed as an entrance-way. Only when you look at the southern side of the ‘platform’ do you realise what has actually been done here.
There are a couple of other matters too: This piece of land has no AOC, despite bordering the premier crus of Clos de l’Arlot and Les Argillières. The locals are also far from supportive of the ‘land’ getting an AOC – today even Bourgogne Rouge or Blanc is not allowed. One of the reasons why it might be hard to be awarded AOC could be that it’s not entirely clear where the ‘land-fill’ has come from! However, I suppose that they could ignore AOC completely and make a ‘vin de table’! There is just one more pertinent (I think) point: The buyer, and instigator of this project is apparently aged about 85 years old – so not likely to be drinking any of the wine that this platform may (or may not) ever produce! It is said that a son-in-law could eventually benefit…
oops – fallen off the end of the ‘platform’
results from the hospices de beaune sale…
Picture from the organisers.
The official statement from the organisers.
For what it is worth, I think the prices underline the expected quality of what was harvested, but more-so the quantity that was actually harvested, given that 2012’s lowest yields were seen in the Côte de Beaune. Whilst I personally felt Anthony Hanson’s pre-sale hyperbole about 2005 levels of quality too much, here is his post-sale assessment:
“Many records were broken at the 152nd Hospices de Beaune auction. Star cuvées among the red wines included (with average price per barrel and percentage increase compared with 2011): Clos de la Roche, Cuvée Georges Kritter €55,667 (without premium +94.2%) and Mazis-Chambertin, Cuvée Madeleine Collignon at €38,318 (without premium +57.7%). Thanks to a recent generous donation, a new grand cru from the Côte de Nuits was offered for the first time. This was Echézeaux, Cuvée Jean-Luc Bissey, and all six barrels sold for a magnificent €50,000 (hammer price) per barrel, raising €300,000 for the Hospices. The superb quality of the 2012 vintage wines, combined with the reduced quantity and the progression of demand for great burgundy in many countries, not just Asia, contributed to this astonishing, record result.”
philippe livera (tilleuls) 2010 fixin
2010 Philippe Livera (Domaine Tilleuls), Fixin
Quite deeply coloured. The nose is deep with dark cherry fruit and subtle oak spice. Lithe, growing in intensity with a fine acidity which is tempered with a ripely grained tannin. So a wine with intensity, rather than concentration of flavour – yet at it’s level, this is well-made, clean and tasty but with no lack of character. A very good buy.
Rebuy – Yes
was something happening in beaune this weekend?
bart 2010 marsannay champs salomon
2010 Bart, Marsannay Les Champs Salomon
Medium, medium-plus colour. The aromas deliver a big punch of sweet, toasty oak – the dark elements behind seem a little more cola-like than fruit. After 1 hour the toast has faded a little but not the sweetness or the cola, even the last drops in the glass are broad and indistinct. Nice balance, decent acidity and understated tannins. It is the flavours that are largely unsatisfying – reflecting the nose they are sweet and broad with almost something tasty and interestingly focused in the mouth-watering mid-palate – almost. No obvious faults here but it’s not really to my taste – I think you guessed that! This is not an expensive bottle – but no excuses – I expect it will improve over the next 2-3 years but the style will surely still shout louder that the place.
Rebuy – No
As a post-script, I vacuvinned this and left it in the fridge for 3 days while in Beaune. On my return – no oxidation but the taste of the wine was really too oak-cream infected. I really didn’t like it, but I think you guessed that too…