Everyone’s talking about it:
Mildew pressure is high this year, especially in Burgundy. Starting in bordeaux. Rhone still ok.
All of us in bio need to keep faith !!!— Frederic Engerer (@7Vignes) June 26, 2012
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a few days in the côtes: sun, rain, mildew, coccinelle and damn volkswagens
I’m typing this during my last few hours in Beaune, whilst in the background the traditional lament of the ‘pipes of pan do Abba’ waft from that Saturday market. I’ve had a nice couple of days tasting at some new addresses, and also some car-related issues while I’ve been here. I’ll give you a laugh about the car later…
But, to the vines, and what an incredibly challenging year!
What began as an early starting, and very dry year, has morphed into a very wet one – so far – and the potential for an August harvest has long-since evaporated – actually a little breeze and evaporation would figure in most vignerons’ dreams. Unfortunately a lot of the wet weather arrived during flowering so things are far from uniform. Coulure / millerandange are the obvious results of this, but mildew is rearing its ugly head too.
Anecdotally, no-one has seen so much mildew at this time of year since at least 1993, possibly longer. People are tirelessly spraying then seeing their treatments washed away again (10mm of rain is the rough rule of thumb – after which you assume that your previous efforts have been wasted) and so once more having to treat. For those bio/organic practitioners, most have already made about 10 treatments in 2012 – the majority of them only did 7 or 8 treatments in the whole of 2011! Herein lies another issue – for some types of organic/bio certification, the amount (of active content) you may spray has a maximum over a 3 year period above which you will lose your certification – some are already using their allocations for 2013!
The valley of Savigny is a traditional conduit for wet weather from the west; impacting Pernand, Aloxe and Ladoix too. There are parcels here that are really suffering. One (nameless!) vigneron told me
“We physically cannot do more in terms of spraying. Part of me almost wishes that we could get a dose of hail so we can finally wash our hands of it. Then we can simply blame the hail for having no harvest!”
Interestingly, for those that say Corton shouldn’t be a grand cru, the better exposed vines here are very clean with small millerandes that still have the potential for very high quality – if the mildew remains at bay…
Of-course, all the parcels are different – low lying ones are clearly impacted the most, as noted before, in particular it is the organic/bio producers that have the biggest problems. I spoke to another vigneron this morning (profiled in this site) and asked if he’d made his 10th treatment yet – he smiled and said “No, but then I’m not bio – it’s only five for me so far and I have a little mildew but far and away less than many of my neighbours.”
Clearly in some parts of the Côtes, it will need a ‘vigneron’s vintage’ for there to be anything to harvest at all…
Coccinelle. I reported the abundance of these pretty creatures at the last harvest, and, in private, was roundly criticised by some wine-makers for ‘unprofessional scare-mongering’ – that was my interpretation anyway! For the last months I’ve been tasting the wines, hyper sensitively looking for pyrazines and largely aiming to convince myself that there was nothing there. I have to say at some excellent addresses this week I have encountered, with 100% certainty, wines that are dead-ringers for the tainted 2004s. It hurts me to say it, but now it is clear to me that all the 2011 reds I buy, will only be the result of tasting post bottling…
Damn Volkswagens. Now something to make you laugh.
I hired a car for this trip – my own was indisposed. A nice looking Passat Diesel with a big rear compartment for my purchases! At one domain in Volnay I loaded the car and stood around chatting with the vigneron. I closed the door of the luggage compartment but realised the key was in there with the wine. “No-problem, I’ll retrieve it” was my thought – but the car was completely locked… How can any car, where doors have been opened for loading, simply choose to lock itself?
I called ‘Europcar emergency’ but of-course it was 6pm and no-one would be with me before morning! Fortunately a friend collected me and deposited me in Beaune. Next day at 9:00 a.m. the ‘recovery service’ arrived. After confirmatory telephone calls with VW/Audi it was clear – they could do nothing, the only solution was to smash the window and retrieve the key. Unbelievable on so many levels – I won’t be buying a VW Passat!
Finally, just to show that it’s not always raining!
louis fournier 1985 morey
After yesterday’s Morey St.Denis from Vasseur I was perhaps feeling a little over-confident(?) when I decided to pull out a 1986 villages Morey from another ‘no-name’ négoce…
1986 Louis Fournier, Morey St.Denis
Deep colour, certainly with some browning. On day one this sweet nose smelled of brown sugar and a little meat, day 2 there was more meat but nothing unpleasant – not bad! Like all the 86s I’ve tried, this seems to be a relatively low acid vintage – this is full round and sweet, and I have to say more interesting than many of the grand crus I’ve tasted from the vintage – they all seemed rather ‘vague’. There is just a faint bitter note towards the end of the mid-palate, probably some remnant of the decaying, dissolving tannins, but this was very drinkable stuff in a kind of hearty, plump way – but was certainly better on day one.
Rebuy – Maybe
1993 georges vasseur morey 1er les monts luisants
This wine turned out to be a bit of an auction ‘catch’. Approaching it’s twentieth birthday and a bit of a rarity for showing the actual Morey vineyard name that far back. Always a danger such ‘no-name’ négoce bottles, though the name ‘Morey’ on the label is often something of a counterbalance! In this case the label is today a sub-brand of Ligeret (Nuits) – but I don’t recall ever seeing their (Ligeret’s) wines…
1993 Georges Vasseur, Morey St.Denis 1er Les Monts Luisants
Relatively deep colour. The nose has herbs, dark fruit and a very faint espresso. Supple, lithe and with a lovely intensity that grows in the mid-palate and becomes more and more mouth-watering. The herby, slightly spicy fruit has a masculine demeanour but fine acidity means it is delivered without overt weight, yet there remains premier cru weight and intensity. This is lovely stuff for a ‘no-name’ négoce label, I’d jump at the chance to buy more. This bottle was drinking beautifully in a, still, sub-mature way…
Rebuy – Yes
michel lafarge 1996 beaune-grèves
I moved or the wine moved but in 10 short minutes we came together…
1996 Lafarge, Beaune 1er Les Grèves
This starts with a nice semi-mature nose – not much leaf but a spicy depth – about 20 minutes is needed to deliver a seriously impressive kernel of pure red fruit. In the mouth this starts a little spiky – or maybe it’s my palate – but after 10 minutes the acidity has a good balance and the overall demeanour is much, much smoother and shows a textured depth of flavour. Good vintage acidity, of-course, gives an extra mouth-watering push in the finish. Very nice wine…
Rebuy – Yes
more rudy k…
The best commentary on the Rudy K saga yet, fashioned by somebody who was there as a ‘player’.
now there’s a thing – a new owner in montrachet…
French businessman François Pinault just bought 0,417 hectares of Montrachet for 1 million € via @BourgogneLive
— Caroline PARENT GROS (@cparentgros) June 15, 2012
So, following on from yesterday’s news stories, now we know how Etienne de Montille can afford to buy the Château du Puligny-Montrachet 😉 But as far as I know the Château de Puligny-Montrachet actually held 0.0428ha – that only produces a little over 200 bottles per year! – so perhaps Caroline’s decimal point slipped:
http://chateaudepuligny.com/fiche_technique.php?id=15&type=1
So that would make the whole vineyard worth €186.7 million….!
[EDIT] There you go:
Uh oh, expensive typo. It is 1million € for 0,0417 hectares of Montrachet that François Pinault bought from Chateau de Puligny.
— Caroline PARENT GROS (@cparentgros) June 15, 2012
fraud – a statement from the BIVB
Whilst it doesn’t say that much in itself, I find it highly encouraging that they are so open about this:
Investigation at Labouré Roi:
Burgundy wine industry joins proceedings as civil party
Beaune, le 15 juin 2012Following the announcement on Wednesday, 13th June of an investigation being carried out jointly by the fraud office and the police into a suspected case of fraudulent activity within the firm Labouré Roi, the Burgundy wine industry has decided to join proceedings as a civil party in order to be fully informed of the details of the case.
The Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB), whose primary role is to promote and enhance the image of its wines, recognises the seriousness of the accusations made being brought against this company.
It is on behalf of all the men and women who devote themselves to improving the quality of their wines every day and to making every bottle special that the BIVB intends to react in a determined fashion. It is therefore joining proceedings as a civil party in order to assess the allegations levelled against this firm and, consequently, the harm suffered by the industry.
Burgundy wines are renowned across the world for their prestigious appellations and their intangible and profound connection with the terroir. “More than half of Burgundy wines are exported to some 150 countries. This is why any suspicion of dishonest practice that might tarnish the reputation of these wines cannot be tolerated”, explains Michel Baldassini, Deputy Chairman of the BIVB.
Once the case has been analysed, the industry will of course take all necessary measures to prevent this type of situation from ever happening again.
“This affair must not be allowed to affect the vast majority of Burgundy producers and wine merchants who scrupulously comply with Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée principles”, concludes Pierre-Henry Gagey, Chairman of the BIVB.
Key figures about Burgundy wines:
3% of the French vineyard (28,000 ha)
100 Appellations d’Origine Contrôlées (or 22 % of French AOCs)
200 million bottles sold, 50% of which are sold in France
3 800 wine-growing estates
250 wine merchants
23 cooperative cellars
various…
- So plenty of hot air is being generated by the fraud story broken by Le Bien Public yesterday, but frankly there seems only hot air; the few known ‘facts’ seem to be an idea of the quantity of fraudulent bottles (one assumes lower appellation wine being given a higher appellation label rather than cutting with vin d’Algerie as was once popular) and that four directors of Labouré-Roi have been arrested. I guess more ‘facts’ might prejudice any trial, but let’s see if anything useful leaches out…
- Château du Puligny-Montrachet has been bought by the de Montille family of Volnay. The only surprise here is that the official announcement of this has taken so long – there was plenty of ‘chatter’ already at the end of last year.
« Ces deux exploitations avaient déjà développées des synergies », explique Etienne de Montille. Environ 5 hectares seront revendus. Au final ces deux domaines couvriront 35 hectares, dont 20 en Premiers et Grands Crus. Des vignes cultivées et certifiées en agriculture biologique.
Source: The BIVB - The pretty domaine Le Clos du Moulin aux Moines (Auxey-Duresses) has also bought up some new vine in Pernand, a 1.42 hectare plot of chardonnay in the village lieu-dits of Les Champs and Combottes.
- Last month the cooperative cellars of the Côte Chalonnaise, Mâconnais and Beaujolais unveiled their Coteaux Bourguignons label, ‘a new appellation which links Burgundy and Beaujolais’. The Fédération des Caves Coopératives Bourgogne-Jura (FCCBJ) brings together the cooperative cellars of Côte d’Or, Saône-et-Loire, Yonne and the even fruit industry of the Jura – so maybe some strawberry wine then?. Although the label will initially only be seen on red wines, the AOC Coteaux Bourguignons label could also be used for white and rosé wines in the future.
Enough news for now 😉