Fancy 100 bottles of Grand Cru from the Saint Vincent raffle?
Well, for €2, you are in with a chance of at least one! Head along to the official ‘Saint‑Vincent Tournante’ website and the required page here*.
*You will have to register on the site to gain access to their ’boutique!’
A north and south Burgundy hommage this weekend.
2019 Gautheron, Chablis Emeraude
The house wine of 2021 – and this might actually be the last of these 2 six-packs. Delicious wine as for many other tasting notes.
Rebuy – Yes
2018 Alain Geoffroy, Chablis 1er Beauroy
Directly this is a wine that’s showing its silky minerality more in both the aromas and flavours. A little less energy and certainly not the ‘fleshiness’ of the last wine – but more taut and classic. Delicious and always a bargain!
Rebuy – Yes
2021 M&C Lapierre, Le Beaujolais
I obviously had a sub-optimal tasting day when at the domaine a couple of weeks ago, when I decided to buy a 6-pack of this. Today, despite great texture and delicious fruit, there’s a pyrazine note that pervades much. I can still drink it – and even enjoyed that last glasses on days 2 and 3 – but I wouldn’t normally buy with this herbacity.
Rebuy – No
2019 Château Bellevue, Morgon Côte du Py
A little tighter and less effervescent than last year, but what a great wine still! A certain direct style – structural but not hard – as any great Morgon. A great wine for the price
Rebuy – Yes
DOMAINE DROUHIN-LAROZE 2020 – En Primeur
In brackets are the prices of the 2019s, 2018s, 2017s and 2016s, from the same offers in previous years, from the same merchant. — means not offered…
Gevrey-Chambertin En Champs 2020 75cl — (59.00, 55.00, 49.50, 49.50) Swiss Francs
Chambolle-Musigny 2020 75cl — (68.00, —)
Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaut-St-Jacques 1er Cru 2020 75cl 89.00* (—, 69.50, 69.00, 65.00)
GRAND CRUS
Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru 2020 75cl 149.00 (139.00, 135.00, 125.00, 119.00)
Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2020 75cl 159.00 (—, 139.00, 129.00, 125.00)
Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2020 75cl 215.00 (179.00, 168.00, 149.00, 145.00)
Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2020 150cl — (363.00, —)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 2020 75cl 225.00 (205.00, 188.00, 165.00, 158.00)
Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 2020 150cl — (415.00, —)
Musigny Grand Cru 2020 75cl 698.00 (650.00, —)
*There is 7.7% Tax to add in Switzerland, but then these are delivered prices
A few days at home, this week and the start of next, will allow the site ‘plumbing’ to be completed and, of course, will allow me to start tackling the mountain of Beaujolais visit reports – 67 done with more visits (15-or-so) to do in March due to cancellations, etcetera – there are still plenty of ‘postives‘ out there!
But here’s a few images from last week:
Monday saw me cancelling (re-arranging!) a couple of afternoon visits in Beaujolais and the reason? – Olivier Lamy made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse:
“Bill, In Burgundy, according to writings from the Middle Ages until the appearance of phylloxera (19th century), vines were cultivated at high density, i.e. around 20,000 to 30,000 vines per hectare. This high density was the fruit of the observations and experiences of our ancestors who had noticed a beneficial competition for the root system, the quality of the grapes and the wine.
In 2001, we planted a few rows of vines with higher planting density.
This cuvée comes from a small vineyard planted at high density in the Derrière Chez Edouard climate in Saint Aubin.
On Monday, February 21 at 2:30 p.m., I invite you to taste 13 vintages of Saint Aubin 1er Cru Derrière Chez Edouard (2006 to 2018) by comparing classic cuvées with high density.
Please confirm your attendance.”
So I did. And, of-course, Olivier tends to over-deliver – so he included the 2019 vintage wines too!
My next report (February’s) will be more than 70 domaines’ Beaujolais 2020s. So rather than include this tasting as an afterthought/addendum, I thought I’d include it for everyone here.
There’s a Derrière Chez Edouard-ness to the wines, regardless of the vintage or particular cuvée – but more obviously from the flavour and structure perspective. As you can see from my notes – the HD has (almost) universally a more airy and open aromatic character – except in the more recent vintages where the gap between the cuvées has narrowed as the classic cuvée takes on more of the aromatic character of the HD. This is, of course, complicated by the first vintages of the HD being relatively young vines – and likewise the more recent vintages of the classic cuvée containing the young-vine produce of the more recent HD plantings – and let’s not forget, the classic cuvée is made from roughly double the yields of the HD cuvée.
Based on the vine ages it’s no surprise that to start with, the HD cuvée needed a bit of vintage help to produce something of roughly grand cru standard. As the vines began to mature a grand cru style slowly became the norm as less help from the vintage was required. Clearly, the HD takes on some age-related development at a slower rate than the classic cuvée – like any good grand cru!
Impressive, more by the work of Olivier than planting densities, is the consistency of the wines we tasted – not just great 2007s and 2010s – but great 2009s, 2013s and 2015s too – pick any vintage and you will be rewarded. A testament not just to Olivier but the quality of his vines/vineyard (too) is that his slowly changing winemaking approaches – barrels, barrel-sizes, approaches to sulfur use, moving to DIAM seals – amongst many other details, has not changed the essential Derrière Chez Edouard-ness of his wines – merely refined their clarity.
The HD cuvée is now clearly and consistently a wine of grand-cru quality that loses its early youthful fruit after about 3 years. The recent vintages of the classic cuvée are now easily as good as the early vintages of the HD and that’s despite the higher rendement used to make them – and they are still a relative bargain if you can’t quite source, or justify the cost of, the HD cuvée.
Thank you Olivier for this great and instructive tasting!
Just my short-form notes follow – I think my observations – above – more interesting than my, sometimes, repetitive notes. For info, Olivier ran 3 tastings – morning, afternoon and closer to 6pm for a bunch of winemaking friends – I managed to get the dispensation for the last tasting as I was supposed to be in Beaujolais for the whole week.
The bottles had been opened for the morning tasting and were still, nearly, half-full when I started tasting about 17h30. You can say that they had been reasonably oxygenated – all that I tasted were in very good shape – though one replacement bottle was extra-taut. I didn’t stay to eat as I’d already started drinking rather than spitting – so it would have been far too dangerous to drive back to Beaune afterwards – certainly with the other winemakers present!
Naturally, my big thanks to Olivier for the invitation. Clearly, the full name of each cuvée is St.Aubin 1er Cru Derrière Chez Edouard and in each vintage, I compared/contrasted the standard cuvée with the HD (high density planted) cuvée:
Infos:
2006 Derrière Chez Edouard
Faintly evolved but quite youthful aromas. Bright, direct, growing in width. Both long and broad finishing – a super start!
2006 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
A fresher, younger nose – silkier textured wine too. Perhaps a little less vibrant, but not by much.
2007 Derrière Chez Edouard
Even fresher and more direct – thats already an impressive introduction. Again a very silky wine, intense, some minerality here too
2007 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
More airy – the best nose so far for delicacy and elegance. Wide, intense almost seamless wine and grand cru finishing class! Did I ever mention how great a vintage I thought 2007 was – such a shame that so many wines from multiple producers were lost to oxidation…
2008 Derrière Chez Edouard
A little more depth and again some faint aromatic development. Wide, lovely intensity again, not as fine structure as the last but vibrant in the finish.
2008 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
Airy style again, less developed. A little more herbed but extra incisive and complex, here with wide waves of finishing flavour.
2009 Derrière Chez Edouard
A deep nose with a little development again. Lime-rind bitters in the aromas here – also in the mouth! Round but intense – super balance for the warm vintage.
2009 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
Again an airy nose with a little more depth here. More mineral and vibrant again with a super finishing intensity.
2010 Derrière Chez Edouard
Hmm, thats a nice nose! It melts in the width – extra inviting, more agrume. That‘s great over the palate too – so expressive a great wine.
2010 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
A small noble reduction – aromatically very diffrent but absolutely great again. Hmm, melting over the palate. Great grand cru finishing again!
2011 Derrière Chez Edouard
A smaller nose but nicely direct. In the mouth also direct but more power. A slightly reductive but delicious thing…
2011 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
Again a beautifully airy style to the nose that is so inviting. Broad, large-scaled this time its not just the finish that has the extra dimension.
2012 Derrière Chez Edouard
Narrower, yet somehow more open, though less defined than the 2011. Supple, concentrated more louche. Growing in width and intensity – simply less tensile.
2012 Derrière Chez Edouard
Always – so far – more airy and elegant – this one’s not lacking any precision. Also in the mouth – extra tension and more chiselled.
2013 Derrière Chez Edouard
Vibrant but here’s a bit more development than the previous few vintages. Gorgeous clarity and fluidity. Vibrant and minerally pure. Like most 2013s – showing brilliantly well right now!
2013 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
Also airy but with lots of vibration and less development. Ouch! That’s so good, so direct so mouth-watering. Great texture. Great, great 2013!
2014 Derrière Chez Edouard
The most airy of these classic cuvées so far, a little unexpected ripeness showing here too. The second bottle not! Slowly floral. Great shape in the mouth – mineral, growing more intense and juicy. Great wine (bottle 2)
2014 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
Broader, also a little rounder like the classic. Cleaner, more chiselled in the mouth. Massive depth to this middle and finishing flavour – wow!
2015 Derrière Chez Edouard
Airy – two in a row – almost shy though adding some florals. Super direct again. This is now as good as the first vintages of the HD!
2015 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
Also a smaller nose, shy yet airy with a fine core of fruit that wasn’t visible on the classic. Fuller, more juicy, great texture insinuating finishing flavour.
2016 Derrière Chez Edouard
Also a fine and airy nose – very attractive. A faint reduction but here’s such a vibrant and delicious flavour.
2016 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
Back to the airy, beautiful elegance of the HD. Extra clarity and cool flavour vs the standard wine – the greatest wine so far of all!
2017 Derrière Chez Edouard
Airy again, but such purity of citrus amères. Really wide, fine and pure, vibrant in the finish.
2017 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
Beautiful airy elegance again – it’s like with this wine the vintage is minimised. Larger scale, dynamic, mineral, super acidity. Broad and very long – another grand cru performance.
2018 Derrière Chez Edouard
The first of the classic wines where I see more florals. Really wide, also with some depth to this fresh concentration – a fleshy fruit for the first time but still with that precision…
2018 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
Airy, also some overt fruit for the first time – these are the babies now. Extra depth, cool fruit complexity. Vibrantly multidimensional and juicy.
2019 Derrière Chez Edouard
Ooh, extra fruit again – but airy and complex – here the youth is showing again. Wide, super mouth-watering but with a little extra fat – only a little. Super, super, finishing.
2019 Derrière Chez Edouard HD
The first time I find the HD a little aromatically softer than the classic – still airy with a little white flower complexity. Density of flavour yet melting over the palate. Really an intensity to finish great again.
The January 2020 Report is online – 2020 Chablis.
More than 60 domaines, over 600 wines. The wines are 90% great – but here, there’s a sting in the tail of 2020 Burgundy…
And six more important domaines from the Côte d’Or too – so that’s now more than 220 domaines’ 2020s online in Burgundy report, with 50 more already done in Beaujolais and more to come next week. The February report should already see nearly 300 domaines reported. Enjoy!
First a triple Chablis whammy – three wines that have been staples in the last 12 months:
2020 Jacques Picq & Family, Chablis
New chez nous. Classic 2020 Chablis with a little fleshy ripe citrus fruit but plenty of structural aspects with citrus bitters. Yum.
2019 Gautheron, Chablis Cuvée Emeraude
I really like the way that this has tightened-up nicely – I loved it before bottling but it seemed a bit loose-knit afterwards. Now I see much of the wine that admired before bottling. Lovely.
2018 Julien Brocard, Chablis Boissonneuse
Rather like the Gautheron, this was not exactly fat but certainly a little loose-knit vs the focus of the Picq. It has also come into much better focus – my real favourite was the 2017 of this – I still have a little 2017 from here but I think it’s only Preuses – poor me 🙂
I would happily rebuy all of these!
2019 Richard Rottiers, Moulin à Vent Les Thorins
What a wine – not the ultimate in weight and concentration but when it’s as pure, beautiful and drop-dead-gorgeous as this one I couldn’t care less. Beautiful clarity – love! Bravo…
Rebuy – Yes
2010 Ramonet, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Ruchottes
Lots of colour – but hooray – this smells beautiful – ripe, rich, waxy but with a nice energy. In the mouth also a little fleshy but very, very classy and the last notes – the finish – starting to show a lovely extra, age-related, creaminess. Bravo! And not oxidise like most of my 2009s…
Rebuy – Yes
2019 Chateau Thivin, Côte de Brouilly Les Sept Vignes
I won’t bore you with anozher note – only one more of these remains in the cellar – but what a successful house wine for the last 11-12 months.
Rebuy – Yes
2020 Domaine Marrans, Fleurie Noir de Blanc
The name is a replacement for the lieu-dit of ‘Champagne’ which a certain region has not allowed the Beaujolais producers to use. Note also the small bubbles on the label – a nice middle-finger don’t you think(?)
Dark fruit of clarity – slightly metallic today. Lovely texture, with a mobile, cool-fruited, style. Simply delicious.
Rebuy – Yes
The second half of my week(1) in Beaujolais – only a little rain overnight Thurs-Friday and already sunny again before lunch on Friday, this being the only day without a morning frost:
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