Well maybe not all the world, but after Decanter’s recent piece, Jay McInerny is at it in the Wall Street Journal too.
Nothing new of-course, just that the story is now trickling out into a more mainstream audience – in a way it’s surprising it’s taken so long…
Just back from two days in the Côtes; almost certainly my last two before the harvest.
Tuesday started with a sultry 32°C heat – but the clouds were gathering, and so was the concern – the Côte d’Or was on ‘amber-alert’ for storms and that included hail, usually there’s not so much warning…
The vines looked in rude health – there is a little grillage as shown in my last ‘vintage 2011’ post, and it can be as much as twenty percent in some isolated parcels, but as one vigneron told me with a smile “that saves a green harvest! ” There were just one or two areas in the Côte de Beaune where there was some veraison (the green grapes starting to turn red), mainly in the young vines, but I didn’t find any in the Côte de Nuits. The vines are also very clean – no rot or fungus to be seen – though warm weather and plenty of rain can see an outbreak develop in about 10 days for insufficiently treated vines. Actually, while I was there a number of vignerons were completing what they described as their last treatments of the year; certain of those treatments cannot be made within thirty days of the harvest… At lunch I met Arnaud Orsel of the Confrérie Chevaliers du Tastevin; they had just decided where the ‘Saint Vincent’ would be held in 2012, and it was a surprise! Pushing the Unesco world heritage sites angle, they decided they would have the St.Vincent in not just one place, but three; Dijon, Nuits and Beaune – it sounds like a lot of walking to me 😉
As Tuesday wore-on the cloud became thicker and the odd rumble of thunder was an accompaniment. Those not treating their vines seemed to be bottling; mainly generic 2010s but also some later 2009s. Plenty of rain in the early evening, lightening too, but no hail. This continued the whole night with a show of spectacular thunder and lightening. Morey St.Denis received 14mm of rain – that was probably about average.
Wednesday we found out that not everyone escaped; the Saone plain to the east had plenty of hail – half golf-ball size – and some of that crept into Santenay too. I’ve still no info how bad that was, but everywhere else escaped. It was much cooler, about 18°C, raining incessantly if not particularly heavily.
Although in the last years we have seen harvests in the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits often happening at the same time, the Côte de Beaune domaines are looking to start anywhere between the 20-25th August but the Côte de Nuits are typically looking at the 29th August onwards. A few more cloudy days at 18°C and they might add another two or three days to that – let’s see…
For info I didn’t just visit a bunch of old haunts, there were also two new domaines; Digioia-Royer (just say ‘de-joy-a’ and you are close enough) in Chambolle and Henri Jouan in Morey, good wines but infos on those will be in the Autumn issue.
Still travelling so not much in the way of wine drunk around here – tsk!
‘The boss‘ at my home domaine was joking yesterday that (having just taken a tour through the vines of Volnay) rather than triaging when I arrive on the 29th of August, I could be doing the ‘decuvage‘ instead – i.e. after fermenting, the shovelling out of the spent grapes from the fermentation tanks for pressing…!
One or two domaines are thinking of bringing forward by a day or two their first harvests in the Côte de Beaune – say to the 20th August!
Whilst we have so-far avoided any major issues surrounding rot or drought stress, as you can see from the picture (taken yesterday) some isolated vines got an overwhelming heat stress on June 27/28th. Those small grapes not protected from the full sun by the canopy were literally grilled – locally ‘grillage’…
The shock!!!
It is fair to criticise how long it’s taken, but as they say ‘better late than never.’
I believe there’s a wider discussion of this subject in the magazine; unless you have a problem selling your white burgundy – and today it’s about managing expectations – this wider discussion in the ‘generalist’ wine press can only be helpful in finding a resolution(s) and better managing buyer’s expectations.
Interesting and well argued points from Mike; it’s also worth working your way through the comments too.
Mike has spent a few years in the ‘old world’ and it shows: It’s relatively rare to have somebody ‘US-based’ that can see the wider picture – the US market of middle-men and middle-middle-men is an island of profit potential that does service to neither the producer or buyer.
Of-course it is easy to make fun of the Bordeaux ‘circus’. I did it myself yesterday having seen the EP 2010 price of Le Petit Cheval; in due deference I opened my last bottle of the 1998, bought for about a fifth of the new offer price – it’s my last bottle, and clearly I won’t be re-stocking.
It was good by the way!
Well, I think I deserved it; forty domaines and almost 500 wines in the Spring Edition – in 24 hours over 8,000 visitors checked in to check it out – thanks to them! The summer issue will be a bit thinner on the wines tasted – but still over 300 I think, but will have more profiles.
Not many notes around here but that’s not the same thing as keeping up-to-date 😉 We had visitors for a week, in the process managing to get through four or five bottles of Gilles Bouton’s St.Aubins, a couple of bottles (each) of 97 Bouchard Père Le Corton and 02 Jadot Vosne Petits Monts. Then there was a 08 Dubreuil-Fontaine Beaune Montrevenots and 97 Daniel Rion Nuits Vignes Rondes both of which which frankly excelled – isn’t it great when somebody with no background in wine says “is it supposed to smell of shit?” Anthony would have been proud! Then there was a selection of 02 Alsace grand crus whose names slip my memory and the empty bottles have now been consigned.
Anyway, by way of escape on Monday while everyone was reading the spring edition, we chose to go somewhere cool; Kleine Scheidegg at 2061 metres – it was only 27°C there!
Some pics…
1996 Pierre-Ponnelle, Bonnes-Mares
Medium plus core of relatively young looking colour. The aromas are deep, a little raisined plus soil and a low level forest-floor note. Full, slightly fat, silky-smooth texture – roll the wine around in your mouth and you will eventually feel some tannin which delivers a lick of bitter-chocolate flavour in the finish – a hint of astringency too. The acidity starts in a very understated way, but peaks in the mid-palate, decaying in tandem with the high-toned flavour. On the first day this wine is certainly flirting with me, but behind the smile is a strict upbringing – I don’t expect a virtuoso performance before it’s twenty-one – but it has potential! Day two and this is very composed and chic; a strong mineral note reminds that it comes from the soil – despite being dressed by Chanel – super.
Rebuy – Yes
For comparison; the cork of Louis-Michel Liger-Belair’s 2008 next to the tiny cork of the ’85 Richebourg.
2008 Comte Liger-Belair, Vosne-Romanée Clos du Château
Medium colour. The nose soars with a perfume that has roses and an impression of stems – I remember he said their were none – so I check again; “trust me!” he says. Oh well – it’s lovely anyway. Transparent, elegant, lithe and beautifully focused. I have an impression of the floral notes in the mouth too. There is no ‘oomph’ just understated intensity. Very lovely and hard to appreciate where all that new oak has gone!
Rebuy – Yes
Or this could be titled, how to avoid oxidation – and fail!
Although I intend to have some good drinking in my dotage, I generally drink more modest stuff at home; bourgognes, villages and premiers – perhaps only a grand cru once or twice a month. Actually half the wines I drink don’t feature in these pages because they are habitual house wines – whites in particular. Yet any excuse to make a change.
I finally finished this week a project that entailed 120 thousand words and visiting over 100 domaines since the end of July last year – but I can’t give any more details this year I think. Now I can concentrate on the Spring Report (oops…) and open a couple of bottles to celebrate. The first one is Leflaive’s 2005 Chevalier-Montrachet; I didn’t really plan to open one before 2020 but I’ve heard p.ox reports. The other has been in the cellar for three or four years, from only a single barrel of 1985 Richebourg from François Gros. Let’s see!
2005 Domaine Leflaive, Chevalier-Montrachet
Medium golden colour. The first notes on the nose were – ouch – of Jerez, I left the bottle for five or six hours. On returning there’s merely a suggestion of that oxidative note, more to the fore is dense core of aroma that smells of old oak and some suggestions of mature aromas. Full in the mouth, flavour growing in the mid-palate with cool acidity; the flavour is intense and very long, some creamy and toffee elements too – though it’s not particularly moreish. Day two it’s a little (not lots) better, still with a hint of oxidation. Day three there is none, perhaps the colour is also more yellow than gold. Now it has creamy depth with a hint of lanolin (normally I expect this on 15+ year-old wine). In the mouth it’s full and powerful a hint toffeed and still maybe not the greatest mid-palate flavour – but for the first time I’ve topped up my glass. So, this Chevalier is in an awful place right now. Accepted there were sherry aromas when opened, and even on day two. But no-one tasting this wine on day 3 would say it was premoxed, it has become cleaner every day; it was on the same level after 72 hours (open) as after 48 – just that rather frumpy presentation that many 05s show.
Rebuy – No (Probably! – anyway it’s too expensive now)
1985 François Gros, Richebourg
Bottle 78 of 320. The cork easily slides out in one piece – but what a disappointing looking thing – tiny compared to a villages cork from 08. Still, they say size isn’t everything! Medium colour – perfectly clear with just a hint of amber at the rim. Clean smelling, some dried leaves but no obvious fruit to start with, time adds some wet leaves and damp soil too. A narrow, soft and sweet entry but with good acidity and then suddenly there’s tannin in the mouth. Plenty of mid-palate flavour that seems to be molten essence of barrel and perhaps some minerality – much nicer than it sounds and is very complex and very long. The finishing flavours include in their complexity a hint of something volatile and also a hint of something oxidised. Far from seamless, but a wine that offers something new with every sniff and every taste. Lovely, but despite plenty of tannin, seems to be losing a little cohesion – if you have some of the the other 319 bottles I wouldn’t think that they will get better. On day two – despite overnighting in the fridge – too much oxidation for enjoyment.
Rebuy – No
So, the Chevalier improves just as the Richebourg fails – On one hand He gives and on the other He takes away. It wasn’t much of a ‘celebration’ really 😉
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