Tempting fate (as yesterday’s Corton was okay though the previous bottled had been corked) I went to this Castagnier – the last bottle of which was also corked! Another success… 1999 Guy Castagnier, Clos de la Roche
Medium-plus colour, still with some cherry-red in the mix. Deep, sweet beetroot, brown sugar and a dark red/black confiture fruit encasing a core of some minerality – the last drops in the glass show beautiful raised red fruits. Perfectly balanced acidity that keeps your mouth watering, yet the supporting sweetness ensures no sharpness. The finely-grained tannins are very-much fading into the background. Medium plus finish. A balanced and very pretty wine that is slowly adding some complexity and is very 99, but it’s not obviously grand cru – at least today – maybe more like a good 1er. That said, it was cheaper than many 1ers at the time of buying! Rebuy – Yes
If you ignore libel cases, the post-harvest world of wine is rather quiet. I find a few words of the Côtes here. Also, given Mr Mariani’s observations, I wonder if I should open a 97 Bruno…
A relatively inexepensive purchase of this case enables me to crack open a bottle every year or-so as a ’96 bell-weather. Whilst much better than last years bottle (which was corked!), and despite there being plenty to enjoy here, I’m a little disappointed to see a little oxidative flavour – but maybe it’s a phase – I’ll confirm next year! 1996 Hospices de Beaune, Corton Charlotte Dumay
Still medium-plus colour, but it’s all a garnet-red now. The nose has a little marmite, brown sugar and just a little dried brown leaves. There wine is clearly based on it’s acidity, but a sweetness runs through its core, and boy, does that sweetness last – impressive length. The flavour is a little ‘beefier’ than I’d prefer, perhaps with a faint oxidation too, but the faintly grained tannin is 100% ripe and fading. Enjoyed, but I’m not sure about that oxidative flavour, without would have been an easy ‘rebuy’… Rebuy – Maybe
1994 Robert Arnoux, Echézeaux
Bought at the domaine back in about 2003. A cork that falls into pieces, but is rescued by the ‘ah-so’. Quite deeply, dark ruby coloured. The nose straight away shows a murky toasty oak that slowly fades to a sweetened dark, licorice-wrapped fruit. The texture is of velvet, melded to decent concentration and good acidity. There’s a faint metallic edge to the flavours that are still largely toasty barrel derived. Medium-plus length. For my personal taste I may be deterred from a re-purchase because of the oak-driven presentation (at 15 years this is presumably a permanent mark), yet this remains relatively young for a ’94 and I expect this wine would certainly improve for a few years more. With nothing (apart from (maybe) the oak) out of balance, this is a well above average 1994… Rebuy – Maybe
2002 Pascal Chevigny, Vosne-Romanée
This has medium, medium-plus colour. Tight, but a deep, brooding core of fruit topped by spiced red fruit, perhaps a trace of coffee too. The palate is also a little tight, but the texture is not bad, the tannin is relatively fine-grained with just a hint of astringency. Good balance of acidity but the fruit is now clenched around the core structure. Slowly mouth-watering. Relatively closed, but seemingly with everything in place – two bottles remain in the cellar – next one at 10 years of age I’d say. Rebuy – Yes
Sent from my iPhoneNot too long ago I was truly naive. I was looking forward to becoming busy. I had no idea what busy was before a few weeks ago. My lovely clutch on my new 1987 cheap BMW 3 got angry at my sloppy heal toe activities and grew bored with my eager turns through the roundabouts on the route de Pommard so it decided to take the week off and simply lay on the floorboard. Never mind the amount of errands I needed to complete.
A few days later and a bit flatter in the wallet and I was back on the road. Briefly. I certainly underestimated how much I would need a truck in Burgundy. I needed to rent trucks for picking up fruit, destemmers, barrels, presses, and the other day racks. Most of the winemakers out here have Renault Kangoos, a type of car/van/truck which is ever efficient as things seem to always pop up. Forgot fruit bins as well. You see you can’t just simply miss a beat and expect to fall back in line with your plans.
As an example, I was later getting fruit bins and couldn’t find then anywhere. I would have had to piecemeal together what I needed had someone not let me borrow his. I waited an extra week on picking up
racks trying to be too specific and Poof, gone. You can’t find them
anymore. So I lucked out and found some racks and had to get them that
minute. Things move slow in Burgundy, but deals and wine necessities are
finite and sell quickly.
The wines have been finished with fermentations for a short amount of
time and at the last moment I found out the press was non operational. A
quick phone call and I was being helped out with the use if someone’s
vertical press. Today my largest lot went to barrel and I couldn’t be
more pleased. The appellation is of little importance as I am just in
awe of how everything is developing. The community in Burgundy has been
key in making me feel at home and being there to help when a situation
gets tight. It would be silly to state that things have gone perfectly
in Burgundy. I am learning something new each day and it really helps
knowing that I have a strong network of friends willing to help me if
something goes pear shaped.
Time for rest now, tomorrow the smaller lots get barreled down. One of
the tanks has a door to take the solids out, an extreme luxury. Today
was nothing but endless bucket lifting. I wouldn’t be surprised to see
buckets in my sleep, while being trapped in a wooden cuve. But who can
complain when you wake up to your dream every day?
1998 Louis Jadot, Beaune
This has medium, medium-plus colour – relatively dark and young looking for a 10 year-old. The nose is showing some maturity with blood, iron, graphite – rare Chateaubriand. With time, there are faint oxidised notes which rather disconcertingly gives me the the overall impression that it smells more like Chianti than Beaune, but that’s short-lived, additional time builds a slightly musky base – seems more like burgundy now! Good acidity and a decent base of grainy, almost velvety tannin that appears in the mid-palate – hardly any astringency now. The fruit has a dark-red sweet-sour presence, but is well (sweet-sour) balanced. Medium length. I would say that this is approaching its plateau of maturity – another couple of years should do it – and given its relative power, it should hold there for at at lease a decade… Rebuy – Yes
There’s a lot to be said for stocking up on well made villages wines, a good performance like this makes your night, and a bad performance doesn’t hurt as much as if it had been a grand cru…!
2007 Michele et Patrice Rion, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Medium cherry-red. The first sniff is of herbs – bouquet garni – slowly a depth builds that’s edged with vanilla, the fruit is never really dominant. Sweet, nicely concentrated, a leading edge of acidity that’s close to being balanced. A little oak flavour and quite a lot of vanilla (oak) flavour. Actually too much for me, despite how long that flavour lingers. Slightly better on day two, but it still smells and tastes too much like ice-cream right now. No concern here about the mid-term, but that’s two 07 Chambolles in a row that have their early drinking promise compromised by their oak treatment. Rebuy – Maybe
