2005 Bertagna, Vougeot 1er Clos des Perrières
Deep cherry-red colour. The nose opens with fine, high-toned, red and black berry notes over a deeper, brooding core of fruit – eventually there’s a lovely pure redcurrant note in the emptying glass. In the mouth the acidity starts just a shade bright on the tongue though it contributes to a good, slowly lingering finish. Perhaps it was me, but 30 minutes in the acidity seemed okay. Tight, linear fruit with buried soft tannin and an understated, almost ethereal extra dimension of fruit on the mid-palate that follows also into the finish. Very excellent but other bottles should be left for at least 10 years. Rebuy – Yes
Rather than (as intended) smoking my keyboard with prose for next weekend’s scheduled Autumn issue of the Burgundy Report, I seem to have spent a whole day trying to catch up on what’s gone on over the last 3 weeks. First I particularly like the post on the Berry Bros weblog that commemorates their 1909 price-list whilst launching the 2009 version.
I didn’t check the 2009 numbers, but I assume they’re higher! Interesting that (below) Romanée-Conti is not so expensive relative to the other (latent) grand crus – I wonder if they still have some of that Chambertain, Clos St.Jacques in the cellar – it’s not impossible – as it sounds rather interesting… berry bros and rudd 1909 burgundy pricelist
So what else have I spotted(?) Well there’s a nice piece on the 2008 vintage from David Clark here. Note that his perspective is one of a ‘central Côte de Nuits’ producer so as valuable a data-point as it is, it’s only a small part of the 2008 story – I’ll expand next weekend in the new issue.
So what else do we have? Well, amongst others, I’m sure you will need a wine investment strategy! – though I’m not sure it’s appropriate for the scented ‘Bitch Goddess Of Grapes‘, despite good performance in New Zealand, particularly as fine wine prices hit new lows – perhaps the Leroy ‘brand‘ is an antidote(?) but I doubt it given the offer on 1993 Leroys that hit my inbox last week! Clearly wine karma needs improving for most if not all people!
While I was away there was the Hospices de Beaune auction. That was bad timing on my part as I was in possession of two lovely invitations to visit and taste old wines – you can’t win them all I suppose. Anthony Hanson’s description of the wines as coming from a ‘Burgundy lover’s vintage’ – well he would wouldn’t he(?) – didn’t help very much, despite them being very pretty wines, but Maison Albert Bichot certainly put their money where their mouth is, and didn’t Albéric look dapper!
It was nice to see someone talking about real Beaujolais whilst I was away – not just once, but twice – so far I’ve avoided the marketing efforts of the ‘nouveau-ers’. Even more surprising is the public discovery of two new regions in burgundy – the Mâconnais and Chalonaise!
I picked up a few bottles of this at a recent auction – for a relative song if they taste halfway good! The Savour Club still exists in Belgium/Germany/France/Switzerland as a wine merchant, though today they don’t seem (as in this case) to be so actively using their own labels and acting as a négociant. These bottles proudly wear a back label saying that the cuvée “est recommandée par Pierre Troisgros, Restauranteur à Roanne aux membres du Savour Club” – apparently Pierre was an ‘advisor’ to the club. Well that’s a big build-up, question is, is the wine any good? 1991 Savour Club, Chapelle-Chambertin
Differing from the label, the cork is actually printed with Chapelles-Chambertin – perhaps that means it comes from both parts – Chapelle and Gémeux – or maybe not! The colour is medium, medium-plus ruby red with just a little amber showing at the edge. The nose is a wonderfully soft, truffly, eventually mocha affair – swirling will bring out some soil and leaf notes. In the mouth it has sweetness, some fat and soft texture from still present, relatively fine tannin. There’s a nice extra edge of intensity in the mid-palate and ‘just right’ acidity to whisk you into a good, long finish – should it have a bit more grand cru density? – perhaps, but there is quite enough grand cru ‘flavour authority’. Fabulous wine, still just a bit of tannic bitterness too. This might be well over 15 years old, and whilst it’s still a lovely drink now, it frankly needs another 3-5 years for full maturity. What a shame there were only 8 bottles of this in the ‘lot’… Rebuy – Yes
The label assumes that you know that ‘Volnay Clos Des Chênes’ is a premier cru as there is no mention of ‘rank’. This is far from a cheap bottle – 70 Swiss francs – but the tariff is in-line with several producers’ current 1er cru offerings from the Côte de Beaune, it also has the benefit of another 8 years of aging, though clearly a lot 1998’s needed it… 1998 Maison Leroy, Volnay 1er Clos des Chênes
Deep ruby-red colour. The nose is herbal and meaty with background sweetness and quite some sense of maturity. In the mouth there is the rasp of ’98 tannins, but they are rather a background element. More to the fore is the sweet but freshly packaged fruit – quite some secondary flavour development again with some of that herbal element and lots of sweet and wide mid-palate flavour. Complex and very well balanced with plenty of time on it’s side it’s a world away from 2005/2006’s but that’s no negative. This is actually not bad value for a Leroy and I may indeed buy a couple more for 5-10 years down the line. Rebuy – Yes
Hmm, it’s a couple of weeks since I had a nice bottle, this really made up for it! 2005 Louis Jadot, Beaune 1er Clos des Ursules
Medium-plus ruby-red colour with some purple still at the rim. The nose starts robustly, full with dark fruit – similar to the 2005 Pierre Morey Bourgogne – but offering a purer darker core of fruit – time in the glass gives this a narrower, more blueberry impression. Though well balanced, the palate seems rather tight, though the extra mid-palate dimension and corresponding length is on a super level, it really does linger. A super bottle. Rebuy – Yes
Our itinery took in a few days in Havana and a few days at the beach plus a 2-day unexpected 500km detour to the west to avoid the rage of hurricane Paloma. As an aside, Thomas Cook (Deutschland) decided to move us for safety’s sake, whereas Thomas Cook (UK) left all their UK customers in the hotel that was (in theory) in the path of Paloma…
A quick summary?
Well, there’s so much history associated with the place, and the architechture in Havana that’s still standing (nothing to do with Paloma!) is fantastic – but that’s a small proportion! The people are super – plenty of hustling but a simple no thanks brings an ‘okay, enjoy your day’ and off they trott. In the city you seem to be able to walk around wherever you like at whatever time you like – no worries. Oh, and the beaches are super!
Any complaints? Well the food tends to be quite bland despite the proximity of the sea, and service also tends to be amateuristic. Overall it was worth the trip.
It would be hard to guess that this came from the same vineyard as the recent Faiveley Santenots. The Faiveley was more butch, and perhaps longer – an ‘hommage’ to the style of Lafon – but the width and complexity of fruit here seems more ‘Volnay’ though the oak needs to fade a little more. Today I’d drink the Faiveley, tomorrow the Rossignol, though at the weekend I’m not sure – choice is no bad thing! 2005 Nicolas Rossignol, Volnay 1er Santenots
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour with some purple still at the rim. The nose was overwhelmed by dark, slightly toasty oak for the first couple of minutes, wait and there’s a lovely width of beautiful fruit but it unfortunately still holds onto a slightly reductive-style oak base. Good intensity, and again the fruit is lovely, complex and occasionally shows a little creamy edge. Very well balanced but again with plenty of background reduction/oak – that said, it’s almost gone after about 90 minutes. This is lovely and if the oak fades further, it will be even better than that! For drinking now, open 2 hours before, or decant 20 minutes then pour. Rebuy – Yes
Rather than (as intended) smoking my keyboard with prose for next weekend’s scheduled Autumn issue of the Burgundy Report, I seem to have spent a whole day trying to catch up on what’s gone on over the last 3 weeks. First I particularly like the post on the 
While I was away there was the 
