“white burgundy time-bomb…”

By billn on March 08, 2008 #other sites#p.ox

Here.

jane macquittyWelcome Jane – but about 2-3 years late for many of your readers.

I wonder if this more public discussion will finally start to reduce the auction price of 1995 and younger wines. Those prices have previously held up remarkably well in the face of owners ‘getting rid’ (dumping). If auction prices plummet, what then for retail prices…?

Clearly the challenge for the Burgundy PR machine (and scientists) will increase, their quietly, quietly approach may have to change gear.

for the wine-dog that doesn’t have everything

By billn on March 08, 2008 #other sites

doggone

“Does your dog have the right dinnerware? … As seen in Wag Magazine, City Dog Magazine and on MSNBCs Celebrity Pet Dish, our unique eco-friendly elevated luxury dog and cat feeders promote healthy eating and drinking habits for your pet and give you the satisfaction of feeding him/her with ‘panache’.”

Dana from the aptly named Muttropolis in California urges me to share this with my reader. I get 2 or 3 commercial requests per week, but this time I crumbled.

“Pet lovers, interior designers, artists and fine wine connoisseurs are raving about the latest must-have unique pet products: Whiner and Diner unique, luxurious elevated dog and cat wine crate feeders. All pieces are artfully hand-crafted out of authentic reclaimed wooden wine crates from prestigious European or Californian vineyards.”

Apparently they also have ‘non-skid bottoms’ – was that the dog or pet feeder?

No affiliation etc., etc…

jayer-gilles 05 bourgogne ‘hcdn’

By billn on March 07, 2008 #degustation

jayer-gilles bourgogne hautes cotes de nuits

Continuing my tour through a few recently delivered 2005 bourgognes:
2005 Jayer-Gilles, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuitstry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus colour. A nose that has plenty of oak – dark, slightly toasty and sweet with fainter higher tones. Equally flavour-packed as the previous day’s Lejeune but less fat despite the oak quotient. Good acidity that leaks sweet flavour across the tongue. Plenty of oak but it certainly diddn’t turn me off. This is a very tasty, darkly fruited drink right now.
Rebuy – Yes
But note that the price of this varies widely from good to bad value – for Hautes Côtes anyway.

pint-size 2005 lejeune bourgogne

By billn on March 06, 2008 #degustation#other sites

lejeune 2005 bourgogneThis is from a cute and sexy looking 50cl bottle – it’s a shame this size is so hard to find as it’s just right for an evening – even when sharing.

2005 Domaine Lejeune, Bourgognetry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is a little backward yet at its base there’s sweet red fruit – almost jammy – and some musky-floral notes, the last drops are fine and red though. The palate has good concentration and smooth acidity that leaks darker, ripe fruit flavours into the finish and there’s some well-submerged tannin. In any other vintage this would be a super bourgogne, in 2005 it’s only ‘above average’. I find it’s just missing a little zing and zest, but I’ve had other Lejeune Bourgognes that turn out very well so I would say that despite it being not totally engaging today, this could get into quite a nice place in another 3-5 years. I think the odds are easily in my favour if I put a few in the cellar, if only for their handy size.
Rebuy – Yes
At only 11 SFr each I bought another 12!

Interesting pieces in the press:

the return of the green meanie…

By billn on March 05, 2008 #degustation

If I’m relatively happy with the reduction of the green component in the 2004 Georges Mugneret then this wine begs a question or two. If it has improved to the same level (I don’t have a 1 year ago reference point) then it must have been quite a challenge. It is rather green today and will have to have quite a turnaround to achieve a rebuy rating.
2004 Ghislaine Barthod, Chambolle-Musignytry to find this wine...
Medium colour. The nose is dominated by that cedar-green note, it does slowly recede over 2 hours, revealing more of the ripe red strawberry fruit below. In the mouth it’s ripe and sweet, full of red fruits, a nice texture and a good burst of concentration on the mid-palate – but it’s also here that you can taste the green element. It’s soft, sweet and nicely concentrated, but with this level of green I can’t recommend it…
Rebuy – No

cornu 2005 savigny saucours

By billn on March 04, 2008 #degustation

cornu savignyAnother recent wine that confounded my expectations. My recent Cornus (2003’s) were deep and darkly oaked, couple that to the persona of many 2005 Savignys and I epected a big wine:
2005 Domaine Cornu, Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Saucourstry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-pale cherry-red, hints of purple. The nose has a wide red-fruited conserve impression. Entry in the mouth is narrow, swiftly widening into the mid-palate where the acidity comes through late coupled to a extra creamy vanilla dimension. This a beautifully detailed, light-bodied with all-but absent tannin, and it’s a very fine villages wine. It’s delicious right now but with the balance to gracefully age.
Rebuy – Yes

ponsot 2005 bourgogne cuvée du pinson

By billn on March 02, 2008 #degustation

ponsot cuvée pinson bourgogne

2005 Ponsot, Bourgogne Cuvée du Pinsontry to find this wine...
Deeply coloured with a twist of purple. Wide, with a high toned and slightly estery nose. The palate is well concentrated and certainly well textured. High-toned, ripe fruit in the mouth with good acidity and good length. There is plenty of wine here, but today I find the high-toned flavour and aroma profile just a little odd (I remember a Dominique Laurent like this), in fact I didn’t want a second glass. Day two was much better – less high-toned and ‘chemical’. I very much enjoyed the last two glasses. A couple of bottles can sleep in the cellar…
Rebuy – Maybe

Drank directly following the Ardhuy 1er Cru Pommard (below), the Pommard doesn’t show a great deal more concentration but is a significantly more interesting wine for not dissimilar outlay.

austere?

By billn on February 28, 2008 #other sites

austere

What about austere?

For me, austere can mean a wine with a lot of structure or very strict demenour – never with the ‘padding’ of ultra-ripe fruit.

A wine that is ‘less ripe’ is defined by less ripe than what? But austere is not necessarily the same as unbalanced – but certainly can be if we discuss the young 1998 burgundies. Note that 98 burgundies were very austere and you could justly say unbalanced when their young and very astringent tannins dominated, but those tannins have significantly melted leaving (usually) nice wines. Pierre was correct in 2000, but in 2008 he would be dead wrong, it just depends on the choice of drinking window you comment on, plus he did like really ripe fruit didn’t he(?) – or maybe that was just the house magazine style.

Burgundy Report

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