According to the Washington Times
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back, with beaujolais!
Back from a few days in the UK – and amazingly, lovely weather. We took in Harrods, Henley, putting up a tent, a garden party, Chichester, Selsey Bill (above) and Bosham – back to pouring rain in Switzerland…
From the Berry Bros website (where I also stole the picture):
“This is the flagship wine of the Dubost estate from his top single vineyard (which translates as `heather’).”
After testing a sampler at their Basingstoke ‘outlet’ I bought a few for the garden party – this is the last bottle.
2005 Dubost, Brouilly Vieilles Vignes La Bruyère
Medium-plus purple/cherry-red. The nose is high-toned, clearly Beaujolais with a deep and ripe raspberry note. Intense, nicely concentrated with very good acidity. Medium, medium-plus length of tart black cherry coupled to understated but grainy tannin. Fresh and very nicely balanced it’s a long way from the massive Potel-Aviron wines from 2005, but it’s very pretty and drinkable.
Rebuy – Maybe
holiday…
in lake UK (hopefully not) for holiday, back in a week….
Hopefully none of Burgandy’s (sic) killer bees await!
varia
Two nice pieces spotted today:
liger-belair 2004 vosne colombière
2004 Comte Liger-Belair, Vosne-Romanée La Colombière
Medium, Medium-pale colour. Aromatically more impressive than you expect from the colour, deep with a faint edge of coffee – only turning redder and finer with a little tobacco and spice as you slowly drain the glass – no green notes. Light but intense in the mouth – it’s the slightly bright acidity that adds to the apparent intensity. Red berry fruit that slowly fades, good, understated velvet tannins. It’s precocious though quite well balanced, I’d be tempted to drink this younger rather than older. Tasty.
Rebuy – Maybe
harvest 2007 – ‘steady as she goes…’
From Berry Bros & Rudd website:
“18, July. It’s all doom and gloom in the press at the moment with reports coming in thick and fast that there might not even be a harvest in Bordeaux or Burgundy. In actual fact, many vineyards are looking healthy and happy with a very early harvest predicted.
This is in part thanks to a beautiful April which prompted early flowering, with the combination of rain and sun successfully managing to prolong the vines growth cycle.
Dominique Lafon reports a little mildew in one vineyard, and localized hail damage has been reported in St Aubin, Beaune and Chablis, but there has been nothing too dramatic thus far and the general outlook is good.
This may in part be due to the recent cold weather which has prevented the mildew damage from spreading further.”
Clearly the weather has been quite sunny for the (almost) two weeks since they posted this piece, with only about 1-2 days with rain in every 10.
Humidity has been quite high, but the fact that it’s not been too hot (only 22-28°C) has provided relief from rot. Clearly, many producers have taken a belts and braces approach, and have been doing as much spraying of copper sulphate solution onto their vines as possible as a safeguard.
We are now around 1 month from harvesting – perhaps less – and we are fast approaching a ‘classic’ vintage in the best (non pejorative) sense of that word. Plenty of sunlight and enough heat for ripening, better still – coupled to cooler nights – I find uniformly hot weather wines very one dimensional, at least in their youth.
Many fingers remain crossed.
kellen lignier’s story
The newly married Kellen Lignier was bored in her new life, since she didn’t know the language and hadn’t yet made friends in France.
So she began working alongside her husband in the vineyards. That wasn’t always smiled upon, Lignier said.
“A woman’s job was to provide heirs,” she said. “Or if they wanted to work in the office, that was free labor. Some people even believe that a woman can cause a wine to go bad.”
disney drop the rat wine promotion
Did I say something about committment? 😉
LOS ANGELES, July 28 (UPI) — Walt Disney Co. has shelved its plan to offer U.S. wine and rodent lovers a “Ratatouille Chardonnay” in honor of the star of its latest movie.
Costco was to carry bottles of French 2004 white Burgundy with labels featuring Remy, the haute-cuisine-loving rat in “Ratatouille,” The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. The promotion was canceled amid criticism from California winemakers and opponents of underage drinking, Disney spokesman Gary Foster told the newspaper.
“It was going to be a small offering” — 500 cases — “and we thought it would be best not to proceed with it,” he said.
In a decision called unrelated, Disney announced last week its films, including long-released classics, no longer would show characters smoking.
1997 grand crus – a selection
There were many more on display, but this is the modest list of grand crus tasted, the others (including La Tâche, de Vogüé Musigny etc.) were quaffed before I could get to them.
1997 Frédéric Magnien, Bonnes-Mares
Oaky top notes underpinned by creamy deep fruit – quite fresh too – nice. The palate is very good, fresh and concentrated with some grainy tannin. Very good.
Rebuy – Maybe
1997 de Vogüé, Bonnes-Mares
A high-toned fresh nose with very precise fruit – rare in 1997. The palate also shows precise young fruit and is rather racy too. The tannins probably need at least another 5 years. Less friendly than the Magnien, but younger.
Rebuy – Maybe
1997 AF Gros & François Parent, Richebourg
The nose shows some high tones, faint spice and interesting but understated fruit. The palate seems less ripe than some but frankly has tons of complexity and dimension – this will need at least 10 years but might be worth an outside bet.
Rebuy – Maybe
1997 Jean Grivot, Richebourg
(Magnum) Basically blurred and stodgy, no better than this bottle.
Rebuy – No
1997 Dujac, Clos de la Roche
The nose is very stemmy – more so than even the average Dujac – but some nice pure fruit behind. I like stems, but not so overpowering. Overall there is a sense of disappointment as this is a rather blurred and muted bottle.
Rebuy – No
1997 Denis Bachelet, Charmes-Chambertin
The nose is understated, wide and fresh. The palate is likewise impressively fresh (for 97) and shows quite some grainy tannin. Nothing is pushed but this is very impressive – I’d buy some!
Rebuy – Yes
1997 Dupont-Tisserandotot, Charmes-Chambertin
Greeny oak on the nose. The palate is fresh but shows spiky acidity and tannin on the finish – not that great.
Rebuy – No
1997 Joseph Drouhin, Griotte-Chambertin
(Magnum) Quite a deep nose, not quite as good as most other vintages, but not bad. The palate is soft and supple and ever-widening with decent power and intensity in the mid-palate. A young and quite interesting wine and certainly not one to pass by.
Rebuy – Maybe
1997 des Chézeaux, Griotte-Chambertin
Much more fruit on the nose, in fact it’s so deep, pure and intense, it’s unlike any other wine here. The palate is concentrated and seems to harbour more dry extract than most others. The acidity is a little bright on the finish but it’s a minor blemish on a very fine face. The most ‘un-97-like’ wine in the show.
Rebuy – Yes
1997 Armand Rousseau, Chambertin
The nose is creamy with a little cedar (à la 2004), not bad. The palate is fresh and complex and medium weight but very long. Blind, this would be hard to place as a 97. This is very good.
Rebuy – Yes