(getting bored yet?) the first of two premiers of the same name, but wildly different, if still disappointing results:
1999 Ambroise, Pommard 1er La Refène
Medium, medium-plus ruby red with just a little amber at the rim. The nose is spicy from oak that for a while hides the estery-edged fruit. The nose never really improves, remaining relatively diffuse and never bringing any components into focus. The palate is much more interesting; well-covered tannins, warm and ripe red fruit, complex with a medium-plus intensity finish. Let-down by the nose, but good in parts.
Rebuy – No
pommard #11
Wine #11 of my pre-Christmas Pommards is the first that is not from a single lieu-dit. This vintage was a wide-ranging blend of Perrières, Levrière, Croix Blanche and en Chaffaud – just starts to give you some idea of the reach of the bigger négoce.
1999 Bouchard Père et Fils, Pommard
Medium-plus ruby-red. The nose is wide with a black tinge to the fruit and the beginings of a savoury note at its base – the fruit slowly comes more to the fore, becoming sweeter and fresher. In the mouth the fruit is also rather black and has a really nice purity on the mid-palate. This fruit is currently a little over-shadowed by the grainy, slightly astringent and certainly a little rustic tannin – which I feel could be a little riper. Very good persistence for a village. In terms of the complete package, this is a relative bargain in this vintage – still very young. Rebuy – Yes
post of the year!
My vote for post of the year (well we are 90% through!) comes from wineterroirs this weekend – take a tour through a list of wine additives and their catalogues with Bertrand Celce for a little insight into what might be in your wine.
At first it’s a stark and often unpalatable list, but let’s be clear, even referring back to our ‘producers who do nothing’, one in every 10+ cuvées will require some kind of manipulation – we are, after-all, talking about a very natural and somewhat variable process.
I personally think that a winemaker (at least ones I buy from) has two duties; to make a wine that reflects its origin, and to make it palatable – the second point tends to be the main determinant for the length of their career! If it takes a little powdered tannin (and I assume M.Rolland’s comments refer to the Bordeaux cepage, not pinot noir) to stabilise a cuvée – so what. I’m less sure that I need a yeast to make my Musigny smell of banana…
merchants and faulty bottles – some advice…
I don’t often whinge – I think!
When it comes to corked wine, my average is only around 4% detected – close to, but at the bottom-end of the rates from most studies – so I don’t consider myself a hypercondriac.
My approach to merchants when I have a bad bottle is simply to point out the problem and in a friendly-way ask (where possible) for a replacement, no histrionics, no emotion. The level of professionalism that merchants display at this juncture usually defines the longevity of your/my relationship with them – that’s my experience anyway. Those that can swiftly achieve the replacement, without fuss – I don’t need an apology as it’s clearly not their fault – tend to be my main suppliers, those that cannot are quickly ‘discarded’.
Why discarded? – That’s easy; there’s a big difference between ‘fault’ and ‘responsibility’. There is no blame attached to a bad bottle, but in a commercial transaction there is a responsibility to supply product (any product) that is fit for purpose – if it’s faulty it needs replacing. One ‘specialist’ merchant in my country of domicile points to the fact that their low (merely average) pricing does not allow for replacements – tant pis pour toi – they no longer have any business with me.
There are grey areas (of course) like when I had a bottle very recently with two winemakers; the bottle was clearly corked. I made my normal request and had the following experience:
“Do you still have the bottle?”
“No, I opened it in Burgundy and chose not to drive 260km back to Switzerland 4 days later with the faulty bottle and its contents” (which is anyway still 150km from the merchant’s location – I wonder if I was expected to post at my own cost an already opened bottle?)
“okay, I’ll have to check what we can do with my director – because this is an expensive bottle” (€90)
We anyway agreed, without further comment on what the ‘director can do’, that I would pick-up the replacement at a tasting. I got the bottle, but also with a note saying that I would be charged at 50%. Hmm. I have not yet made a fuss, because I have not yet been billed. It is also quite possible that I would have had 100% refund if I had been able to produce the bottle and its bad contents – though this implies a certain lack of trust and definite logistical issues. For now I will keep my powder dry, but a similar such occurance will certainly be the last with this merchant.
Personally speaking, only a portion of my faulty bottles will ever be replaced, as I only see it in the young wine when tasted at my first purchase. Once the bottles have lain in my cellar for more than a year – even if the problem is TCA (which will have been there since bottling) – I become philosophical and tend to agree (possibly wrongly): tant pis pour moi!
I think I’m very fair, I know that some people would say overly-so (?)
pommard #10
#10 (already!) of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey. It’s the first time I’ve seen this Leroy bottling and within this series it is, perhaps, the most impressive wine yet, relative to it’s appellation:
2000 Domaine Leroy, Pommard Trois Follots
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red. That characteristic Leroy nose (how do they do that?) of well integrated oak set against wild red fruit, almost confiture and rose petals. The fruit is red-coloured and like the other 2000’s quite tannin-forward. It’s as long as the JM Boillot Jarollières 1er cru, riper but less complex. You are left with a smooth coating on your teeth as a reminder.
It’s not really possible to criticise such an accomplished villages wine – really excellent.
Rebuy – Maybe
146th hospices de beaune auction
Christies now have their online info-pack available for the sale of 2006 burgundy in barrel – you can bid direct or maybe join a syndicate to buy. The whites should be good as should the Mazis and Corton reds – the rest will need some careful selection…
http://www.christies.com/promos/nov06/5454/overview.asp
pommard #9 + a 2004 delivery
#9 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2000 J-M Boillot, Pommard 1er Jarollières
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour. The fruit on the nose is just as sweet as the previous Rossignol, but it’s darker coloured at the edge with a red core, faint coffee too – very fetching! Less ripe palate than the Rossignol – almost mouth-puckering by comparison with a higher level of tannin. This is, however, very complex in the mid-palate and longer too.
Rebuy – Maybe
The good news of the day is that my en-primeur purchases have just been delivered – though it seems odd timing given that I’ve drunk so much 04 already this year:
- 2004 Bouchard P & F, Volnay 1er Cuvée Carnot
- 2004 D & F Clair, St.Aubin 1er Dents de Chien
- 2004 Jadot, Beaune 1er Clos des Ursules
- 2004 JF Mugnier, Musigny
- 2004 M & P Rion, Chambolle 1er Charmes
- 2004 M & P Rion, Nuits 1er, Les Argillières
I wonder if that was their (Rion’s) plot that the horse was ploughing last Friday(?) Anyway, even better news; my mixed 18 bottles also arrived – so plenty to do between now and the end of the year – I might not even need to buy any more wine this year!
amsterdam
I had the pleasure to spend the last 3 days in Amsterdam. It was a training/coaching environment with a fun, diverse group of people. Mohamed from Cairo was one of them and he has a real talent with a lens – amply confirmed by his shot above.
Now I’m home to a full inbox and letterbox – great…
pommard #8
#8 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2000 Nicolas Rossignol, Pommard 1er Les Jarollières
Medium ruby-red. The nose is an interesting mix of high-toned floral elements over an intitially diffuse base of sweet fruit – then I got something more like rubber – others said shitake mushroom! Lovely ripe fruit on the palate, still forward tannin and a mineral aspect at the centre. The finish is medium length for a 1er Cru. Aromaticly this is a super wine, but becomes just a little anonymous from there-on.
Rebuy – Maybe