dupes revisted…

By billn on November 08, 2006 #other sites

magnetic wine enhancerIt’s not so long ago that I mentionedJamie Goode’s (in)famous ‘discussion’ with the magnet guru, Dr Patrick Farrell MW. It now seems that the market for ‘wine enhancers’ is burgeoning – why pour a wine through a magnetic device when you can simply stand the bottle on a nice looking stand.
However, this important advance 😉 has now come across the desk of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) – seems they are offering $1,000,000 – what a lucky guy this Robert Catania is !!!

pommard #7

By billn on November 08, 2006 #degustation

leroy pommard vignotsWine #7 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2003 Domaine Leroy, Pommard Les Vignotstry to find this wine...
Deep cherry-red – only slighty paler than the 03 Dugat-Py. The nose is rounder and more forward than the D-P, just a little reduced at the start but there’s lots of disparate complexity. Somehow the palate is also less ‘together’ than the D-P; it’s fresher, got more tannin and lots of coffee-bean in the mouth – significantly more apparent complexity but like the nose, little apparent cohesion. Longer than the D-P; if all the parts come together this could be a very, very good wine.
Rebuy – Maybe

pommard #6

By billn on November 07, 2006 #degustation

#6 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2003 Dugat-Py, Pommard Le Levrièretry to find this wine...
Deep cherry-red. High tones over a dense fruit core; initially a little diffuse this tightens and gives a chocolate edge. Very, very impressive concentration with just about enough acidity to carry it and its sandy textured tannins into the finish – those tannins are well-covered by the extract. Medium-plus length, this is very-well crafted – it is immaculately dressed though today it’s hard to communicate with. A very impressive if one-dimensional wine today.
Rebuy – Maybe

the right tool for the job – i.e. not me!

By billn on November 06, 2006 #degustation#travel

ploughing in argillieresThat’s most-likely the last visit to the Côtes over for this year – so I expect a slowing down of posts. My last domaine visit was at Prieure Roch in Premeaux – the horse to the left was ploughing just down the road in Les Argillières before my visit.

Talking of Tools; I got over the first hurdle no problem; the worm of the ‘screwpull’ snaked easily into the cork without pushing it into the neck. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I got to the second hurdle; it was easy to withdraw the corkscrew – unfortunately all but the centre of the cork stayed put. I knew I didn’t have one of those two-pronged implements (note to self – personal Christmas present list), so I was going to have to make do with two angled worms: bum! – that didn’t work either. Helpfully, as I was clearing the cork debris from the top of the bottle, the rest (~65%) of the cork fell into the wine. C’est la vie – but fortunately, there were no cat-calling witnesses!

1976 Tollot-Beaut, Aloxe-Corton
Clean and bright, medium, medium-plus colour – a mahogany rim but clearly still a ruby-red core. From opening, this was just a little monolithic on the nose; faint baked fruit and a savoury undercurrent. If you wait – over 1 hour – the nose tightens to a very nice and tight powdery red fruit impression The palate is surprisingly plush and intense – it’s hard to keep hold of the wine, as your mouth starts watering in response to the acidity. I’m very impressed by the balance here. Slowly some sweetness builds to counterbalance an edge of tartness in the finish. The tannins are still there and quite chewy. This is a surprisingly robust and healthy wine – just like the label says, this is a village wine so no real fireworks or mind-bending length, but it’s always interesting to drink a wine that was harvested around your 14th birthday!

pommard #5

By billn on November 06, 2006 #degustation

#5 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2005 d’Ardhuy, Pommard 1er Fremierstry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. Soft and round, this has a lovely high-toned nose and a very faint caramel-coffee edge. Ripe and sweet palate – again with a lovely extra 1er cru dimension to the fruit. Well balanced with some faintly astringent tannin and a super finish.
Rebuy – Yes – and actually I did!

pommard #4

By billn on November 05, 2006 #degustation

#4 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2004 d’Ardhuy, Pommard 1er Fremierstry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. The nose has faint cedar and a powdery red fruit aspect of quite some width, depth develops only slowly though I’d like more precision. The palate has just an edge to it, like the acidity is only-just ripe – which would be a surprise considering it was picked at 13.9° natural – on the positive side here you can easily see why this is a premier cru; for the first time we have a wine with more than one dimension on the mid-palate, and nice fruit it is too. There is nothing like the density of the previous Dugat-Py wine, but then this 1er cru is less than half the price of that villages wine!
Rebuy – Maybe

update at d’ardhuy

By billn on November 05, 2006 #producer update

ardhuy vosneI visited Domaine d’Ardhuy on Thursday.

That meant that I had to visit again of Friday.

Why? – well to collect the wines I ordered after the tasting of-course. It’s just one of those occupational hazards that one has to be prepared for…!

Carel Voorhuis took me through a few barrels of pre-malolactic 2006’s, and then some of the remaining 2005’s in barrel. Finally we took a look at a few wines in bottle – quite a number of the 2005’s are already bottled at this estate. See some of my notes below from those already bottled wines:
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Ladoix Blanctry to find this wine...
High-toned sweet nose. Nicely round palate with a good finish. Sound value. Rebuy – Yes
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Sous les Puitstry to find this wine...
Aromatics are deep but quite linear (narrow) with subtle edge of oak. Well textured and well balanced, quite a bit more length than the Ladoix. Certainly a good wine. Rebuy – Maybe
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Ladoix 1er Rognetstry to find this wine...
From a small enclave of vines high on the hill of Corton that border Corton-Charlemagne. High-toned nose with the implication of some density. Delivers on the palate; mouthwatering, full of flavour and good length. Perhaps a junior Charlemagne. Rebuy – Yes And I did.
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Corton-Charlemagnetry to find this wine...
High-toned and very wide nose, just slightly estery. Density without too much weight yet the mid-palate is packed with dimension. Very expressive and super length with an edge of coconut(?) Rebuy – Yes
2003 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Corton Renardestry to find this wine...
Medium-plus colour. Very nice nose of high-toned and wide (mainly black) fruit. A nicely soft entry, the flavour etches onto your tongue – plenty of dimension, though the finish seems to be not so long for a grand cru. Rebuy – Maybe
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Peuilletstry to find this wine...
Medium-plus colour. Fresh red fruit – maybe a hint of blue too. Medium density ripe fruit in the mid-palate. Good, furry tannin and a lingering finish. Very nice Savigny. Rebuy – Yes
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Narbantonstry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Plenty of ripe red and black fruit on the nose. The tannin is on a slightly higher level than the Peuillets and the finish is nicely long with a mouthwatering edge. Even better than the Peuillets. Rebuy – Yes I did.
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Volnay 1er Chanlinstry to find this wine...
From high-up on the hillside. A wide and very fine nose – I could sniff this for ages. The palate is a little more mineral than the nose, and also than the previous Savignys. Nice density and balance and a nice diminuendo to the finish. Very pretty. Rebuy – Yes
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Gevrey-Chambertintry to find this wine...
Medium-plus colour. Black and red fruit with a touch of earth. In the mouth the fruit ishas a nice high-toned aspect and it’s well matched to the tannin. This certainly a more ‘masculine’ wine than the previous bottles, but a good example all the same.
Rebuy – Maybe
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Chaumestry to find this wine...
The second time tasted in the last month. Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Fresh red fruits, some raisin on the nose – the drained glass continues to smell wonderfull. Many dimensions on the palate, very good balance too – the finish brings disappointment, not because it’s short, but rather that you don’t want it to end! Lovely. Rebuy – Yes

la bourgogne vue du ciel

By billn on November 04, 2006 #books, maps, magazines, films even podcasts!

aerial views of burgundy
First published in 1990, I found this book at a bargain-price in a second-hand book store – the condition is far from perfect, but it’s very serviceable.

This is really just a coffee-table book, but it’s chock-full of very pretty pictures taken from the air – one of a series by the authors. There are, of-course, photos of vineyards and grand houses in the Côte d’Or, but ‘Burgundy’ is a much wider area and landscape.

This book was a very nice acquisition – but be careful not to spill coffee on it!

pommard #3

By billn on November 04, 2006 #degustation

dugat-py pommard2004 Dugat-Py, Pommard Le Levrièretry to find this wine...
Deep cherry-red. The nose starts quite reduced with sulfur and hints of mushroom – hard to get at the fruit – slowly it warms to give a bright, high-toned beacon of pure red fruit. The palate has a perfectly (oak) upholstered texture, really impressive concentration, good acidity and surprisingly only a mild grain to the tannin. This is quite mineral and shows a long finish, akin to having (I’m assuming!) a piece of coal in your mouth. From the mid-palate onwards this is much more impressive than the Coche. Very impressive.
Rebuy – Yes

My ‘rebuy’ decision is based purely on the quality of this wine with respect to its appellation – note that I didn’t take the cost of the bottle into consideration! Given my previous experience with Dugat-Py’s 2004 Vosne-Romanée, I would suggest opening 8 hours before serving or very vigorous decating/aeration 1-2 hours before drinking.

Burgundy Report

Translate »

You are using an outdated browser. Please update your browser to view this website correctly: https://browsehappy.com/;