just another 40° day…

By billn on July 24, 2019 #travels in burgundy 2019


The view to Meursault, from Tessons…

Despite, still, very tiny grapes, the vines look great. Unlike the parched grass!

Today, Domaine Lejeune (Pommard) were out in their new plantation of vines – giving them water. Irrigation is not allowed in Burgundy, but the baby vines are allowed to be watered – if required – this, of course, having no effect on the wines as the young vines have no grapes!

luncheon wine…

By billn on July 23, 2019 #degustation

A little luncheon wine:

2011 Pascal Agrapart, Avizoise
I don’t review Champagne, but I like Champagne! That said, most of the new names/cuvées that sommeliers like to show or recommend seem to me to be oxidative in style or showing plenty of autolysis – those wines are a turn-off for me, I’d rather drink Crémant. But this was pure, complex and absolutely delicious – Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Vincent Girardin, Meursault Les Narvaux
Hmm – that’s a fine nose – wide, attractive, with some faintly leafy, maturing complexity – but with a fine fruit below. In the mouth, this is instantly bright, open and shows lovely energy. It’s vibrantly flavoured and at the same time faintly mineral. It’s just a very delicious wine today, and close to being ready. Excellent stuff!
Rebuy – Yes

2013 Denis & Bertrand Chevillon, Nuits St.Georges 1er Roncières
This nose is wide and sweet; there’s an almost smoky complexity here – probably some whole-cluster in there – it’s certainly very inviting. In the mouth, we have energy, delicious flavour of deep fruit, complexity too – a wine that’s starting to show the first semblance of age-related complexity in its flavours. This is still young, but it’s delicious right now, and possibly getting better and better for those with patience!
Rebuy – Yes

views from the weekend and today…

By billn on July 22, 2019 #travels in burgundy 2019

A mere 35°C today – Subaru aircon on full in the afternoon – it will be fun to see how that works later in the week when more than 40°C is forecast!

Here are a few views from over the weekend and today:

say goodbye to william fèvre

By billn on July 21, 2019 #sad losses...

I had always assumed that William Fèvre, of the eponymous grand domaine in Chablis, was somebody who was long lost to this world – but I was wrong.

William was born in 1929 and only departed this world two weeks ago. He established his, I would say, emblematic Chablis domaine in 1959, and with only 7 hectares of family vines. Given the ravages of frost, this was a hard time for Chablis, but a good time to accumulate vineyard land, such that when William sold his domaine to the Champagne house of Henriot in 1998, it had grown to 64 hectares, including 15 hectares of grand cru. Today, still under Henriot, the domaine now stands at 78 hectares plus the equivalent of many more from purchased grapes

The Fèvres have, for hundreds of years, worked the vines of Chablis, predominantly from their base in Fontenay-Près-Chablis, and it remains a large, extended family, including independent producers such as of Nathalie et Gilles Fèvre.

Goodbye William Fèvre…

Chablis yesterday:

2005 camille giroud volnay taillepieds

By billn on July 18, 2019 #degustation

Camille Giroud Volnay Taillepieds

I remember an apology (many years ago) ‘we only had labels from 2006 left‘ – no problem – it’s the wine that counts – eh?

2005 Camille Giroud, Volnay 1er Taillepieds
The cork broke into two – but had, otherwise, done a good job.
Plenty of (only modestly aged) colour. The nose is big, frank, and inviting – there’s a super depth of concentrated red fruit, topped with floral notes and a subtle anecdote of barrel. Like the nose, the flavour is just so concentrated but with acid-led energy too – fine texture but no fat. Long, direct and highly impressive. Open, but still very youthful. Half of this made it through to day two, and here the concentration and impressive balance remained, but overall the performance was tighter, still direct, but no-longer floral. Potentially great wine – but only if I can keep my hands off my last 2 bottles!
Rebuy – Yes

weekend wines and pics – week 28 2019

By billn on July 16, 2019 #degustation#travels in burgundy 2019

Hmm, not really ‘grand’ wines, but plenty of delicious wines!

The first two from ‘the list’ in Beaune’s The Publican pub:

Nicolas Maillet’s 2016 – was just a great wine, and cheaper on the wine-list than the Bourgogne Blanc of Mikulski. Concentrated, layered flavour but with perfect balance – bravo.

David Croix’s 2017 – was relatively deeply coloured for the vintage. Another wine of layers but also of easy, delicious drinking.
Nathalie & Gilles Fevre’s 2016 – doesn’t have the same energy as their 2017s, but you would, all the same, directly say ‘Chablis’ if you were given this blind. So much flavour, balanced without being over-energetic. Savoured, as opposed to ‘experienced’ as you might say about the 2017s right now.

Jadot’s 2000 – now that’s a wine, and a young wine too. Forward, engrossing aroma of freshness and a graphite-style minerality. Mouth-filling, fresh, complex – it will easily go another 10 years if you wish – super, super, delicious wine – bravo!
Roty’s 2010 – You might think a bit old for ‘Grand Ordinaire’ but that’s far from the case. A purer but easier red fruit vs the Jadot – easier to drink – deliciously so – but nothing like the complexity and engrossing interest of that Jadot. Brilliant for what it is though!

Finally, some weekend views around Beaune:

this weekend it’s all limestone – abbaye of saint vivant & quarry art

By billn on July 15, 2019 #travels in burgundy 2019

We can’t just sit and drink coffee during the weekend in Beaune can we?

So on Saturday, we took the road to Curtil-Vergy for a visit to the Abbaye of Saint Vivant. There is a never-ending supply of work for the masons here, but no great (obvious!) changes since we were last here a few a months ago:

Then following the road down to Nuits St.Georges we stopped to visit the quarry cleared by the locals and now a home for occasional concerts and art displays – worth a trip to view (no cost of entry but a ‘donation’ towards the upkeep is welcomed). Written guides are available in French and German but not yet English. Whilst these are impressive walls of stone – there are other local quarries with 3x the wall-height – though no art 😉

this morning in beaune grèves

By billn on July 13, 2019 #travels in burgundy 2019

Early to the market, breakfast, two coffees then a walk in the vines – we were already back home by 10h30 – now that’s a rarity on a Saturday 🙂

Here some views from this morning in Beaune 1er Les Grèves:

in the vines today…

By billn on July 12, 2019 #travels in burgundy 2019#vintage 2019

A tour in the Côte de Beaune: all is very dry here, and the first signs of hydric stress in some of the very rocky parts of Puligny-Folatières is being noted. Otherwise the vines are largely in rude health, though a little powdery mildew can be found in some chardonnay plots. Rain would be a nice present for the growers, one of whom told me today “The harvest date is potentially coming forward – If we get a little rain, we could even be starting to harvest whites between 05-10 September.” That could be up to a week earlier than most reports – but rain will be needed for that.

Burgundy Report

Translate »

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