Auxey-Duresses: Village Profile
When it comes to white wine recommendations and the common old question of ‘what’s a better value alternative to Puligny or Meursault?‘ my toes curl and my teeth grind when people, with an assured air of superior knowledge, authoritatively boom – ‘Oh you should look at St.Aubin!‘ Save for a… Read More
Clos de Vigne au Saint – 118% Corton!
Jasper Morris’s book ‘Inside Burgundy’ describes Corton Clos de la Vigne au Saint as covering 2.46 hectares, yet, if you add up the surface areas of today’s three owners; des Croix, Louis Latour and Méo-Camuzet, you will come up with a larger number – 18% larger! The first reference… Read More
Burgundy’s merchant class – facing up to a changing market
Versus a generation ago – let us say 30 years – the market dynamics of traders who buy and sell wine have been far from static. The traditional Beaune-based merchants, or the ‘Maisons’ remain the focus of commentators but they have much more competition today, and at all levels… Read More
Olivier Leflaive – 2013
Tasted in Puligny-Montrachet with Frank Grux, 17th March 2015. Back in October/November 2014 Frank Grux didn’t want to show his unfinished 2013s, so I instead visited their 12s. Now the 2013s are all in bottle Frank’s happy to show them. I sometimes think it’s a shame that all producers… Read More
Corton-Charlemagne 2012 – blind…
Before delving into the detail, it’s worth saying ‘what a great set of wines’ this was. I used my normal nomenclature (Rebuy: no – maybe – yes) converted to 0-2 points, plus my favourite wine getting 3 points, but there was nothing here that I wouldn’t enjoy sharing… Read More
Maranges: ‘Village’ Profile
Maranges is a series of complexities or even contradictions: The appellation of Maranges was created in 1989 – before, this was regional wine and the largest part was sold in bulk. Maranges is a semi-circle of vines at the south of the Côte d’Or where the generally east-facing… Read More
The big round-up
Here’s a compendium of wines, mainly tasted with producers at the end of March 2012 – almost 200 wines – the bulk are culled from tastings put on for the Grands Jours de Bourgogne which happens every two years. I’ll start with a selection of wines from Beaune, followed by… Read More
Pommard New & Older (…1999)
From the Grands Jours in Burgundy at the end of March, one of my favourite tastings. In the grand rooms of the Château du Pommard the local growers presented their young wines – as always there wasn’t time for me to get around the whole thing, but I think there’s… Read More
Round-up of wines tasted
No slurping or spitting! This is a compendium of wines that were drunk with food, friends and family, between April 2009 and the end of July 2009. 70 bottles are listed here, but there are another 155 dotted through this Summer Report that it didn’t make sense to list… Read More