Profile: Château de Chamirey
Tasted in Mercurey with Amaury Devillard, 18 November 2018. Château de Chamirey Rue du Château, 71640 Mercurey Tel: +33 3 85 45 21 61 www.chamirey.com The Château de Chamirey is actually home to a number of domaines, each keeping their own label… Read More
Vincent Latour – 2018
Tasted in Meursault with Vincent Latour, 04 November 2019. Domaine Vincent Latour 6 Rue du 8 Mai 1945 21190 Meursault Tel: +33 3 80 21 22 49 www.domaine-vincentlatour.com Vincent on 2019: “This year was complicated by the fact… Read More
2019 Beaujolais Nouveau
160 wines blind-tasted in Beaujolais, 05 November 2019.
Of course, 2019 was another in the series, the trilogy, of warm years - but one with instances of frost. More drastic than the frost was a late-arriving hailstorm that on the 20th of August swept through the south of Beaujolais, cutting yields - in some cases drastically. The average losses were minus 30% - but it was Beaujolais-Villages where the most was lost, hence, the volume of ‘Nouveau de Garde’ has been significantly reduced this year.
I've previously laughed out load about the concept of Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau - Nouveau that you can cellar - so I will not bore you about that, not this time!
This year I embarked on a 160 wine gamayathon; I was certainly tired at the end, fortunately not emotional though! This year we even had 8 Nouveau of a different colour - rosé... That's up from the 3 from last year that I didn't taste(!) At this rate of growth we will have 20 in 2020!
What to expect and what's really worth buying
So three quite hot years, generally that's beneficial to the quality, but with three different results:
2017 - low yielding and probably because of that a really high quality in both the Nouveau and the Villages Nouveau
2018 - less low yielding, and that was the crux. Basic Nouveau was much more variable but the Villages Nouveau was more consistent
2019 - because of frost and hail, yields were cut, and for the consumer that has once more brought consistency and quality to the basic Nouveau category due to lower yields. I think only twice did I instantly say 'No!' and run from a particular wine. As for the Villages Nouveau - here was overwhelmingly more concentration and particularly intensity - the intensity of acidity - probably okay if you wish to cellar your Nouveau for 6-12 months, but I was looking for the balance for drinking now, and from this tasting that was relatively rare. As for the rosé wines - super, all of them - really a great source of easy, delicious drinking for the next weeks - or even longer - why not? Read More
touring in the chalonnaise today…
A cool day temperature-wise – but also lots of cool things to see – the sun showing beautifully in the late afternoon: Starting our Saturday… Now all the aligoté is picked! Who… Read More
Profile: Albert Grivault – Clos des Perrières 2017-1928
Tasted, appreciatively, with Michel Bardet, his 3 daughters and one son, plus many other family members and clients, in Beaune, 20 May 2019. Domaine Albert Grivault 7 Place du Murger 21190 Meursault Tel. +33 3 80 21 23 12 Following the death of his father and… Read More
Profile: Château des Ravatys
Tasted in Saint-Lager with Axel Joubert, 09 May 2019. Château des Ravatys 37 Ravatys 69220 Saint-Lager Tel: +33 4 74 66 80 35 www.chateaudesravatys.com An impressive and unusual producer – it is effectively the Domaine de l’Institut Pasteur. This is a domaine that’s far too… Read More
Château de Marsannay – 2017
Tasted in Marsannay with Sylvain Pabion, 23 April 2019. Château Marsannay 2 Rue des Vignes 21160 Marsannay-la-Côte Tel: +33 3 80 51 71 11 www.chateau-marsannay.com The approach here is a blend of organic and biodynamic preparations, plenty of investment too. 45 cuvees… Read More
Mainly Beaujolais – new names & many magnums
Bien Boire en Beaujolais 2019 afforded me to the opportunity of finding a few (relatively) new names – here are 10 of them. Where possible I mainly tasted their 2017s. The domaines were not all from Beaujolais – truth be told, there’s some very nice Mâconnais domaines too! Plus I… Read More
all change today in morey st.denis…
Important, grand cru, changes are underway today in Morey St.Denis. It has been known, for a little while, that Jacques Devauges will be leaving Clos de Tart – after (in my opinion) too short a tenure. I believe that Jacques liberated the wine of Clos de Tart –… Read More