And 2015? – nearly 50 wines now bottled
Nice to see how the bottled wines now look – plenty of truly great reds, though much harder to find great whites – seemingly more success by domaine than by particular wines in the whites! The whites: 2015 De Villaine, Bouzeron A modest nose, quite tight. Full, saline, slowly… Read More
2017 Vintage – what we know in 2017 – and a few pointers…
This was my 14th consecutive harvest in Burgundy – triaging the grapes of multiple villages. I believe that this, together with questioning the winemakers, is the best balance of first-hand and third-party input required to comment on the vintage. If the frosted 2016 vintage was seemingly a case of quality… Read More
2017 Vintage Growing Season
I know that I say this every year(!) but it’s not just about the harvest, there are many factors that can influence a harvest, going right back to the growing season and harvest from the previous year: Autumn 2016. The harvest finished relatively late – for modern times – it… Read More
2017 harvest – 19 september
99.9% of the harvesting is now over, only the late finishers of the Côte de Nuits (and maybe Hautes Côtes!) such as Damoy, Ponsot and Grivot seem to be unfinished. Even Marko de Morey finished his harvesting yesterday – surviving a weekend bout of a sore throat and heavy… Read More
2017 harvest – 15 september
Nuits St.Georges – almost a double rainbow 5 minutes later… Today was more like April – despite a dry forecast – the showers came blustery and sometimes heavy. There was even hail at lunchtime at Gevrey rail-station – but the localised nature of these squalls seems to have… Read More
2017 harvest – 14 september
Nuits’ Clos de l’Arlot , this afternoon… Although I ‘did’ Nuits and Chambolle yesterday, I’m a sucker for a nice view – so today, the team of l’Arlot were at it again, plus more again in the swathe of vines (Premeaux) south of Nuits close to Les St.Georges. Read More
Weekend wines – week 34 2017
2010 Nicolas Rossignol, Savigny les Beaune 1er Aux Fourneaux The last Bourgogne was deep and structured with a little oak – yet drank very quickly. This wine simply ticks all the boxes, and the bottle is empty quicker than you expect. Quite a deep colour. The nose is… Read More
weekend wines – week 33 2017
Dinner with friends on Friday, so no note-taking, just a ‘hazy’ memory jotted down a couple of days later… The house prosecco got the evening moving before changing gear with Chandon de Briailles’ 2007 Charlemagne which was golden coloured, smelled a little of oak, nuts, honey. The mouth showed… Read More
weekend wines – week 32 2017
Three super wines this weekend! 2014 Château Pommard, Pommard Clos Marey-Monge There’s no doubting the ambition here; a new bottle design (shape), and an impressively wide, if Screwpull unfriendly neck, then there’s the new label design. It doesn’t stop there, there’s the oak too: A good depth… Read More