Recent Cote de Beaune reds

Moving swiftly on to recent C de B reds...

This was a Beaune 1er cru Teurons 2015 from Domaine Chanson. It was a very dark colour and came across as rich, ripe and somewhat international. I did enjoy the blackberry fruit, which became more prominent when we moved on to the cheese course, and there was some dark chocolate, but the unresolved tannins led us to believe it might be better in 10 years. We gave it an 8, with the potential to become a 9 in the future.

We had another Beaune recently which was very different - G provided this 1er cru Les Blanches Fleurs 1991 from Tollot-Beaut at a recent Sunday lunch. It had that nose of elderly Burgundy with some sweetness and sous-bois. On the palate, it was congruent and silky with lovely red berry fruit. G told us that 1991 was a very good vintage, but overshadowed by 1990. This wine was probably quite challenging in its youth. We gave it a 9.

At the same lunch, we also had a Volnay 1er cru Santenots-du-Milieu 1996 from Domaine des Comtes Lafon. I always associate this domaine with Caveau des Arches as we've had so many of their wines there, . This was a darker colour and I found the nose very exciting - not exactly feral, but with a lot of animal notes. Half an hour in, it because more fragrant. As I was distracted by lively conversation I failed to make detailed notes but summarised it as "this is really serious, classy stuff" (unfortunately it also comes with a serious price tag so thanks again to G for forking out for it). We gave it a 9. I see we actually had the 2011 vintage three years ago, which I reported on here.

Later in the week we had another Volnay, this time 1er cru Mitans 2015 from Vincent Perrin. It was dark and glossy in the glass with an enticing nose of blackcurrant and blackcurrant leaf, according to G. It was powerful and intense with hedgerow fruits and later on, a black cherry note. It was meaty, complex and satisfying. We felt there was no rush on it and it would last a further 15 years, but if drinking now, then a 3 hour decant would be wise. We gave it an 8 with the potential to go higher. 

And finally, on Wednesday, sadly a bottle of my Cacheux 2005 Vosne turned out to be incorrect, so we had this Mercurey 1er cru La Chassiere 2016 from Vincent & Jean-Pierre Charton instead. I always think of Mercury as croquant and this was no exception. It was quite tart. G developed a theory that we've been drinking them either 3 years too young or 3 years too old, and that they should be drunk either young and fruity or older when the structure has had a chance to develop. I guess we hit this one in its sulky adolescence phase. Initially, we thought it would be a 7, but it improved over time, becoming lusher and rounder and ended up a low 8, suggesting it has a future. Mercurey is a village to watch, with climate change working in its favour, and prices still quite reasonable by Burgundy standards - this one came in at less than £30. 

That brings me to the end of my recent wine notes. I'm off to see Maman A du V next week (rules permitting) and have a nice bottle of port to drink while I'm there... happy Christmas everyone!

Recent Cote de Nuits reds

Moving on to recent reds, there have been quite a few!

We had this Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Clos Saint-Jacques 2013 from Domaine Louis Jadot a few weeks ago. It came in a whopping great Jancis-unfriendly bottle to show how expensive it was.   

The nose caused noises of pleasure to be emitted - it was like sweet cherry compote, while on the palate it was deft and not too heavy. I'd wondered if it was going to be a monster wine and difficult to share between two, but we had no problem getting it down us. It also had a notable peacock's tail. We gave it a high 9. 

Then, back at the Hawkmoor, it was battle of the Chambolles!

  

In the red corner, this 1er cru Aux Beaux Bruns 2013. This had a wonderful nose with sweet fruit and icing sugar, and a massive line of blackcurrant going down the middle. G also detected chocolate. It was very smooth but we thought it wasn't ready yet. 

It did look absolutely beautiful in the glass.

Meanwhile, in the blue corner, we had this 1er cru Les Grunchers 2013 from Thibault Liger-Belair. For me, this was more brooding, with dark fruits and liquorice. I found a lot of tannin. However, there was some debate as others found this one more approachable, causing me to wonder if we had somehow got them mixed up during pouring, but I don't think we did. In the end, we gave them both a 9. For me, the Faively was the winner, which was gratifying as it was also considerably less expensive although still not exactly cheap. 

Stay tuned for my report on recent Cote de Beaune reds which will be coming soon...

Recent white premier crus

November was a busy month. I finally made it to Pennsylvania and got married! I had a lovely time over there and as usual it was a bit of a wrench coming back, but the visa application process is now underway and in the meantime there is wine to drink and notes to be made. 

Starting with the whites.

We actually drank this one in September - a Nuits St Georges 1er cru les Terres Blanches 2013 from Fabienne Bony. It was an attractive mid-gold colour, and had for me a lovely mushroomy thing on the nose, while G detected hazelnuts. On the palate, it was quite rich with a nice texture, and elements of citrus and honey. There was a lovely tingly spritz of lime on the finish, and a hint of ripe peach appeared as time went on. It was very well-balanced and we felt it was drinking perfectly now but wouldn't keep much longer. We gave it 9 points. 

Then, a couple of weeks ago, we went to the Hawksmoor where G brought along this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru La Romanee 2013 from Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard to go with the starter. Sadly, it was suffering from premox and was nutty but not in a good way, along with a hint of potting shed. It was a shame, but I thought it was worth noting for the record. Nul points. 

And finally, last Sunday I went round to G and H's for lunch. A bottle of very fancy Sancerre turned out to be corked - our hit rate seems to be about 1 in 2 at the moment! - but fortunately G had a back up option, this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Les Petits Clos 2015 from Jean-Noel Gagnard. There were sighs of pleasure (and relief) all round. It was quite pale in colour, the nose reminded me of a Puligny and on the palate it was impeccable - elegant with good acidity, especially for a 2015. It had a great finish, and worked very well with some very smoky smoked salmon and the world's biggest lettuce. We gave it 10 points. Apparently it had quite a hefty price tag, but well, it was probably worth it. Thanks G for sharing all of these with me!

Frappato lunch and 1980 port horizontal

Just a brief one today to record a couple of tastings earlier in the month. 

At the start of October, I was invited by G to a lunch involving copious amounts of Frappato, from Sicily. He had visited a couple of years ago and come across the wines of Ariana Occhipinti, then acquired three different cuvees. Notes were not taken, so what follows will be brief!

We started with the "bog standard" version from 2018 which was pretty good. Having never encountered frappato before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be lighter and more minerally than a big sunny red of the nero d'avola tendency. ACC compared it to a Beaujolais.

Then we had the three special cuvees, all from 2017. BB stands for Bombolieri, FL is Fossa di Lupo and PT is Pettineo, all different vineyards. We drank them in alphabetical order and the general consensus was that the BB was relatively light and pretty, the FL was weightier and also more alcoholic at a whopping 13%, and the PT was the best of both worlds. A fascinating comparison!

Then last week, I was able to attend a 1980 port vertical organised by G for the Port Forum. There were 12 of us present, and 14 ports. I was tasked with bringing along the Dow and G gave me very precise instructions on what to do. Unfortunately the cork was very crumbly and I didn't have a spare, but a champagne stopper saved the day. 

It's always interesting to see the aerial view. The Dow, in the middle at the back, was a particularly dark colour and G thought it wasn't ready yet. 

The general consensus was that 1980 wasn't a very exciting or complex vintage, but as someone who doesn't drink that much port, I still enjoyed it. Points were awarded and the winner was the Gould Campbell, whereas my favourite was the Offley Boa Vista which looked absolutely beautiful and reminded me of chocolate-covered berries. Once again, the Quinta do Noval Nacional didn't justify its exorbitant price tag, being considered merely "quite pretty". None of them were obviously duff - the Burmester was a bit murky and had a slightly odd nose, possibly because it was at the end of its drinking window. Another fascinating evening and thanks G for inviting me. 

Swiss Pinot Noir Society, 30th September 2021

After18 months, we finally had another meeting of the SPNS! All were present except ACC who had a prior engagement, and it was lovely to see everyone.

Proceedings commenced with this Nicolas Feuillatte non-vintage rose provided by P. It was a cheery colour, prompting a debate between G and T as to what precise type of salmon it most resembled. I found it refreshing and fruity (possibly benefiting from First Wine of the Evening Effect) and D described it as easy drinking and thought it would go well with shrimp. 

Upstairs in the dining room, we weren't at our usual table - outrageous! It was good to see the Savile so busy, although a lively group nearby made it hard to hear at times. While we were waiting to order, we pressed on with this Edoardo Miroglio viognier traminer blend, from the Thracian Valley in Bulgaria, a name which brought back vague memories of A Level Greek for me. The vintage was 2020 and the wine was brought by T. I'm already struggling to read the comments in the book, but G described it as light as a feather. For some reason I'd got the impression from T that it might be slightly sweet, so it was drier than I expected and very quaffable - I thought it would be wonderful on a hot summer's day, just the thing to sip while lying in a hammock. All in all, an excellent discovery from T.

Next up was this Forge Cellars Seneca Lake Dry Riesling 2018 brought by, surprise, D! This was a fabulous golden colour and had a wonderful classic riesling nose. For me it had a core of lime running through it, while D detected pears and peaches. It had good body, good acid and a long finish. I haven't been to this winery but would certainly add it to the list for consideration on a future trip.

The main event was this magnum of Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour cabernet sauvignon from 1980, brought by G. The nose was generally considered a triumph with plum, currant and even ink, if I'm reading G's handwriting correctly. The palate was more divisive, with T feeling that it was a little disappointing whereas I enjoyed the blackcurrant, mint and cedar very much. There was some debate as to whether it was actually ready, or whether it needed a bit more air. Either way, we had no problem dispatching the magnum between us.

And finally, I failed to take a photo of my own contribution which was a Lorentz 1984 vendange tardive gewurztraminer from Alsace, obtained at auction with some other pretty good stuff a couple of years ago. It was a wonderful amber colour and very aromatic, but had lost the typical gewurz perfume and wasn't as sweet as I expected. I thought maybe it was slightly over the hill, but D thought it was still young. It was generally well-received.

We've now almost reached the end of the Book, which prompted me to check when we started - it was July 2009. It's very pleasing that the SPNS has been going for 12 years and hopefully normal service can now resume. In other news, I was delighted to hear yesterday that the US travel ban is being lifted on 8th November, and will be heading over there shortly afterwards. I've completely lost track of what wine I have stashed away in Pennsylvania, so it will be exciting to find out, and I'll also be heading to the booze store to grab a bottle of Dad's Hat to add to my spirit collection. Can't wait!

Recent reds report - Cote de Beaune

Things have been looking up here - am just back from a few days in Norfolk with my family, during which the news broke that the US travel ban is being lifted in November. It feels like a cloud has lifted and soon I'll be on my way back to Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, a report on some reds from the Cote de Beaune, descending from north to south. 

Here we have a Ladoix 1er cru Les Basses Mourottes 2014 from Gaston & Pierre Ravaut. It was quite dark in colour with a pale rim. We enjoyed the nose, which was full of dark things from underneath a hedgerow - truffle, mushrooms, blackcurrant and what G described as "elderly sheep dropping" although I'm unsure whether he was speaking from experience. It was all very interesting. On the palate, it was a little light on fruit and a bit rustic, but nevertheless I recorded that I seemed to have drunk it without noticing, so it was clearly quite enjoyable. We felt it was fully mature and needed no more time, and gave it an 8.

This Pommard 1er cru Fremiers 2012 from Nicolas Rossignol was the first of two recent Pommards. It was a nice garnet colour and had a lovely nose of summer fruit tart. There were some chunky tannins on the palate, or "matiere" as G described it - reminiscent of plum skins and cocoa. Somehow we doubted it was 13% as claimed. We felt it was a posh wine, exuding quality and I described it as a good wine to take to a dinner party, as it would be bound to impress. We thought it needed another 5 years to reach its full potential, and gave it a low 9 but with the potential to go higher. I note that the domaine is based in Volnay, and indeed it did have a certain similarity to Perrin's wines. It was quite pricey at £83. 

Then we have this Pommard 1er cru Clos les Arvelets 2014 from Mark Haisma. This had an engaging fruity, sweet nose with some nice raspberries going on. It was silky with lots of fruit on the midpalate and some chocolatey tannins on the finish. I sometimes find Pommard a bit heavy and brooding but occasionally I find one which really ticks my boxes (Maison Romane's Argilliere being the prime example) and this was almost in that category, with more finesse than some. "A lighter way to enjoy Pommard" as G put it. The 2014s seem to be giving us a lot of pleasure at the moment, and we felt this was drinking perfectly now. It was a solid 9, but then again it did cost £85.

Moving on down the map, we come to Santenay. This was a 1er cru le Beaurepaire 2017 from Jean-Marc Vincent. It was an attractive ruby colour but had a slightly dumb nose. On the palate, it was juicy and fresh, and a little bit croquant. We thought it was designed to be drunk young, and wasn't a particularly serious wine, unlike say the Santenays from Choupette which need more time to come round. On the other hand it was only £36. We thought it was a quintessential 8.

A quick detour to the west takes us to Maranges, which always brings back happy memories of the somewhat dilapidated maison de maitre we found on a property website a few years ago, with a lovely view over the vineyards. This was a Maranges 1er cru Le Croix Moines 2016 from Camille Giroud. Got to love that font, which is even on the cork! It looked glossy and inviting, with massive legs, and a really fabulous heady nose which reminded me of black cherry clafoutis. On the palate it was congruent and for me it still had black cherries while G got bramble. It went really well with our crispy duck and pancakes, and positively evaporated. We felt it was completely ready to drink and gave it a 9. At £33, it was fantastic value. 

Finally, we venture down to Mercurey where we had three examples of the genre recently. This Mercurey 1er cru Clos L'Eveque 2014 came from Romain Chapuis, whose low sulphur wines are a particular favourite of mine. This was glossy and looked young, and had a wonderful nose of wild strawberries which G described as feral. I loved it. It was relatively lightweight with immediate charm and good acidity, but didn't really feel like a premier cru, more a vin de plaisir. We gave it a high 7.

The other two Mercureys both came from P&M Jacqueson, with their immediately-recognisable squiggly font. First we have the 1er cru "Les Champs Martin" 2015. This had a fruity nose and was juicy and croquant, delicious lightweight pinot, with a slight hint of wine gums. It was crying out for a baguette and a bit of cheese and pate. I found it very enjoyable and we thought it was the sort of wine that would do well in hot vintages. We gave it a solid 8.

Finally, here we have the 1er cru Les Velley 2016. This had orchard fruit on the nose, but was richer and heavier on the palate, with quite a lot of oomph, and was fresh medium-weight pinot. It was slightly tart on the finish in an enjoyably mouthwatering way. I might have thought it was a Santenay if I'd been tasting it blind. We also gave it a solid 8 and my opinion of this domaine continues to be very favourable. I think we've been finding that Mercurey and perhaps also Rully deliver considerable pleasure at a not exorbitant price, and are perhaps coming into their own with the hotter weather in recent years. 

As always many thanks to G for supplying these and keeping the Premier Cru Project on the road! I'm happy to report that a modicum of social life is on the agenda in the near future, with D visiting from the Finger Lakes next week and several exciting tastings lined up. Bring it on!

Recent reds report - Cote de Nuits

The first of two reports on recent reds. Today it's the Cote de Nuits working from north to south. 

A quick memo on a bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Bel Air 2011 from Domaine Taupenot-Maume. Sadly this bottle was not correct. G identified it as a bacteriological issue. 

Moving swiftly on, this bottle of G-C was much better.

This was a 1er cru les Goulots 2013 from Domaine Heresztyn-Mazzini. It looked absolutely wonderful and glossy. The nose was fabulous, with rich ripe fruit, reminding us of a fruit tart from a very high class patisserie. It was delicious with juicy blackcurrant on the palate, but wasn't particularly typique - it reminded us more of a Nuits St George from a producer in Vosne-Romanee. (Am aware that that may be the most pretentious sentence I've ever written on this blog.) It had great persistence and a lovely peacock's tail on the finish. We felt it was drinking very nicely now and would last another 5 years. While not exactly cheap, it wasn't super-pricey either, around £60. We gave it 9.5 points and thought it might get up to a 10 in three years. For some reason, my notes include the phrase "Because I'm worth it." Not sure if I said that or G did! Thanks to him anyway for supplying it. 

Two non premier crus next. First this Bourgogne rouge 2005 from Dugat-Py. This claimed to be only 12.5%. It had lovely legs, an intense colour and a somewhat brooding nose. It was powerful, structured and intense, with sour cherries and an umami quality - I wondered if it was leather or coffee. Absolutely not the light, pretty style of bourgogne rouge. We did wonder if it was actually ready, but then that's 2005 for you. It certainly felt like it was playing above its level and blind we would have thought it was a village wine or even a premier cru.

Staying with 2005, I'm delighted to report that my village Vosne-Romanee from Jacques Cacheux, bought back in the day, has finally come round! This was big, rich and blackcurranty, and not very typical Vosne, in fact it reminded us of Gevrey. It was muscular but had the fruit to support it now, and was decent mature Burgundy. I still have two or three bottles to look forward to, hurrah!

For some reason I failed to take a pic of the last one, a Nuits-St-Georges 1er cru les Boudots 2010 from Louis Jadot, Domaine Gagey. It was very Cote de Nuits on the nose, with chocolate, blackberries and black cherries, but less sweet on the palate with great structure and mouthwatering acidity. It had fine-grained tannins, with that slightly powdery quality that reminds me of cocoa, and an enjoyable slightly tart note. It was a great combination with venison fillet and went down surprisingly easily, but G  thought it might not be attractive in a minor vintage. It still seemed fairly young. We gave it a low 9 and wondered if it might make a 10 in ten years time.