Santenay 1er cru Clos de Tavannes 2007

The other night G and I had this bottle of Santenay 1er cru Clos de Tavanne 2007 from Domaine Capuano-Ferreri & Fils. I got it from a shop in Santenay when we were there a few weeks ago, for the princely sum of either 16 or 18 euros (didn't get a receipt) - either way, not much. As you would expect, the shop had a lot of Santenays and other Côte Chalonnaise wines and I'd like to go back some time, although the girl behind the counter seemed rather taken aback when we walked in and one got the impression she had never had a customer before, let alone three at once, and was deeply suspicious about our intentions.

I see that the premier cru project record-keeping has not been as good as it should have been as we have actually had Clos de Tavanne before, the 2005 from Nicolas Potel. However, we didn't know that the other night so had no preconceptions.

We decanted it for 2 hours and it was a beautiful dark red. It had a sweet nose - G detected grapes while I got pear drops. On the palate, it was perfectly balanced, medium-weight and succulent. I wrote "Delicious!" It went down with no struggle at all, was drinking perfectly now and was only 13% alcohol. This domaine was not previously known to me, but they get a thumbs up for this one, and it was yet another reminder of how lovely the 2007 reds are at the moment. We gave it an 8, which given that it cost just 16 or 18 euros is a pretty good score.

Madeira dinner, 20th Jan

On Thursday G held his annual Madeira dinner at the Savile Club. This year's theme was extinct producers. We opened the wines on Sunday afternoon to give them time to breathe and get rid of any bottle-sickness, and to taste them so that he could write his tasting notes and work out the running order. This also gave me the chance to take photos so that I could write a detailed post about it on here, as during the dinner itself one tends to find oneself distracted by the sparkling conversation of one's fellow guests...

We tasted 15 madeiras altogether.

1. Meio Seco, Manuel de Passos Freitas


This was a medium brown colour - most of them were, so I will only mention colour on the rest where it was anything different - and had some bits of gunk floating about in it on Sunday, when it had just been decanted. I got turps or "hint of the potting shed" on the nose and T found the palate soapy. On Sunday I recorded that it was actively unpleasant, and we gave it no stars out of a possible five, but by Thursday G considered that it rated one star.

The seal on the bottle refers to the Junta Nacional which indicates that this wine was bottled in the 1970s. And what a delightfully cheery label it is!

2. Vinhos Viuva Abudarham & Filhos

This had that thing on the nose that shoots up your nostrils, cleans out your sinuses and makes your eyes water slightly. T, who knows about chemistry, said this is isopropionic acid. It was noticeably bottle-sick on first tasting and by Thursday had improved a lot. G thought it was a sweet sercial.

The bottle was wobbly, indicating that it was hand-blown. The label showed that this wine won a gold medal in 1889, so it probably dated from around 1880.

3. Verdelho, Silva Vinhos


This was a murky mid-brown. It had a horrible nose - my notes read "Ew, really nasty." On the palate (the fainthearted should look away now) it literally tasted like bile. This was the case on both Sunday and Thursday. Extremely unpleasant.

G tells me that Silva Vinhos were a minor producer who set up in 1990 and had gone out of business by 2002. I doubt that anyone shed any tears.

4. Verdelho, Adegas de Torreao


This was a darkish brown colour. I found the nose unpleasant, and the palate was unfortunately congruent with the nose. By Thursday it had improved a bit, but started better than it finished. It actually had a very long finish, but since it wasn't nice, that wasn't a plus point.

G informs me that the bottle was pre-1963. A remarkably modern-looking label!

5. Phoenix, Joao Lomelino


This one was interesting. It was a clear golden-brown colour and looked nice. On Sunday, I liked it - it was quite sweet in the midpalate but had a dry finish - and G and I had a debate about what grape it was made from, as he thought it was malmsey but I thought it was drier than that.

By Thursday, it had gone downhill. T made a comment about acetone which went over my head but I don't think it was intended as a compliment, and it had become oily, with "a tart edge" rather than a dry finish.

The bottle dated from the 19th century but G thought that the contents was a solera of early 20th century wines.

6. Castle Grand Gold, WA Gilbey

This madeira was bottled by Gilbeys, the gin firm, who would have acted as a pure bottler in this case. It had a lovely texture with a lot of glycerin, the kind of wine that reminds me of Benylin cough mixture from my childhood. It tasted of sweet, creamy fudge. T breathed a sigh of relief at this point and said it was "worth drinking".

One unusual thing about this wine was that the sediment ran down one side of the bottle, indicating that it had been stored on its side. This indicates that it was stored in Britain, as we Brits are used to keeping port on its side to prevent the air getting in. The Madeirans store madeira standing up, as they want the air to get in.

The label made a reference to the "late King George V". He died in 1936 which suggests that it was bottled in the late 1930s.

7. C, Araujo Henriques & Ca


G believes that "C" stands for Campanario, an area of the island noted for its sweeter wines. This was darker in colour, and was a classic malmsey with caramel and marmalade flavours.

The bottle was a litre bottle, which apparently is the biggest size that madeira wine can be sold in - sadly no magnums here! Again the seal referred to the Junta Nacional suggesting the wine was bottled in the mid-1970s.

8. Boal Solera 1930, Veiga Franca

This was a darker brown, and muddy in appearance. It had a powerful, sweet nose. It was much sweeter than most of the wines we tasted, but was lacking in subtlety.

G informed us that a madeira solera has to be at least 9% wine from the vintage in which the solera began - the Madeira solera system works differently from the sherry one where there could be a miniscule amount of the original wine left. I never knew that. More on solera systems can be found here, including some mathematical equations for the hardcore.

9. Cama de Lobos, Welsh Brothers

Again, this was dark brown and was probably a boal. It had wonderful legs. On Sunday it was still slightly bottle-sick and G said this was because it had been bottled under screwcap which is too efficient a seal for madeira. On the palate, it was fruity, with dried cherries and prunes. We all liked it, even T!

The label said it was made by appointment to King Gustaf V of Sweden, who died in 1950.

10. Moscatel, Vasco Luis Pereira


This was quite dark too, but clear. It had an intriguing nose which we thought boded well. On the palate, it had a nice mouthfeel and was very sweet without being cloying. We detected sultanas. It had good length too.

Details on the seal indicated to G that it was bottled between 1967 and 1970.

11. A, Joao Pereira Oliveira


This was a clear, golden colour. I found that it didn't do much for me on the nose, and on the palate it was dry, savoury and sharp. G described it as razor-sharp sercial and thought that the base was "bathtub aguardente", i.e. a pretty rough spirit, the sort that if you drink it, you go blind.

G thinks the A is based on the classification of wines that the Madeirans used when exporting to South America, A to E meaning dry to sweet. This wine came from the Leacocks sale (see notes on last year's dinner here) but the seal mentioned the letters JPO which is how G knew it was made by Joao Pereira Oliveira, not Leacocks.

12. Franca & Co


On Sunday this was bottle-sick but I noted that there was "something nice underneath it" and indeed this proved to be the case. It was sweet on the nose, with barley-sugar notes, but on the palate it was dry as a bone with a streak of minerality which made us wonder if there was some terrantez involved. However, T, whose ability to detect terrantez at 30 paces is unparalleled, did not think that was the case. In fact, it showed very well on Thursday.

The producers are extremely obscure and G says this is the only bottle of their wine that he has ever seen. The bottle was handmade and wobbly, and the label had all sorts of stuff going on including a crest which could only be seen if you tilted it to catch the light at a certain angle, and some nifty fonts.

13. Krohn Brothers

This wine was a clear, light brown with a greenish rim, and looked like a consommé. The nose was lovely, quite dry but with an element of butterscotch. T got wood varnish! On the palate it had a wonderful unctuous mouthfeel and was sweet with a marmaladey tang on the mid-palate but with a dry finish. It was great madeira, five stars. Fabulous! My wine of the evening.

The label was equally amazing, with some stuff in a cyrillic script in the red area at the bottom and a reference (in the Roman alphabet) to December 1895. Apparently this writing is in Old Russian and we have not yet found anyone able to translate it, but at the end of the evening someone took the bottle away with them for further enquiry so we live in hope. What we can say is that this wine was exported to Russia before the revolution. How exciting is that!

14. Verdelho Solera 1870, Rutherford & Miles

This had a nice thick texture and was marmaladey on the palate but with a certain creaminess too. It was serious stuff, and had a great finish. Very sweet for a verdelho. On Thursday I made a note that it brought a smile to my face. It was my second favourite wine of the evening, after the Krohn Brothers.

15. Boal 1860, Companhia Regional de Esportacao de Vinhos da Madeira

And finally, we had this Boal which was very bottle-sick on Sunday. I found it quite sickly, and G noted that it had a tearing acidity which came through on the finish. On Thursday it had improved a bit and I recorded that it was "ok but just ok". A delightful bottle though, with a fetching wicker cover, masquerading as a bottle of Mateus Rosé!

All in all, this was an extraordinary evening with wines ranging from the absolutely revolting (no.3) to the absolutely stunning (no.13). I have to thank G for his generosity, expertise and hard work in collecting the wines for this tasting and inviting me along. It really is time to start writing that book, G!

Domaine Sylvain Dussort, 7th Jan

On Friday morning we packed up our bags to leave Meursault, but not before a visit to Domaine Dussort. Sylvain mainly specialises in white wines, and his Bourgogne Blanc Cuvee des Ormes always goes down well. I was also particularly impressed with the Meursault Vieilles Vignes 2009. But the big surprise of the tasting was the red Beaune, Fleurs Blanches, which was still in a stainless steel cuve. It had a wonderful perfume and a beautiful colour, and was a good expression of Beaune. Apparently part of this vineyard is premier cru, but this particular wine isn't, so it's rather good value.

Another enormous cellar...

And that wraps up this year's trip to Burgundy - a great selection of committed, enthusiastic, relatively small-scale producers making wines in tiny quantities. It's a privilege to visit them and drink this stuff and I'm very grateful to ACC for arranging these tastings. It seems only fair to mention that some of these wines can be obtained from Edward Parker Wines and compared to other (perhaps more famous) wine merchants, the growers and negociants they work with offer excellent quality without giving you a heart attack when you look at the prices.

Next up on A de V, tomorrow's Madeira dinner where we will be tasting wines from extinct producers - watch this space.

Domaine Latour-Labille, 6th Jan

On the Thursday we spent some time pottering round Beaune during the day (including our statutory visit to Mon Millesime) and then returned to Meursault for a tasting at Domaine Latour-Labille. This was the second time I had visited this domaine, and we were staying in their gite next door, which had a fantastic view of the vineyards. This picture is from their website, and shows the vineyards in the summer.

We started with the whites, which ascend in quality from bourgogne blanc right up to several premier crus - in this case we tasted les Poruzots, les Charmes and les Perrières. These are my kind of Meursaults, big and rich, yet well-balanced, with a lovely unctuous mouthfeel, and wonderful finish.

Then we tried two reds: the Meursault rouge 2007 and the Meursault 1er cru les Cras 2008. These are very unusual, as almost all Meursault is white. The village wine had lovely vibrant berries on the nose but I found it rather light for me on the palate. The 1er cru on the other hand (which is on the border with Volnay) was a significantly darker colour, had an amazing, heady nose, and concentrated blackcurrants on the palate. It was a remarkable wine and we all loved it, as did those who tried it on the previous occasion. Vincent told us that you could drink it with chocolate gateau, amongst other things, and I could well believe it!

Overall, this domaine is making some fantastic wines, and their premier crus are wonderful. They don't come cheap, but they're worth it.

Domaine Giboulot, 5th Jan

Our wonderfully reliable taxi driver, Alain, collected us from Volnay and took us to Beaune where we had an interlude in the cafe over the road from the station, drinking coffee and enjoying the sounds of Nostalgie FM, before walking the short distance to Domaine Giboulot.

This was my second visit here; the last one was back in 2008 so it had been a while. On that occasion, I remember being impressed with the purity of the wines, which are biodynamic. One can argue about whether biodynamism makes for better wines and I don't understand any of the procedures but the proof is surely evident in the tasting.

ACC tells me that biodynamic wines benefit from being decanted a couple of hours before one drinks them, and I have found this to be good advice. But it does mean these wines have to be planned ahead rather than opened when one gets home after a dreadful Tuesday in the office. (Blog update! ACC says this year they do not need decanting so much.)

Emmanuel's cellar is very small and the wines all receive loving care and attention. We tasted the following:

1. Terres Burgondes 2009, a vin de pays made from 100% pinot beurot aka pinot gris. This had a lovely nose, delicate and floral, and had a nice mouthfeel and managed to be both rich and refreshing at the same time, if that's not a contradiction in terms.

2. Cote de Beaune blanc, la Grande Chatelaine 2009. This was made from chardonnay as you'd expect. After the zingy St Romain, I found it slightly bland.

3. Cote de Beaune blanc, les Pierres Blanches 2008. I loved this. It was very well-balanced with citrus fruit and had good weight.

4. La Combe d'Eve blanc 2008. The one with the trendy label! Emmanuel told us that la Combe d'Eve is the name of a particular parcel of grapes. I liked it and it had a wonderful finish.

5. Terres Burgondes rouge 2009. Made from pinot noir, this had lovely, sweet berry fruit on the nose. It was quite light on the palate.

6. Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, Sous le Mont 2009. This was a beautiful colour and I could have inhaled it, it smelled so nice. Very elegant and delicate with lovely fruit, darker berries than the previous wine, and a great finish.

7. Beaune Lulune (rouge), I'm not sure what year this was but assume probably 2009 as I didn't note it. Lulune is a lieu-dit next to the premier crus over on the Pommard side of Beaune. I loved this. Again, light, elegant and well-balanced, everything you want from a Beaune.

Emmanuel was very charming and enthusiastic throughout, and I'm very much looking forward to getting some of these 2009s in my cellar and giving them the appreciation they deserve. Overall, these are beautiful wines, and the purity that I remembered from the previous visit is still the defining characteristic of this domaine.

Domaine Perrin, 5th Jan

After the tasting in Pommard we walked to the Auberge on the main road for lunch. The vines were covered in a heavy frost.

Lunch was great with the exception of a dessert described as a pear chutney which was not a great success. Fortunately I opted for the assiette de fromage!

Then we walked up the hill to Volnay. Last year when we visited Domaine Perrin, it was absolutely perishing and Vincent kindly received us in his kitchen where it was warm. This year it wasn't quite as cold and we got to go in the cellar. It's not big.

Ok, there is another room which isn't shown in the photo...

We tasted our way through the 2009s. The two whites (St Romain and Meursault) were good and consistent with the 2008s - I got a case of the St Romain last year and have no regrets on that front.

The reds ascended from Bourgogne Rouge up to Volnay 1er cru. My top picks were:

1. the Volnay 1er cru la Gigotte. This is a monopole, and it was a showstopper, with rich, soft red fruits. I see from my entry here that I loved it last year too!

2. the Bourgogne Rouge - this had vibrant lively fruit, just what you want from a BR.

3. the Volnay Villages, which if prices are anything like last year offered exceptional value. We had a bottle of the 2008 in October generously provided by the Baron, which I described as delicious here.

Then Vincent produced some 1999s to compare! These wines were made by his father. We had the Volnay Villages, the Volnay 1er cru la Gigotte, and the Pommard les Chanlins. It was remarkable to try these wines with ten years of age on them, and 1999 was an excellent vintage. I found that the Pommard still had chewy tannins, and the star of the trio for me was the Volnay Villages which had a wonderful mature, earthy nose.

Overall, the wines of this domaine are approachable, smooth and elegant with pure, clean fruits. Last year I went for the white St Romain, this year I shall be going for the reds: definitely 1er cru la Gigotte and either the Bourgogne Rouge or the Volnay Villages, or possibly even both depending on what other tempting offerings there are.

Domaine Parent, 5th Jan

On Wednesday morning we were up bright and early to visit Domaine Parent in the village of Pommard. We visited on 5th Jan last year too - maybe this could become an annual tradition...

We were welcomed by Anne Parent who took us down to the cellar for a quick tasting of the 2010s which are still in barrel. It was fascinating to try the white Corton, which had not yet undergone malolactic fermentation when the wine turns from being appley to being creamy. The bad news is that the 2010 vintage is much smaller than the 2009 vintage, for reasons Clive Coates explains here. Anne made only two and half barrels (800 bottles) of the white Corton, instead of the usual six.

We also tried the Pommard Croix Blanches, the Beaune 1er cru les Epenottes, the Pommard 1er cru les Chaponnieres and the Pommard 1er cru les Epenots from barrel. This was just out of curiosity as they are still babies, it was very cold and the weather was doing funny things. Anne tastes her wines every day and said the changing air pressure can make quite a difference to how they taste.

Then we went back upstairs to a cosy tasting room where we were able to sit down and get warm.

The 2009 whites were about to be bottled, and the reds will be bottled at the end of Jan / beginning of Feb. The bottles in the photos below are from my own stash and are not from 2009, they are just for illustrative purposes to liven things up a bit and to show that I've now got round to reading the camera manual and have actually learned to take a photo in focus!

My tasting notes were as follows:

1. Bourgogne rouge. This had a lovely fruity nose and was quite light and approachable.

2. Bourgogne rouge special selection. Anne made this for the first time this year. If I understood correctly, it's made from declassified village wines from Beaune, Volnay and Monthelie and is aged for 14 months. Altogether a more serious wine than the first, with greater finesse and complexity.

3. Pommard La Croix Blanche. I liked this very much, as I usually do - it's Anne's entry-level Pommard and more approachable than the premier crus. She said it was "square" which I thought was a great description. It could be drunk in the next 2-5 years.

Then we moved on to the premier crus. Anne emphasised that there are no major differences in the vinification techniques used on these, so it's the expression of the climat that differs.

4. Beaune 1er cru les Epenottes. This had an absolutely beautiful nose. I haven't written down much by way of description except "God this is delicious" followed by "Sensational!" I'm a big fan of the classic Beaune style, which is elegant and perfumed, and this ticked all the boxes.

I asked Anne if there was any connection between the "Epenottes" of Beaune and the "Epenots" of Pommard. They are not next to each other, but she told us that the word has something to do with thorns. I have just googled it and apparently the word "Epenots" comes from "épines", meaning that these vineyards used to be surrounded with thornbushes. Hands off those grapes then!

5. Pommard 1er cru les Argillières. This vineyard is in the north of Pommard and the name refers to clay. This was one of Anne's classic wines, what I think of as "monster" Pommards, with a brooding, dark nose, very powerful, which would need considerable time to come round.

6. Pommard 1er cru les Chanlins. This is in the south of Pommard, close to Volnay and is a young vineyard. This had a lovely deep purple colour and an enticing nose. It was rich and in a more opulent style than the Argillières.

7. Pommard 1er cru les Chaponnières. I liked this one too, and thought it very long and fine. Anne told us that part of the vineyard is 75 years old, and part is 45 years old. She needs to replant some of the 45 year old part, but the 75 year old part is very healthy!

8. Pommard 1er cru les Epenots. This had a lovely colour again but was more closed on the nose. It had structure and weight and was a very serious wine. Anne said Epenots is the most distinguished, elegant wine in Pommard - subtle and complex (last year, she memorably described it as the "haute couture" of Pommard). This is a wine which must not be drunk too early - it would easily last 20-30 years in my opinion. Time to stash some away for 2033 perhaps?

Note for vineyard anoraks - there are two separate Epenots vineyards in Pommard, les Grands Epenots and les Petits Epenots. Anne told me that she has vines in both but blends them. I think most people who make Epenots do, so this will be an interesting challenge for the Premier Cru Project.

9. Corton grand cru les Renardes. I found this very powerful and rugged, which came as a surprise as at the dinner we had a couple of months ago, it was the Pommard les Epenots that I found powerful and I thought the Corton more elegant. In my defence, the wines we were tasting were all extremely cold!

Then we moved onto the whites, which had just been filtered.

10. Bourgogne blanc. This is unoaked. It had a lovely nose of tarte au citron, good weight and quite high acidity.

11. Corton grand cru. This receives 100% new oak. I found I was not getting the usual heavenly choirs on the nose, possibly due to the filtering. Anne said it had great minerality, which was certainly true, and that the 2009 vintage would be drinking before the 2008. As time went on, it grew on me and by the end of the tasting I decided that I would like to get some this year, allocation permitting (must be extra-nice to ACC).

Anne had also made a white Monthelie in 2009 but it was literally being filtered that day, so we didn't get to taste it. I'd like to try it another time though, if I get the chance, as white Monthelie is very unusual.

During the course of tasting, we had plenty of discussion of vintages. A summary of Anne's views would be:

2002: elegant. Anne mentioned that this was a great vintage for Champagne too - of interest as the prestige cuvees such as Pol Roger's Winston Churchill will be released soon.

2005: the perfect vintage, as good as 1990 which is the vintage as far as Anne is concerned. Even bad winemakers made good wine!

2007: easy to drink immediately, a charming vintage drinking relatively young.

2008: a classic vintage.

2009: bigger, but not as big as 2005. Nature did 70% of the work, and the winemaker did 30%. I love the precision of these percentages!

2010: somewhere between 2008 and 2009.

Anne also told us lots of great stories, like the time she and some of her pals from the women Burgundy winemakers group went to the 3-starred restaurant Lameloise and had a blind tasting. Apparently the sommelier was very disappointed that they guessed all the wines correctly!

It was yet another wonderful tasting from Anne, and the quality of the 2009s was as high as I'd expected. The Beaune in particular was my wine of the tasting.

Finally, I shall end with a link to this interview with Anne where she answers a slightly adapted version of the questionnaire de Proust, fabulous.

Domaine de la Choupette, 4th Jan

I'm just back from another trip to Burgundy and have lots of tastings and wine chat to report on so without further ado it's time to get cracking!

We headed out on Monday morning, popping the traditional bottle of cremant as the Eurostar left St Pancras, and arrived in Beaune in the early evening. We were staying in a new place in Meursault, a lovely gîte decorated in a rather less frilly manner than some places I've stayed in, with a fantastic view of the vineyards, four bedrooms, a giant sofa and TV, and a "minibar" stashed with bottles of fine burgundy at ex-cellar prices from the domaine that owns the gite - what a brilliant idea!

On Tuesday afternoon it was off to Santenay for our first tasting, at Domaine de la Choupette. Santenay is in the south of the Côte de Beaune and slightly off the beaten track. You get the impression that not that many wine tourists visit the village, which has a big square with a cheery fountain, although this was not working at this time of year.

Choupette is a domaine I have wanted to visit for some time, as I'm a big fan of red Chassagne-Montrachet, and also I've enjoyed their Santenay. Madame appeared just as our taxi drove off and took us into a tasting room where we went through the range of 2009s: a white Santenay, a red Maranges, two red Santenays and two red Chassagnes. These had all been bottled on 17th Sept so had had time to settle down.

I was mainly excited by the Santenays and the Chassagnes. The first Santenay was a Vieilles Vignes and had a beautiful colour, cherries on the nose, and was delicate and pure, relatively light, a good picnic or lunchtime wine. The other Santenay was from Comme Dessus which is just above the 1er cru vineyard La Comme (top right on the map). This was rich and succulent, and altogether more serious than the vieilles vignes. Madame said it could be kept up to 12 years! I think I'd struggle to wait that long.

The village Chassagne had a very strong nose of redcurrants and was weightier than the Santenays. It was consistent on the palate and had good acidity. Again it wasn't too heavy, but was very elegant and had a lovely finish. Madame said this wouldn't be drinking until 2014, which I can believe.

And finally, we had the Chassagne 1er cru Les Morgeots which I was eager to try as I'd already bought a case en primeur based on G's recommendation after he tasted it in London in December. They don't make a lot of it and I couldn't risk the possibility of not getting some! Fortunately, this turned out to be the highlight of the tasting. It was a distinct notch up from the village Chassagne, more powerful and complex with good blackcurrant fruit. It was so good that I think I may accidentally have swallowed a little bit of it, but we were told this would need 5 years to develop and come together.

All in all, this is a domaine making delicate and charming wines, and I'm very pleased I have finally been there! It's now firmly on my "buy every year" list.