Drinking in Burgundy
We got a hell of a lot of bottles open in Burgundy. Here are those I remember:
Arlaud Clos de la Roche 2001 Very light colour, showing the year. Soft though elegant aromas, still primary. The palate lacks intensity but there’s some good fruit there. A little disappointing.
Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes 2000 Rich nose and palate, the spectrum of pinot aroma: cherries, rhubarb, plums, violets, earth and spice. Elegant though youthful. A good effort.
Rousseau Clos St. Jacques 1988 To me, this was quite volatile on the nose. The palate was beautiful, however. Full, mouthfilling, multi layered.
Faiveley Clos de Beze 1989 This was a wine of surpreme beauty. The nose was pure raspberries and rhubarb. So elegant and beautiful. The palate had tannins but not those harsh drying tannins one associates with Faiveley. I found the finish a little short but the nose was where it was at. Pure and beautiful. I’m dreaming of that aroma.
Michel Gros 2001 “Clos des Réas” 1er Cru Vosne-Romanée Picked it blind for the brett and Vosne like fruit, and the thinness of 2001. Not an impressive offering. Why is Michel Gros always so bretty? Clean your cuverie!
Lamarche La Grande Rue 2001 Vosne-Romanée/span> This wine comes in for a lot of criticism because it has La Tâe to one side, RomanéConti to the other and all the other Vosne Grands Crus near by as well. Some way it’s planted to Pinot Droit. Well, I actually thought that this was a pretty smart wine, good fruit on the nose and palate, great structure, length and texture. It’s not Romanée-Conti but it was also more than a 30th of the price.
Truchot-Martin “Clos Sorbé” 2005 1er Cru Morey-Saint-Denis What the hell is going on here? This is a cult producer which pretty much exports solely to the US. This wine really lacked concentration, it was very dry and savoury, awkward really, the fruit was barely perceptable. The structure was nice but this wine just wasn’t interesting at all. It was explained to me by Morey locals. Jacky Truchot has resisted changes in Burgundian wine making technology to the point of eccentricity (and this is in a region of eccentrics: Philippe Leclerc walks around Gevrey dressed as a pirate, for example). Certainly useful to have tasted it but I wont buy any, I don’t think….
Heresyztn Clos de Denis 2001 Explosive aromas of plum, cranberry and cassis. There’s a lot of new oak in there too. It’s more obvious on the palate. Very concentrated — especially for 2001 — with good structure. I think the richness to the fruit might actually be a bit of reduction, such as DMS. A wine maker I tasted it with says that it reminds him of the fruit you get when you spray a certain hormone in the vineyard to achieve ripeness. Which ever it was — maybe both — this wine seemed a bit of a tart. Regardless, this is probably the most impressive offering I’ve seen from Heresyztn.
Sylvie Esmonin Gevrey V.V. 2005 Beautifully expressive pinot, dark fruits, violets. Fantastic.
Sylvie Esmonin Clos St Jacques 2005 Very closed, heaps of oak. Good structure but I prefer the village wine now. Now doubt, this wine will come around.
Sylvie Esmonin Clos St Jacques 2001 This wine shows the year. Lifted aromas of spice, cassis, undergrowth. The palate is a little thin and lacking intensity. These wines never have the power or intensity of Rousseau or Jadot unfortunately. They’re similar in weight to Fourrier but without the vibrant fruit.
There was plenty of other entry level Burg but I’ve not recorded the details. Lots of entry level 2005 stuff which is looking awesome.
Other wines:
Gimonnet Blanc de Noir Brut (Champagne) A superb, very dry NV Champagne. Lifted aromas of white peach, musk, honeydew. Excellent structure. A really good Champagne.
Drappier NV Quite oxidative on the nose and the palate is border line off-dry. Awful.
Clape Cornas 2003 Raisiny, plummy fruit. Nothing of that Clape austerity and spice. Could easily be new world. Pass.
Humbug Reach 2002 Pinot (Tas) Meet the owners and they opened a bottle. Lifted pinot fruit on the nose, a little greeness. Spritzy acid on the palate. Still very youthful. They’re on the right track.
Heaps of other stuff, but I forget what.
