Wall-to-wall Burgundy

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

Last time we were in this most attractive and accommodating building, The Institute of Materials,  it was also sunny – but it was 30 Celcius on 30th September – an awful challenge for tasters.

This time the sky was also bright and the atmospheric pressure was high, but the temperature was 30 degrees lower – altogether more conducive to quiet, calm, contemplative tasting.

We had a small, focused event – serious trade customers only – and can boast great conditions for tasting. Proper Riedel Burgundy glasses – thank you Riedel for the sponsorship – space to taste, and  – for long periods – hear-a-pin-drop-silence. Tasting should always be fun, but sometimes lovely wines deserve quiet attention.

Jean-Marie and Vicki Fourrier joined us, as did Sylvain and Odette Cathiard. We placed their tables facing each other at either end of the room, though actually they seemed to spend most of the day chatting to each other. Gevrey and Vosne are a long way apart , you know. They need to come to London to meet half way. Perhaps they need neutral territory, who knows.

Anyway the wines looked good – we showed Vosne Village, Nuits Thorey and Vosne Malconsorts from Sylvain, and from Jean-Marie we showed Gevrey Village, Gevrey Goulots and Gevrey Clos St Jacques. We also showed the full range from Henri et Philippe Jouan in Morey, the full range from Francois Bertheau in Chambolle, most of the range from Confuron-Gindre in Vosne, four wines from Heresztyn in Gevrey, and two new wines from Henri Delagrange in Volnay

From quiet conditions to noisy ones! We had a dinner for thirty, with Sylvain and Odette Cathiard at 28-50 the same evening. Maybe the wine fuelled noisy exuberance, but the decibel level was high. we put out a few 2010s left over from the tasting as a pre dinner “drink” then served Champagne – Jacques Picard, of course followed by Amoureuses 2007 from Bertheau, Clos St Denis 2007 from Jouan and then from Sylvain Cathiard, our guest of honour: NuitsThorey 07–Vosne Orveaux 05–Vosne Malconsorts 06.

Saturday was marmalade making: glorious, house-filling aromas of bitter Seville oranges (VERY GOOD)  followed by Brentford v  Walsall: aimless, frustrating 0-0 draw when they should have walked to victory (VERY BAD). Notice I write “they” not “we”.

Sunday was bus tour around London, including a special meeting with the Queen.

After a couple of hours on an open-topped tour bus, we’d seen enough of chilly blue skies and there was only one thing for it; a restorative mug of hot chocolate!

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2010 Burgundy offer coming up tomorrow 9th January

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

A very early morning flight to Lyon on Thursday to finalise allocations and organise samples for this week’s tasting. Back on an equally early flight yesterday to this charming heart-warming welcome form my lovely daughters. And I’d only been away 2 days. It’s lovely to feel missed sometimes, especially when you come back to a welcome like this.

On Thursday it tipped down with rain all day, albeit was very mild.  Friday was lovely. Here’s a shot looking across from the south to Chambolle.

Growers are anxious there seems to have been, so far, no real winter and sap has not really sunk back into the plants. There are potential serious problems if a sudden cold snap comes on. Thousands of plants were lost in December 2009 when temperatures dropped suddenly to minus 20 Celcius. This was just the start of a whole series of reasons why 2010 is such a small harvest.

We’ll publish the Burgundy offer tomorrow,  (9th January) but for a preview,  it will be featuring the following:

Henri Delagrange, Volnay (NEW) -  wines of great freshness and energy; spice and red fruit notes and well-priced.

Domaine Heresztyn, Gevrey Chambertin – consistent as always: elegant , supple forward style; very fine, good value.

Domaine Fourrier, Gevrey Chambertin – dramatically reduced quantities; tragic as this is a great year for them.

Domaine Henri et Philippe Jouan, Morey St Denis (NEW) – tiny artisanal domaine; supple, charming and delicious wines.

Domaine Francois Bertheau, Chambolle-Musigny – our second year working together; brilliant, pure intensity throughout the whole range.

Domaine Confuron-Gindre, Vosne Romanee (NEW) – another Confuron, this one for the first time in UK; cool elegant styles, great vineyards, but again small quantities.

Domaine Sylvain Cathiard, Vosne Romanee – the great Sylvain’s final vintage.

Domaine Guyon, Vosne Romanee – powerful, structured wines, lots of whole bunches.

We’ve been to Burgundy a lot in the last year, and have been blesed with some great tip-offs about up and coming estates. It seems doubly fortunate for us that the last two vintages have been so good.  It’s not our preference to squeeze an allocation out of an already well-known estate, but to look and think and explore for ourselves. So don’t be put off if some of these names are new to you. Our track record is proven from the 12 years we’ve been working with now famous names such as Sylvin Cathiard and Domaine Fourrier, so we trust you’ll have confidence to give some of the others a try.

Quantities are tiny from some domaines, and this, if it is coupled with heavy demand, will mean that we will have no wine for new customers  for the established names. But there is plenty of excellent wine in the offer, and 2010 is a beautiful vintage.

Lance Foyster

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