Menu for october
2005 Burgundy
There are few wines that spark a wine lover’s imagination more than Burgundy. The wines are akin to searching for the Holy Grail. When they are good, no wine on earth can come close in elegance and perfume. It is pure integration of grape and terroir into a liquid format. All that poetic waxing aside, those elements converging in any single vintage is a hard won victory. 2005 currently is touted as one of these vintages. Perhaps, the mystery and allure of Burgundy is played out in the unpredictablilty of the outcome. As I’ve said before, about Burgundy, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince (or princess) and believe me you’ll smooch many an amphibian (and shell out a great deal of cash) before your dreams come true. That being said, this acclaimed 2005 is a vintage that by all accounts, but especially from David Schildknecht, promises and ultimately provides the best of what the region has to offer. I feel blessed to have David’s wine guidance and experience with Burgundy over the years and I cannot wait to enjoy them as a consumer. He emailed me recently, in his genuine unassuming way and asked if he needed to drum up some business for his tasting. To his surprise, I told him the tasting has been sold out for weeks. Since I’m not presenting the wines the first name on the class list is mine. All wine reviews in quotes are from David Schildknecht, Wine Advocate issues 170 and 171.
Bertrand Ambroise Bourgogne 21.99
“The 2005 Bourgogne is amazingly dark in color, smells and tastes of raw blackberries and graphite, saturates the palate with formidable, bitter-sweet intensity of fruit, and finishes firmly with persistent flavors of blackberry and roasted meat. Amboise characterized this year’s fruit as consisting of ‘perfect berries, solid and well-structured’ from which he concluded it should all be de-stemmed and a cautious approach taken to extraction. But caution is relative. Bertrand Ambroise certainly vinifies with a fanatic dedication to quality, but also with no concessions to the faint of heart, and his formidably tannic 2005’s will strike some tasters as hyper-concentrated and flirting with over-extraction. Perhaps a bit more refinement and differentiation might have been achieved with a less robust and woody approach? Ambroise works largely with 400-liter barrels in an effort to preserve fruit by diminishing the surface-to-volume ratio and thus the flavoring effects of new wood, but I cannot claim that I would have recognized that fact in the wines themselves.” 88 points
Domaine Joblot Clos Servioisine Givry 59.99
“From a site on the northern edge of town, and matured in around half new barrels, Joblot’s 2005 Givry Clos de la Servoisine displays an alluring nose of lightly-cooked plum, black raspberry, nutmeg, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Vibrant, sappy, and intensely-fruited in the mouth, with Cote-Rotie-like notes of bacon and smoke emerging, it finishes with concentration if relative tightness on notes of sappy black fruit, smoked meat, salt and wet stones. I suspect this will harden over the next year and ought then to be given 3-5 additional years to open back up. Jean-Marc Joblot says he is always seeking precisely what 2005 delivered – the best fruit of his thirty year career: concentrated, pure, its elements in equilibrium. He continues to rely on roto-fermentors and is unafraid of new wood. But the wines are not just well-concentrated. They are well-balanced and possessed of considerable refinement, once again proving that the best reds of the Cote Chalonaise deserve more serious attention than most Burgundy lovers or journalists accord them. Joblot was at pains to warn me that these wines were traumatized from recent bottling, although I can’t say I would have arrived at that conclusion from their performance.” 90 points
Fournier Marsannay “Clos du Roy” 29.99
“Exhibiting the proclivity of its site, Fournier’s 2005 Marsannay Clos du Roy delivers a strong dose of iodine and chalk to go with its blackberry and beet root fruit. A similarly site typical smokiness hangs about here, too. Tellingly, the component of this wine that was raised in new barriques smelled and tasted less pungently smoky than the portion vinified in tank! Firm in feel but with a good sense of stuffing, this finishes with sedate richness, subtle bitterness, and lovely dark berry and mineral layers. Young Laurent Fournier has been quietly elevating the quality of his family’s wines and joining the ranks of young growers (notably Philippe Collotte, Sylvain Pataille, and Philippe Roty) who – along with veteran Bruno Clair – are re-defining the potential of Marsannay and in the process offering some excellent Pinot values. As an illustration of the handicap under which the image and practice of vinifying Marsannay still labors, as well as of our changing climatic times, the I.N.A.O. gave Fournier trouble because his simple village Marsannay weighed in at a legally unrecognizably high level above 13.5% natural alcohol! In any event, says Fournier, he succeeded in sloughing off alcohol this year just by having done so many of his fermentations with whole clusters (which release their sugar over time). Malos only finally finished for Fournier in December, but most of the wines were assembled and about to be bottled when I visited him at the end of February.” 88-89 points
Fournier Fixin les Petites Crais 32.99
“Fournier’s 2005 Fixin Les Petits Craies smells of ripe blackberries, saturates the palate with subtle chalk- bitter chocolate- and herb-inflected blackberry juiciness, then takes a Fixin-typical turn, a chalky, faintly bitter turn in the finish, yet all the while (unlike many of its genre) retaining strong, ripe, refreshing fruit. This has more substance than the wines that preceded it, and needs 3-4 years in the bottle to show at its best. Young Laurent Fournier has been quietly elevating the quality of his family’s wines and joining the ranks of young growers (notably Philippe Collotte, Sylvain Pataille, and Philippe Roty) who – along with veteran Bruno Clair – are re-defining the potential of Marsannay and in the process offering some excellent Pinot values. As an illustration of the handicap under which the image and practice of vinifying Marsannay still labors, as well as of our changing climatic times, the I.N.A.O. gave Fournier trouble because his simple village Marsannay weighed in at a legally unrecognizably high level above 13.5% natural alcohol! In any event, says Fournier, he succeeded in sloughing off alcohol this year just by having done so many of his fermentations with whole clusters (which release their sugar over time). Malos only finally finished for Fournier in December, but most of the wines were assembled and about to be bottled when I visited him at the end of February.” 89-90 points
Fournier Marsannay “Clos du Roy” 29.99
“Exhibiting the proclivity of its site, Fournier’s 2005 Marsannay Clos du Roy delivers a strong dose of iodine and chalk to go with its blackberry and beet root fruit. A similarly site typical smokiness hangs about here, too. Tellingly, the component of this wine that was raised in new barriques smelled and tasted less pungently smoky than the portion vinified in tank! Firm in feel but with a good sense of stuffing, this finishes with sedate richness, subtle bitterness, and lovely dark berry and mineral layers.” 88-89 points
Domaine Lucien Boillot 1er Cru Pommard les Fremiers 69.99
Domaine Boillot 1er Cru Gevrey-Chambertin les Cherbaudes 85.99
“There is only one discouraging word I can think of concerning 2005 red Burgundies: quantity. At each domaine we have been allocated 10-30% less than normal, thanks to low yields at the harvest. Less juice, less wine. In terms of quality, the vintage has just about everything one could ask for.” Kermit Lynch.
The wines from Domaine Boillot are perfect examples of a great vintage and sadly little wine. The Pommard les Fremiers is a powerhouse of a wine with chewy, dark plum fruit and a texture that belies Pinot Noir. Boillot’s Gevrey-Chambertin les Cherbaudes adds to the collection of power pinots. This Côte de Nuit site is known for wines of power and substance. There’s also a whole lot of tannin goin’ on. These two wines will reward you tenfold, but you must have patience grasshopper.
Domaine Bruno Colin Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes 36.99
I know what you’re thinking…this is a white wine. I’m the same way, I hear Chassagne-Montrachet and I think delicious full-bodied, complex and sexy Chardonnay. Wrong. Lovely cherry fruit with a bit of earthy truffle aromas, I mean really, what’s not to like. I love, love, love this wine. It’s an elegantly perfumed Pinot Noir from the son of world class winemaker, Michel Colin of Domaine Michel Colin-Deleger. The two sons, Philippe and Bruno have amicably split from the domaine, but all the wines seem to have landed on their feet, each imbued with a distinctive style.
“When the two Colin brothers decided to work separately I felt bad for Michel, their father, because I know how hard he worked to build a domaine large enough to support three families. But as it turns out, I’m happy with the situation because we have wine from three Colins, each with talent and individuality.” Kermit Lynch
Nicolas Potel Nuits St. Georges 49.99
Nicolas Potel Savigny-les-Beaune Vieilles Vignes 34.99
I always love the wines of Nicolas Potel. I try to separate the person from the wine, but it’s hard. When I met him, I felt as though we were kindred spirits; I loved his whole approach and outlook on grape growing and wine production. He’s an old world soul, remaining true to his heritage while living in and enjoying the modern world. The Nuits St. Georges is a mouthful of red fruit flavors. It reminds me of the handfuls of Peach Mountain raspberries I’ve been eating the past 3 weeks. A tart minerality gives way to a long finish. Again, a few years, patiently waiting for this wine to evolve will reap delicious rewards. I always have difficulty selling Savigny-les-Beaune. Sometimes the style can be a little shrill compared to other locations. This is the second vintage of this wine. Nicolas bought this parcel planted in 1913 in 2003. The wine is amazingly lush and full-bodied. Delicious.
Domaine Joseph Drouhin Chorey les Beaune 27.00
“The Drouhin 2005 Chorey-les-Beaune offers a fetching nose of high-toned cherry, almond, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The purity, delicacy and penetration of which wines from the unassumingly flat yet almost magically well-drained vineyards of Chorey are capable represent a special delight, and one will seldom encounter a better example. Bright and refreshing on the palate, light and lithe but by no means skimping on flavor concentration, this doles out abundant sweet fruit accented by cherry pit, tart fruit skin, and invigorating salty mineral notes. It represents an amazing value in today’s high-priced Burgundy market that one could only be grateful to be offered as a glass pour or as “Pinot 101.” 90 points
Domaine Joseph Drouhin Clos des Mouches 99.00
“Representing huge domaine holdings and in effect the Drouhin flag ship, their 2005 Beaune Clos des Mouches displays aromas of roasted meat, wood smoke, black truffles, plum and black raspberry. Persistently meaty in the mouth, with plum pit and wet stone adjuncts, this is archetypal 2005: richly ripe yet with an invigorating tart fresh edge and quite dark, even somber in flavor shadings. The long savory finish, while pouring out a generous helping of top quality fruit and meat juices, also offers a veritable catalog of mineral nuances ... if only one had names for them all. This should be terrific in 5-7 years.” 92 points
Domaine Joseph Voillot Champans Premier Cru Volnay 44.99
“The 2005 Volnay Champans (from vines averaging 50 years of age in a cru of which the domaine owns a good 8%) offers sour cherry, red currant, rose hip, and cinnamon aromas, clear, juicy fruit with underlying wet stone on the palate, and alluring fresh ripe fruit and sweet spice in its finish. Slightly less sleek, refined or cutting than the Brouillards, and exhibiting as yet little of the fungal, forest floor or game elements one might expect to encounter in this site, this nevertheless displays admirable purity and at least decade-long aging potential. The sleek, well-concentrated, and fascinatingly-flavored 2004, incidentally – “picked berry by berry” to avoid any taint of hail, says Charlot – is no less excellent. Jean-Pierre Charlot promotes a brisk, athletically lean and often downright rapier style on which opinions are bound to diverge. If it sets you salivating to imagine the brightness, transparency and cut of Riesling in the medium of Pinot Noir – characteristics I would ordinarily consider more appropriate to Volnay than Pommard – then do not miss this address!” 89-90 points