rathdowne cru blog

Just an 8 Grand Cru day today

Bonjour Mes Amis,

What a day! First I have to say that Cam very generously did not pull rank and took his turn as DD today. I did appreciate that and I think it shows in my ability to type tonight.

We started off with a lazy tour of the Rousseau cellar trying the 2007s from Barrel. They had all just finished malo and were looking quite good. The progression from Gevrey Village up to Le Chambertin is amazing. The suprise for me was the Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos de Ruchottes which had finesse and elegance but lovely fruit and perfume. Clos de Beze, Chambertin and Clos St-Jacques were all very tight and not ready to drink yet (but look good for the future). Rousseau so far has the most spectacular cellars. They are on the small side but very well laid out and has lights on a rail that you pull along to where you need illumination.

Then we had a brief lunch and I experienced another ‘lost in translation’ moment. I ordered a beer that I’d never heard of before (as you do in another country) and I tasted it and it seemed a bit sweet and girly. Then I had another sip and thought, ‘This is really weird, does it have citrus hops? lemon juice?’ No it was lemonade! A quick question to the waiter confirmed to my horror that I had ordered ‘Panache’ and Panache is a shandy. The more you know.

After 5 more shandies Cam dragged me out to the car and we were on our way to Mongeard Mugneret. We sat in the tasting room with Laurette Faivre and tasted a range of 06s that have just been bottled. The vintage 2006s has really looked good when we’ve tried them. More typical that the 2005s in that they really show their terroir and have less of the big fruit action and ’shock and awe’ syndrome (having said that I LOVED the 2005s I tasted and recommend everyone drink/cellar as much as humanly possible).
The Vosne Romanee Combes d’Orveaux, Vougeot Le Cras and Echezeaux were all lovely to taste and I will eagerly await their arrival into Australia to see how they evolve and hopefully improve. Laurette was great and gave us lots of info and then showed us through the barrel hall to see where its all made.

Then we had a GREAT tasting at Comte Georges de Vogue. Winemaker Frederic has a real passion and feel for the wines. Everything happens at the pace the wine sets and there is no time table. We were tasting 07s from barrel before malo has started so the wines were more acid and fresh then they would be en boutielle. The Chambolle village is from Les Fuees 1er, Les Baudes 1er and a parcel of Village fruit so that there isn’t a big gap between Village and Premier Cru, it was amazing. The Amoureuses was amazing and ‘the mother of Chambolle’. It had perfume, minerals, vibrant red fruits and much more, oh if they had barrique sized curly straws I’d still be in the Cave. Then we tried Bonnes-Mares the ‘distant Uncle of Chambolle’ it had more presence, darker fruit and plenty of weight in the mouth. Frederick suggests Bonnes-Mares is an extravert because it has an inferiority complex (that it won’t ever be as good as Musigny). From my point of view this was the hardest to taste and it was still Magnifique. Then we had Musigny. It was awesome. Very much like the Amoureuses but more mineral, more perfume and more seductive. It just needs time! This was an amazing tasting and although we only tried 4 wines we spent an hour doing so. It makes you see how the other half live (or drink at least).

An interesting note on vintages. A lot of Producers are backing up what I’ve said a lot; that 2004 is a really good vintage. A great vintage for terroir and the wines will come around but just need a bit of patience. They ALL say that 2005 was great, but they prefer a less extreme vintage like 2004. 2006 is also a favourite, plus 2000, 1999 are also mentioned as vintages they like to drink. So my point is that you don’t have to just buy the ‘hyped’ vintages where everyone should make a good wine. Some of the most enjoyable and typical wines (which is why we drink Burgundy rather than Yarra, Chile, USA, New Zealand Pinot) come from the vintages that were harder to produce.
Dismount soapbox with a double pike and….. do I get perfect 10s from the Judges? You let me know.

So in our busy last two days Cam and I count we have tasted 22 Grand Cru wines, 18 Premier Cru, 7 Village, 1 Bourgogne and a partridge in a pair tree (it really does seem like Christmas). Actually the partridge was a glass of Tres Vieux Marc de Bourgogne which was really good.

Au revoir,
Phil