Nord for bekken smaking - Nuits St Georges Del 1

Litteraturhuset 5.9.16

Vi startet med "mellomårganger" og en litt sliten Nuits St Georges Les Murgers 2008, Alain Hudelot-Noellat med moden og åpen nese. Lys farge med en overraskende lys rusten skimmerbrun kant allerede. Elegant nok, men mangler konsentrasjon og lengde i munnen. Dette er nok ikke en helt optimal flaske. 86 poeng. En 2006 av samme vin viste større vitalitet. Gode tanniner og medium struktur. Litt stilkete 06-karakter skinner igjennom, bra syre og en relativ åpen og pen nese. Men ingen stor vin. 88 poeng. Har egentlig aldri blitt imponert av produsenten.

Den ferskeste vinen på hele smakingen var en Nuits St Georges Les Boudots 2014, Girard Mugneret med purpur farge i glasset, men med seriøse mørke bær på nesa. Eik og snev av vanilje som viser litt ivrig fatbruk, men det er en deilig og sjarmerende vin. 90 poeng. Vi avsluttet flighten med en Nuits St Georges Aux Thorey 2008, Benjamin Leroux;  intakt og god rød farge, grov struktur og mangler elegansen som årgangen ikke gir den. Noe grønn og stilkete med en vanskelig og "skråstilt" munnfølelse. Usikker på om dette blir bedre. 88 poeng.

Det er litt delte meninger om 2009 årgangen i rød burgund. Per Mæleng skriver:

2009

Årgangen blir betraktet som en stor årgang, og det er ingen grunn til å imøtegå det synet. Det som kan diskuteres er hva slags stor årgang 2009 vil vise seg å være. Det typiske og fine med 2009 er den ekstroverte, overdådige frukten, den kremete teksturen og den modne tanninstrukturen. 2009’erne vil aldri bli presise viner som reflekterer sine respektive jordsmonn særlig fremragende. Til gjengjeld vil de levere mye drikkeglede, og de vil rekruttere nye ansikter til Burgund. Jeg tror de beste 2009’erne vil komme til å lagre ekstremt godt, og de vil i så henseende konkurrere med den påfølgende 2010-årgangen. 2009 er på ingen måte en undervurdert årgang, men jeg tror likevel mange undervurderer lagringskapasiteten til vinene. Jeg har også en mistanke om at vinene vil klarne, og jeg ser ikke bort fra at de vil være i stand til å formidle sitt lokale voksested på en god måte samtidig som de beholder sin sjarmerende ekstroverte karakter. Så godt som alle de pålitelige kildene til gode burgundere leverer varene i 2009.

Nuits St Georges Aux Thorey 2009, Sylvain Cathiard ble en stor overgang fra forrige flight.  Tett og rik i struktur. Alkoholrik, svir litt og fremstår de første 5min. grov og veldig utfordrende i munnen. Etterhvert roer den seg i glasset og fremstår som en seriøs vin. Men den xtra 1% alkohol synes jeg vedvarer og vinen kunne vært vinifisert mere elegant. 91 poeng.

Nuits St Georges Les Murgers 2009, Sylvain Cathiard fremsto som en betydelig mere elegant vin. Den hadde en utviklet stil med lysere frukt. Samtidig mere aromatisk og snev av svette og sekundæraroma. Superb indre energi og lang ettersmak. 92 poeng.

Nuits St Georges Aux Boudots 2009, Jean Grivot viste en sammensatt og spennende nese. Høstløv og tobakk på nesa. Bløt i anslaget, men langt og godt drag i munnen. Er best de første 10min, faller noe i glasset. 91 poeng.

2009 årgangen drikker fabelaktig godt nå. Den tidligere varme og opulente stilen synes jeg har gått av seg og vinene fremstår med en god indre energi. På den andre siden ble jeg bekymret for mye utvikling på nesa med et sekundært aromabilde. Og terroirfølelsen som skal vise området vinen er fra er nesten umulig å finne...

                           
   
Av og til er fransk enkelt; Les Murgers betyr mur dvs. de steinene som er rensket opp fra vinmarken og stablet opp som gjerde. Vinmarken vender mot øst og skal vise enn en elegant, feminin  og varmere stil enn den mer utsatte vinmarken mht. vind: aux Thorey. 

Nuits St Georges Les Murgers 2013,  Sylvain Cathiard var syrlig og lett i munnen. Samtidig endel ferske tanniner og vinen fremstår uharmonisk. Kruttlapp og svovel på nesa trakk også ned. Viser at årgangen ikke er all verden. 89 poeng.

Nuits St Georges Les Murgers 2012,  Sylvain Cathiard viste årgangens storhet. Smal og laserskarp syre, pakket inn i en steinet og mineralsk fruktkurv. Citrus, veldig lang og lindrende ettersmak. Åpen vin som drikker fabelaktig godt allerede. 94 poeng.

Nuits St Georges Les Murgers 2011,  Sylvain Cathiard hadde en moderat nese med litt touch av alkohol. Slank og grønn i stilen, men ikke så stilkete som mange andre 2011 kan være. Frisk stil, litt tilkneppet og vanskelig tilgjengelig. 89 poeng.

Fra Burgundy-report:

Aux Thorey
This is a vineyard with a few added complications. Just 5 hectares, famously turning on the corner of the combe near the village of Nuits so now south-east facing – famously? – well that is because the exposition is exactly the same as Gevrey’s Clos St.Jacques. The original cadastre was spelled ‘Torey’ not Thorey – both are allowed – though most people have now settled on the latter. For many years the most famous wine was made from a section in the centre of the vineyard called the Clos de Thorey: Quality of the ‘Clos’ was always in the eye of the beholder, because Thomas-Moillard was the main producer and they extracted all they could – the wines might be quite good at 50 years old – less certainly good at 40! Since then the vines of ‘Clos Thorey’ have changed hands a number of times and currently rest with JC Boisset following their acquisition of Antonin Rodet. For a short time Ettiene de Montille made a concentrated but rather supple version of this wine – the 09 seemed particularly good from ^barrel. You may also find bottles of ‘Aux Thorey’ from Benjamin Leroux, Sylvain Cathiard and Chauvenet-Chopin.


Nuits St Georges Aux Thorey 2012,  Sylvain Cathiard viste en god og moden stil, generelt synes jeg 2012 årgangen viste seg veldig godt fram i denne smakingen. En stor vin med spenstig og genuin frukt. Den drikker veldig godt nå. En kandidat til WOTN. 94 poeng

Nuits St Georges Aux Thorey 2012,  Benjamin Leroux; noen mente kork, jeg synes den var litt uren med kjellernoter; ikke kork. Grønn, spinatblader og gress. Mørk frukt. Mangler eleganse. Men usikker om dette var en optimal flaske. 89 poeng.

Nuits St Georges Aux Thorey 2012,  Domaine Montille; forførende nese og mye utviklet. Solid i munnen med en bitter og vanskelig finish. Montille vinifiserer med endel stilker, Cathiard avstilker alt. Det kan merkes i denne vinen. 91 poeng

Vosne Romanee 2007 Premier Cru

Vinmøte Kim 5.11.15

Jancis Robinson:

Every new vintage that comes along tends to find itself characterised as 'a white wine vintage' or 'a red wine vintage' I can report that the view of the common burgundy-buying man with a loud voice is that 2007 is a white burgundy vintage. 

'Surprising' was the dominant adjective I heard in Burgundy last November from those who made it. By the end of May 2007, Burgundy's growers were convinced they had another 2003 on their hands – a year that would break all records for how early it had to be picked. April had been quite extraordinarily warm.'We were euphoric in April', reported Sylvie Esmonin of Gevrey-Chambertin. 'We sat out in the sun, cafés opened their terraces.' The flowering was difficult, extended and resulted in very uneven grapes, but was earlier than anyone could remember. The vegetation galloped ahead of itself and growers cancelled any travel plans they might have made for August in the expectation of picking even earlier than in the heatwave year of 2003. Looking ahead, some of them deliberately took steps to slow down the ripening process by making sure yields were not too low and the sugar-factories we call leaves not too numerous.

As it turned out, this was not so clever. June to August turned out to be, in the words again of Sylvie Esmonin 'complicated'. This is polite. In November 2008 she looked drained, and admitted, 'I said about '07, I hope '08 will be less stressful, but in fact it was worse'. 'Stressful' was also the word invoked by early-bottler Anne Gros of Vosne-Romanée to describe the 2007 growing season. The reason for all this stress was a summer that Bernard Dugat-Py of Gevrey-Chambertin called détestable. The problem was that these very precocious vines were then subjected to three months of cool, damp weather – not the usual warm summer punctuated by storms that kickstart the ripening process, but a slow, steady drizzle – perfect conditions for the development of the fungal diseases to which vines are so inconveniently prone.

Mildew and rot threatened throughout the summer, and vineyards needed far more attention far more frequently than usual. The season was particularly demanding for the many Burgundy growers now dedicated to organic methods (even if 2008 was an even greater challenge). Although as Fred Mugnier of Chambolle-Musigny pointed out, the sort of very early rot that affected the vines in 2007 is at least vanquishable, with an enormous amount of effort, in contrast to rampant rot in very warm weather at the end of the growing season. According to his neighbour Christophe Roumier, 2007's was 'the worst rot I've ever seen but it helped that it was quite cool so it was not as disastrous as it could have been.' Nevertheless, Roumier's 2007 harvest, which yielded 25% less volume than 2006, actually took three days longer because of all the sorting that had to be done.

What saved the harvest, particularly for the more rot-prone red Pinot Noir grapes, was the north wind that began to blow on 22 August and dried out the grapes, followed by fine, dry conditions for the harvest towards the end of August and early September. Some growers, particularly those whose yields were just too high, were panicked by the threat of rot into picking before the grapes had developed enough phenolic ripeness to counterbalance the acidity that remained in the grapes after the long, cool summer. And even the most reputable growers found themselves picking relatively early. For example, 2007 was the first year that Armand Rousseau ever picked in August other than in 2003 although, as Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac pointed out, in fact the wines of 2007 turned out to be 'the diametrical opposite of those made in 2003, having low tannins and high acids'. He had never seen a vintage like it in his experience of the family domaine in Morey-St-Denis, which dates from 1994.

For Laurent Ponsot above the village of Morey, however, 'the charm of 2007 is the balance. You don't notice the tannins but they're there. I consider it a great vintage for us.' Certainly Ponsot's 2007s tasted exceptionally ripe to me – and apparently about half the cuvées are more than 14% alcohol – a truly exceptional ripeness level even if not one that was uncomfortably obvious on the palate. Ponsot picked most of his grapes between 10 and 20 September, but waited until 4 October to pick his highly successful white Aligoté in the Monts Luisants vineyard – unusually late for 2007.

This was a year which in general saw red Pinot grapes being picked before the (mainly Chardonnay) whites, for the reds were under greatest disease pressure – and many of the whites still had uncomfortably high acidity levels. Indeed, some of the white 2007s still taste just too tart and hollow. A high acid level is an attribute in a young white burgundy, but only so long as there is real substance and flavour as well. As winemaker Eric Rémy, who has now taken over from Pierre Morey at the biodynamic Domaine Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet put it, '2007 was an illogical vintage. We harvested quite early (1-7 Sep) but chaptalised because we felt that they were not going to develop any further'. Many makers of both reds and whites added a little sugar to their fermentation vats in 2007, so-called chaptalisation and legal in Burgundy so long as acid is not added to the same vat (allowing plenty of scope for 'creative' winemaking and book-keeping in less scrupulous cellars).

But if 2007 was a nightmare in the vineyard, then at least in the cellar those who had worked hard in the vineyard found it delightfully easy to vinify. Aubert de Villaine of the iconic Domaine de la Romanée-Conti was the first to make this point to me, adding with some satisfaction that each of his red grands crus is particularly expressive of its terroir, and aérien (another French word that is difficult to translate: sort of a cross between ethereal and the opposite of earthbound).

Certainly the 2007 reds are not big, muscular wines and the best were made with a gentle hand. Now that the all-important, softening malolactic fermentations are over (they were particularly slow and late because the portion of malic acid is high in 2007, and early 2008 was especially cool), the best reds have very pretty textures. Since last summer they have been tasting better and better and, with gentle tannins and acid levels that are not exceptionally aggressive, they are already a delight to taste. Acid levels in some reds even seemed a bit low to my palate, and some producers deliberately used more whole bunches than usual in an attempt to retain acidity, but the much longer growing season than usual seems to have built fresh, expressive flavours in the best of them.

The most frequently cited similar vintage is 2000, although, as Sylvain Cathiard of Vosne-Romanée (whose 2007s are particularly sumptuous) maintains, the fruit is a little fresher in general than in 2000. For Christophe Roumier they are more precise than the 2000s, which were also initially underestimated and have been so friendly over the last few years.

Vosne Romanèe Les Suchots 2007,  Alain Hudelot-Noellat
Overraskende rik og aromatisk. Litt grønn 04 stil, flere var oversjøsik på denne. Mye munnfølelse, relativt moden med myke kanter. 90 poeng

Vosne Romanèe Les Suchots 2007,  J. Cacheux
Mere lukket og grovere i formatet. Mangler eleganse og vinen trenger ytterligere lagring ? Noe ubalanse med søte bær mellom tørrstoffer. Virker som en produsent som sliter litt. 86 poeng

Vosne Romanèe Les Beaux Monts 2007,  Domaine Bertagna
Metallisk jordlig og lett i munnen. Grønn og vanskelig vin. Jeg har aldri blitt imponert av produsenten. 85 poeng.

Vosne Romanèe aux Brulèes 2007,  Domaine d`Eugenie 
Fremdeles tanniner, også her litt grønt med lette bittertoner i finish. Men bedre frukt og munnfølelse. 88 poeng.

Èchezeaux Grand Cru 2007,  Domaine Jean Grivot 
Røsket rett fra kjeller`n. Pen nese, her også litt stilkete og grønt. Burde vært luftet et par timer. Endel mere trøkk en de andre, men vanskelig i munnen. 91 poeng.

Ikke helt toppers BYO wines ...

Litteraturhuset 19.11.15

                                                   

Lagrein Nusserhof Riserva 2009, Heynrich Mayr
Blåbær, dyp og intens farge, portvinsaktig nese, varm stil, jeg spurte Karl Kristian om dette var en optimal flaske og han mente det. Fruktig og saftig, men "varmskjæret" forstyrrer endel. Vinmarken ligger inne i Bolzano by. Lagring på botte / slavonsk eik. 86 poeng


Corton Hospices de Beaune 1982, Maison Bouchard Père & Fils 
Flat eldre vin uten tanniner. Flere dro til Piemonte. Endel rødbærsfrukt, men lagringsaromaene er på kanten nå. Tørrende og litt volatilt. Tappet for Vinmonopolet AS. 85 poeng


Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 1999, Alain Hudelot-Noellat 
Endel bitter og undermoden frukt. Kjølig frukt med solid struktur. Tørker ut i finish. Flere var i Piemonte også på denne. Igjen en skuffende Vougeot. 84 poeng


Barolo Cascina Francia 1998, Giacomo Conterno 
Transparent grønn og undermoden. Syrerik med lakris og korn. Urtete, stilkete og tørrer på finish. Veldig frisk, men en forferdelig dårlig Cascina Francia. Forhåpentligvis bedre med lagring. 83 poeng

Sassicaia 1998
Tydelig eik på nesa og heltre parkett i munnen. Vanskelige tanniner. Svir i munnen. Blir dette bra ? 82 poeng

Barolo Riserva Rocche dell`Annunziata 2000, Paolo Scavino
Voldsom solmoden frukt, tørrer ut i munnen og i finish, Frisk og god syre, men ubalansert. Vandig kant med 15% alc. 87 poeng.