News From Burgundy
July 2010
Domaine Ghislaine Barthod has acquired another Premier Cru Chambolle: Les Gruenchers, bringing her total to no fewer than nine. In addition there is a little more Chatelots and village wine. This comes from Patrick Landanger of the Domaine de la Pousse d'Or, who bought the Domaine Daniel Moine-Hudelot last year, and found these bits surplus to his requirements.
Domaine Ponsot has had a merchant's licence for some time, as it simplified the structure of his family domaine, but he has only recently begun to use it in the traditional way. From the 1999 vintage he has vinified Clos de Vougeot and Charmes-Chambertin. Now he has added Corton, Corton-Bressandes, Corton-Charlemagne and Chambertin, Clos de Bèze. Laurent Ponsot hopes to expand this side of his activities in the future.
May 2010
An Inept Attempt to Blackmail the DRC
A man, said to have once been a student at the Lycée Viticole at Beaune, and his son are now in custody after having failed to swindle the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti out of a million euros in one of the most ridiculous and amateur episodes I have read about for ages. Back in February Aubert de Villaine, joint general manager of the Domaine, received a letter stating that two vines under his charge had been poisoned, and that more would follow unless a ransom in used notes was paid over. Enclosed was a detailed plan of the domaine showing the affected vines. Investigations proved the allegations correct. The vines had indeed been tampered with. (One has since been analysed and destroyed: the other is pregressing normally but is under close supervision. Apparently the 'poison' was a commercial herbicide.)
De Villaine duly got in touch with the local police. After negociations with the would-be criminals a drop was agreed in the Chambolle-Musigny cemetery, where the two blackmailers were eventually apprehended.
On May 5th. the affair was made public, Aubert de Villaine praising the police for their discretion and efficiency.
February 2010
Having bought some Corton in 2008, the Domaine Jean Féry et Fils, based in Echevronne, has just announced the purchase of just under a hectare of land in the Abbaye de Morgeot in Chassagne-Montrachet. This means the estate, whose wines are made by French-Canadian Pascal Marchand, can now offer 20 different wines from its own vineyards. There is also a parallel merchant's business.
February 2010
Merchants Champy have acquired the Laleure-Piot estate in Pernand-Vergelesses. Champy's existing domaine is run on bio-dynamic lines, and the new holdings, which include Corton Rognet, Corton Bressandes and Corton-Charlemagne, will be converted to this regime from now on. This brings Champy's total holding to 12 hectares.
February 2010
It is now a decade since Lorraine Senard joined her father Philippe at the Aloxe-Corton based Domaine du Comte Senard. She has been fully responsible now for five years. These have seen an abandonment of the Accard-inspired techniques carried on by her father, and the result has seen a disinct improvement in quality. The top wines include Corton Blanc and reds from Clos de Meix, Paulands, Bressandes and Clos du Roi. The 2008s are exciting, and the 2007s unexpectedly full and vigorous for this generally loose-knit vintage.
January 2010
Somewhat belatedly compared with most of the rest of Beaune's top merchants Remoissenet Père et Fils, under the tutelage of Bernard Repolt, has started to build up an important domaine to add to the couple of hectares of Beaune premier cru they have owned for decades. There are now 42 ares of Clos de Vougeot, 33 of Charmes-Chambertin, and vines in Poissenot (Gevrey premier cru), village Nuits, Vosne and Gevrey-Chambertin. This now makes up nearly 11 hectares. The first vintage was 2008. As from 2010 the estate will be bio-dynamic. Today everything else is bought in as fruit to be vinified by themselves, supervised by the excellent Claudie Jobard. The wines are now moved by gravity and bottled without filtration. I was very impressed by the 2008s, both red and white.
Meanwhile the contract Remoissenet used to have with the Domaine Thenard in Givry – Corton, Clos du Roi, Grands Echézeaux, etc. - has been taken over by Maison Louis Jadot, Remoissenet only retaining a little of the Montrachet.
December 2009
The Domaine Alfred Haegelen-Jayer has produced its last vintage in 2009. The charming Alfred Haegelen is now 70, and has decided to retire. Not having any successors willing to take over, he has leased his 4.2 hectare estate to Dominique Laurent of Nuits-Saint-Georges. The domaine consists of Clos de Vougeot (80 ares), Echézeaux (26 ares), Nuits-Saint-Georges premier cru Les Damodes, and village Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges and Chambolle-Musigny.
December 2009
What is the Domaine de Romanée-Conti going to do with its newly-acquired Cortons? In 2009, says Aubert de Villaine, there will be two cuvées, one from the older vines, one from the rest. The individual parcels were too small, especially in this vintage – when the DRC produced an average of 16 hectolitres per hactare – to vinify seperately.
October 2009
Francois Feuillet, whose wines are made for him under a share-cropping arrangement by David Duband, has further extended his estate. Some years ago he entered into an agreement with Madame Marie-Louise Rémy of the Domaine Louis Rémy. Effectively he bought one third of the domaine (Madame Rémy had three children, though only her daughter Chantal was interested in the estate), but Madame would have the right to the fruit while she lived. Now, following her death, Feuillet will take over the Chambertin (22 ares out of 32) and the Latricières-Chambertin (28 ares out of 54), leaving her daughter Chantal with merely the Clos de la Roche as grand cru.
Subsequently Chantal's other brother has put his share of the property up for sale, and SAFER have been called in. The whole future of the name Rémy is in jeopardy.
October 2009
The 12 ha Adrien et Jean-Claude Belland estate, based in Santenay, has been sold, much parcellated. Eric Rousseau of the Domaine Armand Rousseau has acquired 40 ares of Chambertin (increasing his holding to 2.55 ha). Roger Forbes of Beaune-based Domaine des Croix has bought some of the Corton – 55 ares of Grèves and 49 of Clos de la Vigne au Saint. Jean-Nicolas Méo of Domaine Méo-Camuzet will take over Belland's lease of 36 ares of Corton-Charlemagne. Much of the rest – Santenay and Chassagne – has been shared out among the locals at that end of the Côte d'Or.
October 2009
The 75 hectare domaine of merchants Joseph Drouhin started testing bio-dynamism back in 1997. Gradually their entire estate has been converted, and this has now be officially certified. This is by far the largest entity in Burgundy to have 'gone bio-dynamic'.
September 2009
The appetite of négociants Boisset never seems to be satisfied. The have now bought up their rivals Rodet, based in Mercurey in the Côte Chalonnaise. Rodet itself acquired Dufouleur Père et Fils of Nuits-Saint-Georges at the end of 2006.
August 2009
In October 2009 Olivier Leflaive will take back various parcels previously under contract to the Domaine Leflaive. These include roughly a third of a hectare each of Chevalier-Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet, and premiers crus in Pucelles, Folatières and Meursault-Blagny. This will increase his estate from 15 hectares to 16.5.
May 2009
Nicolas Potel has departed from the négocaints business which bears his name. This follows, as I understand it, disagreements with the parent company, Labouré-Roi, over the direction the firm should take, bearing in mind the economic circumstances currently in place. Merchant Potel wine: 2008, 2007, and earlier vintages, will continue to be sold. Meanwhile Potel will concentrate on his own 22ha. domaine, based in Savigny-Lès-Beaune.
May 2009
Prematurely Oxidised White Burgundy – It's Not Over Yet. Readers of The Wines of Burgundy may recall that following a comprehensive tasting of some 150 premiers and grands crus which I set up in June 2006, and where I deliberately left the ullaged bottles for several weeks to see if there was any deterioration (which there wasn't), I expressed the hope that perhaps this premature oxidation problem, so prevalent in the vintages of the late 1990s, had been resolved.
Sadly the answer seems to be No. On a recent visit to the USA I encountered bad bottles of both the 1999 and the 2002 Puligny-Montrachet, Les Pucelles from Lefaive, plus Vincent et Francois Jouard's Chassagne-Montrachet, Les Chaumées, La Truffière, 2001, among the few post-millenium bottles that came my way.
May 2009
Remoissenet buys Lanvin. Lanvin may not be a name which conjours much up in Burgundy lovers' memories. This is a Dijon family which built up a 18 hectare domaine through its purchases of firms such as Coron, Belin and Misserey. The estate largely consists of generic wine, but also posseses 42a of Clos de Vougeot, 30a of Charmes-Chambertin plus Gevrey-Chambertin, Les Cazetiers. Remoissenet Père et Fils have been buying the fruit for a couple of vintages. They have now bought the domaine.
October 2008
Renaissance at Faiveley. In the recent past, good as they were, certain of Faiveley's wines were marred by a rigidity to the tannins, as if, and as eventually verified, the wood for the staves had not been seasoned properly. Most of the Faiveley wines seemed to be able to absorb this defect – as a glance at my 2005 notes will show – but the lesser examples, those for example from the extensive Faiveley holdings in the Côte Chalonnaise, were so encased in their straightjacket as to be tough to appreciate.
Enter the new team: Erwan Faiveley as president, Bernard Hervet as general manager. The barrel maker was sacked and confidence bestowed on Francois Frères of Saint-Romain, supplier to the Domaine de la Romanée Conti and much else besides. Other minor modifications occured at the same time. Faiveley have reverted to a vertical press, temperatures are maintained at the end of maceration to integrate the tannins more efficiently, and some wines are now made, at least partially, by using whole bunches.
Tasting the 2007s was a revelation. From a simple Blagny, La Pièce sous le Bois onwards and up to Chambertin, Clos de Bèze, the Faiveley range of wines showed elegance, flair, concentration and individualty. And not a hint of tannic rigidity!
November 2008
The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti expands into Corton. Following the death earlier in the year of Prince Florent de Mérode, the family Ladoix-Serrigny-based estate has been sold. The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti has acquired the grands crus: 57 ares of Corton, Clos de Roi, 1.19 ha. of Bressandes and 51 ares of Renardes. Vincent Sauvestre of Maison Béjot has picked up the remainder of the domaine, which includes vineyards in Aloxe-Corton, Pommard and Ladoix.
November 2008
Maison Louis Jadot, having taken over the 14.5 hectare Pouilly-Fuissé estate of Madame J.A. Ferret earlier in the year, were said to have had eyes on the up-to-now under-achieving 50 ha. Château de Poncié in Fleurie. Here they have been pipped at the post by Maison Bouchard Père et Fils.
October 2008
The Domaine Leflaive, having acquired the appropriate merchants' license, has now entered into an agreement with Eric de Suremain of Monthelie, who is a cousin, to develop and exploit the De Suremain wines in Monthelie and Rully. There are plans for Leflaive to expand into the red wines of the Côte de Nuits shortly.
October 2008
Bernard Morey (62) of Chassagne-Montrachet will henceforth concentrate on his merchant wines. The family domaine has been passed down to his sons Thomas (35) and Vincent, who are each going their separate way. Vincent's wife is a Belland, a cousin of Roger of Santenay. This domaine will be known as Vincent et Sophie Morey. I did not sample Vincent's 2007s, but I liked those of Thomas. Like many in the area, Thomas has plans to bottle after 18 months and not after 12. 'When I have the space, etc.', he told me.
October 2008
Thibault Liger Belair and Erwan Faiveley and others, have made an application to promote Nuits-Saint-Georges' Les Saint Georges to grand cru. Before you get too excited I should warn that these processes are very lengthly. It will be a decade before a decision is reached. Many years ago several producers in Morey-Saint-Denis, En La Rue De Vergy, a vineyard upslope from Clos de Tart, and en friche at the time of the general 1936 appellation, applied to have it moved up to premier cru, which on the basis of what I have sampled chez Bruno Clair and elsewhere, it richly deserves. So far, silence.
One could also consider whether Les Saint Georges deserves promotion. Are the wines better than adjacent Les Cailles? Are they better than Vosne-Romanée's Malconsorts, Brulées, Beaumont, Suchots, let alone Chambolle-Musigny, Les Amoureuses or Gevrey-Chambertin, Clos Saint Jacques? I don't want to pour cold water on the application right at the beginning, but I view the dilution of the concept of grand cru, for that is what it would be, with alarm.
October 2008
Pascal Lachaux of Vosne-Romanée's Domaine Robert Arnoux has acquired the lease to Christopher Newman's 53 ares of Latrricières-Chambertin, formerly share-cropped by Guy Castagnier of Morey-Saint-Denis. Does this mean that other Newman vineyards will change direction when the en metayage arrangements with Castagnier run out? Newman owns 10 ares of Mazis-Chambertin and 33 ares of Bonnes-Mares.
July 2008
Laurent Ponsot of Morey-Saint-Denis' Domaine Ponsot has continued to develop the device he has pioneered which shows evidence that bottles of wine have been subject to heat abuse in transit. This consists of a white spot of the laabel which turns grey if the temperature has been excessive. The spot will now change colour at temperatures above 27° C.
He has also developed a very sophisticated plastic cork, sourced in Italy, which he will use for all his 2007s. Now, he announces, if you buy a case of Domaine Ponsot wine, I can guarantee you will get 12 clean bottles.
June 2008
Pierre Morey, régisseur at the Domaine Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet, having reached the age of 60, has retired in order, as he puts it, to have a bit more spare time. He will continue to run his own family estate and his merchant company Morey-Blanc alongside his daughter Anne.
June 2008
Philippe Landanger of the Domaine de la Pousse d'Or has bought the Domaine Moine-Hudelot in Chambolle-Musigny, Daniel Moine now being well into his late 60s and not having any successors interested in taking over from him. The Moine 5.8 hectare estate contains land in Bonnes-Mares, Chambolle-Musigny, Les Amoureuses and Les Feusselottes, and village Chambolle-Musigny. Twenty years ago there was additionally some Musigny, but this was sold to Madame Bize-Leroy.
June 2008
Three years ago the Savoyard Maurice Giraud, having previously acquired the 20 hectare Château de Pommard, bought the 6 ha. Domaine des Perrières in Chassagne-Montrachet. This included vines in the first growths of Les Caillerets and Les Chaumes as well as village wine. This he has now sold, mainly to Vincent Girardin; some to Alex Gambal, fellow négociant. Is the Château de Pommard also for sale? Who wants 20 hectares of vilage Pommard? Admtttedly the wine is rather better than it used to be under the regime of Giraud's predecessor.
June 2008
The long-established négociant Moillard, otherwise known as Moillard-Grivot, of Nuits-Saint-Georges has been sold by its owners the Thomas family to Vincent Sauvestre of Maison Béjot in Meursault. The Thomas family domaine was acquired by the De Montille and Seysses families in 2006.
April 2008
Maison Faiveley of Nuits-Saint-Georges announce the aquisition of the Domaine Monnot of Puligny-Montrachet. You won't have heard much of this domaine as hitherto it has supplied other merchants, mainly Louis Latour, in bulk. The 5 hectare domaine consists of vines in Bâtard-Montrachet, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montachet, Puligny premiers crus in Folatières, Referts and Garenne, and village Puligny-Montrachet.
This presents Faiveley with an important opportunity to cement their lines of supply in top white wine, an area where they have traditionally been weak in comparison with red.