Browse Tag

bourgogne

Geordi

Lafarge 2005 Bourgogne Aligoté (Burgundy) – Perhaps a touch older than need be, though the interest grows with air and it’s possibly I’m underselling this. Old wax, slight oxidation, faded copper, somewhat acrid sweat-laced grapefruit skins. Much less tentative than it seems at first sip, it does build to something, but that something is mostly more of what it first promised, which isn’t an improvement so much as an escalation in volume. (5/12)

Moor or less

de Moor 2007 Bourgogne Chitry (Burgundy) – There’s aroma and flavor here, like strolling through a field of…something-or-other, but what marks this wine at the moment is texture: not rich, exactly, but well-lived and confident, rolling rather than tumbling. I’ve thought, considering previous encounters, that the wine was approaching a rest position, but based on this bottle I’m no longer sure. (2/12)

Beg & Gravel

Maréchal 2004 Bourgogne “Cuvée Gravel” (Burgundy) – Really good, as of now. Biting, brittle, flowing, wholesome. Contradictions in pinot. It’s sharply dark reddish, yet it’s as appealing as a Bourgogne from anyone but the absurdly decommissioning producers (who use young-vine grand cru fruit, etc., and whose Bourgognes tend to be priced at premier cru levels) could possibly be. (12/11)

…to the argument

Marie-Pierre Germain 2009 Bourgogne Rouge (Burgundy) – A bit tough, despite a quite pleasant sand art-like procession of layers of fruit. Eventually, though, the structure pummels and then desiccates. Maybe more time will help, but I don’t know that I see the balance for aging; maybe best to manage this wine with food, rather than cellaring. (10/11)

Maréchal law

Maréchal 2007 Bourgogne “Cuvée Gravel” (Burgundy) – Surprisingly harsh and gritty; whether a stage or an endpoint I don’t know for sure, but I do know that I’ve been pretty disappointed with this wine for the last few vintages, in youth or near-youth. Have they changed, or have I? (9/11)

Les Clous train

de Villaine 2005 Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise Les Clous (Burgundy) – I’ve an odd sensation drinking this, as if I’m confronted with the rush of a suddenly-returned memory I didn’t know I’d forgotten. I drink precious little chardonnay of any non-sparkling type, and even less white Burgundy, but my more formative wine years were full of the stuff. Some sort of…well, I wouldn’t call it a “need,” exactly, but more of a satisfied conclusion, has been fulfilled by this wine. It doesn’t hurt that it delivers so much of what I actually like about good white Burgundy without burdening itself (or me) which the majority that I don’t. Beige earth, French horn mushrooms, ripe in both the agricultural and temporal senses of the word, draped with “fruit” but really much more about beautifully-rounded texture and poise. (5/11)

Moor or less

de Moor 2007 Bourgogne Blanc Chitry (Burgundy) – Light complexity – Complexity 101 – with a quartzy, light-then-flat-then-light-again texture, all skew angles and occult tangents, yet somehow formed and whole. Peachy? No, not really. Perhaps apricotty, but then maybe it’s crystallized. Or maybe not. Enjoyable. (7/10)

de Moor 2007 Bourgogne Blanc Chitry (Burgundy) – Overwhelmed with VA, stench, degradation, and awfulness. From the same case as the previous, very intact bottle. (8/10)

Take this wine and Chevillon

Chevillon 2006 Bourgogne (Burgundy) – Every time I drink a Chevillon of anything but surpassing age (and that almost never happens), I laugh at the occasionally-stated opinion of non-Burgundy fans that there’s nothing of sufficient heft for their palates. In terms of alcohol or supercharged, candied fruit, that may be true. But to apply the descriptors “light” or “elegant” as the epithets they so often are to this wine would be ludicrous. Full-fruited in the red spectrum, with only hints of black, but very earthen and lavishly structured, this is an extremely powerful drink for what is still just a basic Bourgogne. Well, “just” is unfair here, because this is neither constructed nor priced as “just” anything. I like it. I’ll like it even more with a little more maturity under its wide leather belt. (7/10)

de Moor, de merrier

de Moor 2008 Bourgogne Blanc Chitry (Burgundy) – Subtle. Clear running water, gently flowing over stones, plus lovely blended stone and citrus fruit. Perfectly under-structured, if that makes sense. The wine is kinda beautiful, but in a shy, somewhat girlish way. I’d describe it as a bit of a Lolita, but now this note is starting to creep me out. (7/10)

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