Browse Tag

burgundy

d’Angerville mouse

d’Angerville 1997 Volnay Clos des Ducs (Burgundy) – Complex and beautifully balanced, with a long finish buoyed by good acidity and the character of a deep, fruit-ridden Burgundian soil sample. (6/08)

One more Martray

[vineyard]Bonneau de Martray 1998 Corton (Burgundy) – Half a wine. Sweaty, dirty-sex aromas are prematurely clipped. A petal-like texture caresses and soothes, and then a tiny appendage of structure clasps its fist shut. There’s a good deal of acidity that’s never quite integrated into the wine, nor does it seem in balance with anything else available for eventual marriage. There’s plenty here that’s appealing, but overall…I just don’t know. (8/08)

Madonna

Vogüé 1996 Musigny (Burgundy) – Open and much-depleted over two days, and in its dregs by the time I get to it. Structured and stylish nonetheless, if fading, and while this wasn’t the time to be tasting this wine, I thank the provider. This note, it must be emphasized, has nothing to do with an freshly-opened bottle. (2/08)

Not your average Vougeot

Leroy 1995 Clos de Vougeot (Burgundy) – Tight-grained and muscular, but by no means overly dominant, showing a fanatic’s assemblage of tiny wild berries, a mélange of mineral-infused truffles, and a whirlwind, rolling persistence that expands past the nose and mouth into the brain, then races straight down to the heart. Great wines so often possess a certain tactility; this one does its own touching without any help from the taster…and exploration which moves quickly from a firm grasp to a passionate caress. There’s a powerful dimorphism at work here; it simultaneously inhabits both masculine and feminine forms, and the tension and interplay between them defines the wine. Breathtaking. Simply breathtaking. (8/07)

I see your Truchot colors shinin’ through

Truchot 2004 Morey-St-Denis Les Blanchards 1er Cru (Burgundy) – Extremely balanced and ever so subtle, with strawberry and tarragon rising very slightly above a gentle breath of red fruit. Supple. The finish is long but increasingly linear, which gives me slight pause. Still, the wine’s hard to resist. (8/07)

The five stages of Grivot

Grivot 1998 Échezeaux (Burgundy) – Dark cherry…but gently, gently, with hints of darker fruit, and then suggestions of lighter fruit as well. Plus, one can’t forget the morels…succulent, perfectly ripe; these are pure-essence-of-the-forest morels brooding in dark, delicious toxicity. But it’s the texture that matters here. Satin. The darkest, richest, most royal satin. The cynical might even call it a little slick and smoothed over. But why ruin the experience via negative predispositions? (8/07)

Arlington National Cemetery

Bertagna 2005 Bourgogne “Les Croix Blanches” (Burgundy) – Really quite tasty, full of spicy red fruit of a zing akin to carbonation, slashed-up rocks, and the promise of a leafier elegance on the finish. Very good. (5/08)

Vieille Prunier

Prunier 2000 Auxey-Duresses (Burgundy) – A good wine that I don’t like, probably because I’ve fallen completely off the chardonnay bandwagon and can’t seem to get back on. It’s lush, waxy, moderately oxidized, and shows plenty of old, dry caramel and an intense texture with remnants of coriander and fresh tumeric. (5/08)

Champy at the bit

Champy 1999 Meursault (Burgundy) – Shy. Mild hazelnut and chanterelle laced with minor oak aromas. The structure is proportionally reticent. Soft and far too restrained, nor does food help it. Very, very bland. (4/06)

Roche limb, baa

[leaves]Amiot 2001 Clos de la Roche (Burgundy) – Smoky. Dense with huge lobes of meat. 100% animal. Long-finishing and utterly fascinating. Not for the faint of heart, though. (2/08)