World Tour of Pinot Noir – Bacchus Vintage tasting
Friday 22 July 2012
My turn to provide the tasting after many years of talking about it. Finally. There follows a very diverse range of Pinot Noir with all the major wine producing regions represented apart from Australia (not a deliberate omission – just had difficulty in tracking down some good examples for the evening). Price points for the bottles ranged from ~£8 to ~£100.
Most wine regions have a defining grape variety linked to them, but no-where has quite managed to entwine itself with a grape and a particular style of wine and wine making as Burgundy. It was interesting to see how many of the New World wines sought to emulate this, with a few notably going in their own direction (or perhaps they were just trying to emulate and got it wrong!)
By and large the New World wines were all very good quality, similar in character and developing well for their age. So New World Pinot Noir can age quite well! But in a different trajectory to the Burgundy wines, although most of these were far too young to be able to get our heads around. Infanticide, and quite disappointing that the last three hadn’t even started to get into their stride yet. Should have gone for older vintages.
Also of note was the perceptibly hot alcohol levels on the initial New World wines, presumably from strenuous efforts to achieve optimum ripeness in what may be too-warm a climate for perfect Pinot Noir?
The overall winner for best wine on the night / most approachable now was the Wine Society Exhibition Martinborough Pinot Noir 2004 (produced by Craggy Range). Really excellent wine in quite a Burgundian mould.
Top wines were as follows for first half of the tasting:
1. Glen Carlou
2. = Errazuriz
= Bergacker Cuvee
3. = Paul Cluver
= Weingut Okonomierat Rebholz
For the second half of the tasting:
1. Wine Society Exhibition Martinborough Pinot Noir by Craggy Range
2. Mazzis Chambertin Grand Cru
3. Pommard 1er Cru
4. = Domaine de la Salle Beaune Champimonts 1er Cru
= Furst Centgrafenberg Spätburgunder trocken
The only wines to score no points (no-one voted for them) were the Robert Mondavi Carneros Napa Valley and the Domaine Jean Chauvnet Nuit-St-George. Frankly these didn't deserve any points.
Glen Carlou Pinot Noir 2007 (Paarl, South Africa)
For what was anticipated to be at the lighter end of the spectrum of the wines tasted this evening, the introductory Glen Carlou Pinot Noir actually presented itself really well. Very pale, very open gamey nose. Nose has some Pinot Noir character but also a strong element of burnt tyre / Brett-like notes – not unpleasant. Full palate, a little hot. Short to medium finish. Given 5-years old, developed nicely. Probably not for keeping further. Not to everyone’s tastes, but I enjoyed. 16/20.
Errazuriz Wild Ferment Pinot Noir 2010 (Casablanca, Chile)
Really pale colour, very open. Rubbery notes again. Fruit based palate of primary red fruits. Quite fresh, and obviously in contrast to previous wine given its relative youth. Hot. Can’t imagine how / if this will develop with age, seems sufficiently light to be drinking now. 16/20.
Paul Cluver Pinot Noir 2006 (Elgin, South Africa)
Similarly light in colour. Very rich and spice-laden nose and palate. Again, rather hot. Similar in style to the previous two wines.16/20.
Weingut Okonomierat Rebholz Spätburgunder trocken 2004 (Pflaz, Germany)
Getting too old really. Very light - losing its already pale colour. Nose is very well-developed tertiary spicy character but mainly just comes across to me as just old, old wine really. Characterful. Remind me of a 1970’s claret! Not really Pinot Noir. Palate fading. Thin. Does this reflect a difficult vintage? Past best. 15/20.
Robert Mondavi Carneros Napa Valley Pinot Noir 2008
Young standard Pinot Noir colour. Jammy, primary nose. Palate tastes almost sweet and a little confected! Short finish. Given the price, this wine shows poorly in comparison to its peers in this tasting. At any price point I would be disappointed by it. 15/20. Not a single vote from any one at the end of the evening!
Bergacker Cuvee 1999 (Pfalz, Germany)
APR 50510451501
Served as an ‘interlude’ wine for interest to break the tasting into two halves. 18 months in barrique. 60% cab sav, 30% Spatburgunder, 10% Dornfelder. This really caught people’s attention in the tasting. Comes across as a well-developed cab-dominant Medoc, in fact better than similar Chateau wines of that vintage that cost far more! In a blind tasting it would have thrown many, an no-one thought this could be a 1999! Lovely, pronounced mature cab notes without so much of the typical cedar-wood / cigar box. Tannic palate, firm structured but very nicely balanced. Good acidity. Medium finish. Really a very interesting wine for novelty tasting. 16+/20.
Furst Centgrafenberg Spätburgunder trocken 2005 (Franken, Germany)
Rich, ripe and full 2005 vintage shines through. This is a very polished wine, very concentrated and really would have shown better with quite a few years bottle-age. It really felt quite primary fruit still. I think this has promise. It certainly held its own against some far better-known wines. 16+/20.
Sylvain Debord Côte de Nuit Village 2008
A rather standard Côte de Nuit Village, very competent. Decent plus, for week day evenings really. Probably not for keeping further. 15/20.
Wine Society Exhibition Martinborough Pinot Noir 2004 (by Craggy Range)
This wine was simply singing. The wine of the evening for many. The elegance of a soft and velvety Cote-de-Beaune with a little more structure and back-bone. Burgundian in style but distinctly different in its own way. Drinking very well now, although wouldn’t be afraid to keep longer in the short-term. 17/20.
Domaine Jean Chauvnet Nuit-St-George 2005
Well – this was interesting. Originally bought en primeur, I noted Jancis Robinson had not rated this. Most at this tasting would agree. In its own way, this was a reasonable wine. But not a Nuit-St-George as anyone knows it. Dark, soupy, too much of everything really. Over-extracted I would say. Not representative of grape or place. Ignoring all of that though, a decent enough wine if you’re looking for something relatively big and beefy. 15+/20.
Domaine de la Salle Beaune "Champimonts 1er Cru" 2008
Light, delicate, elegant, soft – the epitome of a mid-weight Beaune 1er Cru. This isn’t reaching for the skies, but it offers a good representation of the place and the style. Enjoyable.
Dujac Morey-St-Denis 2008
Given previous vintages of this have really rocked me, this was really quite underwhelming. Poor bottle? Poor vintage? Closed up, but without any suggestion it would ultimately come out of itself. Palate was just plain and not really showing anything either. I would like to think this is going through a metamorphosis into another, better stage, but I certainly wouldn’t purchase again at £40/bottle for fear that isn’t correct. Not scored. £55.
Lejeune Pommard "Rugiens 1er Cru" 2007
Classic, powerful, four-square Pommard. Much preferred to the Nuit-St-George. Firm and relatively unyielding at this stage. Needs time. £65.
Sylvian Cathiard Vosne-Romanee 2008
Typical pale appearance, open nose. Showing the classic silkiness of a Vosne-Romanee, notable more rounder and polished than the wines either side of this. But actually has a fair backbone in there with tight tannins in need of softening out a bit. Well balanced. This will improve. £60.
Naddef Mazis Chambertin Grand Cru 2008
This wine merely hinted at what it will become in the future, and I think that will be something great. The concentration and fruit is all there. Maybe in another 10-years it will have knitted together. Tonight it hadn’t, it just teased us a bit about it. £100.
Friday 22 July 2012
My turn to provide the tasting after many years of talking about it. Finally. There follows a very diverse range of Pinot Noir with all the major wine producing regions represented apart from Australia (not a deliberate omission – just had difficulty in tracking down some good examples for the evening). Price points for the bottles ranged from ~£8 to ~£100.
Most wine regions have a defining grape variety linked to them, but no-where has quite managed to entwine itself with a grape and a particular style of wine and wine making as Burgundy. It was interesting to see how many of the New World wines sought to emulate this, with a few notably going in their own direction (or perhaps they were just trying to emulate and got it wrong!)
By and large the New World wines were all very good quality, similar in character and developing well for their age. So New World Pinot Noir can age quite well! But in a different trajectory to the Burgundy wines, although most of these were far too young to be able to get our heads around. Infanticide, and quite disappointing that the last three hadn’t even started to get into their stride yet. Should have gone for older vintages.
Also of note was the perceptibly hot alcohol levels on the initial New World wines, presumably from strenuous efforts to achieve optimum ripeness in what may be too-warm a climate for perfect Pinot Noir?
The overall winner for best wine on the night / most approachable now was the Wine Society Exhibition Martinborough Pinot Noir 2004 (produced by Craggy Range). Really excellent wine in quite a Burgundian mould.
Top wines were as follows for first half of the tasting:
1. Glen Carlou
2. = Errazuriz
= Bergacker Cuvee
3. = Paul Cluver
= Weingut Okonomierat Rebholz
For the second half of the tasting:
1. Wine Society Exhibition Martinborough Pinot Noir by Craggy Range
2. Mazzis Chambertin Grand Cru
3. Pommard 1er Cru
4. = Domaine de la Salle Beaune Champimonts 1er Cru
= Furst Centgrafenberg Spätburgunder trocken
The only wines to score no points (no-one voted for them) were the Robert Mondavi Carneros Napa Valley and the Domaine Jean Chauvnet Nuit-St-George. Frankly these didn't deserve any points.
Glen Carlou Pinot Noir 2007 (Paarl, South Africa)
For what was anticipated to be at the lighter end of the spectrum of the wines tasted this evening, the introductory Glen Carlou Pinot Noir actually presented itself really well. Very pale, very open gamey nose. Nose has some Pinot Noir character but also a strong element of burnt tyre / Brett-like notes – not unpleasant. Full palate, a little hot. Short to medium finish. Given 5-years old, developed nicely. Probably not for keeping further. Not to everyone’s tastes, but I enjoyed. 16/20.
Errazuriz Wild Ferment Pinot Noir 2010 (Casablanca, Chile)
Really pale colour, very open. Rubbery notes again. Fruit based palate of primary red fruits. Quite fresh, and obviously in contrast to previous wine given its relative youth. Hot. Can’t imagine how / if this will develop with age, seems sufficiently light to be drinking now. 16/20.
Paul Cluver Pinot Noir 2006 (Elgin, South Africa)
Similarly light in colour. Very rich and spice-laden nose and palate. Again, rather hot. Similar in style to the previous two wines.16/20.
Weingut Okonomierat Rebholz Spätburgunder trocken 2004 (Pflaz, Germany)
Getting too old really. Very light - losing its already pale colour. Nose is very well-developed tertiary spicy character but mainly just comes across to me as just old, old wine really. Characterful. Remind me of a 1970’s claret! Not really Pinot Noir. Palate fading. Thin. Does this reflect a difficult vintage? Past best. 15/20.
Robert Mondavi Carneros Napa Valley Pinot Noir 2008
Young standard Pinot Noir colour. Jammy, primary nose. Palate tastes almost sweet and a little confected! Short finish. Given the price, this wine shows poorly in comparison to its peers in this tasting. At any price point I would be disappointed by it. 15/20. Not a single vote from any one at the end of the evening!
Bergacker Cuvee 1999 (Pfalz, Germany)
APR 50510451501
Served as an ‘interlude’ wine for interest to break the tasting into two halves. 18 months in barrique. 60% cab sav, 30% Spatburgunder, 10% Dornfelder. This really caught people’s attention in the tasting. Comes across as a well-developed cab-dominant Medoc, in fact better than similar Chateau wines of that vintage that cost far more! In a blind tasting it would have thrown many, an no-one thought this could be a 1999! Lovely, pronounced mature cab notes without so much of the typical cedar-wood / cigar box. Tannic palate, firm structured but very nicely balanced. Good acidity. Medium finish. Really a very interesting wine for novelty tasting. 16+/20.
Furst Centgrafenberg Spätburgunder trocken 2005 (Franken, Germany)
Rich, ripe and full 2005 vintage shines through. This is a very polished wine, very concentrated and really would have shown better with quite a few years bottle-age. It really felt quite primary fruit still. I think this has promise. It certainly held its own against some far better-known wines. 16+/20.
Sylvain Debord Côte de Nuit Village 2008
A rather standard Côte de Nuit Village, very competent. Decent plus, for week day evenings really. Probably not for keeping further. 15/20.
Wine Society Exhibition Martinborough Pinot Noir 2004 (by Craggy Range)
This wine was simply singing. The wine of the evening for many. The elegance of a soft and velvety Cote-de-Beaune with a little more structure and back-bone. Burgundian in style but distinctly different in its own way. Drinking very well now, although wouldn’t be afraid to keep longer in the short-term. 17/20.
Domaine Jean Chauvnet Nuit-St-George 2005
Well – this was interesting. Originally bought en primeur, I noted Jancis Robinson had not rated this. Most at this tasting would agree. In its own way, this was a reasonable wine. But not a Nuit-St-George as anyone knows it. Dark, soupy, too much of everything really. Over-extracted I would say. Not representative of grape or place. Ignoring all of that though, a decent enough wine if you’re looking for something relatively big and beefy. 15+/20.
Domaine de la Salle Beaune "Champimonts 1er Cru" 2008
Light, delicate, elegant, soft – the epitome of a mid-weight Beaune 1er Cru. This isn’t reaching for the skies, but it offers a good representation of the place and the style. Enjoyable.
Dujac Morey-St-Denis 2008
Given previous vintages of this have really rocked me, this was really quite underwhelming. Poor bottle? Poor vintage? Closed up, but without any suggestion it would ultimately come out of itself. Palate was just plain and not really showing anything either. I would like to think this is going through a metamorphosis into another, better stage, but I certainly wouldn’t purchase again at £40/bottle for fear that isn’t correct. Not scored. £55.
Lejeune Pommard "Rugiens 1er Cru" 2007
Classic, powerful, four-square Pommard. Much preferred to the Nuit-St-George. Firm and relatively unyielding at this stage. Needs time. £65.
Sylvian Cathiard Vosne-Romanee 2008
Typical pale appearance, open nose. Showing the classic silkiness of a Vosne-Romanee, notable more rounder and polished than the wines either side of this. But actually has a fair backbone in there with tight tannins in need of softening out a bit. Well balanced. This will improve. £60.
Naddef Mazis Chambertin Grand Cru 2008
This wine merely hinted at what it will become in the future, and I think that will be something great. The concentration and fruit is all there. Maybe in another 10-years it will have knitted together. Tonight it hadn’t, it just teased us a bit about it. £100.
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