A dark, rich red with edges of purple. This wine’s nose is like a bunch of dark cherries being greedily, juicily eaten by a feral animal. There’s some stink that comes in waves, but the overriding impression is of fresh juice and tart, split berry skins. At the edges, an appealing, icing sugar-like powderiness that adds some detail and presence in the higher registers. This seems a darker wine overall, though not serious so much as rich and generous. I’m not sure the animalé is entirely terroir-driven; it smells as much of boiled eggs as it does wild Pinot. Certainly within tolerable limits.
Domaine Trapet Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin Ostréa 2006
From memory, a deeper aroma profile than its predecessor, and slightly
Domaine Anne et Hervé Sigaut Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Noirots 2006
Immediately, powerfully fragrant and spicy. There’s so much going on in the upper registers it takes a while for a thread of rich, red berry fruit to begin asserting itself. I’d say there’s a reasonable amount of oak here, very much of the savoury, spicy variety. This isn’t a wine that sneaks up. Rather, it is a bold challenge, throwing complexity and savouriness in your face by way of a rather frenetic aroma profile. Yet it remains nimble.
Domaine Anne et Hervé Sigaut
Price: $A69
Closure: Cork
Domaine Jean-Claude Bachelet et Fils Bourgogne Rouge 2005
A flashback to 2005; Bourgogne Rouge from a producer based in Saint-Aubin.
This wine looks more like a robust rosé than full blooded Pinot Noir, which is really not such a bad thing when you consider many rosés are spectacular to look at. Vivid red, little density of colour, and a bit hazy to boot. Personally, I think it’s very pretty and inviting. The nose is straightforward, with sweet red fruits that verge on confectionary, plus a tidy thread of savoury funk that enhances overall pinosity. No complexity to speak of, but what’s there smells good.
In the mouth, very clean and slippery, coming across (to the Australian palate familiar with our large volume, low price wines) as rather industrial. Actually, there’s a decent amount of fresh acid, but no tannins of significance, signalling firm suitability for immediate consumption. The flavour profile is as simple, and as pleasing, as the aroma, with sweet and sour red fruits dominating a background of caramel and a bit of funky spice. At first, I thought it was a bit dilute, but there’s actually plenty of flavour, and a perceived tendency towards angularity derives more from profile than volume. Most of this wine is packed into the entry and middle palate, with a falloff as it moves through the back of the mouth and on to the finish.
Very quaffable and varietally recognisable without much distinctiveness. Burgundy’s answer to De Bortoli’s Windy Peak Pinot, perhaps?
Domaine Jean-Claude Bachelet et Fils
Price: $A25
Closure: Cork
Domaine Jean Tardy & Fils Fixin La Place 2006
A village wine from the northerly Fixin appellation of Burgundy. Fixin reds are usually described as sauvage, feral, rustic, and so on, but the producer here is based in Vosne-Romaneé, an appellation typically known for its silky, sophisticated style. I’m curious to observe what this combination means in the bottle.
Domaine Bart Bourgogne Rouge 2006
Château Labégorce 1995
Château de Tracy Pouilly-Fumé 2002
It’s Sunday afternoon and the storms keep threatening to hit, but never quite do. Still, the air is thick with humidity and the smell of imminent rain, and it’s moments like this where I tend to reach for something in white. If it’s pungently aromatic, then so much the better.
Golden colour, pretty and showing signs of bottle age. A really striking nose, intoxicatingly rich with aromas of honey, tropical fruit and a little flint. There’s also a sour floral dimension that reminds me of the smell you get when you shake a flowering weed. Sharp, astringent, yet oddly pretty. Taken as a whole, it reads as a dessert wine with considerable edginess.
In fact, it’s a dry wine that tightens considerably on the palate. Immediate, intense flavour on the tongue as the wine enters the mouth. Acidity provides immediate textural interest and accentuates the wine’s fruit flavours early. In fact, this wine’s acidity is worth a few more words. Sauvignon Blanc-based wines often have quite aggressive acidity, which can be fun, but here it’s on an altogether more sophisticated plane. If one were to consider a wine’s acid visually, this wine would show a straight line from left to right, fine and firm and absolutely mouthwatering. Fruit weight gathers steam and, by the mid palate, there’s a gorgeous richness washing through the mouth. More honey and sharp tropical fruits, with a sideline of minerality that blends well into the acid structure. The sweetness of fruit and bottle age resonates through the after palate and continues well into the finish. A slight bitterness here is the only element that disrupts an otherwise harmoniously balanced flavour profile.
This is surely drinking at its peak, with a range of youthful and bottle aged characters existing in complementary fashion. I love this expression of Sauvignon Blanc and would happily drink this as an aperitif or with smoked salmon canapes.
Château de Tracy
Price: $NA
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2008
Domaine des Baumard Vert de L'Or Doux 1999
A big mushroom cloud of oxidised stink at first, settling to a less big mushroom cloud of oxidised stink after a few minutes. There’s no doubt this bottle could be in better condition, but it is keeping it together long enough for me to have a good taste.
An interesting companion piece to the dry 2000 version, this wine is less identifiably varietal yet weightier in fruit at the same time. Gentle acidity provides a backdrop for gentle, sweet flavour and some bitterness that both freshens the palate and overwhelms the fruit somewhat. It’s all very easygoing in flavour profile and, thanks to that acidity, brisk on the tongue. A simple, slightly confected after palate leads to a decent finish that is quite textural and slightly bitter.
A little hard to judge this bottle, but what’s here is tasty enough, though fading a little disgracefully into old age.
Domaine des Baumard
Price: $NA
Closure: Cork
Domaine Côteau de la Biche Vouvray Sec 2005
I spied this while at lunch today and couldn’t resist buying a bottle.
On the nose, apple and pear plus a collection of somewhat prickly notes that remind me a little of pies baking in a slightly-too-hot oven. It’s very distinctive and quite forward, expressiveness growing as I sit with it through the evening. On entry, the most notable element is a thick, round mouthfeel that is quite unexpected after a relatively tight nose. Hence, the wine has good impact and presence. Labelled “sec,” there’s no overt sweetness, although fruit flavours are quite forward and soft in the context of the style. Apples and pears and, dare I suggest, grapes are the primarily flavours, overlaid with that distinctive marshmallow and toffee halo that one sees in some Loire Chenins. I wish it had a bit more incisiveness and bite, as well as a notch more intensity. A little tame through the after palate, the wine is of average length, seeming to taper off too quickly relative to its punch on the middle palate.
An easygoing Vouvray that provides a good hit of Loire goodness for not too much money. For my dollars, though, there are probably others that represent better value.
Domaine Côteau de la Biche
Price: $A31
Closure: Cork