Tag Archives: Burgundy

Domaine Rapet Père et Fils Bourgogne Aligoté 2006

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The other white Burgundy.

A clean, pretty aroma of apple skins and pears. Very fruity and a bit shy, but fresh and pleasant. In the mouth it’s more generous. Abundant and slightly hard acidity underlines full flavours of apple and baked nutty things. It struck me as a little dilute initially, and it’s certainly not an overly intense wine, but the flavour has gained some weight as the wine has warmed. The flavour profile is straightforward, simple, and tasty. There’s a nicely bitter twist on the finish, which reminds me of freshly picked herbs. I especially like the mouthfeel here, crisp and acidic, yet weighty too, with a nice sense of slippery viscosity.

There’s really not much to say about this wine other than it tastes good and is cleanly made. I’d be more than happy to down a few glasses over lunch.

Domaine Rapet Père et Fils
Price: $A23
Closure: Nomacork
Date tasted: November 2008

Faiveley Bourgogne Rouge 2006

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The year ticks over and it’s Burgundy season again, this time the 2006s. Apparently a less admired vintage than 2005, some 2006 wines have nonetheless garnered appreciators, especially the whites. I’ll be tasting a few over the coming weeks.

Right now, I have a glass of Faiveley’s 2006 Bourgogne Rouge next to me, and the soundtrack to this tasting is the “jiggle jiggle” of my pressure cooker as it pulverises some lamb shanks into submission. I’m hoping this wine doesn’t do the same to my palate, as the previous year’s version threatened to do.

A pretty colour of ripe strawberries. On the nose, equal parts red fruit, funky earth and iron. Nice ingredients for sure, though it comes across as quite masculine and “hard,” which won’t necessarily be to the taste of those who enjoy a measure of sensuality in their Burgundies. Good continuity onto the palate. There’s a distinctive taste of iron that reads perhaps as blood and, as distasteful as that may sound, provides a nice backbone to the wine’s more fruit-driven notes. Good presence in the mouth, with sour and reasonably complex red fruit largely yielding to the wine’s wilder side. It’s quite a hard flavour profile, but there’s beauty in its firm, confident stance. Tannins create volume in the mouth with minimal astringency. Certainly a lot to think about for a lowly Bourgogne. Good intensity and line through to a satisfying finish.

Not bad at all, especially considering the price.

Update: the dregs, tasted one day later, had been abandoned by the touch of magic that had graced this wine on initial tasting. Less aromatic and complex, overall.

Faiveley
Price: $A25.65
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: October 2006

Domaine Emilian Gillet Viré-Clessé Quintaine 2002

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A slightly older white Burgundy this time, which will hopefully come as a relief after a slew of younger siblings. As an aside, at Full Pour we taste wines in a “real world” context as much as possible, which often means a single bottle at a time, often sipped slowly all evening. This serves to highlight the role of variety in enjoyment. A self-confessed addict of difference, I find working my way through a series of similar wines both highly revealing and slightly boring at the same time. Still, there are worse things I could do…

Pretty golden hay colour, good clarity. A really seductive nose, with rich almond, grapefruit, butter, and some clear botrytis influence. It’s a wine that reaches out of the glass and sucks you in without resorting to excess vulgarity — sort of like the difference between someone with a magnetic personality versus someone who is just loud. There are also hints of roast nut and spice that add complexity to the aroma profile. The palate delivers solidly on the nose. Entry is slippery-slidey, without any acidic harshness and yet showing freshness and vitality. Rich, round fruit builds on the tongue towards the middle palate, just as some acid structure starts to tingle on the edges of the tongue. Despite the freshness, this is a relaxed, generous wine that you don’t have to work especially hard to enjoy. A lot of this is to do with the ultra silky mouthfeel that balances slipperiness with acidity most satisfyingly. More citrus fruit and hints of sweet honey coat the tongue. The savoury nut/oak observed on the nose props up the fruit flavour in balanced fashion. If it’s not quite as complex as the nose suggests, this is easily compensated by the smooth, easy elegance of this wine. A nutty lift through the after palate keeps on rising through a very satisfying, flavoursome finish. Yum!

I’m tempted to say this wine lacks a certain sophistication, but that’s not quite right. It’s breezy yet substantial, and echoes a sense of generous provincial hospitality. Its mix of fresh and ultra-ripe notes is, I find, beguiling. Delicious, bloody good value, and quite different from all the other white Burgundies recently tasted.

Domaine Emilian Gillet
Price: $A34
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: June 2008

Domaine Alain Chavy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly 2005

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Such is the allure of the great vineyards of Burgundy that those sites with any connection, however tenuous, to vines of renown are almost relentlessly flogged as such. Who am I to buck the trend? En Remilly, the source of this wine, is usually mentioned in the same breath as Le Montrachet, as it is on the same slope above its more famous neighbour. Does proximity to greatness mean anything in this hottest of terroir hotbeds?

The nose certainly promises good things. It’s soft, delicate, and rounded, with floral notes dominating a background of subtle cashew oak, lovely flint and even some banana. Smelling this wine is like sniffing a well-planned garden just coming into bloom. It has the same freshness and intermingled complexity of aroma.

The palate takes these elements and amplifies them, while retaining a similar balance. The entry displays fresh, fine acidity that lingers on the tip of the tongue, then leads the way to the mid-palate ahead of delicate yet persistent fruit flavour. There’s still tight focus as we reach the wine’s mid-point, but the flavour profile by now shows its full spectrum of elements. Lightfooted citrus fruit and flinty minerality are the key ingredients, and play off each other beautifully. There’s also some creaminess and lightly nutty oak in the background. The fruit is clingy but not cloying, thanks to the freshness of the acidity, and shows great definition. Structure relaxes a little out as it moves through the after palate, and spreads the same clingy fruit throughout the mouth ahead of an impressively long finish.

The wine continued to improve and gain weight all evening, and I think reached its peak at a relatively warm temperature (just lightly chilled), so don’t be afraid to serve it even warmer than you might other Chardonnays. It’s not a blockbuster by any means, as it showcases delicacy and balance above power. But it’s pure and balanced and deliciously intense. A lovely style and one of my favourites in the recent pack of white Burgundies tasted at Full Pour. Good value.

Domaine Alain Chavy
Price: $A44
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: June 2008

Domaine du Clos Salomon Givry 1er Cru la Grande Berge 2005

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Distinctive, sharp nose that is part oak, part chalky mineral note (almost lipsticky in character). There may be a bit of sulfur still floating around in there, but the wine’s minerality seems more terroir-driven. There’s also some fruit, austerely honeydew melon like, and a bit of creaminess too. Entry is crisp and finely acidic, with fruit flavour that builds along the wine’s line. It’s almost like flavour starts to radiate out from a focused structural line, and it’s only towards the mid-palate that you realise the fruit here is actually quite intense and assertive. Flavour profile is firmly in line with the nose, in that it’s almost entirely savoury and tilted towards a funky minerality that will be, I’d wager, a matter of taste. Oak is present, for sure, but not a dominant feature. The sulfur is a bit distracting to me, so I hope some time in bottle (or even glass) will help that to disappear. Some rounded fruit emerges as the wine leaves the mid-palate, and it’s this slightly softer note that carries through the after palate onto the lengthy, and somewhat chalky, finish. I’m going to see how this goes through the evening and report back.Well, a little time (an hour perhaps) in the glass, and this wine is presenting well. It’s still a savoury, structured wine, but given this, it’s well balanced and shows good intensity with impressive length. There are also some additional fruit notes, tropical in character, that have started to peak out from under the savouriness. A really characterful wine. Clos SalomonPrice: $A37Closure: CorkDate tasted: May 2008

Domaine Rapet Père et Fils Pernand 1er Cru Sous Frétille 2005

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And now we begin on the 1er Cru white Burgundies, albeit those from lesser appellations. We’ve already tasted this maker’s Pernand-Vergelesses village-level wine, which was a tasty, albeit not especially refined, drop. This wine, at $A59, is $A12 more expensive. What does this extra money buy the punter?

A fair degree more refinement, as it turns out, although the character of the wine is broadly in line with the village wine. The nose shows toasty almond, caramel and soft melon fruit, which sounds sloppy but is in fact crisp and well defined. Entry is sufficiently acidic to prop up more flavours of almond paste and caramel butter, with some citrus and stone fruit, and an overall impression of baked things. I like the way the wine is fresh and well structured without being forbidding, a hint of mineral contributing to this sense of vitality. Intensity is notable, and the wine seems intent on finding every corner of the mouth and staying put. The slightly lifted after palate shows good extension through the back of the mouth, and the finish is well shaped and of good length.

All in all, I like this wine’s flavour profile and sense of style. It’s a lot more refined than the village wine, although I still wouldn’t call it the ultimate in sophistication. I should note that the other half took an instant, firm dislike to this wine’s flavours, finding them unpleasantly sharp and perhaps even volatile. I can understand that point of view, as there’s a pungent, perhaps herbal edge to the wine’s flavour profile that may not be to everyone’s taste.

Update: I left half a bottle in the fridge for two days and am consuming the remainder now. It has come together well, with flavours further integrating and becoming less angular, though it’s still an assertive, distinctive wine. Nice wine if you like the style.

Domaine Rapet Père et Fils
Price: $A59
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: May 2008

Domaine Alain Chavy Puligny-Montrachet Les Charmes 2005

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At $A55, this is the most expensive white Burgundy so far amongst the 2005s recently tasted by me on Full Pour, and approximately equivalent (with the dollar the way it is) in price to the Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard tasted by Chris the other day. Unlike that wine, this is classified as village-level. We’re still playing at the lower end of the price scale as far as these wines are concerned, but at twice the cost of some wines tasted earlier in this series, one could rightly expect a corresponding increase in quality.A fresh, relatively full nose of round citrus and melon fruit, and a hint of caramel. There are also powdery notes, part floral and part mineral, that add a whole layer of high toned complexity. It’s altogether very attractive, though tight and coiled too.  Entry is clean and crisp, with a lovely fresh mouthfeel and bright acidity counterbalanced by impressively intense fruit that builds towards the mid-palate. There are some subtle winemaker inputs here (a hint of butterscotch and spice) but it’s primarily a fruit-driven wine. The tasty fruit is all about grapefruity citrus flavour and, as the after palate begins, the fruit explodes out of its focused centre to coat the insides of the mouth with surprising, quite pleasing aggressiveness. The effect, combined with the wine’s acid structure, is mouthwatering. Nice focus through the finish.It’s a little austere at the moment, but this wine is clearly a good one, with a nice line through the palate and good fruit. I’d love to see this in a little while, when hopefully the acidity will have integrated somewhat and allowed the fruit to flow more liberally. Domaine Alain ChavyPrice: $A55Closure: CorkDate tasted: May 2008

Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru, Clos des Murees 2005

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A coworker suggested I buy a bottle of this, so I stopped by the local grog shop (Vintage Wines Ltd.) on my way home from work. Good thing I did; I so seldom drink Chardonnay that I’d forgotten what a good Chardonnay experience can be like.At first I was certain I was smelling the distant smoke of a sagebrush wildfire drifting over Coronado Bay, but then it moved more transparently towards a salt toffee, butterscotch note. On second thought, it could be hazelnut biscotti; it’s lovely, toasty, and smells like it more properly belongs in a bakery.In the mouth, the flavor lazily bounces between an acidic, almost kiwifruit aspect, a sort of rich sage honey, and a sort of almost gritty, stony minerality. Most interestingly, none of it feels forced or overworked; although I’m sure that some of the texture and smell here is likely due to winemaker intervention, it all feels entirely appropriate. The finish lasts for a good half a minute, and eventually suggests hazelnuts, fresh buttermilk biscuits, and something almost like pickled watermelon rind. In fact, this sort of milky earthiness almost reminds me of a cloudy rice wine; it’s a fascinating effect, coming to the foreground only after the initial acidic shock of the bright, crisp fruit fades away.I’d drink this sort of wine more often if it didn’t totally blow out my wallet, alas.Domaine Fontaine-GagnardPrice: US $55Closure: CorkDate tasted: May 2008

Domaine Rapet Père et Fils Pernand-Vergelesses 2005

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Temperature makes such a big difference to wine. Often, of a weekday evening, I don’t take the time to carefully bring my chosen bottle to the ideal serving temperature. If it’s a white, I’ll grab the bottle straight from the fridge, quietly congratulating myself on having been so organised as to have put one there in the first place.  I’ll open it right away, pour a glass, and sniff. Usually, as with tonight, the wine smells of nothing. But, if I’m lucky, a conversation will start as the wine warms a little. Little wisps of aroma emerge, then more, until it reaches full operating temperature. This white Burgundy, for example, smells increasingly of vulgar white flowers, melon and (the slightest bit rancid) butter. It’s not an explosive nose, but it shows an attractive (if slightly outré) character and good balance. It’s getting better as it warms. Entry is an éclat of flavour and acid texture. More rockmelon, caramel and butter spreads over the tongue as the wine slides through the mid-palate. The malo influences are obvious but they don’t rob the wine of freshness, thanks to assertive acid. Intensity is unexpected after the nose, and there’s enough complexity to keep things interesting. Texture is also remarkable, being tingly and rough and chalky in turn. This is a rustic wine, with bright, ripe flavours that are all slightly larger than life. Intense fruit continues to sing through the after palate, and the wine’s finish is decent and tasty, if perhaps attenuated due to acid.At $A47, this isn’t an especially cheap wine in absolute terms. I might reasonably expect more sophistication and refinement in a local wine at this price. But there’s no arguing with this wine’s drinkability and character. It’s very tasty and went extremely well with chicken salad.Domaine Rapet Père et FilsPrice: $A47Closure: CorkDate tasted: 2008

Chardonnier Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin Saint-Véran 2005

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Another $A28, village-level white Burgundy from a lesser region, this time the Mâconnais. A pretty green-gold colour, slightly watery. On the nose, prickly, fresh and delicate fruit, almost grapey, with an edge of creamy nuttiness. No great impact but a sense of depth and subtlety that is alluring. The palate takes a definite step up in intensity. Entry shows acid that is both lively and fine, counterbalancd by a somewhat viscous mouthfeel. There’s good fruit flavour on the mid-palate, quite generous and soft, with some creamy flavours and textures that do not detract from the wine’s freshness. Fruit is mostly grapefruit/white stone fruit in spectrum, again quite delicate. Good presence through the after palate and finish, the wine ending up on a dry yet flavoursome note. It’s almost aperitif-like in character, and is lean enough to fill this role admirably.I like this wine. It’s not especially remarkable in any one area, but has a sense of sophistication and poise, without resorting to excessive leanness, that appeals to my taste. Responded very well to bacon and onion tart.ChardonnierPrice: $A28Closure: CorkDate tasted: May 2008