Tag Archives: France

December 4, 2012 · 10:04 pm

Domaine Louis Michel – 4/12/2012

Chablis 2011
Pure delicate bright crisp mineral and citrus notes, very classic freshness. Wonderful depth concentration and extension, plenty of character and delivery of fruit, warmth and minerality. Vibrant but still austere and elegant.

Montmains 2011 Premier Cru
Tighter more sherbet lift and vibrancy without being as open and generous. More intense, pretty dense and impenetrable, very young and quite tight for now, brooding minerality and concentration, given time will open out beautifully. Very focused, more savoury and texture coming through to balance the fruit.

Sechets 2011 Premier Cru
Smokier flintier concentration, very tight minerals and closed fruit. Dense but at the same time rich, generous and creamy texture, broader but still very focused. A little more dirty and wild in style compared to the others, really all about the texture with this wine.

Butteaux 2010 Premier Cru
Very subtle seashell notes, focused and pure with bright citrus notes. Very full intense rich and expressive in fruit, but exceptionally long with excellent finesse on the back palate. Some serious savoury notes, a masculine expression, dense and brooding.

Montee de Tonnerre 2010 Premier Cru
Classic Chablis aroma, bright citric fruit with some blossomy white flowers. Wonderfully open for such a young wine, very delicate for now though. Full expression, a little warm and out of balance, almost looking a touch fat, needs more time to soften out.

Vaudesir 2010 Grand Cru
Extremely subtle complex and delicate, very closed and intense. Certainly more in the salty mineralic region. Truly a contemplative wine. Layers of complexity move their way back on the palate, rich but not full heavy fat or creamy, detours all over the place, lingering beautifully. One of those wines.

Grenouilles 2010 Grand Cru
A little bit too closed for now, far too young. Nice density but not the same level of concentration. Very fine and elegant, lifted and complex but not expressing very much. May open up over time, but not seeing as much potential as the others. A much more delicate style for the vintage.

Les Clos 2010 Grand Cru
Classic Chablis, lovely bright rich citrus stone fruit and floral notes, exuberant and inviting. Open rich friendly opulent. Nice balance of fruit, but perhaps I am not a fan of this vineyard, the wines are a little too easy for me?

Montee des Tonnerres 2000
Classic old chardonmay/Chablis aromas. Cat piss, grapefruit. Quite rich broad and open on the palate, mature slightly oxidised fruit characters, a little creaminess but just classic bottle aged style.

Montmains 1995
Creamy and rich yet very soft, rounding out a lot, exuberant minerality and acidity in youth has faded and integrated into the texture and the fruit. Still very fresh, retaining all of its colour, but fleshing out, opening and rounding and showing a lot more toasty complexity.

Domaine Louis Michel & Fils

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December 4, 2012 · 10:00 pm

Domaine Patrick Piuze – 4/12/2012

2012 Les Minots (Vaillons)
Wonderfully bright and concentrated, but great salinity and texture. Fills the mouth, wonderful depth and concentration, breadth and elegance.

2012 Les Forets
More closed on the nose, very complex, richer yet quieter. Still going through fermentation, rich creamy, nice concentration. Clean pure finish.

2012 Butteaux
Much smokier popcorn aromas, some toasty richness, rounder on the nose. Fuller yet drier expression, very bold and intense.

2012 Vaulorent
Bright intense stone fruit nose, very exuberant and inviting. Brighter cleaner more elevated fruit profile, minerality yet to express. Purity and liveliness.

2012 Montee de Tenniere
Wonderfully full, very generous, excellent richness and intensity, dense powerful, bright and almost tropical. Expressive fruit but still balanced savoury notes and minerality.

2012 Bougrots
Bright but also pretty serious, quite intense. Very subtle light and clean, quite mineralic.

2012 Les Blanchots
Completely different aromatically, richer earthier bolder concentration quite tight. Super intense and concentrated on the palate.

2012 Valmur
Rich and round, dense fruit, lifted slight flinty struck-match. Precise concentrated not as exuberant in the fruit, a little closed for now.

2012 Preuses
Soft generous full and rich, but also a little mysterious. Unctuous richness but very soft and elegant, quite assured and relaxed.

2012 Les Clos
Bold excited smoky pop-corny reduction. Les Clos turned up to 11, everything is just a little bit more. Really intense passion-fruit, not overtly tropical but biting and intense.
Domaine Patrick Piuze

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December 4, 2012 · 9:52 pm

Domaine Pinson – 4/12/2012

Chablis 2011
Lovely and bright, juicy citrus and apple notes, some apple blossom and lemon rind to round things out, a little smoky and a little creamy. Quite full and expressive on the palate, rounds out on the mid-palate before focusing on the back and finishing cleanly with minerality and finesse. Good character and expression, not thin or hollow.

Cuvee Mademoiselle 2011 Chablis
Noticeable but still subtle difference with the barrel fermentation, delicate complex nutty aromas over the slightly riper more concentrated fruit aromas. Denser fuller and more textured on the front and middle palates, but still a nice clean finish with finesse. A little bit too strong on oak for the moment, will benefit with some time.

Montmain 2010 Premier Cru
Riper and more concentrated nose, brighter stronger, richer fruits, less citrus more stone fruit. Denser and more concentrated on the palate, much more complex and a lot going on, I like the spontaneous ferment influence going on, very intense and more interesting structure. Excellent balance between fruit, acid, minerality, barrel and some other complex components.

Vaillons 2010 Premier Cru
Denser and a little darker, much more savoury notes on the nose, a little hard to pinpoint but strangely reminds me of pasta sauce(!). A little creamy and vanilla. Fuller and more expressive, showing a bit more warmth, very powerful but still elegant and restrained, complex with quite a bit of savoury notes. Extreme minerality.

Mont-de Milieu 2010 Premier Cru
Extremely closed aromatically, showing almost nothing on the nose, closed or bottle open too long? Needs more time in bottle? Certainly full on the palate, very little on the front, kicks in on the mid and explodes on the back-palate. Dense and with warm creaminess, a touch aggressive for the moment, interesting to taste in a few more years to see how and if it evolves.

Les Clos 2010 Grand Cru
SO classically Chablis, pure minerality, lifted florals, bright yet complex fruit. The promise of riches if aged well. Concentrated and complex. Generous rich soft, creamy texture, opulent broad yet focused minerality and acidity, rolls across the palate, delicate long finish. Wonderful graduation backwards.
Domaine Pinson

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December 4, 2012 · 8:17 pm

The name game (Chablis, France – Day One)

 

When I was younger I didn’t like my name. In terms of my first name I didn’t really have a problem with James, but I didn’t like it being such a common name, nor did I like derivations and colloquialisms of it, like Jim, Jimmy or Jamie. Considering how uncommon my surname is and how much of an individual I attempted to be, you would think I would like my surname but this was not the case. I wasn’t a fan of the length of it nor did I like the fact that people could neither spell it by ear nor could they pronounce it when reading it. I love my name now, being proud of its uniqueness and also as the last male Scarcebrook in the family I have a sense of obligation to continue the name. People in Europe, particularly France, are similarly fiercely proud of their names, often naming their children after themselves. Continuing the family name carries over to the family business as well, but complications arise with splitting of estates between children or establishing new estates with the same name. Within the same village it is not uncommon to find several producers of the same name, and within an entire region this could multiply significantly. Not for the first time on my trip I arrived at the wrong winery because it had essentially the same name, even though there is no relation between them. This gets complicated out in the market as a producer’s name is effectively their brand, so when someone else is using the same brand their products can reflect on your own reputation. I guess this is another complication that makes wine so special, and it is important to trust your source, be it a restaurant, store or importer.

Limestone clay and a bit of chalk

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December 4, 2012 · 8:02 pm

Domaine Jaeger-Defaix – 3/12/2012

Rully Mont Palais 2010 Premier Cru
Very fine, rich and expressive but at the same time quiet. Very deep ripe and rich on the palate in comparison, totally different style. Density and richness, wonderfully full and powerful, a little bit heady.

Les Cloux 2010 Premier Cru
Less generosity, more sweetness of fruit, lighter and more restrained, finer and more delicate, but still nice richness and breadth. Wonderful finish, really great delivery on the style and variety.

Rabourcet 2010 Premier Cru
Powerful yet quite late on the palate, probably the most complex with a very different intensity. Looking a little warm at the moment, a touch full and aggressive, missing something in the balance.

Domaine Jaeger-Defaix

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December 4, 2012 · 8:01 pm

Domaine Bernard Defaix – 3/12/2012

Petit Chablis 2011
nice clean lean and green minerality and fruit. Level of concentration much better here, the wines actually have character and depth to them. Wonderful balance but certainly more to them.

Chablis 2011
Higher level of concentration of fruit, still very restrained and clean, minerals beginning to poke through. Richer depth and length, late minerality. Great balance with weight and crispness, very harmonious on the palate, nothing really sticking out at all.

Les Lys 2011 Vaillons Premier Cru
Wonderfully lifted minerality, struck-match, very delicate and fine, elegant, a little bit closed for now. Quite an explosion in the mid-palate, really great brightness and concentration of fruit, lovely clean mineralic finish, elegant but also full and rich.

Les Vaillons 2011 Premier Cru (Vaillon & Sechers)
Less but somehow more mineralic, not struck-match but almost a green minerality(?) Like the Chablis showing some agave notes on the nose. Similar density but much more structure. Lifted above the palate, tighter and more brooding.

Cote de Lechets 2011 Premier Cru
Really intense flint struck-match minerality on the nose, almost blanketing the fruit at the moment. Wonderful volume, fills the mouth without invading it, a little wild and unchained, but still pure and balanced. This is a slightly different expression of Chablis, I like the risk-taking attitude towards them, especially as it pays off.

Chablis Vielles Vignes 2010 (Village)
Very subtle and closed, intense brooding. Powrful explosion on the palate, hugely concentrated acids and fruit without being open, looking a little warm and aggressive at the moment, will open up over a much longer period. The difference is noticeable between the vintages.

Cote de Lechets Reserve 2010 (1 plot, 50 years old)
Subtle and subdued again, I wonder what treasures await… very complex, almost hauntingly subtle, very gentle but restrained jubilation. Serious acidity. Much better balance and integrated of fruit and acidity, alcohol very well contained as well. Great cellaring potential.

Bougros 2010 Grand Cru
Seally great but somehow not the same as the others. Full dense, plenty of minerality and excellent concentration. Somehow lacking…

Domaine Bernard Defaix

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December 4, 2012 · 8:00 pm

Domaine Laroche – 3/12/2012

Petit Chablis 2011
Quite green and crisp, a touch talcy, not a lot of minerality nor fruit. Fresh zingy acids, some late fruit sweetness, very clean and drinkable, good value but far from a great wine. Delivers what’s expected.

Chablis Saint Martin 2011
A little denser and more expressive on the nose, introducing some floral notes, subdued citrus notes, starting to show a little bit of mature green/brown notes. Fuller in texture and weight, denser and darker minerality, breadth and persistence, very lively but not quite ripe enough, looking a touch warm.

Les Beauroys 2008 Premier Cru
Brighter fruitier bolder and more expressive on the nose, floral and concentrated. Depth and complexity, round generous with soft caressing acids and creamy texture, seems to be ageing a little already.

Les Vaillons 2008 Premier Cru
More mineral notes, darker and more brooding, wilder fruit characters, kind of edgy. All around the edges, flat in the middle. Lacking much depth and concentration, fruit not quite ripe enough. A little disappointing on the palate to be honest.

Les Vaillons 2007 Premier Cru
Deeper riper fruit notes, more akin to stone fruit than citrus. Much fuller in comparison, good level of ripeness and structure, balanced acidity and alcohol, some nice dried fruit characters. More going on in this wine and more potential down the line for ageing.

Les Blanchots 2008 Grand Cru
Very closed on the nose, almost a touch reductive, extremely subtle showing almost no fruit character. Full , builds on the palate but the density of the wine somehow doesn’t translate in the fruit, and subsequently looks both hollow and warm. Something went wrong with this vintage.

Les Blanchots 2006 Grand Cru
Inviting citrus sherbet sorbet aromas, quite flinty and a little smoky. Bold, expressive, quite concentrated, very dense and still quite locked-up. Brooding in its structure, masculine in its power, warm in its alcohol but much better balance and integration.

Reserve de l’Obedience Les Blanchots 2007 Grand Cru
Quite dense nice concentration, evidence of low yields. Full palate, good texture, complexity and weight, extension on the palate, but also a clean balanced finish.

Domaine Laroche

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December 4, 2012 · 7:59 pm

Jean et Sebastian Dauvissat – 3/12/2012

Chablis 2010
Lovely and clean, very flinty and minerally, crisp fresh citrus notes, very classic. Still tight, great acidity, delicate fruit, brisk and crisp on the palate, elegance but still great ripeness of fruit, persistent and long for a village wine, balanced and yet approachable. A great start.

Montmains 2009 Premier Cru
Quite concentrated minerality, a little deeper in terms of fruit, starting to show the struck-match character but also some lees contact notes. Very fresh and mineralic, a hint of creaminess and vanilla sweetness. Rounder and more generous but also lighter and finer, not the same concentration. More broad. Looking better on the second taste.

Sechets 2007 Premier Cru
Quite expressive nose, rich and fruity with darker mineral notes, slightly floral as well. Citrus moving into stone fruit. Very fine, quite delicate but balanced acids, opulent round texture, richness and some sweetness of fruit, very clean gradual finish. A little smoky as well, quite complex.

Vaillons 2006 Premier Cru
Tight mineral notes with some complex but noticeable green notes as well, green fruit, kiwi skin, delicate citrus notes. Very refined on the palate but full-flavoured, intense texture, explosion in the mid-palate, wonderful balance but also very intense. Dense masculine influence, not creamy or rich but powerful.

Vaillons Vielles Vignes 2006 Premier Cru
Much more refined complex and subtle, quite serious minerality but at the same time brighter with floral fruit. Rich fruit concentration, sweet texture but not necessarily creamy. Unbelievably complex and long, extremely subtle, floats on the palate. Assured expression yet exquisite balance and complexity.

Les Preuses 2006 Grand Cru
Density and ripeness, assured stone fruit notes, minerality shows more subtlety because of expressive fruit. Slightly fuller on the palate, really expressive mid-palate, dried apricot and pear notes, quite full but not at all heavy, long but quite broad on the palate. Difficult to be disappointed with this wine.

Saint-Pierre 2001 Premier Cru
Rich and very complex, ripeness and concentration of fruit still showing on the nose, but developing some bottle maturity characters as well. Still extremely lively, really full expression of fruit, much more subtlety in terms of the texture and sweeter vanilla caramel creamy maturity. Still young amazingly, has so much more to it.

Jean et Sebastian Dauvissat

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December 2, 2012 · 9:24 pm

Cave Roger Sabon – 21/05/2012

Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2011
Nice juicy green fruit nose, slight floral edge. Good volume and texture, freshness, pear dried peach and apple. Good balance, alcohol well handled, depth and expression, delicate fruit.

Cotes-du-Rhone 2010
Classic CDR spice, earthy savouriness, good cured meat notes with blackcurrants. Very full bold juicy and warm, mouth-filling fruit , sweet plump and juicy, very generous and plummy, not in the least bit subtle. Lingering spiciness on the palate.

Lirac 2010
More ruby juby and floral fruit-sweetness, violets honey and sweet smoky ham. Soft velvety opulent and concentrated on the palate, generous forgiving tannins, subtle spice, extension, breadth and freshness.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Reserve 2009
More subtle closed nose, integrated oak and earth elements, wonderful concentration yet elegance. Subtlety, complexity of oak earth, savoury spice, almost like a four-course meal. Plump berries, fine tannins, extension on the back palate, approachable yet ageable.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Prestige 2009
More oak influence, chocolate & banana jaffle, darker berries, jammier concentration. Fuller more extractive, oakier texture, still very elegant balance, good freshness and approachability.

Le Secret de Sabon 2006
Very subtle and restrained maturity, still bright in the berry notes, not plummy or fat at all. Juicy and concentrated, full and weighty, purity of fruit, well managed oak and alcohol, concentrated acidity, but still needs a lot of time.

Cave Roger Sabon

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December 2, 2012 · 8:39 pm

Chateau La Nerthe – 21/05/2012

Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2011
Nice grassy green citrus apple and pear notes, minerality and sunlight. Wonderful texture volume and depth, breadth character expression and power. Very bold fruit but also very young.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2008
Deep dark fruit, earthy and leathery, wild boar spice, yet very precise and fine. Wonderful complexity depth and also savoury, looking very young and exuberant, opulent and accessible with velvety tannins.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2007
Darker ruby floral elements, juicier nose, less earthy complexity. Very full generous and powerful, yet with soft tannins and fruit. Good volume without the same extension, both fresher and simpler.

Cuvee des Cadettes 2006
Clearly a big oak influence, chocolaty blackcurrant plum, very fruit- and oak-sweet nose, creamy nutty caramel spice. Wow concentration of tannins and fruit, very bold and powerful with a nice velvety finish. Needs a lot of time.

Chateau La Nerthe

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