2004 Burgundy
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NB. We have now sold
out of many of the wines in this offer.
Those still available
to buy have the basket symbol next to them –
see below.
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Mobile burners, in which the vine trimmings are
incinerated, amongst the snow and vines of Marsannay
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Our annual pilgrimage to Burgundy? Parky doesn't even begin to
describe it. And yet again, we drove south from the
Channel tunnel in clear, brilliant conditions, right
up to the moment the Côte d'Or
hoved into view, or rather
didn't, since the swirling mists closed about the car
sufficiently densely for us to miss the Beaune
turn-off altogether and forced us to "make a u-ey" in Chalon.
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Fortunately, our first morning found the fog blown
away and revealed a shag-pile of snow that had
persisted, under the freezing conditions, for the
fortnight leading up to our arrival.
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Snow renders the winter Côte a rather more
charming place than otherwise. Brown is okay as a
colour: corduroys, fine; a bit of tweed here and
there, no problem. But an entire landscape?! That's a
little OTT, even for those who remain excited about
Habitat furniture circa 1974.
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I wouldn't have enjoyed visiting Burgundy in late
August of 2004. Being around miserable people can rub
off on one, rendering the mood rather blue-ish and morose. At that time,
the region had just experienced a pretty grisly month
of weather and it was looking increasingly likely
that the vintage would be consigned to the history
books' less flattering chapters.
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The god of Pinot and Chardonnay had not entirely left
the building, however. In fact, September found him
firmly ensconced in the penthouse apartment and
throwing a beach party for some of his more
benevolent friends. Fruit ripened. Acidities started
coming down; potential alcohol levels began to rise.
A wisp of a smile started appearing on the lips of
the bourguignons.
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So what are we left with? The answer is that there is
quiet satisfaction amongst the best wine makers in
the Côte. If one is as good at one's job as
these chaps, a vintage like '04 is a chance to prove
your mettle. 1999, 2002, 2005? A doddle. In vintages like these,
the best vignerons can
make superb wine with one hand tied behind their
backs, possibly whilst cooking a ragout d'escargots
à
l'ancien at the same time.
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It is vintages like 2004 in which wine making, skill and fine judgement
are the most potent tools in one's quest to make
something really special from the harvest. One has
the occasion to prove - to oneself and others - the
depths of one's ability. In short, these guys are
chuffed. Satisfaction, after all, is to be gained
from hitting Shane Warne for six (especially off one
of those nasty balls that goes straight on and keeps
low), rather than scoring a century at the school
sports day in the fathers vs. 1st XI. The analogy
would be lost on the French, of course, but there is
a real sense of pride amongst those that have found
success in the vintage.
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There really hasn't been a disastrous vintage for red
burgundy since 1984. Some are praised to the heavens
from the word go. Others gain in stature as time
passes and their inherent qualities become more
apparent. One can pick and choose according to one's
tastes: for strapping powerful, super-rich Pinot,
look no further than '03;
for freshness and focus, 1996 etc.
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But to my mind, in 2004 we have a vintage that has
produced the sort of wines, red and white, that are
quintessential burgundy: beautiful wines of delicacy
and elegance. And perhaps more than anything else,
these wines clearly express their origins. In my
mind, they tick all the right boxes.
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Growers and Their Wines
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William Fèvre
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Named after a man who campaigned tirelessly around
the world on behalf of Chablis and its wines, this
domaine is now owned by the champagne house of Henriot, who "bagged" Bouchard
Père et Fils in
Beaune at around the same time (Fèvre was purchased in
1998).
William Fèvre
himself has started ventures in Chile and elsewhere,
but evidently felt that he had done enough for
Chablis. Whilst his wines were praised, they were
considered somewhat atypical, largely due to the
amount of new wood that they displayed, especially at
Grand Cru level. Under the wine making team of
Bouchard, these wines are now among the very best of
the appellation. Tasting through the range gives a
valuable insight into the new vintage, as well as the
qualities of each 1er and Grand Cru.
The style here is all about precision and clean,
expressive fruit.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2004 |
Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume, William Fèvre, Burgundy, France |
2009-2015 |
12x75cl |
£168.00 |
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| 2004 |
Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume, William Fèvre, Burgundy, France |
2009-2015 |
6x75cl |
£84.00 |
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| 2004 |
Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir, William Fèvre, Burgundy, France |
2010-2017 |
12x75cl |
£318.00 |
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| 2004 |
Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir, William Fèvre, Burgundy, France |
2010-2017 |
6x75cl |
£159.00 |
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Bruno Clair
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The unpruned vines add
a welcome dash of colour in the chilly wastes
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This domaine has a number of claims to fame. For
example, it was Bruno's father, Bernard, who invented
Marsannay rosé at
the start of the last century; no big deal some of
you may say, especially if you have never had cause
to find any such liquid in your glass. But it's a
good wine and a quite brilliant marketing achievement
and, in any event, how many other people in Burgundy
have invented a new wine in the last x hundred
years?!
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Domaine Bruno Clair was one of the remnants of the
vineyard sell-off that was the dying breath of the
venerable Domaine Clair-Daü, most parcels of which
went to the already well-diversified house of Louis
Jadot. I remember buying
bottles of 1976 Bonnes-Mares Clair-Daü from Sotheby's years
ago and really rather enjoying them.
This domaine is based in Marsannay, the most northerly
village in the Côte and now almost a suburb of
Dijon. Tasting here is fascinating, not simply
because the wines are benchmarks, but also due to the
geographical diversity to be found in the domaine's cellars: wines are
produced from vineyards stretching from Marsannay to Aloxe. This was a
really rewarding visit to an excellent source.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2004 |
Marsannay Langeroies, Bruno Clair, Burgundy, France |
2010-2016 |
12x75cl |
£120.00 |
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| 2004 |
Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru La Petite Chapelle, Bruno Clair, Burgundy, France |
2014-2020 |
12x75cl |
£300.00 |
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Amiot-Servelle
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Christian Amiot was somewhat taciturn when we arrived
at his domaine. I had the impression that we weren't
the first to visit on the day in question and that we
wouldn't be the last. He opened up, however, as he
poured the first wine, telling us that he has moved
the domaine on from what is known as lutte
raisonné (an
increasingly popular vineyard ethic in France,
whereby, among other things, one minimises
chemical interference), to being fully organic.
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This is a fine source of all things Chambolle.
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Jean Grivot
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Etienne was busy elsewhere for the first half to our
visit to the domaine, so it was his wife, Anne, who
led us down into the barrel cellar to begin our
tasting. As we tasted, workers were racking casks of
Nuits-St-Georges and you can see a picture of this
happening below.
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Racking Nuits in Grivot’s cellars
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When Etienne arrived, he spoke of his '04s with
evident pleasure. There had been hurdles in the
vintage, he told us, but they were surmountable and
he had been able to produce something very much to
his taste.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2004 |
Chambolle Musigny Combe d'Orveaux, Jean Grivot, Burgundy, France |
2011-2017 |
12x75cl |
£249.00 |
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| 2004 |
Vosne Romanée 1er Cru Les Rouges, Jean Grivot, Burgundy, France |
2013-2020 |
12x75cl |
£297.00 |
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| 2004 |
Clos Vougeot Grand Cru, Jean Grivot, Burgundy, France |
2015-2025 |
12x75cl |
£450.00 |
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François Lamarche
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Madame Lamarche about
to make me a very happy man!
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There is an anomaly among the holdings of this
domaine. In the 1920s, Henri Lamarche was given, as a
wedding present, a vineyard called La Grande Rue in
Vosne-Romanée, the village where the domaine
is situated. I would imagine that he was pretty
effusive in his thank you letter. This vineyard is
remarkable for two reasons: one that it lies between a couple of other
vineyard you might know rather better: La Tâche and Romanée-Conti; the other
is that, until 1991, it was only a 1er Cru. The
reason being that when the vineyards were classified
in the '30s, Henri considered that the extra tax
burden involved in Grand Cru status was simply not
worth the cachet. It is evident that those were
difficult times for the Burgundy vigneron! All that changed in
1991, when La Grande Rue became a deserving and fully
paid-up member of the Grand Cru club.
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I like the style of the wines here. They are unforced
and natural, giving a chance for both the beauty of
the Pinot and the quality of individual terroir to
shine.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2004 |
Vosne Romanée 1er Cru Les Chaumes, François Lamarche, Burgundy, France |
2012-2018 |
12x75cl |
£282.00 |
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| 2004 |
Echézeaux Grand Cru, François Lamarche, Burgundy, France |
2012-2020 |
6x75cl |
£198.00 |
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Follin-Arbelet
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In the cellars at Follin-Arbelet
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Sometimes you meet producers in Burgundy and can
almost tell what their wines will be like before you
taste them. We went to one domaine in Vosne, the owner of which is
rude, aggressive and patronising, as he had been the
last time we met. And his wines? I think rude and
aggressive describes them very well. Made in an ugly
style; we promised ourselves that we would never
offer them.
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The Follins, on the other
hand, are absolutely charming, with the sort of easy
confidence one hopes will
come through in their wines. The fact that they
appear on this offer means that our hopes were
fulfilled!
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2004 |
Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Les Fichots, Follin-Arbelet, Burgundy, France |
2009-2016 |
12x75cl |
£159.00 |
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| 2004 |
Aloxe Corton 1er Cru Les Vercots, Follin-Arbelet, Burgundy, France |
2011-2018 |
12x75cl |
£225.00 |
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Château de Corton-André
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The crazy-tiled roof at Corton-André. The
Hospices in Beaune wears similar headgear
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And that's another thing about Aloxe. It has three
châteaux! This is one of them.
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As I have mentioned elsewhere during an attempt at
trumpet blowing, one of Bowes Wine's stated goals is
to seek out the new, the improved and the exciting
and bring the best of what we find to our clients.
Well, here's a long-underperforming property that has
just experienced a major turn-around. A new wine
maker has been installed (although she was off having
her first baby at the time of our visit) and a flight
to quality has been instigated. So here, for the
first time, are wines of Corton-André in a Bowes
Wine offer:
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2004 |
Aloxe Corton, Château de Corton-André, Burgundy, France |
2010-2015 |
12x75cl |
£189.00 |
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| 2004 |
Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots, Château de Corton-André, Burgundy, France |
2009-2013 |
12x75cl |
£300.00 |
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Bonneau de Martray
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What can one say about a domaine that, owning the
largest single chunk of Grand Cru vineyards in
Burgundy, stops at nothing to exploit it in the most
sympathetic, quality-obsessed manner? Jean-Charles le
Bault de la Morinière (you have to
have a name like this if you're an aristocratic
Frenchman) owns more than 12 hectares of the Hill of
Corton on the
south-west-facing end of the hill and around Pernand, where one can find the
domaine in the steep streets that wind up the village
from the road between Beaune and Echevronne. Legend has it that
Charlemagne's wife ordered white grapes to be planted
on the Hill of Corton as
she was fed up with seeing red wine stains in her
husband's blonde beard. Maybe she just fancied a
spritzer, who knows? It
was a jolly good idea, in any event.
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Guy Amiot
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I just have to put these wines on an offer. If they
were 150% more expensive, I might have to think about
things a little more carefully. But in Amiot's cellars in Chassagne,
right next to the Caillerets vineyard from which they
make such an extraordinary elixir, are made just the
sort of white burgundies that I love. They are very
pure and full of the mineral terroir of the
appellation. Amiot has avoided the trend, seen
elsewhere, of trying to make New World wines by
harvesting ultra ripe fruit. So, rather than being
full of sunshine and flavours of peach and apricot
(which, after all, one be found in the viognier grape if one wants a
quick sensory thrill), these are diamond brilliant,
fascinatingly chiselled wines of great finesse.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2004 |
Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champgains, Guy Amiot, Burgundy, France |
2011-2017 |
12x75cl |
£225.00 |
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| 2004 |
Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets, Guy Amiot, Burgundy, France |
2010-2018 |
12x75cl |
£237.00 |
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E Loron et Fils
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I thought it would be fun to include here a wine in a
larger format bottling; one that will develop
beautifully with time, but one that can be opened in
situations when the finest bottles are not required.
One can picture the scene: a summer's day, the
England cricket side unexpectedly struggling against
Reykjavik 2nd 11, the garden beckoning, several other
guests requiring light oiling before the barbecuing
begins in earnest. This wine, from a noted Maconnais and Beaujolais
producer, is just the thing.
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