The Wine Spectator’s James Molesworth does a fascinating retrospective tasting of Chateauneuf 2001 in November this year. It’s striking how well Bois de Boursan performs for the price. We drank this wine at lunch with Jean-Paul Versino in September and it is indeed a wonderfully elegant, balanced and deeply satisfying wine, nothing to do with the heavy, powerful, sweet wine of popular imagination…
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3/5 of our Australian producers, all based in Victoria, coordinated well to all get here for 4 days at the same time last week. Phil Moraghan of Curly Flat set the ball rolling by booking in a visit on his way to France for 3 months to work a vintage at De Montille in Burgundy. Fred Pizzini and his wife Katrina had been wanting to visit for a while. It remained only to entice John Nagorcka from Hochkirch to venture out of his large and demanding mixed biodynamic farm in deepest South-West Victoria.
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From Victoria, Australia, our star producers Phil Moraghan of Curly Flat and Fred and Katrina Pizzini, have arrived in Tokyo. Last night we got them in the mood for a week of visiting and meeting customers with a dinner at Buchi in Shibuya, accompanied by Ned Goodwin MW and friends.
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Clos du Caillou Cotes du Rhone Bouquet des Garrigues 2008 was a stunning surprise to guests at The Vine wine dinner at Mosaique in the end of April. Fabulous and fantastic value, above all it combines surprising elegance, finesse and complexity for a Cotes du Rhone and yet is more restrained, much less ‘sweet’ and soft than previous vintages. What’s going on?
Winemaker Bruno Gaspard and owner Sylvie Vacheron at the Decouvertes, March 2011
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Having attended an ‘Off’ the previous night at the fabulous Chateau de Beauregard, at which i brought my total wines tasted for the first 3 days up to 600, day 4 started with me feeling jaded.
the setting for the toques des dentelles tasting at chateau de beauregard
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After 2 days in the Northern Rhone, I was glad to be back on home turf withall 3 of today’s tastings sited within 10 minutes of my home base. 170 wines tasted today…
I headed to Gigondas first and had tasted 60 2010 samples before 10am. Wow! was my immediate response to this vintage.
60 Gigondas 2010s
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In Mauves, in the heart of St Joseph, I tasted 60 wines from Cornas, StPeray and St Joseph. Standouts included Coursodon’s killer 2009s, with intensely rich fruit to the fore, opulent yet floral and perfumed, too, with terrific persistence and texture; Jerome was showing Silice, L’Olivaie and La Sensonne but not Paradis St Pierre (perhaps something to do with a RP score of 95-97?!).
Jerome Coursodon
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Hermitage, St Joseph, Cornas, St Peray and Crozes-Hermitage, these tastings took place in 3 venues, each about 15 minutes drive fromeach other, which was a bit unfriendly, especially when trying to tasteover 150 wines.
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