New Burghound arrives…
It’s one of the four major days of the year for those of us whose lives revolve around Burgundy & Pinot Noir - the release of the new issue of Burghound, Allen Meadows’ quarterly journal reviewing thousands of wines and hundreds of producers.
Allen Meadows, the Burghound hard at work...
The 1st quarter issue, which always covers the reds of the Côte de Nuits, arrived on Sunday. In addition to the detailed reviews, it also offers the first look at Allen’s in-depth take on the vintage. Fascinating reading as always - specifically in his analysis of the 2008 vintage in Burgundy. The cumulative effect of multiple unusual factors resulted in the ‘08 Burgs finishing their malos very very late, thus making them difficult to judge with the usual accuracy 14 months after harvest. I was in Burgundy last fall at the same time as Allen, and I can attest that many of the wines were still not through malo, or had just finished, making it quite hard to get a real read.
That said, I agree with Allen that the vintage as a whole is a bit more interesting than 2007, but it is even more variable. The highs are higher, the lows are a bit lower, and there are perhaps more misses in ‘08 than ‘07. Overall, the good wines from ‘08 are indeed “Classic Burgundy” - the best of which are pure, fresh, elegant and very refined - a style I happen to enjoy greatly.
It will be a vintage to be very selective. That of course is my job, to select the best and bring them in for the U.S. market. Thus, it is heartening to see that Burghound has selected a number of our producers and their wines for special distiction. Domaine J-J Confuron once again received stellar scores, and had wines singled out in all three of Allen’s “best of the vintage” categories - “Top Value”, “Sweet Spot”, and “Don’t Miss”. Kudos to Alain & Sophie Meunier, the proprietors/vignerons at Confuron, for hitting the Burghound trifecta, as it were!
Also great to see that Anne & Hervé Sigaut, Jean-Marc Millot, and Taupenot-Merme all received scores as good or better than their lovely 2007s. It won’t be until late this year or early next before the 08s start to arrive here, but we are in for some nice treats then, to be sure. And Allen’s take on the hugely-buzzing 2009s? “Potentially Great”. But those are a long way off…
In the cellar at Buisson-Charles
Burghound also covered 2007 Oregon Pinot in this report, which he deemed “The good, the not-so-good, and the ugly.” I’d say he’s right-on. The better 2007s are indeed elegant, refined and delicious. The rest are varying degrees of not so refined and delicious. We were among the lucky ones in ‘07, as the vintage favored our style over bigger, more heavily-extracted wines. The bottom line is - taste the wines! There will be plenty of Oregon ’07s for you to love, you’ve just got to taste ‘em for yourself.
It is also worth noting that David Schildknecht, who covers Burgundy for Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate, has just released his reviews of Burgundy’s ‘07 whites and ‘06 reds. He lavished praise on the Buisson-Charles ’07s from Meursault (90 for the Meursault VV, and 93 for both the Goutte d’Or and Bouches-Chères 1er Crus - all of which are arriving here at the end of the month, btw.) On the red side he had great things to say about the Anne & Hervé Sigaut ’06s as well as the wines from Huber-Verdereau. Looking forward to his ‘07 red coverage soon…
February 4th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Hey Scott,
you nailed it with the comment about the four days in the year that we all look forward to. First quarter release being the one which causes me to hide out in a quiet corner of the house, glass in hand. It is quite enjoyable to hear all the details of a growing season and the resulting wines.
Blog is looking great as usual Scott!
Cheers
February 4th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Hey Ray - Nice to hear from you! I hope all’s going well with your project over there. We made 1 bbl of ‘08 Chambolle that we’re getting ready to bottle - getting very excited about it indeed. Cheers!
February 6th, 2010 at 1:44 am
Thanks Scott,
things are going great. I made 12 bbls in 09. Nice parcels. How is the Chambolle tasting? Excellent score by the way. Beautiful appellation. I wish you continued success.
Cheers!
February 8th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Our barrel of ‘08 Chambolle is shaping up nicely - will bottle next month, and plan to release in June… Your ’09s should be wonderful - a very special vintage indeed. You picked a good one to start with!