COTE DE
NUITS-RED
Every January or February, we visit our two favourite growers in
Chambolle-Musigny. Anne and Herve Sigaut have been developing some new techniques. They are now practising
"Lutte Raisonee" - not Organic or Bio (yet), but keeping things as
natural as possible in the vineyard and only treating when absolutely
necessary. In the cellar they avoid all pumping and now just use gravity to
transfer between barrels. We have always loved their classic, feminine,
Chambolle style and yet you can already taste the difference in the new wines.
Deeper, richer. Their Morey-Saint-Denis "Les Millandes" is also a
winner.
At the heady, top shelf end of Chambolle, we have Freddy Mugnier, a genius producer with legendary status. Burgundy on
the world stage! If you never taste this manÕs wines you will have missed out.
Pinot Noir reaches the heights here, instantly distinctive, utterly seductive.
Quietly spoken and modest, Freddy took us into his shiny new cellar, expanded
to absorb ÒClos de la MarŽchaleÓ which has recently reverted from Faiveley back
to the Mugnier family, trebling their holdings overnight! Trebling and
troubling – quite a leap in volume and a leap in the dark economically,
but the first vintage (2004) is delicious. He could have bottled it all as
Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Clos de la MarŽchale, but decided to bottle what he
sees as less favoured spots as village Nuits ÒClos des FourchesÓ. He insists
that good wine is made in the vineyard, and that it is his job as winemaker
"not to mess it up" once the grapes are harvested.
How to describe the wines? "Strawberry drenched satin",
"Velvet wrapped strawberries with a dusting of sugar", and other
over-the-top descriptions are not out of place here. "A wine can provide
intense sensations without being heavy," he says.
"What can I say about the 2005s?" he said when we arrived last
time, "it was easy to make good wine in this year." He told us about
all the work they've been doing in Clos de la Marechale. "I'm getting to
know my vines there now". Better drainage. "The Route Nationale
worked as a kind of damn, so the vines close to the road had damp feet. The
improvements were such that he bottled everything as the 1er Cru in 2005.
Unlike 2004, there is no de-classified Clos des Fourches this time.
Everywhere we went on the Cote was gearing up for the annual Festival of
St Vincent, the Saint of Wine. This involves decorating houses, shrubbery and
trees with colourful paper flowers followed by processions. The Noellat brothers were clearing up after the St Vincent
Festival in Vosne-Romanee. After last night's procession, they are this year's
host for St Vincent himself. We tasted through their juicy Vosne 2004s and a
charming Bourgogne Rouge 2005.
Our search for Bio-Dynamic Burgundy brought us to David Juillard and his 36eme Ouvree. It was a slippy slidey drive up on the Hautes Cotes de Nuits to meet
him at his father-in-law's winery where he makes his super-sleek saturated
reds; a fabulous Bourgogne Rouge (made from Morey Saint Denis fruit) and two
intense Nuits Saint Georges, Aux Thorey and 1er Cru Les Saint-Georges.
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|
MARSANNAY Marie Ragonneau |
2004 |
14.99 |
|
|
MARSANNAY Longeroies, Audoin |
2004 |
17.99 |
|
|
FIXIN Audoin |
2005 |
19.99 |
|
|
MARSANNAY Favieres, Audoin |
2005 |
19.99 |
|
|
FIXIN No‘llat |
2005 |
21.99 |
|
|
MOREY- ST DENIS 1er Cru Les Millandes,
Sigaut |
2004 |
23.99 |
|
|
VOSNE-ROMANƒE No‘llat |
2004 |
29.99 |
|
|
NUITS- ST-GEORGES Clos des Fourches,
Mugnier |
2004 |
29.99 |
|
|
CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY Sigaut |
2005 |
29.99 |
|
|
MOREY-SAINT-DENIS 1er Cru Monts Luisants, Domaine Monts
Luisants |
2002 |
29.99 |
|
|
NUITS- ST-GEORGES, No‘llat |
2005 |
29.99 |
|
|
CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY 1er Cru Les Sentiers,
Sigaut |
2005 |
35.99 |
|
|
MOREY-SAINT-DENIS 1er Cru Les Millandes, Heresztyn |
1998 |
37.99 |
|
|
MOREY-SAINT-DENIS 1er Cru Les Millandes, Heresztyn |
1999 |
37.99 |
|
|
CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY 1er Cru Chatelots,
Sigaut |
2006 |
39.99 |
|
|
VOSNE-ROMANƒE 1er Cru Les Chaumes,
No‘llat |
2004 |
39.99 |
|
|
NUITS- ST-GEORGES 1er Cru Clos des
MarŽchale, Mugnier |
2005 |
49.99 |
|
|
NUITS- ST-GEORGES 1er Cru Aux Thorey, La
36me OuvrŽe |
2005 |
49.99 |
|
|
VOSNE-ROMANƒE
1er Cru Les Beaux Monts, No‘llat |
2004 |
52.99 |
|
|
CLOS SAINT DENIS Grand Cru, Heresztyn |
1999 |
53.99 |
|
|
NUITS- ST-GEORGES 1er Cru Les St Georges
, La 36me OuvrŽe |
2005 |
59.99 |
|
|
CLOS VOUGEOT Grand Cru, No‘llat |
2003 |
59.99 |
|
|
MAZIS-CHAMBERTIN Grand Cru, JM Guillon |
2004 |
62.99 |
|
|
CLOS VOUGEOT Grand Cru, No‘llat |
2004 |
65.99 |
|
|
CLOS VOUGEOT Grand Cru, No‘llat |
2005 |
89.99 |
|
|
BONNES MARES Grand Cru, Mugnier |
2004 |
114.99 |
|
|
ECHEZEAUX Grand
Cru, No‘llat MAGNUM |
2000 |
179.99 |
|
|
RICHEBOURG Grand Cru |
2001 |
189.99 |