Burgundy 2008 Tastings - Days 4 & 5

Our final taste of the Cote de Beaune, for this week at least, was with Patrick Javillier, Tollot Beaut and Drouhin. A pleasant end to the Cote, stand out wines were the Meursault Tete de Murger, Corton Bressandes from Tollot, and a beautiful flight of Chambolles from Joseph Drouhin. We leave Chorey Les Beaune for Chablis in the north where we visit Moreau Naudet, Vincent Dauvissat, Laurent Tribut and Brocard. The 2008s here are a little behind schedule, like those of the Cote de Beaune, because of slow malolactic fermentations, however they showed extremely well. It is quite simply an excellent Chablis vintage, they have a similar intensity, ripeness and exuberance to the 2008s further south but perhaps even greater concentration and certainly more finesse. Hew told Vincent Dauvissat he thought it was one of the best vintages he has tasted in his 25 years in buying Chablis, high praise indeed! Moreau Naudet has,thankfully, produced a Montee de Tonnerre this year and has produced a stunning range. Laurent Tribut has made his finest wines yet.

This year's Burgundy marathon is broken up by a week in the London office, next week Hew and I head back out to Burgundy, where we will be pitching our tents mainly in the Cote de Nuits.

Burgundy 2008 tastings- Day 3

Apparently down in Biarritz they were basking in sunshine and swimming in the sea yesterday, well its not quite as hot as that here but it has been another fine day in Burgundy, clear skies beautiful colours and a balmy 19 degrees. The picture shows the view through the gates of Bachelet-Monnot's fine Boutiere 1er Cru vineyard in Maranges.

It was a mammoth day that started at 8.45am and finished at 8pm, tough but then again tasting with coche dury into the night is not such a hardship.

We tasted mostly white wine, it is clear the vintage is a very good one for whites, riper and more exotic than 2007 though not always as fine but with similarly racy acidities.Quantities are much smaller however because of the north wind concentrating the grapes.

Difficult to pick a highlight as there were so many great whites, coche dury was excellent but to be expected, there were superb ranges from Sauzet and Pierre Morey too, but forced into a corner it was tasting with the bachelet monnot brothers, they are young but already making top flight wines, we expected good wine but nothing as great as their 2008s. The Batard was the best we tasted. Jobard was not far behind, Francois' son Antoine is making the wine here now and has clearly taken the wines to another level.

Burgundy 2008 tastings - Day 2

On the evidence of today these 2008 reds have really turned out rather well. Many have an exciting freshness that the best Pinots display with an acidity that is high but ripe, the tannins seem very fine too. Malolactic fermentations have been very slow in 2008, often this is a process done and dusted by the following year's harvest but many have still not finished and some have only just started,however this has made for some very pure, bright and deeply coloured wines. This was the case at our first tasting, the young Arnaud Mortet is further perfecting the fine style of Burgundy that differs so greatly from that of his father. Here many wines were still mid malo and backward but we did get a fair glimpse of what's to come, a very tasteable Gevrey 1er Cru and Gevrey Champeaux that had finished their second fermentation were totally seductive. The harvest will be a tiny one, though.

Contrary to Mortet, at Drouhin Laroze there is a relatively healthy size of crop, Philippe's vines were less affected by oidium that was so prevalent in some sectors of the Cote de Nuits. Some very drinkable, fine and really quite moreish wines here. Chambertin Clos de Beze, so often the surly one of Philippe's vast Grand Cru brood, was actually incredibly showy and had real "wow" factor. Next and we cruised gently up the hill to Rousseau. Eric Rousseau has been making less wine over the last 5 years but has raised the qualitative bar accross the whole portfolio of wines, Clos de la Roche impressed, Chambertin was majesterial. What a treat this tasting was.

On to Nuits St Georges and Robert Chevillon's uniformly delicious set of 2008s, Vaucrains was a highlight and on today's evidence just pips Les St Georges. Our new grower in Nuits as of last year is Gouges. With a brand new cellar and the accession of Christian's nephew, Gregory, to winemaking duties quality has improved greatly as of 2007, the style being much less tannic in its youth, more finesse. I was delighted to see 2007 was no fluke, Gregory's 2008s are even better, they were utterly spellbinding!

All in all a really good day, some surprisingly good Pinots. Burgundy owe the north wind that arrived in September 2008 alot of gratitude, this is when things turned for the better. "A miracle" as Eric Rousseau calls it "morale at the end of August was as low as my socks, but look how good the wines are now!!"

Burgundy 2008 tastings -Day 1

Standing in Jean-Noel Gagnard's cellars at 8.45am this morning seems like a long time ago. A long but rewarding day has passed.

Often intense but distinctly 'adolescent' when tasted from barrel, Caroline Lestime's white wines are serious, often backward and always take a couple of years in bottle to blossom. The 2008s, though, are a really impressive range that already show tremendously well, offering a great balance between "gras" and freshness, the Bâtard was sublime. A tour of the Marquis d'Angerville vineyards followed. Guillaume d'Angerville's commute to and from his vines is enviable, within minutes we were admiring the view from the sun-kissed Champans vineyard, followed shorty afterwards by a trip to the even higher, stonier Taillepieds, all the while the steep tilt of Clos des Ducs to the north stayed in sight. All were within minutes of each other yet so different, this is the essence of Burgundy. The difference between the terroirs was amplified further during our tasting of 2008s, each wine was very clearly defined. On the day Champans was the stand out, so seductively Volnay - Guillaume's accession to duties at Domaine the d'Angerville has definitely coincided with the big qualitative resurgence of this classic Volnay vineyard. Dominique Lafon was next and did not disappoint, he is such an enthusiast and perfectionist. 2008 is a small crop here for reds and whites alike (the smallest ever that Dominique can recall for his Volnay.) Exciting wines from top bottom, the Macons were quite possibly his best yet, the Meursaults and Montrachet were as smart as usual, the pick of the cellar,though, went to Perrières. Finally we braved the back streets of Beaune in search of the Hospices de Beaune cellars. Confronted by a vast chai like room of new wooden barrels of seriously embryonic wine, we picked our way through an interesting but not necessarily homogenous 2009 crop. The best red wines are powerful yet already highly flattering to taste at this very early stage. Tomorrow sees a change of Cotes as we head for Gevrey and Nuits.

The Mosel 2009: "Wonderfully Healthy and Golden Yellow in Colour"

We have been busy harvesting for two weeks now. Although we had a few rain showers last week, we are now experiencing a really golden October. It is quite frosty in the mornings but then wonderfully warm and sunny in the afternoons.

Thanks to a very selective harvest, we gain a fantastic quality every day, ranging from Qba through the finest Grand Crus to the Gold Capsule selection.

We have a little less quantity this year however qualitatively this harvest will turn out to be an excellent one.The grapes are wonderful healthy and golden yellow in colour.

We think that it will take us another week to finish a successful harvest.