Burgundy 2008: Burgfest (cont) Corton & Nuits St Georges

CORTON

When tasting Corton at such events it’s worth remembering that the Hill of Corton lies several kilometres north of Beaune whereas Pommard and Volnay are equidistant south. In terms of Burgundy these terroirs are poles apart.  The two flights of Corton were a step up in both quality and uniformity. The slightly later harvesting had resulted in riper more concentrated wines.

Head of the pack of two flights was the Clos du Roi from Etienne de Montille; high toned bitter sweet red fruits and suave fruity tannins. Only a half point behind were the two Bressandes of Tollot Beaut; damson and bramble fruits and long fine grained tannins and Follin Arbelet; intense berry fruits, graceful, mineral and complex.  Also showing great improvement over previous years was the Corton Clos des Corton from Faiveley, youthful and showing slight reduction it nevertheless has potential.

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Harvest at Château Providence

Château Providence is one of the jewels in the J&B portfolio. This JP Moueix owned estate at the heart of the plateau in Pomerol hit the ground running in 2005 and has since cemented its place amongst the elite estates in the appellation. Edouard Moueix has kindly written a harvest report and his preliminary thoughts about the latest vintage.

'2011 has been the vintage of extremes, summer conditions in spring, two heat waves at the end of June and August, with a cool and overcast summer. It is actually the vines that suffered more than the fruit. We had to spend a lot of time in the vineyard to reduce the number of clusters and therefore the stress on the vines.

We harvested Providence in two days, the young vines and more gravelly parcels on September 10, and the older vines on September 13. The date of the harvest was of course decided according to analyses run from end of August on, but also by tasting the berries. This year even if the numbers were excellent on paper, we had to be extra patient for the fruit to gain a certain aromatic complexity. The normal date according to the calculations from the day of mid-flowering should have been August the 29th.

The weather on these two days was warm and sunny. Despite the good presentation of the fruit, we have used the new optical sorting table, allowing only the best berries to enter the cellars.

We let the fermentations start after two days of maceration, and kept the temperatures quite low because of the high level of potential alcohol. The tanks have now been drained and the wine is about to start its malolactic fermentation. The style is deep and muscular, with notes of dark fruit and cocoa.

I look forward to presenting the first samples in April'.