Frenzy for 2006 Italians

Yesterday saw the release of the eagerly anticipated Masseto 2006, the `Petrus of Tuscany`. The flagship wine from Tenuta Dell Ornellaia clearly made the most of the wonderful conditions in 2006 and merited a whopping 99 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.
Next to come will be the equally hotly anticipated Gaja 2006s. This magnificent vintage has produced great wines throughout Italy and Gaja’s Barbarescos are no exception. Keep your eyes peeled and be swift to avoid disappointment.

La Tour du Rhône - Day 5

Friday 2nd October - Condrieu, St Joseph and 2008 Vintage summary

Andre Perret could be domaine of the week, having produced the most impressive and consistent range of 2008s we have tasted. Few are simultaneously adept at red and white winemaking, Andre (pictured) achieves both with aplomb. The whites are superb - as racy as 2002 but with greater ripeness, none of the whites were chaptalised, both Clos Chanson and Coteau de Chery rival the Chave and Colombier whites for wine of the vintage. Grisieres will not be bottled separately this year so the regular St Joseph red cuvee has benefited enormously from its old vines, a ripe refreshing and perfectly proportioned wine with complexity of flavour.
Francois Villard makes wines in a totally different style to Perret, they are later picked and richer. His two stand out whites were the Grand Vallon and the Deponcins Condrieus, less expressive than Perret's, but full-bodied and very intense. The Vins de Pays Contours de Deponcins, was also very impressive and could look excellent value. As for the reds, Francois has been extracting less and reigning back on the new oak the last few years to great success. The two very fine, elegant Cote Roties, Gallet Blanc and Brocarde, were the pick of the reds here.

Its been a less exhausting week than anticipated, which is always a good sign. Following a great vintage is never easy and with challenging conditions in the summer of 2008, the vintage will no doubt have its detractors. This is not a homogenous year when just any old producer could have made good wine nor is its a big rich "trophy" vintage, however the important point is that there are enough good wines that will give plenty of drinking pleasure, from the serious producers. The reds will drink relatively early but the best will certainly last well into the mid term (5-7 yrs.) Less rain fell in the south than the north during the summer and, bar the northern sector of Chateauneuf where there was a hailstorm in September, the wines are a shade more consistent, however the top wines undeniably come from the granite slopes of Cornas and specific parts of the Hermitage hill. The whites are of excellent quality, particularly those of the northern rhone.

Alongside the 2008s we tasted the 2007s in bottle. I was delighted to find that these were every bit as impressive as from barrel, my tastings reconfirmed that this is a truely great, must-have, Rhone vintage.

La Tour du Rhône - Day 4

Thursday 1st October - More Hermitage, Crozes and Côte Rôtie.

Today the 2008s of Domaine du Colombier and Bernard Faurie particularly surprised me, they were much more complex, intense and riper than I was expecting.

After a tasting of 2008s with Marc Sorrel, who looks like he will put all of the "Greal" components into the one standard Hermitage cuvee , we head for Domaine du Colombier. Here a garrulous Florent Viale greeted us, we joked about the disproportionate amount of hairdressers operating in Tain, 12 on the last count, and then moved onto the serious business of tasting. Whilst 2009 was a "hands in pockets" vintage, he proclaimed, 2008 was a lot harder. He employed 30 pickers as opposed to the 18 he normally uses. "Conditions were not favourable in 2008 but the results are honourable," was his summary. The reds are good, the white Hermitage is outstanding and nudges the Chave version very closely for top wine so far this trip. I enjoy Faurie's red Hermitage blend every bit as much as Colombier's, if anything it has a shade more vitality aligned to the ripe fruit that both display. Crozes will be one of the patchier areas in 2008 I suspect, particular where vines are grown on moist clay soils. Pochon has made some lovely whites and improved the potential of his standard wine by adding the old vines Curson into the blend.

In Côte Rôtie it looks as if Clusel Roch will keep the 2008 Les Grandes Places as a separate wine, though the final decision has not been made. I think its good enough to stand alone but if they do blend it in, the straight Côte Rôtie could make for a good buy. The 2008s of Bernard Burgaud seems to be up there with those of his rivals, he put it down to "hard work, good weather in September and a bit of luck." Fresh and elegant but with enough body and fruit maturity, an excellent effort. Whilst at Rostaing the distance between Côte Blonde and the rest of the wines is clearer than ever before. The La Landonne was its usual surly, backward self, but there is good power and complexity there.

As for 2009 its obviously early days, but the growers I saw today seem as happy with the quality of their 2009s as those in the southern Rhône. The only difference is that the size of the crop in the North is thankfully quite good, whereas in the South it will be a small vintage.

Tomorrow St Joseph, Condrieu and Lyon St Exupery!

La Tour du Rhône - Day 3

Wednesday 30th September. Cornas and Hermitage.

It is becoming clear that 2008 is a "granite year". The well drained granite slopes of Cornas and the heavily granitic parts of Hermitage have produced the vintage's top performers so far.

At our first visit Jean Louis Chave discusses with us the paradox of the hot sunny vintages that produce big alcoholic, critically acclaimed wines and the cooler, sometimes more difficult vintages that produce lower alcohol wines that are the ones you actually want to drink. 2008 whites here are stunning, the most magical we have tasted yet, his reds are pretty smart too. All purity and vivacity, no big blockbusters.

Up the treacherous Cornas slopes to Allemand's cellars . As Thierry puts it " Cornas is great in a little vintage". A heavy selection has been made in 2008 resulting in yields of 20 hl / ha, about 9 hl / ha less than usual. All cuvees will be blended into one wine. It was typically inky in colour but more generous and smoother than usual, and very sensual. It does however still show a good bit of backbone and mineral intensity. Bravo!

At Chapoutier the stand out wine is l'Ermite white, which further confirms how extremely good some of the whites are in this vintage. The red l'Ermite is quite useful too - it is certainly the pick of their reds.

We leave plenty of time for our last visit - the excitable Mathieu Barret of Domaine du Coulet can talk the hind leg off a donkey. We taste whilst admiring his new cement eggs, ala Pontet Canet - fermentation vessels that make very precise wines. "Ah we are in Burgundy" he says of the first 08 barrel. Certainly true aromatically but there is more grip here than you would find further north. There will be only one Cornas bottling this year. It is impressive and certainly surpasses the general quality of this vintage. As successful as Allemand, perhaps a shade better. We re-taste his 07s which are even more stunning than from barrel. This domaine goes from strength to strength, and it will soon be considered one of the greats of the Rhone, not just of Cornas.

Tomorrow more Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, then onto Cote Rotie.

La Tour du Rhône - Day 2

This morning we headed into the wild hills of the north sector of the Cotes du Rhone to Mondragon, hunting an elusive Chateaunneuf called Bois Pointu made by Charles Blagden and Eric Michel of Cros de la Mure. Last year was an excellent debut vintage - beginners luck? how would they cope with the more challenging conditions of 2008? Exceptionally well is the answer. Being biodynamic did not make life easy because of early season disease, however the benefits are that later in the season the grapes ripen much more quickly. A sensual fragrant and really quite intense wine, very long flavours, in a light to medium bodied style. Seductive Grenache rather like its close neighnour Rayas. Absolutely loved this. Stardorm awaits this small Chateauneuf producer.

Back south towards Vacqueyras and Gigondas, where the 09 harvest is still continuing particularly in Gigondas' high, late-ripening Dentelles to Montmirail hills. The new vintage sounds like a small one, 20hl/ha have been reported in parts. Clos des Cazaux and Cayron offered us good, fragrant 2008s, juicy and rewarding wines that will drink relatively early. The tranquility of Gigondas village centre is briefly interrupted by a grower on his tractor belting noisly past as he returns home from the vines, its midday and nothing gets between a frenchman and his lunch! That's our cue to leave.

Beaucastel is next, stunning whites particularly the regular Chateauneuf and the Roussanne Vieilles Vignes, they show a freshness and finesse you would not normally associate with the southern Rhone "meridional." Not much red has been made, yields of 10hl/ha versus the usual 25hl/ha. Beaucastel red took me by surprise totally - rich very nearly jammy and structured which is at total odds to the rest of the 2008s, a wine of broad shoulders that should impress tasters. Further South in Bedarrides Vieux Telegraphe finished the 2009 Chateauneuf harvest yesterday and they too verify it is very small, half a crop in parts. In 2008 they have made 30 percent less than usual due to a mixture of difficult flowering, a concentrating north wind in September and a severe selection in the vineyards and winery. The result is a classic mix of Vieux Telegraphe composure and complexity, its not flashy but it never is. It grows on you , very moreish, all red, sloe and bullace fruits no raisin or animal here. An accomplished effort, should be a good mid termer. Finally to Versino, no Felix here in 2008, all of the old vine juice went into the straight Chateauneuf and this has made it, for me, joint wine of the day with Bois Pointu. Complex, smooth, spicy and ripe, not big but far from weak, it should be good value too. Jean Paul thinks the wine is soft like 1996 but richer, similar in structure to 2004. End of the day. Up north here we come.

La Tour du Rhône - Day 1

Monday, 28th September

Don't let the title concern you, the J&B buying team haven't taken to the bicycle just yet, though that might have been preferable to the beaten up Mazda Hertz tried to force on us at Toulouse airport.

An early start this morning as we headed along the windy roads of the Rousillon hills. Our destination was Clos des Fées. The beautiful, tranquil almost otherworldly scenery surrounding their village, Vingrau, is truly something to behold. The difference between here and the low plains of the Roussillon is stark, not only in terms of beauty but also in temperature. A distinct chill in the air attested to this. 8.30 am and my mouth was awash with old vines carignan, grenache and syrah. The cellar/garage is tiny. How they produce 3000 cases here is a miracle. Vintages are pretty consistent up here, so not surprisingly 06, 07 and 08 were all impressive. 07 was the richest and silkiest, 06 much more serious and classic with 08 somewhere in between, and perhaps the most lifting of all. These wines really show what greatness the relatively unchartered waters of the Roussillon hills can achieve.

We leave uncharacteristically on time and bat east accross the Roussillon towards Pezenas - a quick pit stop to see our old friends at Domaine Montrose. Having seen the success of their flavoursome and elegant looking rosé magnums, they seem to have caught the large format bug. They now produce some quite stunning looking jeroboams - we'll be shipping these in as early as we can in 2010.

After a minor disagreement between myself, Hew and the rather authoritarian French lady on our navigating system that takes us through some less than salubrious parts of Montpellier, we end up at Mont-Redon in Châteauneuf-du-Pape a little late. We taste a fantastically fresh white 2008 Châteauneuf. The red is admirably complete with good body, fruit and freshness. It does not have the power of 07 but will prove to be a very good drinker. We revisited the red 2006 Châteauneuf, a vintage I adore, but this seems to be going through a closed phase and needs to age for a good two years or so. We also took a fresh look at the 2005, and how this has come on. Brooding and surly for years this is now sumptuously rich, velvety and starting to drink very well indeed.

Across the village to our next stop, Pierre Usseglio. There will just be one red Usseglio Châteauneuf in 08 - but what a beauty. Ripe, floral, teaming with lush opulent fruit. Once again there is not the density or raw power of some more recently celebrated vintages but you certainly wouldn't turn this back in a restaurant. And it's no weakling either showing a nice touch of stuffing that should see it through to the mid term.

Onto our final tasting at Pegau where there was a flurry of activity as usual. A throng of Far Eastern tourists, German private customers and two weary British merchants all waiting in anticipation. Laurence Ferraud eventually arrived, closely followed by a tractor with 09 grapes from one of the last parcels to be picked. It seems that most in Châteaneuf are finishing harvest today, in glorious baking-hot sunshine. We watched as the 09 Pegau grapes were transferred to vat, and when offered by Laurence a testube of free run 09 grape juice Hew accepted with remarkable alacrity. Luckily he left some for me - nectar. Juicy sweet and packed with fruit.

2008 followed and while there will be no Da Capo a decision is yet to be made on the Laurence. The regular cuvée will please Pegau followers enormously. Classic, not heavy with plenty of fruit and savoury character in equal measure. After dropping off our bags at the hotel we headed back to Mont Redon for dinner. We were greeted by 100 delirious, singing and dancing portuguese pickers who were celebrating the Féte de Vendange, the last day of harvest. We escaped before being caught up in an increasingly raucous congo. Over dinner we tried some excellent bottles with the Fabres and Abeilles, who run Mont-Redon, the highlights of which were an excellent red Châteauneuf 1998 that is really starting to open up beautifully after so many years in the doldrums and an incredibly rich and spritely 1967. Mont-Redon make honest pure wines, they aren't flashy and don't get big press but they are wines you get immense pleasure from drinking. And what more can you ask? Well, an early night for one thing... more Châteaneuf, Gigondas and Vacqueyras awaits tomorrow.

The rise and rise of Carruades

If you analyse the top investment wines over the last five years, there's no doubting that there have been some meteoric risers - none more so than Carruades de Lafite. To put it in context, Carruades has outperformed Gold and any of the major world indices over this time period. The Lafite brand is the darling of the newer and increasingly important parts of the Asian market and the insatiable demand has driven prices to extraordinary levels. Only a year or so ago we surmised that Carruades had hit the ceiling at £1000/case. How wrong we were; now most vintages trade at circa £2000/case.

So to be very tabloid and vulgar about it, what does £2000 buy you. Well it probably doesn't even fill the tank on the latest luxury yacht, or pay a premiership footballer's salary for a day, but it can buy you a case of Mouton Rothschild 2002 or 2004 and there'd still be change for dinner at one of London's Michelin starred restaurants. Alternatively, and rather extraordinarily, you could buy over seven cases of the wonderful 2008 Grand Puy Lacoste, one of our star Pauillac buys from the acclaimed 2008 vintage.

It has never been our position to dictate what represents value to our clients. After all, we are all individuals and we each assign a different worth to nearly everything we buy; we merely select and point out wines based on our tastings. But if you purchased Carruades with the intention of drinking, you might like, given the astronomical prices, to reconsider your position. If you are a stockholder or simply a follower of the fine wine market, you may be interested to see our purchase prices listed below:

Carruades de Lafite 1996 - 1800GBP/cs
Carruades de Lafite 1998 - 1620GBP/cs
Carruades de Lafite 1999 - 1620GBP/cs
Carruades de Lafite 2000 - 1890GBP/cs
Carruades de Lafite 2001 - 1710GBP/cs
Carruades de Lafite 2002 - 1620GBP/cs
Carruades de Lafite 2003 - 1620GBP/cs
Carruades de Lafite 2004 - 1755GBP/cs
Carruades de Lafite 2005 - 1485GBP/cs
Carruades de Lafite 2006 - 1350GBP/cs
Carruades de Lafite 2007 - 990GBP/cs

Carruades de Lafite 2008 - 1035GBP/cs

Should you wish to sell, please don't hesitate to contact our broking team on 020 7484 6408 or contact jacqueline.barfoot@justerinis.com

Bordeaux 2009: Further reports from the frontline

A couple of further reports that we received on Friday last week from two of Bordeaux's up-and-coming younger generation of winemakers. Published verbatim.

"The growing season was exactly what every winemaker would like to have every vintage, sunny, hot (but not too hot and dry ( with just a bit of rain at the beginning of August).

We started to pick our young merlots (situated on the foot of the slope) on Tuesday; we have just received our first analysis from the lab that shows very high degrees (between 14 and 15°) which is similar to 2005. The color index is also high, but what is interesting is that the level of acidity is also very good (not too low). These conditions show that this vintage looks really great.

We will finish picking the merlot (situated at the foot of the slope) tomorrow then we will start the merlot on the slope (limestone and clay) next week. The weather forecast is good until next Wednesday at least.

The quality of the grapes is very sound. The first juices taste very good (very fruity and intense), the color will come very quickly. The extraction will be sweet but long (time in tanks will be longer than usual).

We don’t expect to pick our cabernet franc and sauvignon before the 5th of October." Jean-Antoine Nony, Chateau Grande Mayne, St Emilion.


And from Jean-Jacques Bonnie at Malartic-Lagraviere in Pessac-Leognan:
"To start with, we had a rainy winter which enabled the water reserve to fill at the perfect moment for it. Then the spring was nice and dry when it was needed, to start the vegetative cycle of the plant in good conditions and more importantly to be fine when flowering. This made this flowering quick and therefore homogeneous. This homogeneity then lasted until now, the harvest period. The summer has been dry and the sun shining with no temperature excess and the cool nights that are good for balance. We had 40 mm of rain between the 16th and the 20th of September; just what the plant needed to keep accumulating aromas and tannins and taking them to ripeness. Since the 20th the weather has been sunny and will stay that way until at least 1st of October (as far as the weather forecast goes!).

For the whites, the aromas are very dense and pure and the acidities are present enough for the balance of the wines. For the reds, the grapes we taste are showing an amazing potential with a lot of taste. The little water we had for the plant to keep working and the very nice weather since then and for the next few days give us a very wide smile on our faces!! The wines will show density, ripeness and silky tannins: very pure and dense fruit with a brilliant balance.!

A Harvest with Elio Altare

It seems like I just need to ask for it and the cooler weather comes! We basically had dry tropical weather till last Sunday, then suddenly from Monday rain rain rain…

A little bit of rain is fine, but when it starts pouring down, well, that’s not too good.

Luckily we did a very serious green harvest in July/ August so the grapes are quite healthy and strong. I’m sure there will be problems for those that didn’t work properly this summer!

We were basically running to the vineyards as soon as it stopped raining, trying to work as fast as we could and trying not slip on the mud! At some point, in one vineyard the tractor got stuck and we had to pull it with the caterpillar. We picked a bit more barbera last week and, afraid of the bad forecast, we started picking nebbiolo from the Arborina vineyard on Friday.

This is probably the earliest ever in Altare’s history, but it's better having the grapes in the cellar than hanging on the vines under the rain. While picking in the afternoon, it started raining. Since we work under Elio’s slavery we even had to pick under the rain for about an hour, but then our 60-80 year old pickers revolted and we had to stop...we cant afford to lose them right now!

No picking during the weekend, just lots of cellar work, pressing, racking, moving stuff around, preparing shipping and deliveries. There are lots of tourists around as well - Piedmont is very appealing and attractive this time of the year, the landscape starts changing colour and the air smells like sweet must, its addictive!

A Harvest in Piedmont: In Pictures

The Altare team shown here picking Barbera in the Larigi Vineyard, before the rains came.

Our author, Silvia Altare

It's worth noting the steepness of the vineyard and the age of the picking team. Aspect and experience are key to the wonder of Larigi.

Upcoming buying trip: The Rhone Valley's 2008s

Next week sees the buying team of Hew Blair and Giles Burke-Gaffney visit the Rhone valley. Starting off with a visit to Clos des Fees in Roussillon, they'll move up through Châteauneuf-du-Pape visiting amongst others, Usseglio, Pegau, Versino, Beaucastel and Vieux Telegraph. Leaving no wine untasted they'll head North to visit our plethora of producers in St Joseph, Côte Rotie, Hermitage Cornas and Condrieu.

They will be posting daily on the 2008's they taste: decanting their thoughts regularly for you to read.

Watch this space.

Bordeaux 2009: Everybody's Talkin'

That there is a great deal of excitement about the potential quality of the 2009 harvest in Bordeaux is in no doubt. Such is the fervour that even the Weekend FT felt it necessary to carry the story on their front page.

We have been speaking to certain prominent winemakers in Bordeaux and the view is unified. Barring any major weather fronts in the coming two weeks 2009 has great potential.

Ben Kennedy, who now works for Luc Thienpoint at Clos des Quatre Vents in Margaux, told us that "quality is excellent. Ripening is even and there is no kind of advance or delay in one grape or another so the harvesting can be done in a nice neat order". He also noted that their 2008's are looking "excellent" in barrel with "stylish, moreish fruit that is even more pronounced than five months ago"

The rain at the weekend patently came at the perfect moment. According to David Launay at Gruaud Larose the "vines suffered quite a bit before (the weekend) due to the drought. Thanks to the rain (about 15mm during the weekend), the vines are back to work, accumulating more polyphénols in the berries with a better extractability". He harvested his "babies", the young vines, yesterday in "ideal" conditions.

It's fortunate they did get some rain as prior to that the vintage seemed to be teetering between the greatness of 2005 and the heat stress of 2003. Luc Thienpoint's grapes had skins that had begun to "slacken and dimple", not necessarily a quality issue, but perhaps a concern for yields. Harvesting 48 hours after the rain allowed the moisture to penetrate the soil, travel up the vine and fill out the berries. Their early merlots are in and they are delighted with them.

Across the river in Pomerol where things always happen a little earlier much has already been harvested. Jean-Michel Laporte of La Conseillante summed up the situation thus:

“2009 shows a lot of similarities with 2005 in terms of growing season: very nice and warm summer, with a few days of rain permitting the vines to continue to ripen in very good conditions, without any water stress. But it will certainly be a bit more complicated to achieve the winemaking. The potential is truly exceptional, but the high sugar level (i.e. future alcohol) requires us to be very careful with the extractions. On the other hand, the cool nights from the summer preserved the acidity of the berries, so we can expect a good balance in the wines we are going to make.

We finished picking the Merlot grapes yesterday at La Conseillante, and a small plot of Cabernet Franc. We are very early here on the Pomerol plateau, compared with our neighbors of Saint Émilion, and of course with the Médoc estates. Our clay and gravels soils always mature faster, and our climate is a bit warmer than on the left bank as we are farther from the ocean. First part of the job is done, we now need to transform the trie… It’s really exciting as the first tastings of juices, or even the first fermenting tanks, are already full of color and fruit forward. In terms of winemaking, I prefer to ferment the wines at lower temperatures than usual, to preserve the fresh notes and to regulate the yeast activity. Extraction, by pumping-over only, will essentially take place during the first part of the vatting, to avoid to get dry tannins from the seeds.

Next step will be next week, when we’ll harvest the remaining Cab Franc. But I already can tell that 2009 is definitely a very promising vintage.”

Follow all the action during the coming crucial two weeks right here on the buyer's blog.

Do believe the hype…

Another day and another conversation with a deliriously happy Bordelaise wine-maker. The phrases `Cheshire cat` and `grinning like` spring to mind.

Comparisons with the 2005 vintage have already started - and most of the fruit is still on the vine. The vintage seemed to be heading more towards a 2003, such has been the heat and the drought of 2009. One rarely finds vignerons pleading for rain in September, but the summer has been such a scorcher that the vines were almost in danger of hydric stress (quite a change from 2007 and 2008). Their prayers have been answered with several heavy showers over the weekend. The vines are refreshed and look in great shape. The Météo looks fine for the next few days, so we could be witnessing another historic vintage in the making…

Under the hammer

A glance at the auction results from Christie's recent New York sale merely serves to confirm that even in these gloomy times there is a thirst for exceptional lots from great vintages. The top three lots all broke their pre-sale estimates, with Bordeaux and Burgundy dominating the top ten.

The highest price was achieved by a case of Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1947 which achieved £43,452 smashing its pre-sale high estimate of £30,400. The second dearest lot was three magnums of Château Cheval-Blanc 1947 which raised £36,210 on a pre sale estimate of £24,300 - £36,500. The third largest lot was two magnums of Romanée-Conti which achieved £28,968 on a pre-sale low estimate of £24,300.

Harvesting in Vosne-Romanée

The 2009 harvest finished Tuesday lunchtime, a day earlier than expected, largely thanks to the exceptional quality of grapes we have picked. Do we have in front of us a great or immense vintage?? Time will tell but I have certainly never seen such a beautiful quality of crop in the ten years since I took back control of winemaking at Domaine du Comte-Liger Belair.

Saturday we attacked the Vosne Romanée 1er Cru Aux Reignots, immediately followed by La Romanée. This was the rhythm nature gave us. After midday on Saturday the Vosne Romanée Clos du Château had been totally engulfed by the picking team and all was harvested within an hour and a half, which allowed us to follow by picking Vosne Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots that afternoon, too. Sunday morning and we headed for Vosne Romanée La Colombière, then after this the team had to be separated in two, some to harvest Vosne Romanée 1er Cru Les Chaumes, others Nuits Saint Georges Les Lavières. There was no harvesting on Sunday afternoon, our usual practice at the Domaine, to honour, more than anything else, the day of our lord and to thank him for having given us such wonderful fruit. Monday morning we attacked a parcel of Vosne Romanée premier cru Aux Reignots and Vosne Romanée premier cru Hauts Beaux Monts that we delivered to Domaine de la Romanée Conti for the charity auction "Climats de Coeur" (http://www.climats-du-coeur.com/) followed by the different parcels that are used for the Domaine's Vosne Romanée. Finally that day we picked Vosne Romanée 1er Cru les Petits Monts and le Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Aux Cras. The harvest ended on Tuesday with Echezeaux and Vosne Romanée 1er Cru Aux Brûlées.

Everything is now in the cuverie. The juices are lovely - rich, with a balanced acidity, the colours are starting to come out and show their brilliance ...so everything is going well .. Some cuves are starting to give the impression that fermentation is just beginning. You'll find out more very soon!!

Broking News

Our magnificent summer cellar is making waves in all our major markets - well how often do we see private cellars of this size (in excess of one million pounds!). The Thursday scramble will continue for a few more weeks yet...

In terms of the wider market, we are seeing some fairly bullish buying. This is backed up by the London based wine exchange, Liv-ex. The Liv-ex 100 had its best month for more than two years in August, gaining 4.6% to 225.5 and it’s the fifth monthly rise in succession. This is led by the Lafite stable. Insatiable demand in the Far East has pushed most vintages of Carruades towards the 2K mark, making it more expensive than many vintages of rival First Growths Mouton, Margaux and Haut Brion. The Grand Vin is enjoying similar success; we defy anyone to find a vintage of Lafite that starts with a two. Top vintages such as '82, '96 and '00 are reaching new highs and we think it won't be long before the '05 is back at 8K+ a case. Is this a bubble waiting to burst or is this just the start? Who knows? China is a huge market and maybe we are only scratching the surface…

Pomerol's 2009 Harvest (continued)

Just a quick note after a few days of harvest:

It is now Thursday 17th of September, and we have been harvesting various parcels of young(er) vines and gravelly soils for four days now. We picked Providence on Tuesday, Wednesday and today, and all that are left to do are the old blocks planted in 1945 and 1985.

The result, in the tanks before fermentation, is stunning. The potential alcohol is fairly high, there is nice structure and a freshness which is crucial for the balance of the future wine.

The weather forecast over the weekend is not fantastic so the few days ripeness we have gained through a massive amount of work pampering the vines over the summer has allowed us to have important parcels picked dry and under a shinning sun. The remaining ones that need more hanging time due to cooler soils or higher age will then be ready mid to late next week when we are supposed to have very nice weather again. Saint-Emilion will probably be ready around this time also.

Vicomte Liger-Belair joins the J&B blog

Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair is a great and historic Vosne-Romanée domaine rejuvenated at the beginning of 2000 by the young Vicomte Liger-Belair, Louis Michel, an agricultural engineer and oenologist.

It is with great pleasure that we announce that our newest guest blogger, Vicomte Liger-Belair himself. Look out for his first blog tomorrow. The grapes have been harvested and everything is now in the cuverie. By the sounds of things, 2009 looks to have produced some truly excellent fruit.

Follow the action in the winery over the coming weeks as the grapes make their transformation into some of Burgundy's finest wines.

A Harvest with Elio Altare:

We started picking dolcetto about 10 days ago and last weekend, after only two and a half days of fermentation we pressed the first three rotary fermentors.

I always wonder why it is that we always have to press on Saturdays or Sundays...I suppose it's just bad luck, and harvest simply doesn't have free days or hours, it's continous non stop work! It also happened that during the weekend that Elio was in London for the J&B tasting, but we did a good job, or at least he didn't call me a million times to check on the work!!

The first dolcetto that we pressed looks very dark and already shows some soft delicate tannins. In just a couple of day in a temperature controlled fermentation tank it turned dry, so no more fun drinking dolcetto grape juice until next year; it's already a serious wine.

On Wednesday we started picking barbera from the Larigi vineyard (where the photos are taken - I hope readers notice the "young" pickers we have. The old couple are 80 years old!!). The grapes have 23-24 brix of sugar, and look a bit dry, but that's fine. It will give us a very concentrated barbera. We are a bit worried about nebbiolo though, the sugar levels are already quite high but the colour is very weak and the pips (when you crunch them) are still very very dry and unripe. We need some colder nights and more temperature variation, to give the grapes freshness.

This year my cellar team is composed of a Japanese, a Romanian and an Aussie guy, quite an interesting mix, especially when you have to talk or explain things. Luckily I'm Italian, so I know how to shake my hands and explain :-)))

The vineyard team has been the same for as long as I remember. The older they get the faster they are, and the better at selecting the grapes they become. It's incredible, the experience really helps out. And of course Elio supervising on everything and everyone - he is the big boss!!

Burgundy 2006 from bottle: The Grand Crus of Vosne

The Grand Crus of Vosne we tasted in three flights. The first flight consisted soley of Echezeaux. This was followed by a flight of Echezeaux and Grands Echezeaux. And finally those Grand Crus from around the village, namely Richebourg, Romanee St Vivant, La Grande Rue and La Romanee. No DRC wines were included as Aubert de Villaine does not provide samples for comparative tastings.

Not unnaturally many of these grand wines were dense, closed and presented themselves in a typically adolescent and ungiving style. Certainly they showed higher density, alcohol and Grand cru structure, but they will have suffered from palate fatigue and a build up of tannin on my palate after three days of tasting.

The star performer and highest points for the Echezeaux's was Jean-Marc Millot's beautifully pure yet broodingly complex dark fruited example. Only a point behind was Louis Michel Liger-Belair's which I noted for its energy and supreme fruit of blueberry and damson and its aristocratic terroir. Also at the top of the flight was the lovely Cecile Trembley's - refined, elegant and understated.

Of the short flight of Grands Echezeaux, the Lamarche 06 showed how wine making at this estate has improved dramatically over recent years. Superb 'Musigny' style with power and lingering intensity. The Drouhin GE is always dark dense and brooding and so the 06 proved; it has great potential.

The final flight of the tasting included Richebourg, Romanee St Vivant, La Grande Rue and La Romanee. On the day two wines stood out and showed themselves in all their glory .Others had great potential and were more reticant. There were no disappointments amongst this elete group.

Both the Richebourg from Grivot and the La Grande Rue from Lamarche I noted as being beautifully polished and sensual, packed with sensational fruit and complex minerality. The former having a glorious haunting delicacy the latter layers of dark rich fruits. The two most backward wines of the flight, La Romanée from Comte Liger Belair and Domaine Leroy's Richebourg have perhaps the greatest potential to evolve into great bottles. The La Romanee has aromas of oriental opulence but is firm and ungiving on the palate for the moment. The Richbourg from Leroy was somewhat reduced and needed time in the glass to evolve. Strawberry, tobacco and complex spices become evident with time.

Not to be outdone and only a point behind my top two was Romanée St Vivant by Follin Arbelet. Big in structure yet with tremendous energy and busting with rich complex fruit it has the potential to improve dramatically.

To put the 2006 pinot noirs of Burgundy in perpective at this stage when tasting 300 wines over three days without food is tough on both taster and wines. The wines of Beaune and south of the town are for the most part middle weights yet have the vitue of clear vineyard definition and purity of fruit that makes them food friendly. They can and should be enjoyed over the next two to four years.

The wines of Aloxe and Corton have more structure and consistancy. There will be some good suprises here. The best have the substance and charm to evolve over the next three to five years.

Without doubt the village of Nuits St George has more exciting wines than any other in 2006. Gevrey too has done well. I would think that the best of the Cotes de Nuits 1er and Grand Crus will only show their real potential over the next five to ten years.