Clos de Tart 2009 Releases

In a vintage like 2009, where the clamour for top end Red Burgundy has reached never before seen levels of fervour, the release of a monopole Grand Cru such as Clos de Tart is bound to cause something of a buzz.

Tim Atkin describes it as "potentially amazing," ; Michel Bettane thinks this wine could become a thing of legend; Allen Meadows, the Burghound, classes it as one of his "Don't miss" wines of the vintage; for our part we consider it to be one of their great vintages.

As exclusive agents in both Singapore and Indonesia we are delighted to announce its release in these countries.

End of year report

How did the fine wine market fare in 2010? And what of the future?

After some strong re-building in 2009, 2010 always had the potential to be a great year for the fine wine market. The Liv-ex 100 index started the year at 239.36 and rose to a new high of 336.28 by the close, an increase of 40.5%. Lafite Rothschild and second wine Carruades de Lafite continue to lead the way. There is no let up in demand from China for wine’s über-brand. Most vintages of Carruades now trade at over 3.5K/cs and the Grand vin prices head ever further into the stratosphere. The other first growths have also seen big gains in 2010. Mouton Rothschild’s decision to commission Xu Lei to design the label for the 2008 had an overnight impact on the demand for all Mouton vintages. And what of the auspicious 2008 vintage? Much was made of the significance of these lucky numbers before the `08 primeur campaign, but buyers from China never materialised. Now that some wines are available, we expect this to change.

One of the outstanding successes in 2010 was of course the release of the 2009s from Bordeaux. Our tasting team travelled to Bordeaux in April and tasted extensively throughout the Medoc, Graves, Pomerol and St Emillion. The vintage is rightly heralded as one of the greats. We witnessed some of the most decadent, hedonistic, enchanting wines we have ever tasted. Release prices, as we had forewarned were very high, but the demand was even greater. As with previous `greats` (2000, 2005), the record release prices didn’t put consumers off. They also had a knock on affect to older vintages, which comparatively looked cheap!

2011 has started with a bang. Our Burgundy 2009 campaign has broken the records set by the 2005s. Over 450 people attended our tasting and demand for the top wines has been typically voracious. And whilst the very top wines have now been snapped up there are still plenty of wonderful wines to be had from Bourgogne to Grand Cru level. Have a look on our website for full availability. 2010 Bordeaux is potentially very exciting too; a small crop, but the quality is excellent, so there is much to look forward to. We don’t have a crystal ball, but it seems likely that the fine wine market, in near term at the very least, will depend on the evolution of the Chinese market. We are already seeing an increase in demand for super seconds and other top Cru Classés. And why not? The gulf between the firsts and the others has never been greater. Those looking for smart drinking are clearly looking beyond the likes of Mouton and Lafite, and who knows, maybe investors will follow...

Burgundy 2009: An interview with the Bachelet-Monnot Brothers

By all accounts they have made another superb Maranges in 2009. This really is a domaine to watch...

Burgundy 2009: An interview with Guillaume d'Angerville

In which Giles asks Guillaume about the similarity between the 09 and 05 vintages, and the rise and rise of his Volnay Champans...

Burgundy 2009 - The Second Half

A leisurely weekend saw the buying team take in some 2009s from Sylvain Cathiard, Bruno Clair and Jean-Marc Millot, and more window shopping in and around Beaune's Place Carnot than I care to remember. The rest was good and, though it may not have seemed it at the time, was well needed. For the second half approached. 27 Domaines down, 20 to go until Thursday. Today was spent back in the Cote de Beaune. 8.30am at the affable Vincent Dancer (pictured)in Chassagne was a breeze, such were the poise and moreish minerality of his fine-tuned wines. The wines needed to be particularly good today, the weather has turned and gets fouler, colder and wetter by the minute. Fortunately the wines "turned up on the day", as a premiership football manager might say. Again the cooler zones have proved themselves successful in 2009: Rully, Monthelie, Aloxe Corton and Pernand Vergelesses chez Suremain, Follin and Rollin were all pure, unbridled pleasure. The day finished on a massive high, Ghislaine Barthod has produced one of the most thrilling line ups so far.

Since Saturday there have been some magnificent wines but there are three that stand out, all from the cooler zones of their appellations - Vosne En Orveaux 1er Cru Cathiard, Gevrey Clos St Jacques 1er Cru Bruno Clair and Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuees Ghislaine Barthod. Three different wines but all ethereal, haunting and with spine-tingling elegance. If these three don't sit amongst the critics' top spots, then the world is a very unjust place.

Burgundy 2009 - First impressions of the Cote de Nuits

There aren't many vintages that would have me leaping out of bed for a tasting in Pernand Vergelesses at 8.15 at the end of a hard week's tasting, but 2009 is proving to be one of them. The last two days have been a tour around 11 Domaines, 2 in the Cote de Beaune and 9 in the Cote de Nuits, among them Chevillon, Leroy, Rousseau, Roumier and Mugnier to drop just a few names. Again, as in the Cotes de Beaune, the key seems to have been picking early in 2009, most Domaines finishing by mid September. Also the cooler terroirs seem to have done particularly well, Latricieres, the high Chambolle and Gevrey vineyards, the cooler parts of Chambertin.

Burgundy seems in rude health, not only are the top growers making good to excellent wines every year but the average age of these top growers seems to be dropping. I have seen two such young stars in the last couple of days. Christian Gouges' nephew, Gregory, has made superb 2009s that mix classic Henri Gouges structure with a fair dose of finesse and baskets full of fruit. They should age seriously well whilst being more approachable in their youth. Its true that THE highlight so far has been an Henri Gouges Les St Georges 1958 thats shows remarkably vivid, youthful fruit, but rather selfishly I want to get some pleasure out of my 2009s and not leave that luxury soley to my children!

The other star is Arnaud Mortet who has arguably been even more successful. I was blown over by the definition and finesse his 2009s show, equal to the intensity the Mortet wines habitually demonstrate. This is a balance never before achieved at Domaine Denis Mortet.

The wine of the day goes to Chevillon's Vaucrains, it left me stuck for words, I have never know it be so expressive and yet retain such concentration and power.

Saturday morning promises the chance of a lie in, Vosne-Romanee at 9.30, followed by Marsannay and then again back down to Nuits. More of that and another taste of the Cote de Beaune on Monday.

Burgundy 2009 - A taste of Cote de Beaune

November has come around all too quickly, but so much the better! For the autumnal colours and bright skies are a joy here in Burgundy, and the temperatures are unusually balmy. The first three days of our trip has been spent in the Maconnais and Cote de Beaune.

My expectations were, tentatively, high. These 2009s that appeared so flattering and round in May, will they have lasted a summer in barrel unblemished? The answer is resoundingly yes. Initial reports seemed to indicate a great red vintage but I have found that there are some incredible whites too. Dominque Lafon thinks is the best vintage he has made for white wine, whilst not everyone can say that there plenty of beauties up and down the Cote nonetheless. Certainly those who have picked early, before grapes became too overripe, have made wonderfully balanced Chardonnays, admittedly less racy than in 2007 or 2008 but with absolutely tremendous balance: Silky, ripe, fresh and strong mineral identity, and, it must be said, huge length of flavour even at villages level.

I have not made it to the Cote de Nuits yet but this seems to be a quite excellent vintage for Cote de Beaune reds, particularly Volnay. My tasting with Marquis d'Angerville was exhilirating. Whilst you can not really say for all of the wines that they are better than 2005, I think you can for the Champans, it was simply breathtaking. And as a whole range, from villages upwards, I think they are a hair ahead of 2005. In general the Pinots have the silkiest of textures without losing precision or characteristic varietal bitter-sweetness.

More updates from the Cotes de Nuits on the weekend and over the coming weeks look out for video interviews on the 2009s with some of Burgundy's top growers.

The grape escape: 2008 Burgundy Revisited and a peek at 2009

Narrowly avoiding the ash clouds that nearly prevented my annual escape from the London Wine Trade fair, I head to Burgundy for a chance to re-taste 2008 and take an early peek at the already well-reputed 2009s.

Most Red 2008s are now ready to be bottled and though, admittedly, its a perfect time to taste, they look fabulous, even lovelier than from barrel in November. It may not be a totally homogenous vintage but there are so many great examples of red 08s from the top producers. Every grower I have spoken to this week considers it a genuinely top vintage for Pinot Noir and I have to admit I am totally seduced, too. Such a balance of Pinot purity, freshness, ripe fruit and roundness, with a nice little tannic kick. Freddy Mugnier himself describes it as "a vintage I adore, like 2001 but better, more refined." Anyone who has been lucky enough to drink any of the quite glorious Cote de Nuits 2001s recently will know this is praise indeed.

Then there is the small matter of 2009. The most flattering vintage I have tasted at this early stage, more so than 1999, even the likes of d'Angerville's Clos des Ducs and Liger-Belair's La Romanee, the most serious of wines, were impressively forthcoming; whilst Cecile Tremblay appears to have made a sensational range from top to bottom. There is still plenty of time and elevage to go for these 2009s, I will see in November how the summer has treated them so lets not be hasty, but it has to be said in their current state they are difficult to resist: Suave, very fruity and with a smooth texture that belies their great power and persistance. Mostly it seems a decent size crop (fingers crossed this is reflected at allocation time !!) Picking date was a fine balance as fruit ripened at a pace, so it is feasible there may be one or two disappointments more than with the extraordinarily reliable 2005s, we shall see, but there will plenty of absolute crackers to feast on I have no doubt.

Patrick Javillier gives us his thoughs on Meursault 2009

News from Meursault and it seems they too have harvested a very fine set of wines in 2009. Here's what Patrick Javillier had to say about the vintage:

"The weather conditions in spring and early summer were favorable to the occurrence of oidium and downy mildiou. Because of this we have had to be very vigilant in administering any interventions. Fortunately our vigilance paid off and we have harvested a very healthy set of grapes.

The summer has seen very hot days alternated with cooler days. A few periodical thunderstorms and cool nights have allowed the grapes to reach maturity with superb balance. The vines did not suffer from drought, even with the hot days, for every one to two weeks we have had stormy rains that have washed down the soil. The cool nights have allowed the crop to preserve it's fresh aromas.

The 2009 vintage wines in red and white harvested at 95 - 100 days to flower, should be free from over-maturity and should have a balance of sugar and acidity with remarkably fresh and elegant flavours .

The tasting in a few months should confirm that these rare qualities are present."

Vosne-Romanée 2009 - "A beautiful crop"

The 2009s have finally been pressed, we are starting to rack off the wines and put them into barrel. What a healthy and beautiful crop of wines we have just made! Exceptional maturity has allowed for very agreeable vinifications that were simple in the extreme! The goal was to make the best of the great grape maturity we had without extracting too much, to obtain that real velvety character of our wines and to retain their drinkability. They will now be in their barrels for between 13 to 18 months, depending on their evolution during elevage. We can now take a short breath before starting to think of racking the 2008s, with a view to bottling them in the coming months. Its also necessary to get back into the vines, to start preparing for the 2010 vintage!

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!!

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.