Aloxe Corton Grand Cru
Bottle
£60.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 3cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle
£85.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 11cs
Frédéric Weber has taken over prime winemaking responsibilities from Philippe Prost. He shares with his predecessor the ability to talk eloquently about his wines, with an excellent knowledge of each terroir. One change here is the increasing use of whole bunches during fermentation, though more in the Côte de Nuits than Côte de Beaune this year. Overall, these are excellent wines.
Bottle
£110.00
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
The 2013 grapes were picked between 30th September and 11th October. The white skins were fragile so pressing was very gentle, the reds more robust and capable of a good proportion of whole bunch fermentation. Most wines are now in tank with bottling a little earlier than usual. An exceptional range of reds in particular from Bouchard this year.
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Faiveley use three picking teams. Two started in the white wine vineyards on 28th September and were finished in four days. Then it was all hands to the red grapes. In general the harvest came in healthily, the hard work all year round in the vineyards paying dividends. We were once again very impressed.
Bottle
£165.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Étienne de Montille began picking whites on 10th and reds on 13th September, relatively early. Despite the hail (worst in Pommard than Beaune, Volnay less) yields were slightly improved compared to 2013. The fruit was clean with small berries, and beautiful clusters, so they were able to continue with their usual programme of whole-bunch vinification in most instances. The details are given for each wine. They will be long lived wines.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Tasting with David Croix at Camille Giroud is always a pleasure, especially so this year as the range of 2014s is delicious. David feels that the wines are all about drinkability and balance rather than exceptional power. His theory is that the great start to the growing season kept the vines healthy through the cool, damp summer.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Erwan Faiveley believes that 2014 would be regarded as a great vintage – if only 2015 had not come along to trump it. He feels that the changes which have taken place in the cellar since 2007 have had a discernible effect on the quality of Faiveley wines, while similar qualitative changes in the vineyard are only now bearing fruit. Here, balanced but restricted yields are the key.
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
The new era at Faiveley is now into its sixth vintage and the house style, which allows the fruit to express itself in a very seductive manner while enhancing the individual qualities of each terroir, has been safely established. Now the management is concentrating on reinforcing their supplybase with some crafty contracts and vineyard purchases in both Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits. We may be able to offer more cuvées in the future, and though opportunities are clearly limited by the 2012 vintage circumstances, we have been well looked after this year.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
David Croix has used a small percentage of whole bunches this year which is unusual for him, but he likes this approach in years with darker, riper fruit. Yields were the same as in 2012, around 25 hl/ha. He began picking his reds on 7th September, bringing the whole crop in over just four days. The Corton vineyards, both planted with 50- to 60-year-old vines, provide a fascinating contrast in style.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
This is a vintage to buy from Domaine de Montille without hesitation, whether it be the Bourgogne Rouge, a Grand Cru or indeed anything in between, such as his marvellous Volnays and Pommards. The whites are very smart, too. In common with other vignerons, Etienne and his cellar master, Brian Sieve, have opted for a higher proportion of whole bunches this year. The grapes were picked between 1st and 5th September, with alcohol levels coming in below 13 percent.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
Winemaker and general manager, David Croix, has been grumbling that he feels he has the temperament of a grower rather than the deal-making knack of a born negoçiant, so he hasn’t found it easy to fill the cellar in 2012. We also find that tasting with him feels like being in a grower’s cellar, though Camille Giroud only owns a couple of vineyards. There are, nevertheless, one or two really exciting new wines here this year, notably the Volnay Santenots, and the whole cellar is on top form.
Bottle 12 x 75cl 2cs
Giroud's Corton Grand Cru jumps out of the glass with a bolt of perfumed raspberries and cassis. It has lively fresh acidity and real staying power, is constant from start to finish, and is accompanied all the way on the palate by a core of powerful fruit flavours. This is delicacy and power, perfectly married.
David Croix has used 35% whole bunches in vinifying this Corton Grand Cru wine, whereas he normally de-stems entirely. The result is a gifted, perfumed nose with amazing length, and prime dancing qualities at the fore.
Jasper Morris MW, Buyer
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director
Maison Roche de Bellene Production has recently moved to a new facility on the outskirts of Beaune, which is making life much easier for the Roche de Bellene team. The philosophy stays the same: work with excellent grape sources and get the wines out into the market at competitive prices. The reds have had an excellent following for many a year now, while recently the whites have shown the same impressive price to quality ratio that makes this such a good address.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director The resurgence begun by the trio of Erwan Faiveley, Bernard Hervé and winemaker Jérôme Flous, who arrived in 2007, is very apparent in this brilliant series of 2011 wines. They began the harvest on 31 August and picked for 9 days. There are some new wines this year from a contract for the whole production of an estate in Chambolle-Musigny and the Faiveley white wines from totally healthy grapes are particularly successful in 2011, perhaps the best we have seen from the new regime.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Harvest began during the last week in September and finished just before the storm. There was less whole bunch vinification for the wines affected by hail, but Volnay Taillepieds, Pommard Rugiens, Corton Clos du Roi and the wines from the Côte de Nuits were all predominantly vinified with their stems.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Nicholas feels that the saving grace of the 2013 vintage was the amount of small berries caused by millerandage. He has opted for minimum extraction but longish cuvaison. The white wines have not been stirred because they were rich enough naturally. They are expected to be bottled in December and will all be under DIAM corks, apart from the Grands Crus. The reds will be bottled during February.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 3cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 3cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
Nicolas Potel has retained the majority of his regular contracts in 2012, though a couple are missing after the hail. Like everybody else, he has had to pay more for his grapes though, especially at the top end of the hierarchy. But as ever there are some delicious wines in the range, and at the lower end the prices are thoroughly competitive.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director
2010 is year three of the ‘new’ Faiveley style and they have again delivered an excellent set of wines. They picked from 20th September to 29th, beginning with Côte d’Or whites. The new regime has concentrated on an overhaul of winemaking principles, leading to a refinement of style. Next up will be a renovation of their Côte Chalonnaise cellars. They have also been expanding significantly into the Côte de Beaune, especially for white wines.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer