Newsletter April 2012
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Save the date!
26.04. - Night of fascinating “Grower Champagne” at our Noble Wine Shop in Munich (Start 7:30pm)
24.05. - Event at Gallery Lumas in Munich with Photographer Rafael Neff presenting his new picture series from the world’s most famous wine cellars accompanied by a great Noble Wine Selection and exclusive Wine Tasting!
Meeting our Producers! See & read Noble Wine's trip to Burgundy (German language)
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Dear Wine Friends,
Welcome to our Burgundy 2010 Subscription Part III.
These are the wineries - including some new producers!:
Marquis d'Angerville - Volnay
Domaine Tortochot - Gevrey-Chambertin
Simon Bize - Savigny-lès-Beaune - new!
Jérome Chézeaux - Premeaux-Prissey - new!
Patrick Javillier - Meursault - new!
Francois Bertheau - Chambolle-Musigny - new!
As already noted in our last newsletter, the quantities in 2010 are very small. But the wines that were produced have a fascinating freshness, precision and are extremely concentrated with very fine tannins. They are thus suitable for developing for a long time in the cellar. If you haven't had the chance yet to obtain some wines from your favourite growers, we strongly recommend to try our other exquisite producers such as, e.g., Louis Boillot or Domaine Dublere, where we still have some wines left for subscription, or see our new bies as e.g. Jérome Chézeaux or Francois Bertheau , another domaine from Chambolle-Musigny which is very highly regarded among Burgundy insiders.
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And here are our new offers available for subscription:
There's not much to say about the 2010 wines of Marquis d'Angerville. We had the chance to taste them on the Grands Jours in Burgundy end of March and we must admit: They taste divine. But they are so rare and demanded especially with the small amounts of 2010, that we got an extremely small allocation this year and prices went up again. Therefore we will have to strictly limit the order of those wines.
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Finally arrived: The new wines for subscription from Domaine Tortochot!
We visited the sympathetic Chantal Tortochot in Burgundy, for details of our visit see our report.
In 2010, the complete collection is impressive. DUe to their balance and expressiveness, this vintage is well-suited for fans of drinking red Burgundy wines young. The wines presented themselves extremely open with expressive, elegant fruit and a fine structure with ripe tannins. We found it impressive how Domaine Tortochot was able to retain the specific terroir characters (certainly the recent turnover to biologic cultivation is one of the major factors here). Apart from the Gevrey Jeunes Rois at a very favorable price we are now able to offer an exciting Village wine, Champerriers V.V. It comes from very old vines and is much more mineral and complex. From the Grand Crus we liked the most the Mazis-Chambertin, a rather feminine style with very polished tannins and a bit of wood still on evidence (low toast, high quality barrrels nonetheless!) which will no doubt integrate with time, and the Chambertin Grand Cru: Dark brooding, with enormous depth but perfectly ripe tannins. One of the best wines we tasted on our entire Burgundy trip! The Tortochot wines will be ready for shipping by the end of April 2012!
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Please welcome now Domaine Simon Bize!
On our trip Patrick Bize first presented himself somewhat reserved and, dare we say, grumpy, quite the contrary to his wines. But after spending some time with him, we apparently broke the ice and finally sealed the allocation!
Bize is a master of the so called "vendanges entiers" vinification (whole cluster fermentation). He emplyos this method with great care leading to wines with impressively complex aromas and flavors, which reveal themselves fully only after some time in the cellar. The style of Bize is still very delicate especially after the required maturation in the cellar. The tasting started with the absolutely convincing Bourgogne rouge Les Perrieres. We think it’s one of the best Bourgogne rouge on the market today. It's always a great sign if a domaine pays ´so much attention to its smaller wines. Our highlight was certainly a Savigny Les Fourneaux 2006 which illustrated perfectly the aromatic development and the delicate style of this domaine. For our subscription we were able to snatch onto a nice collection of his Savigny 1er Crus, including his 1er cru Les Vergelesses which is one of the top wines of Patrick Simon. Apart from the 2010s, we could not pass the opportunity to snap up some 2009s, a great vintage for Bize, as he confirmed himself. Use the opportunity to get some of the great and highly rated wines as e.g. Aloxe Corton Le Suchot, Savigny Les Marconnets, Savigny Les Vergelesses, Savigny Les Talmettes and Savigny Les Fourneaux from the 2009 vintage.
The wines of Patrick Bize will also be available for shipping end of April.
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New for our White Burgundy Lovers: Patrick Javillier from Meursault!
Patrick Javillier, a man with a perfectionist attitude, is one of Meursault's best growers and produces some of the most consistent white burgundies. Clive Coates calls Javillier even “the King of Meursault” - not sure we agree but certainly he is producing truly exhilarating white burgundies from this fabled terroir.
Now you can discover the very precise and elegant 2010 wines of Patrick Javillier: Bourgogne blanc Cuvee Oligocene, Les Tillets, Les Clousots, Cuvee Tete de Murger and Grand Cru Corton Charlemagne
The wines of Domaine Javillier will be available for shipping end of April but are ready now for Subscription.
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Domaine Jérôme Chézeaux: Brand new @ Noble Wine - High quality red burgundies with an unbeatable QPR!
The hint of a customer and the good write-up of Antonio Galloni led us to visit this unconspicuous Domaine in Premeaux-Prissey. We were invited to taste the whole collection and came away very impressed! We started with an excellent Bourgogne Rouge which we can offer for the unbelievable price of 10,90 EUR (Galloni: 88-90P)! We then continued with two brilliant Village wines that both represent their terroirs in an exemplary way, and proceeded with some stunning 1er Crus. Our favourites were: Nuits-St.-Georges 1er Cru Aux Boudots (the vineyard is very close to the fabled Vosne 1er Cru Les Malconsorts) with a gorgeous elegance (36,90€ - Galloni: 91-93P.), the Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains with exuberant power and concentration and the rough charm of a great Vaucrains (39,90€ - Galloni: 93-95P.), and the ultra elegant Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Suchots (54,90€ - Galloni: 92-94P.). His Clos Vougeot is also very very fine but we will not tell you much more as it was sold out and we only got a few bottles...
By the way, we need to acknowledge the tasting capabilities of Antonio Gallioni: In his recent report, he very accurately described the character of the Chézeaux wines - chapeau!
The Chézeaux wines will be also available for shipping end of April!
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Domaine Francois Bertheau: Exemplary Chambolle-Musigny Wines at the highest level!
Francois Bertheau, vintner in the 5th generation directs this 6.2 ha domaine in Chambolle-Musigny since 2004 (after working there since 1984). The wines of Bertheau are in our opinion the quintessence of the wines from Chambolle Musigny: aromatic, lacy and fine as silk, with expressive fruit and moderate tannins, enormously elegant, airy and and almost ballerina like (very similar to its producer :-), but for its best examples also with high concentration and fabulous complexity. A very traditionally managed domaine with very precise work in the vineyards and the cellar (no fining and filtration are employed here!). Als notable is the very moderate use of new oak (about 20%, a little higher for the Amoureuses and Bonnes Mares).
Already the Chambolle Village we tasted from barrel was so enticing that spitting was almost impossible - a great start! We then continued with a considerably more concentrated Chambolle 1er Cru, an assemblage from four 1er Crus, all located in the imediate vicinity just beyond Bonnes Mares. Riper and more open was the Chambolle 1er Cru Les Charmes, with a fuller body, expressive dark fruit and very mellow tannins. The grand final were the two top Crus: The 1er Cru Les Amoureuses and the Grand Cru Bonnes Mares. Both wines were so stunning that we could almost not believe what we had in our glasses. Indeed we feel lucky to have discovered those great wines. These days an Amoureuses is never a bargain but Bertheau shows that he is producing one of the best examples from this vineyard! Finally, the Bonnes Mares showed enormous depth, but remains on the elegant side for this Cru. It’s a dark fruited, brooding Grand Cru with impressive length and refined, yet massive tannins. The character is thus quite different from the Amoureuses, but that is a matter of style not quality! By the way: we were very lucky to get some cases of Chambolle Village and Chambolle 1er Cru from 2009, but you need to be quick because the quantities are limited as this was also a great vintage for Bertheau. In any case, the wines are simply gorgeous!
Bertheau is not very well known or distributed outside of France. The main part of his exports apparently goes to the UK and the US. We think now it is the time that you discover the wines from this very unique and fascinating vintner! We are happy to be able to offer the wines of Bertheau exclusively in Germany! The wines will be available for shipping in autumn 2012, but are now ready for subscription. For more details, see also our report from our visit at the domaine!
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All wines can be conveniently ordered through our shop in a separate category entitled Burgundy 2010 (Subscription).
PLEASE NOTE: Kindly do not transfer any money before you have received a definitive order confirmation and/or subscription invoice. Once received, the invoice must be paid within 14 days - otherwise we cannot guarantee the order - thank you for your understanding.
If you have any questions or need some recommendations, we would be glad to help you via e-mail and/or over the phone.
Happy Hunting and best Wishes,
Your Noble Wine Team
PS: Please send us a quick mail at info@noblewine.de if you no longer wish to receive our newsletter. Thank you!
