In Reply to: Bunk posted by Doghead on September 28, 2000 at 06:52:01:
I also liked the 96 Parent Rugiens as well as their 96 Volnay Fremiets, the Legros 97s and the Pernot Santenay 98. These were all wines that did not share the problems of hard tannins of the the 98s present (Pernot's Santenay was a quick fermentation into a quick bottling to keep quick fruit -- Pinot Noir as Grand Cru Beaulolais). A casual observer though might denouce the entire vintage based on the showing yesterday. This is why, I hope, there might have been a problem with the climatic conditions. It is also a problem one always has with large tastings where the reds are never sufficiently cool.I disliked almost all of the white wines present but at least they were tasting in form. I knew what I was disliking about all of them. I found the Pavelot Blanc unbalanced and overacidic, but liked the Gilbert Picq generic Chablis for its typicity -- beautiful flintiness and minerality (although nothing else struck me at this producer's table, as they all had buttery wood treatments to disguise the wine). Valette's Mâcon Jeunes Vignes was smashing ripe Chardonnay, but I found the Vieilles Vignes bottling to be weedy (perhaps just a bad bottle). Pernot's Puligny Village 1998 had classic elegance and the Domaine St-Denis Mâcon Chardonnay tasted balanced, rich and lovely. Otherwise, there were lots of suave, overwooded disasters from the Côte-de-Beaune and the very disappointing bottlings from François d'Allaines, a relatively new quality négociant below Beaune. I tasted at d'Allaines during their first year of existence and they bragged how they were going to make non-toasted chardonnays and were purchasing their barrels from Dargaud in the Beaujolais who is known for a more reasonable 'toast.' Nevertheless, I found their wines dumbed-out by wood treatment and dilute.
Oddly, I disliked the range of Chermette, a producer whose wines I always enjoy. The Vissoux Beaujolais of Chermette all seemed reductive to me (I tasted them later during the tasting than you did). I found this an odd phenomena as Chermette is extremely sparing with SO2, nevertheless they smelled reductive. Someone, whose taste I trust, mentioned to me that the Chermette wines never taste well in America, I thought that an odd reflection. In all honestly, I drink them in France, so I don't know what to make of the comment.
The larger problem at the tasting is the problem of new wood. Certainly, the lousy weather of the days before the tasting were custom-made to bring out everything horrible in new wood cuvées. And everyone seems to just love all that new wood. More and more, I'm convinced that the choice when you buy new barrels is sweet/toasty or bitter. Everyone opts for sweet/toasty as it is the popular fashion and bitter is understandly enough, disagreeable. Although one finds lots of Burgundies in bitter new oak as they usually come from the cheaper tonneliers who dry their barrels badly. For the sake of economy, winemakers buy these cheaper barrels.
There could be other options but there simply do not appear to be good tonneliers around. Those of us who travel the Loire Valley know about the tonnelier Bertrand, who makes barrels for some of the best producers throughout the Loire Valley. This is a tiny firm that does not want new customers that makes superb new barrels that are designed for the wines that go into them. Unfortunately, Bertrand is the last of his kind and will retire in several years.
The other problem is that there is no one around who repairs barrels. Barrels do need maintenance and all the vignerons I know complain there is no way to recycle them as the tonnelier are uninterested in keeping old barrels in use and the vignerons themselves do not know the craft. Dominique Derain, a vigneron in St-Aubin, was initially a barrelmaker and is able to keep alive his barrels and avoid buying new wood that would mark his production. Although frankly, I find his barrels more successful with his red than this whites, which sometimes suffer from a whiff of oxidation. But I finds his Pinot Noirs -- St-Aubin, Pommard and Gevrey-Chambertin to be sublime. But other vignerons, without his skills, have no choice but to go out and buy new barrels every year that do irreparable damage to their wines.
The last point is why stick to the 225 litre barrel in Burgundy? The origin of this barrel size is the small size of traditional cellars in the Côte d'Or. But there are now the possibilities in many expanded and new cellars of using demi-nuids and foudre that were not manageable when space was tight. A larger volume in élavage might very well minimize the effects of overoaking.
Otherwise, I have one word for you doghead: Bunk.
Follow Ups:
You can not post to an archived thread.