Offers
2009 BURGUNDY OFFER
to read about each of the growers and the wines on offer see below
to read the whole offer click here....
The growers were a lot happier in Burgundy after bringing in their crops of healthy 2009 grapes. For the first time since 2005 yields were normal (2008 was particularly tough with yields 30% lower than average) and more importantly the grapes were clean and ripe.
The 2009 growing season saw a warm spring leading to a fairly early start to the flowering, but a cooler spell during the first third of June drew out the flowering and resulted in a good bit of millerandage (giving tiny but super ripe grapes). The flowering was largely successful giving a full crop. There was a period of rain in mid July providing good water reserves to carry the vines through the second half of summer. After mid July the weather was mostly warm and dry. Plenty of domaines made the full permissible yields but brought in thoroughly ripe fruit. There was no need to chaptalise either the whites or reds even at domaines who are addicted to the use of Tate and Lyle.
What is the style of 2009 wines? As regards the whites, there are some wines with overripe or exotic aromas, but fewer wines come across as overblown than in 2003, 2005 and 2006, in spite of their rich textures. Vines planted in cooler vineyards were especially successful, ripening their fruit while retaining a little more acidity and minerality. The picking dates were crucial with the best results produced by those who picked earlier in September. Caroline Morey and her husband Pierre-Yves Colin began picking on September 4th, earlier than most, but already with ripe fruit. In order to help retain freshness and tension in the wines there was no need to carry out batonnage, though because of the wines' density and concentration there was a tendency towards reduction, which necessitated regular racking (with Caroline racking four times rather than the usual once to help the wines to open out). Pierre-Yves thinks that 2009s will age very well, in the style of 1985 and 1989, but in general, because of their weight of fruit and opulence, most wines will also show their qualities in their youth, certainly more so than 2007 or 2008. Many wines are delicious now with stunning fruit flavours so you don't need to think about extended cellaring.
As regards the reds, 2009 is a splendid and alluring vintage that has given a range of delicious wines that, like the whites, will not need extended ageing. They have high polyphenols and sugar levels, ripe tannins that are well buffered by intense, velvety fruit, and acidity levels a little lower than normal. They are certainly much more user friendly than a vintage like 2005, a vintage with intense fruit but with much slower evolving tannins. The best wines are wonderfully silky, scented pinots with a surprisingly clear-cut red fruit character, full, ripe, but not roasted flavours, with a rare level of fleshiness and compelling sweetness of fruit. There is little difference in quality of the reds in either the Côte de Beaune or Côte de Nuits, indeed it was possible to make outstanding reds up and down the Côte d'Or (even at Bourgogne Rouge level). It is a rare vintage where the finest examples from the Côte de Beaune could be mistaken for their counterparts from the Côte de Nuits. The texture and depth of fruit of the best 2009 are truly exhilarating.
Turning to pricing, many of the wines are 10% higher than 2008s, partly due to the small crop that followed in 2010. However, Burgundy growers haven't gone mad. Indeed 2009 may well be one of the last opportunities to buy delicious red burgundies at realistic, European prices before increasing demand from Hong Kong, China and Singapore really affects pricing. The Hospice de Beaune auction of 2009 wines was dominated by Chinese buyers, with prices rising by 15%.
Finally - as a note for your diaries, the much-acclaimed Cécile Tremblay, who makes superb wines in the Côte de Nuits, is coming to London to talk about and present her 2009 wines at a special lunch that we are holding at Texture restaurant on Tuesday, 28th February. Numbers will be limited to 40 so please contact us now to register your interest.
CAROLINE MOREY
MARC COLIN
DOMAINE PATTES LOUP - THOMAS PICO
AMIOT SERVELLE
CECILE TREMBLAY