The Fine Wine Review

This is the latest batch of my reviews from top producers in Northern Rhône appellations. Previous reviews can be found here, here, and here. (Continue reading here.)

Fritz Groebe moved a few years ago across the Rhine to Westhofen and now has access to his cellar 24/7. The estate has expanded, slowly, too, and is now nearly 9 ha. (Continue reading here.)

The hail of 28 June hit the Bonneau-du-Martray holdings hard, ripping and perforating the leaves, and hitting branches. Beginning on 1 July, the team started with biodynamic applications to counter the effects, healthwise, but the quantities could not be recovered. For Corton-Charlemagne, the losses amounted to about 16,000 bottles, almost 1/3 of the crop – in two minutes’ time of hail; for Corton, the crop is short by about a quarter. (Continue reading here.)

Yves Confuron continued to have small volumes in 2014 and again in 2015; not what he wants as it puts stress from an economic standpoint. (In 2012 and 2014, yields were about 22-24 hl/ha; in 2013 they were 14-17 hl/ha.)  As always, (1) he was very late to begin harvesting – 25 September in this instance, (2) all wines are entirely whole cluster, and (3) the malolactic fermentations were very late. (Continue reading here.)

Labels: Chambolle, Charmes-Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, Confuron-Cotétidot, Craipillot, Derrière la Grange, Echezeaux, Gevrey, Lavaux Saint-Jacques, Mazis-Chambertin, Nuits, Suchots, Vignes Rondes, Vosne

Louis-Michel Liger-Belair said that he began harvest on 15 September. He aims to make 35 hl/ha in reds, but in 2014 he made 28 hl/ha (in 2015, it was 26 hl/ha); there was some hail damage in 2014 in Reignots, La Romanée, and Échézeaux, and smaller amounts in some of the other vineyards. He used whole clusters only in premiers crus and grands crus. Malolactic fermentations were late here. (Continue reading here.)

Harvesting began on 20 or 21 September. The estate looks to 35 hl/ha as a full vintage, and in 2014, it made 30 hl/ha on the Côte de Nuits and 20 hl/ha on the Côte de Beaune (due to hail, of course). As is customary here, all grapes were destemmed – an exception being an experimental lot on the Côte de Nuits where less than 10% of stems were retained. Malolactic fermentations were late, finishing just before the 2015 harvest. (Continue reading here.)

Drouhin’s Côte de Nuits reds are excellent across the board. They also provide a good example of what I call the compression of quality in the vintage. Several of the village wines are qualitatively at the premier cru level, and several premiers crus are qualitatively at the grand cru level. Correspondingly, at the top end, it is only the last few grand cru wines that similarly perform above their expected level. (Continue reading here.)

Drouhin makes wine from Chablis to the Beaujolais, so conditions were variable, especially with hail, which hit the vines on the Côte de Beaune hard and less so in the Mâconnais; additionally, millerandage reduced some yields by 30% from a normal vintage. Overall, Drouhin estimates that 2014 was 5-10% below an average harvest, and in line with the ten-year average. (Continue reading here.)

This estate, which sells both under the label Domaine de Chérisey and Domaine Martelet de Chérisey, is not well-known, yet it produces what I think are some of the finest white wines of Burgundy. All come from the slopes around the Hameau of Blagny. (Continue reading here.)

Although I have tasted Bejamin Leroux’s wines under his own label in the past at his cellar location, I believe that this was the first time I tasted there since Benjamin gave up his position as régisseur at Domaine des Épeneaux (Comte Armand) to devote himself fully to his label. (Continue reading here.)