Day 5-The south of Burgundy

Sorry I've been lax in posting....it's been a busy week of selling French wine! Today was a little easier on the palate, mostly because we had about a three and a half hour drive to Avignon. Still a long day though, nonetheless. Our first stop was a small producer from Savigny-les-Beaune. Only two wines from this winery and then we tasted Guillemot. Very good, very inexpensive wines. I liked the Macon Farges better, but it will be easier to sell the Macon Village and it's cheaper.

Tasting order:
2008 Domaine Henri Perrusset Macon Village-easy drinkability, nice minerality, nice label, hand harvested, no pesticides, low yields, natural compost, natural yeast, a year on the lees in stainless.
2008 Domaine Henri Perrusset Macon Farges-same as above, but with a much better nose


2008 Domaine Pierre Guillemot Savigny-les-Beaune Blanc-70% Pinot Blanc, 30% Chardonnay, 10% used barrel. Lush, white flowers, tropical...fermented in 600L barrels, 3x the size of normal barrels
2008 Dom. Pierre Guillemot Bourgogne Rouge-Really light in color, high acidity, smoky wood and strawberries, bright fruit in the mouth
2008 Dom. Pierre Guillemot Savigny-les-Beaune Rouge-single vineyard, super dry and meaty
2008 Dom. Pierre Guillemot Savigny-les-Beaune 'Narbantons' 1er Cru-More depth and color than previous wines, much deeper and more complex
2008 Dom. Pierre Guillemot Savigny-les-Beaune 'Jarrons' 1er Cru-Really, really tannic
2008 Dom. Pierre Guillemot Savigny-les-Beaune 'Serpentieres' 1er Cru-Named Serpentieres either because of snakes or because of a certain kind of limestone named Serpentiere. This was super elegant and refined...incredible structure.
2008 Dom. Pierre Guillemot Corton Grand Cru-Really, really pretty nose
1974 Dom. Pierre Guillemot Savigny-les-Beaune 'Serpentieres' 1er Cru-plenty of tannins left...tea like nose.


Domaine Robert-Denogent in the Maconnaise

I tasted this domaine in San Francisco in May and hung out with Nicolas for a bit. Really like him and his wines. We tasted their wines in their home and that didn't hurt, but I really liked his wines in San Francisco as well. They make a lot of Pouilly-Fuisse in the Maconnaise and own the vineyards they make the wine from. Pouilly-Fuisse is allowed around 4 tons an acre yield. These guys crop at 2 tons an acre...however, '07 & '08 were cropped at around a ton an acre. Miniscule quantities. Barrel ageing is done for two years. Long barrel ageing helps the wine settle naturally. They have a one year cellar and a two year cellar. The cellars are at 40 degrees, which slow fermentation and help clarify the wine slowly.

Tasting order:
2007 Macon-Solutre 'Clos des Bertillonnes' - Reminiscent of Neyers Carneros Chardonnay which Nicolas helped out with. Really good minerality. There was more minerality in '07 all around.
2007 St. Veran 'Les Pommards' - 45yr old vines-clay soil-20mos. in full oak barrel-much rounder and fuller than previous...honey butter
2007 Macon-Fuisse 'Les Taches'-15yr old vines-soil is strong-apricot nectar, caramel and butter. Round and lush in mouth.
2007 Pouilly-Fuisse 'La Croix'-Blue Schiste, very unusual in soil-finally moved away from the butter-much more crispness and acidity. Lighter in body han the last few. Does have caramel qualities.
2007 Pouilly-Fuisse 'Les Reisses'-a ton and a half/acre yield...75 yr old vines-limestone, clay soil...beautiful nose. Just drank the 2004 yesterday and it was beautiful...ages very well
2007 Pouilly-Fuisse 'Cuvee Claude Denogent'-80-85yr old vines-really juicy fruit on this wine...love it
2007 Pouilly-Fuisse 'Les Carrons'-more than 90yr old vines-very small parcel...very, very honeyed wines with butterscotch
2008 Macon-Village 'Les Taches'-definitely a fruitier vintage-lots of ripe orchard fruits
2008 Pouilly-Fuisse-no sulfur added...apples and pears
2008 Pouilly-Fuisse 'Cuvee Claude Denogent'-more pineapple than previous




Nicolas Denogent


Robert Denogent



Upstairs

Cool Bookcase