They seek him here, they seek him there, the wines of Pierre Benetiere, they’re never there. To the dedicated followers of Northern Rhone fashion, Benetiere came upon us quietly. Me, I heard there was a tiny producer making wines from the south of the appellation, that had a Burgundian tendency that recalled the best work of Jean-Michel Stephan. After selling parcels of the 09 and 12, you could count me in. But the flow of wines stopped. After chasing the agents for some time, I spoke to the buyer who could no longer offer the wines. Why? Benetiere couldn’t be …
Paul Pernot Bourgogne Blanc
There aren’t too many Puligny producers actually based in Puligny – something to do with the high water table. One of the oldest and most classic is Paul Pernot – Their gothic labels capture their philosophy well. It is a style like Ramonet I think, the acidity is always vibrant, and the wines age very well, but it never tends towards the super crisp, almost tart style that is en-vogue in some places. As Jasper Morris MW notes: “At present, 80% of Pernot’s wines are sold on to extremely fortunate Negociants in Beaune. However, the 20% that Paul retains and …
Coronavirus Drinkathon Part 10
There was a certain amount of ribbing when an old colleague contributed his blog post ‘Make mine a half” it is true. What sad specimen of manhood couldn’t drink a bottle of wine over two days we reasoned. Roll on ten years, and I can see the logic. Sometimes a half bottle is what you want for an evening. Just a glass or two. So then, what am I doing drinking a magnum on my own tonight? God knows. 1989 Chardonnay Domaine Rolet About 6 months ago I brought a large consignment of magnums from Rolet in Jura from 1988 …
Coronavirus Drinkathon Part 9
2017 Moulin a Vent Domaine de Vissoux Tutti frutti, oh rootie. Wop bop a loo bop a lop bom bom! A real Little Richard of a wine, so full of strut, so full of fruit. All of the red kind. Cranberry, raspberry, redcurrant, cherry. Very nicely balanced and long – lots of complexity. So opulent though, it needs I think a little bit of time, just to civilise itself a bit – maybe it never will, and that wouldn’t be too bad, but its just a bit much for me at the minute. 2015 Saumur Blanc Les Portes St Jean, …
Coronavirus Drinkathon Part 8
No-one better embodies the changing fortunes of Cornas than Franck Balthazar. His wines since the acquisition of Verset’s prime 1914 Chaillot vineyard have been terrific – his breakout vintag was the 2010. a really well-chiselled wine. I remember my offer, which had the Chaillot at £26 a bottle – this was in 2015. A smart buy if you clicked reply. His wines are great, and are clearly following the trajectory of Allemand, although are perhaps not that far now from being a bit fully priced in the market. Not to say, they won’t still go up in price – because …
Coronavirus Drinkathon Part 7
The last week has been exceptionally busy – so no blog posts, but plenty of drinking . A quick bottle this Thursday eve. 2003 Chateauneuf-du-Pape Les Olivets Roger Sabon I’ve always enjoyed the wines of Roger Sabon but I did approach this with some concerns. Ripe vintatge – getting old. A wine from the era when CNDP was stretched towards unhinged opulence. The first sniff and taste and I did think – this is too old. But after two minutes, it opened up, the wrinkles seemed to disappear and it started to limber up beautifully. “You walked in like old father …