2010 Bouchard Pere & Fils

Bourgogne

Last week we got to sample the 2010 Burgundies from Bouchard. It looks to be a very nice vintage. The wines are showing good fruit, but with more structure and acidity than the 2009s. A select few of our favorites (adjusted for price to quality) were:

Beaune Clos de la Mousse 1er cru.

The wine has dark fruit aromas with light toasty notes. It is both rustic and refined with a earthiness on the finish.

Volnay Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot 1er cru.

The wine has bright fruit and spicy aromas followed by a big opulent mouthfeel.

Nuits Saint Georges Les Cailles 1er cru.

This wine has everything going for it. Intense notes of black berry fruit blended with some touches of oak and brine, and a bit of earthiness on the finish.

Le Corton Grand Cru

The Corton has an intense bouquet full of fruit and spice and a full and rich mouthfeel and a long finish.

These all are wines that will take 5 to 10 years to fully develop. It pays to plan ahead.

These and the other Bouchard wines (also wonderful and also available) are now just being offered for presale. They will arrive in June. For those who want to order now, we are offering them at a special presale price. No minimum order required. Other discounts don’t apply. Wines need to be paid for at time of order.

All the other Bouchard Cuvées are also offered for presale.

Please inquire if you have a favorite you are interested in. For more info visit http://www.bouchard-pereetfils.com/home/

Presale Pricing

Beaune Clos de la Mousse $41 (regularly $54)

Volnay Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot $63 (regularly $82)

Nuits Saint Georges Les Cailles $84 (regularly $110)

Le Corton $85 (regularly $111)

Orders need to be received by Thursday, March 22^nd.

There is more science in swirling your wine before tasting.

Click here for the link to the Wall Street Journal article from March 3^rd.

Our just take a gander at the video:

An amusing article in the Wall Street Journal from New Year’s Eve:

Here’s to a Very Good Year: 10 Wine Resolutions

(click on the title to get the entire article)

1. Drink less, drink better
   
2. Drink more Riesling
   
3. Don’t drink the wine at charity benefits
   
4. Drink more Chenin Blanc
   
5. More grower Champagne
   
6. Give Beaujolais a chance
   
7. Beware of bargains when buying older wines
8. Don’t forget the Bordeaux
9. Try to get this nasty Burgundy habit under control
10. Carpe diem (open the good stuff now – and drink it)

We had a bottle of the 2007 Domain Montmartel Visan Côtes de Rhóne Villages.

Fear not – we will have it back in stock next week.

From Visan this Côtes de Rhóne has more Syrah than most. Full good fruit, lush body, a bit of age, and drinking great now.

To Swirl, Sniff, Spit, Dump, or Drink? That is the question. In researching the answer we came across this educational item on Slate’s website:

Cold Shower: How to spit with the wine pros.

Spit or swallow? For wine aficionados, the choice is usually dictated by circumstance: At meals you swallow, at tastings you spit (unless the wines being tasted are liquid gold; it would be criminal to cough up even a drop of the 1989 Haut-Brion, [Robert Parker rated 100 points] for instance). But as with so many other wine-related rituals, spitting is no simple matter. Proper technique and correct form count for a lot more than you might think in wine circles.

Full article here.

All of this talk of spitting had some of our customers weighing in as well:

Corbin H. writes: The International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon holds a spitting contest for winemakers, which on the occasions I witnessed it the French handily won. It was distance-only, but one did have to muster enough accuracy to avoid hitting the linesmen.

Jill A. writes: Yes, if you spit my 89 Haut-Brion I would kill you, personally.

I get hints of Hollyhock and Delphinium.

Research.

Eric Soloman (famed importer) was in town today delivering a lecture and sampling his French and Spanish catalog at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Together we sampled:

• 16 French Wines
• 23 Spanish Wines
• 9 Assorted Rose Wines

Unfortunately the rosè we were tasting was the 2010 vintage, but it gave us a good idea of what to expect from the 2011 vintage that we will be stocking.

If the wine is in our store, we have tasted and approved it.