The wines of Côte d’Or, Burgundy
The Overton BBC (bring a bottle club) has a cheerfully random air about it. This is particularly the case with ‘BBC1’. As the idea is to taste the wines blind, there is no plan about who will bring what. Usually, this works absolutely fine and often some fascinating themes emerge. By chance, three people will
Occasionally the tastings and events come along so quickly that it is difficult to do justice to them. The August meeting of the Bring a Bottle Club was one of these … and my excuse is that the time available for writing has to go on my recent Tuscan trip. It’s tough, but someone has
Happy and bewildered Read More »
My good friends in the BBC (‘bring a bottle club’ and taste them blind) asked me to nominate the theme for the July meeting as it happened to fall on my birthday. They all thought I would chose something Italian (reasonably enough) but I went for my primo amore, Burgundy. As it happened there were
BBC 2: Meursault and the generation game Read More »
Many trade tastings are rather orderly affairs with a bit of elbow room, an atmosphere in which you can talk to producers or suppliers and often rather good catering thrown in. Some are in very fine settings with a lot of attention being paid to the whole environment. After all – let’s be straightforward about
Tasting wines blind is a journey into the unknown. This is quite literal at times – you are presented with a glass and, apart from being able to see whether it is white or red, you have no idea what it is, even after you have tasted it. When the wines are obscure or quirky,
The large annual Burgundy tasting, organised by its growers and merchants’ association (BIVB) presents a feast of plenty. Where do you start with 90 stands and over 500 wines? This year I arrived with a vague notion of trying to pick off as many different village appellations as possible. Most wine lovers will have heard
Burgundy highways and byways Read More »
Corney & Barrow’s en primeur tasting of their selection of 2009 Burgundies shows what a treat Burgundy lovers are in for with this new vintage. The weather was excellent and warm in that year on the Côtes d’Or. Even in more northerly Chablis, despite rain in August, a splendid September ripened the grapes and made
Burgundy 2009 – Meursault masters Read More »
Some wine occasions really stand out. Obviously you need top quality wines or, at least, wines of exceptional interest. Hopefully, there is really good food to go with it. And you certainly want congenial, knowledgeable and appreciative company. Saturday night’s dinner more than met all these criteria. People had clearly searched their cellars for precious
The rather uneven vintage of 2004 in Burgundy nonetheless has some good associations for me. The very first fine wine supper that Janet and I hosted for Andover Wine Friends in July 2009 was a blind tasting of red Burgundy at ‘village’ level, comparing six wines from that vintage. ‘Village’ sounds a bit prosaic but
2004 Red Burgundy again Read More »
I suppose it is inevitable that the wine trade will live on the hype about certain vintages. It was 1982 which made Robert Parker’s name when he declared it, early and correctly, to be a great vintage. 2000 was much promoted because it was the millennium and fortunately turned out pretty well and 2005 was
Something to celebrate: 1990 Read More »