TN: Two Baby Burgundies from 2005

[David_Bu3ker]

I have some 2005 Gevrey village from Bachelet. Looks like I might need to take a peek.

I have the 2005 Bachelet CdN Villages and was thinking the same thing.

I would caution against it, or at least recommend you give it sufficient air – a bottle a couple months ago (of the Gevrey VV) was closed and unyielding.

I guess I am not shocked.

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

I have it in my notes that by this 2005, Kellen was making the wines, but I could be wrong. I know there are some library releases she did, from inherited stock, that were under the L&A label, but the same wine as Hubert. So if you ever find L&A Clos de la Roche 2002, for instance, it’s the same wine as Hubert.

Hmm. My read of Tanzer’s notes is that Hubert vinified the wines in 2004 and 2005, and that Kellen vinified on her own in 2006 with the help of an enologist. One of the reasons I happily bought the 2005’s (which were very affordable) was the understanding that Hubert had vinified (not knowing Kellen).

after Romain died, Hubert did come out of retirement and made 2005. I don’t think Kellen made any wine till 2006, with help of others. Then an ugly court battle . . .

Thanks for the clarification guys. It was a difficult time there. My notes come from a conversation with Kellen a few years later and secondhand, so who knows who is remember what!

[MChang]

I totally understand. That’s one of the big problems for the first 10 years or so of wine collecting! Unless you have the wherewithal to back fill from auction.

I’ve come to fill the gap with things like Monthelie, Irancy or Savigny, though the best of those often need some time as well. Also wines from Alto Piemonte, which can be had for a song and often in library releases, and are a similar tool when it comes to food pairing. But there are certainly times when only Burgundy will do. Like with roast chicken.

I think I drink red burg a higher percentage of the time than most people here; it’s probably 80% of the nights, even with red meat. It is what it is, I guess.

Doesn’t stop you from putting some away. Buy one fewer bottle of grand cru and an extra case of villages to cellar. As Alan cautioned - you may regret it otherwise.

We’ll give it a shot, I grabbed a case of 17 Drouhin chorey that I’ll visit over the next couple decades.

I suspect I’ll be ok going forward because eventually the immense amount of 13-17 1er/gc I have will be ready to drink, but won’t hurt to have some village and Bourgogne around.

[Marcus_Dean]

I have the 2005 Bachelet CdN Villages and was thinking the same thing.

I would caution against it, or at least recommend you give it sufficient air – a bottle a couple months ago (of the Gevrey VV) was closed and unyielding.

I guess I am not shocked.

I opened a Bachelet 05 CDN Village a couple of months ago and it was a text book picture of closed, in fact it was sooo closed I wondered if the bottle was faulty.