WB Burgundy Appellation Weekly Tasting - Week 1: Marsannay, Couchey and Fixin

WINE TALK
21

Clos St-Jacques 2002 from Bruno Clair is one of the cuvée that made me fall in love with high end Burgundy. This wine was spectacular when I had it more then a year ago. I am now a regular buyer of most of his wines, from Marsannay villages (in Quebec, in addition to Les Vaudenelles, we do have access to Marsannay Cuvée Isabelle, made in honor of his wife and usually restricted to friends of the family) to Clos de Bèze.

22

I had the 06 Bart Marsannay Les St. Jacques this evening. At this point lots of acids and tannins, not much fruit. What was there was darkish red,sour and strong yet not deep. For the price point (around $20), very good.

23

2004 Marsannay, Meo-Camuzet Frere et Soeurs - This was a lovely example of village-level pinot noir. A melange of black and red fruit with a steely mineral backbone. On the palate the melange of fruits gave way to a beautiful black cherry finish that went on and on. Impeccably balanced with just enough complexity to lift it out of the ordinary. [welldone.gif]

A bargain at $20 per on winebid.

24

I drank the 05 Bruno Clair Marsannay Vaudenelles last week so I figured I’d throw the note up:

Sweet earth, dark fruits on the nose. At times a slight twinge of green combined with a slightly stewed component to the fruit that, combined, is reminiscent of a character I find in many OR pinot. Overall though this shows a very earthy / mineral and dark fruited profile with good concentration and fair length. A touch of stems showing in a very good way. For $25, this is a really quite fine wine, though the green + stewy character (a bit like tomato) does mildly interfere.

I plan to drink the 05 Bruno Clair Marsannay Grasses Tetes this week and sort of had planned to tonight but was in the mood to eat halibut and salad for dinner so instead opted for an 05 Girardin Meursault Perrieres which was good but far from as good as Meursault Perrieres can be.

25

I miss the ignore feature already. Is there a way on this board to put someone on ignore so that you cannot see their posts?

26

Ok, found it. No more Bonehead.

27

Philippe Roty Marsannay Champs Saint Etienne, 2004

A very enjoyable bottle of wine. Lean but not really green, a bit too much oak for the fruit but overall a light entertaining package that complemented our grilled salmon well.
I have a few more and will wait a few more years.
E

28

I never “ignore” people on such boards. IMO, only egotistical, know it all buffoons who are so insecure as to feel threatened do that kind of stuff. [snort.gif]

I can learn from anyone, and am secure enough to admit it…and my lackings, too.

neener

29

Guys…back to Marsannay and Fixin, right? [cheers.gif]

30

At lunch my last bottle of Marsannay ‘En Montchenovoy’ 1990, Philippe Charlopin. This is a lovely wine, a little rhone like in the style of the vintage and with a slightly belligerent rusticity that I would associate more with Fixin, probably the slightly exaggerated nature of the vintage at play here. I’d like to have more wines from Charlopin but they are rather expensive. Good stuff and with years in hand.

31

Tom,

I love this wine, and like the producer. Back when the 98 was released, the staff of the shop where I worked (myself included) were banned from buying the wine because we weren’t leaving any for the customers.

I’ll be opening an 06 Fixin ‘Clos de Fixey’ later in the week from this address.

32

Incidentally, I wonder if an intimate knowledge of the wines and terroir of such villages is the mark of the true connoisseur of Burgundy? many of us have a pretty good idea of detail in Gevrey and Vosne, for example, but my knowledge of Marsannay or Santenay or Pernand etc. is shamefully foggy and I should do something about it.

33

In all fairness, Tom, Marsannay only became an appellation for red and white wines in 1987 (previously, it was just for rosé) and there are a lot of young vines there. I think the terroirs will come into better focus with further time. For Santenay and Pernand, the characters of the terroirs do have a longer history and are better understood.

34

I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with the word “connoisseur,” though I think I get what you’re trying to say. I’ve always thought it took a particular love of Shakespeare to read some of this histories and certain tragedies. It takes a perverse love of Faulkner to slog through some of his lesser novels.

There are certain people who love a region who drink only the greatest expressions of that region. Then there are people who want to know intimately the odd nooks and crannies (so to speak) - the Marsannay/Montelies, and the St. Aubins and St. Romains.

I can afford to be the latter!

35

Probably a word with a different resonance on your side of the pond, Jim!

36

That was my thought as well - sadly it probably has negative connotations here that it does not in the UK.

37

Wow, Jim…I can remember the challenge of trying to slog through “Absalom, Absalom” in high school…I thought it was me. I never tried to read another Faulkner.

I don’t know Marsannay or Fixin (or Couchey) much at all…I bought a case of the 1990 Roty Marsannay, have bought some Clos Chapitre? from Fixin…but nothing more.

I can’t say I regret my lack of familiarity…but it does make me have nothing to say here…

I don’t look at them as sweetspots on value, either…as I’ve never been wowed by them as much as by, for example Savigny, Pernand, Chorey, Auxey ,e tc…so I remain ignorant of them…and not that interested.

38

That’s funny. Absalom, Absalom is one my coffee table at home, where I am stuck at page 120 or so, wondering if I will finish it in the same way Claude Kolm’s mention of Chatillon as a Burgundy appellation (since withdrawn) that made me immediately curious to seek one out.

I will say you could read much worse Faulkner than that one. Mosquitoes, for example, which to turn to discussion back to Burgundy, was his 2004 Red Burgundy Vintage.

39

Does that mean in ten years you’ll love Mosquitoes? [wink.gif]

Oh, and Stuart, you don’t need to tell us how much you hate the 2004 vintage. deadhorse [berserker.gif]

40

More in the sense that it is a minor work from a writer I love, with flaws and the occasional virtue that reminds me why I love that writer so much to begin with. [dance2.gif]

At any rate, I own a little, so it is my fond hope that 04s age better than bad Faulkner has. [wink.gif]