Vinblog – Vinkreutzer i glasset

2010 Burgundy is a very interesting vintage, especially for red wine. Through my work at Otto Suenson Wine, I’m fortunate to taste a good deal of wine from this already heralded vintage. We have the uncrowned Queen of Burgundy working with us here at Suenson and it was a pleasure tasting these wines with her. These wines have been tasted over a 2 week period at the end of February 2012. All wines were tasted none blind, right after opening and throughout the evenings.

This is the second set of notes, containing notes on the better and more structured red Burgundies. Please see part 1 here! First the 6 wines from the Roskilde tasting:

2010 Robert Chevillon, Vielles Vignes, Nuits-Saint-Georges – so open and delicious nose. Very typical Chevillon with a little smoke and pure elegance. Not on par with his single vineyard wines, but will be ready to drink a lot sooner.

2010 Francois Bertheau, Les Charmes 1’er Cru, Chambolle Musigny – yippi ya year this is singing right from the start and it just developed even more complexity over the night. Rhubarb, licorice and strawberries. High fruitacidity, backed up by intensity and nice mature tannins. Very long and developing finish. One of my favorite wines  of the evening.

2010 Ponsot, Cuvée des Alouettes, 1’er cru, Morey-Saint-Denis – wow, an amazing wine with good structure, but still creamy on the palate. Riding on all cylinders, in complete balance. The combination here with mature dark fruit and balanced oak is very nice. Now I understand Ponsot. Seems a little closed at first, but opens up like a big black rose! A wine to put away for a decade…

2010 Sylvain Cathiard & Fils. Aux Thorey, 1’er Cru, Nuits-Saint-Georges –sweet baby, this is all about pleasure. Very focused on the fruit. Small berries from the forest and high fruit acidity. The finesse is astonishing and the finish just keeps on coming… The sheer pleasure in this wine is so good! The freshness and pure clean fruit makes this a pleasure to drink now, but I guess you will get even more pleasure in +10 years.

2010 Comte Armand, Clos des Epeneaux, Monopole, 1’er Cru, Pommard – a hard wine. The tannin is very present and is backed up by black schist, green apple and then thetyle of black fruit. This was not my favorite style of wine, but a winner for some. I guess it depends if you like this hard style. Would love to taste this in a few years to see which way it goes.

2010 Bertrand Ambroise, Le Rognet, Corton – this is good fruit as a ground base for a very nice wine. This has seen some new oak that plays a dominant part right now, but behind it is a cascade of blue and black mature fruit aromas. The wine gets even more balanced as it sits in the glass and the focus on the red fruit comes more out.

A Very good tasting in Roskilde, with some very nice people. I will look forward to participate in this tradition in the coming years.

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The big red wines in Copenhagen looked like this:

2010 Francois Bertheau, 1’er Cru, Chambolle-Musigny – a lot of fresh red berries on the primary notes. Toasted oak and the classic leather on the nose as well. On the palate we see a lot of good mature red fruit, balanced with fresh acidity. Notes of rhubarb and blackberry, follows in the long finish. An elegant wine, with a little rustic personality. I like it.

2010 Robert Chevillon, Bousselots 1’er Cru, Nuits-Saint-Georges – very open on the nose with typical Chevillon notes. Think I would guess this producer on the nose 8-out-of-10 times. The combination of orange peel, smokiness and schist goes well with the fresh strawberry. Very persisting, with high fruit intensity and medium long finish.

2010 Sylvian Cathiard, Vosne-Romanee – tight structure with fine grain tannin that goes into a more velvetlike creaminess. An open wine right now, where black fruit dominates the palate and swirls around your gums. Amazing balance.

2010 Comte Armand, Clos des Epeneaux, Monopole, 1’er Cru, Pommard – a hard wine. The tannin is very present and is backed up by black schist, green apple and then thetyle of black fruit. This was not my favorite style of wine, but a winner for some. I guess it depends if you like this hard style. Would love to taste this in a few years to see which way it goes.

2010 Dugat-Py, Cuvée Cæur du Roy, Tres Vielles Vignes, Gevrey-Chambertin – wow, this nose is to die for. This is one of those amazing Burgundy wines where you can sit all night just sniffing the glass. Very expressive with plenty of red fruit aromas. On the palate the wine starts out a little simple, but comes around with time. Put this at the back of your cellar and forget about it for the next +10 years. A fantastic wine, and probably the nose of the night.

2010 Ponsot, Cuvée Vielles Vignes, Clos de Vougeot – this is not a simple red wine. This is the epitome of what kind of power you can pack in to this bottle. This is so concentrated that it’s almost too much. Deep fruit, with notes of everything from strawberry to rhubarb and black Burgundy with that amazing long finish. This is only a hint of what this wine will show in +15 years from now. So young and almost impossible to taste…

All together this has been some amazing tastings at Otto Suenson Wine, and shows me why it’s a pleasure to work with this quality oriented company.

My opinion on the 2010 Vintage in Burgundy is that it has all those elements I like. We have freshness, clean fruit profile and balancing tannins. The fruit is not cooked or soft from too much sun. This is for me the perfect balance between acidity, fruit and tannin. It gives wines that will drink well now for the lesser wines, but when you hit 1’er Cru level, you should save these at least 7 – 8 years from the vintage. I wish all of you the best of luck with the few bottles you are lucky to get a hold of.