TN: de Courcel 2002 1er Cru Grand Clos des Epenots

Good evening everyone,

A chance view of a link to here made me think that it has been a Country mile since I posted anything, so here’s a fresh tasting note!

Pommard 1er Cru Grand Clos des Epenots 2002 - de Courcel

If you are a weedy wet, you should run in terror as soon as you smell this. For sure, it has all the Cote de Beaune pretty redcurrant and raspberry fruit, which has softened slightly to have a hint of pluminess. What it also has in a picture gallery of spades is a brooding, dark, possibly even malevolent intensity that says, “Beware! I am going to be very tannic!”.

I think it is perfectly possible to smell tannins, and this has been made by Yves Confuron at his most enthusiastic at the controls of his grape press. It is going to be very, very, very tannic indeed.

Once again there is no titting about with excess new wood or vastly overripe fruit. There is the beautiful fruit, a rich earthy complexity which is a bit like Nuits (but without the green tinge to the aromas) and the pretty bloody obvious character of it being squeezed until its pips squeaked.

So, I hold onto my nasties in fear and have a taste.

Yes, very tannic indeed. A butch bleeder that has tannins that will never really ameliorate.

However, it has an awful lot of that red/plummy fruit and a beautifully elegant mineral/acid backbone that drags this from turning your palate to leather to actually being quite sapid. It is rather nice!

That tannin, though, is really a bit too butch for the other characteristics to be in total balance. Indeed, I would say this will never achieve a wonderful level of harmony, the characteristics of this wine are about as integrated as they will ever be during the remaining lifetime of this wine, and if you have any more, you should drink up.

If I am totally honest, I think I made the right choice with most of my case (not the three bottles and two mags that got stolen – the bastards). Big, butch wines like this are often best when they positively bulge and throb with energy that is desperate to splurge over your palate and take to on a wild, rollercoaster ride of overblown power and intensity. They are hilarious when they are young and in that state; I was right to consume most of mine in the couple of years after release.

If you have any of this wine left it will give you an idea of those thrills, but the Yves Confuron de Courcel’s from around this time were best consumed on release accompanied by masculine bellows and slaying inconsequential forms of life with a massive battle axe.

This is merely a serving suggestion.

Cheers,
Davy.

great picture of this wine, Davy. I am still holding my 99’s with hope they one day will emerge a pretty middle age thing.

If memory serves, you might have more luck with the 99. I had it a few years ago next to Comte Armand Clos des Epeneaux 99 and I seem to recall more charm from the de Courcel. That’s a really good wine (as is the Clos des Epeneaux - I had a jero of this sorted out for my 50th in 4 years’ time. It got stolen ).

Cheers scamhi!

good to see you posting. Many of us miss you and our vocabulary lessons.

Will the fruit outlast the tannins?

Hi Davy, thanks for great note. Yes I definitely think you smell tannins sometime. An analogy for me is that sometimes you can actually smell the heat from hot chillies when you cut them. Glad to see you posting.

I have a couple of these in the cellar and was thinking of leaving them longer to soften, but your note has made me rethink that approach. Perhaps served with a decent sized piece of fatty grilled meat might tame the tannins a bit?

All the best
Brodie

Hi Brodie,

Yep, I agree, that’d be the best thing to do with them. Get a really good piece of pork, or a wing rib of beef, roast it to your preferred level of cookedness and give it a good 30-40 minutes to rest. Then get noshing with a bottle of de Courcel as a dinner companion, I bet you will love it! All that fat and unbound protein will act as a great foil for the prodigious tannins. It’ll be a hoot - do post a picture and let me know if the combination was serendipitous! I still love the wine…

Cheers,
Davy.

Sorry, Alan, I missed your post.

My bet is ‘no’, if you have some drink it soon, with roast meat and have a battle axe ready just in case you feel empowered.

I am in a fairly small group of people who adored the 2003 de Courcel’s. If you have some, and can manage to live long enough, they will age into something beautiful. Something big, for sure, but it’ll be really, really wonderful to meditate upon. Or get lashed on with some enlightened chums.!

Cheers,
Davy.