I am quite familiar with Guillemot’s Serpentieres, Narbantons and Jarrons bottlings, but not this one. Thus, I got this sample from Kermit, and it’s business as usual: lightly colored; a nose of red fruit, orange peel and soil; the red cherry/cranberry fruit on the attack is high toned and inflected with soil, pine/eucalyptus and that same orange peel aspect; it finishes with a fresh, clean perfume in the mouth.
I sell some wine, including Guillemot’s SLBs. If anyone knows of anything comparable for about 30 squid, please let me know. I will sell them, too.
Oh, and nothing green here, other than that pine/eucalyptus thing keeping everything bright and contributing to this lovely concoction.
I fear that Pierre Guillemot’s grandsons, who are now involved at the domaine, will one day recognize the quality of their wines relative to their neighbors (Bize, Pavelot, etc.), and the party will be over. Until then …
Disclaimer: I sell Guillemot’s wines (but don’t buy them from me, just buy them).
B-21 in Florida turned me onto them as well as Savgny in general. Silly value and my first recomendation for folks who have not figured out Burgundy yet.
Don, Diane and Fred, I am preaching to the choir with all of you, and I agree with Fred that SLB is a good place to start in discovering Burgundy - the quality is high and the prices are fair (with one exception).
I’ve gone through two bottles of the '11 Serpentieres and both showed similarly, an unpleasant bitterness which seemed to become LESS prevalent on day two. I didn’t sample the 2004’s at this point in evolution so I can’t compare, but both bottles were nicer after an evening in the fridge. I remain optimistic.
I picked up a Serpentieres to try as it showed up in my Whole Foods (a 2009 from there convinced me to open the valve on the Guillemot pipeline from San Diego to NorCal). I won’t get to it until Xmas week but I’ll report back.
Ian, I may have a chance over the holidays to serve all of Gravains, Jarrons, Serpentieres and Narbantons to wine savvy guests at one dinner. If so, I will post the results.
I drank one 2011 Serpentieres and thought I’d written a note, but now I can’t find it.
My experience is not as broad as Don or Martin, but I didn’t find it unpleasantly green. It was definitely lean and earthy, as Guillemot is wont to be, but a good wine if you like that sort of thing, which I do.
By the way, Martin, I noticed that Lynch’s technical info page shows the Gravains vines as only seven years old. The other 1er vines are 50-55 years old. Do you get any sense that the Gravains tends to be lighter or less intense? Just curious.
Reaching back to your initial post, Guillemot’s wines are actually priced at about parity with Pavelot’s now, though your prices are a few dollars less than most, I observe. Bize, of course, is off to the races, price-wise.
The Gravains vine age makes sense, as the 2011 is the first that I have seen offered. I did not notice any step down in intensity, but maybe side-by-side the result would be different.
Regarding pricing, the 2010 Pavelot 1er crus that I sell are $40-$50 and I sold the 2010 Guillemot 1er crus for $35. The 2011s are $32. Perhaps Guillemot’s wines are more expensive where Kermit does not offer his wines direct.
Okay. I can find most Pavelot 1er over here at between $35-40, except for Dominode, at $45-50. Guillemot 1ers I see at $35-40, including their Jarrons, which, though from the same vineyard enclosing Dominode, is not on a par with it, imo.
Has anyone noticed a change in style in at least the Serpentieres since +/- 2009? It’s the only one I typically see around here. I used to buy this pretty regularly - would drink half a case on release and keep the rest; it was always firm but bright and pretty until it shut down a year or two later; have just started to drink 2003s again. I had high hopes for the 2009 but Serpentieres was surly and closed from the get-go; a 2010 a few months ago was the same. Both times tried at store tastings so I can’t tell if a few more hours of air would help and these will still come around after 10 years, or if this is some sort of local phenomenon, or if there’s been a style change.
My 09 Serpentieres tasted in Feb. 2012 was pretty open:
Fairly dark black cherry color. Spicy wood, tobacco leaf/damp earth, cherry, red currant nose. Soft, slightly plush feel with a nice freshness to the black cherry fruit and decent acidity. Very easy drinking and delicious. Sneaky tannins on the finish.
We drank my 2011 Serpentieres. Unfortunately I had a stuffy nose so I’m not sure how good my sniffer was. I found it very nice in a lighter and leaner style than the 09. My friends said it had a very smoky nose though I didn’t really notice that aspect. I would have said earthy but I felt the fruit came through pretty well.