I thought about posting a title of Burgundy Visit: Domaine de Courcel and leaving the page blank as Yves Confuron simply didn’t turn up for our appointment a couple of days ago. Today, Yves was our designated contact for our 9am visit at Domaine Confuron-Cotétidot and I should have been gun shy. At 9.20 as we stood out in the freezing cold there may have been a few swear words emanating from my usually impeccably mannered mouth. Fortunately Jean-Pierre Confuron turned up and on the fly put on a very good tasting for us. We enjoyed his company and he regaled tales of his trip to Australia in 2001 where he met the incomparable Len Evans, who made him sit down at 9am to a line up of 15 blind Shiraz wines (when he was very hungover from a big night with Len the night before) and said ‘now Frenchie, pick the wine from your country’ (a La Mouline was hidden in the bracket. Jean-Pierre picked the 85 Grange). We even finished with a couple of very good Beaujolais from Jean-Pierre’s wife’s estate.
2010 Vosne-Romanée: Fresh and punchy with plenty of strawberry, cherry and raspberry action. There’s a little wood spice and it is structured yet silky.
2010 Chambolle-Musigny: This is quite open, cool and rocky. There’s some floral spice and quite dense red berry fruits for its level. It is crisp with quite round tannins and possesses excellent length.
2010 Gevrey-Chambertin: Quite representative of the village with a masculine personality giving up plenty of meat and iron characters. It is sweet of fruit but has sternness about it and will probably require a few years to loosen its grip.
2010 Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Craipillot’ 1er Cru: Quite wild and engaging on the nose with red berry scents, some smoked meats, berry and cherry fruits. It is full, rich and spicy with good intensity and grip.
2010 Chambolle-Musigny ‘Derrière La Grange’ 1er Cru : A heady scent of violets and sweet cherry wafts from the glass when first poured. This wine is cool and rocky with great intensity and cut. It is structured for the long haul.
2010 Nuits St. Georges ‘Vignerondes’ 1er Cru: Big sappy lift on the nose of pine needs with plenty of earth and warm berry fruits. It is expressive with some roundness in the mouth. There’s real underlying muscle culminating in a finish that has vice like Nuits grip.
2010 Vosne-Romanée ‘Les Suchots’ 1er Cru : This is quite simply liquid velvet overlaying rigid minerally structure. Red and black fruits build steadily in the mouth to a crescendo of fruit and earth. It has fabulous depth and balance and just requires time to unfurl.
2010 Echézeaux: There’s a bit of wood evident on the nose (but we did draw the sample from a brand new cask). It is sappy, dense and chewy with superb intensity. There’s plenty of berry, licorice and mineral and the finish is long and sappy.
2010 Charmes-Chambertin: Quiet charming, with its opulence, spicy red berry personality and round fresh palate. It drinks well now but has decent intensity and structure to age for a long time.
Cheers
Jeremy