Camille Giroud? TNs added

WINE TALK
1

Style characteristics? Preferred bottlings? 08 opinions? Going to a winemaker dinner tonight with David Croix.

RT

note: TNs added

2

I don’t know the Camille Giroud wines, but I love what David does the with his Domaine Des Croix.

3

I’ve had a couple of vintages of the same bottling and really enjoyed them. Thanks to the power of CT, here are my notes:

  • 2003 Camille Giroud Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru Les Guérets - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru (11/10/2009)
    As with the other vintage of this wine I’ve previously enjoyed, (2005) this vintage is also very “New World” in style. Lots of dark cherry and spice on the nose with a very fruit forward flavor that manages to somehow retain an extra level of complexity by adding a nice tobacco element towards the finish. This is very tasty and would be a great wine to bring CA Pinot lovers over to the dark side. However, true Burgundy “purists” might not like it so much. (92 pts.)
  • 2005 Camille Giroud Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru Les Guérets - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru (8/11/2009)
    Popped and poured and consumed over a period of about 3 hours. This wine still retains a little of that old world charm and character while showing a good deal of black cherry fruit mixed with a touch of spicy oak. Acidity is nicely managed and there is a very slight bit of an earthy tone towards the finish. Got better and better with airtime. This is about as close to new world pinot as I have had from Burgundy. Very much resembles high end Oregon Pinot Noir. I really enjoyed this wine and I’ll definitely try some of the other bottlings from this producer. (91 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

4

Absolutely excellent wines and a very nice guy to go with it. No stylistic convergence at all with the old wines, though, many of which are haunting in a much more hit-and -miss style.

5

Caveat - I work the harvest there each year and would consider David a friend.

The style over recent years has not really reduced the oak, rather the impact of the oak - in the last months of elevage and first months after bottling there used to be a textural aspect to the oak, but only in the finish. It was usually long gone by 6 months in the bottle, now it seems gone already before. The style is somehow the modern vernacular that tries to showcase the vineyard and its fruit, rather than elevage and oak regime - except that it can be worth letting the bottle aerate a little as he, like others, keeps plenty of CO2 during the elevage and at bottling.

Re 08s, it’s a strong set of wines, none being overly acidic. The interesting thing for me in this vintage, is as good as the xxx-chambertins, and indeed Chambertin itself are/is, I think the Cortons are my pick for clarity and precision, I’m a buyer, whereas in 07 I took the Chapelle amongst others but no Corton. Despite the note, I don’t actually remember the 08 Charlemagne, but the 07 drunk during harvest was brilliant.

Notes here, But again note my caveat.
Cheers

6

Camille Giroud 1971 Charmes Chambertin – quite disappointing.
Camille Giroud 1964 Corton Bressandes – excellent wine.
July 2010

Paul

7

Thanks for the feedback. Very fun evening at the sprawling Ninety Acres Culinary Center in Peapack, NJ and a well organized multicourse wine dinner presented by 56 Degrees in Bernardsville. It was a pleasure meeting David Croix, who was quite approachable, very knowledgable and has excellent English. Some notes:

NV Domain Parigot & Richard Cremant de Bourgogne Blanc des Blancs
Subtle and persistent minerality with a touch of toast. Balanced brightness and soft citrus notes. Dry in style with good energy. Well composed and very approachable. A pleasing simple yet classy sparkler.

2008 Camille Giroud Chassagne Montrachet Les Vergers 1er Cru
Creamy nose with a fair bit of floor wax supported by decent underlying minerality. Gentle oak elements on the attack with nicely structured and somewhat tight yellow fruit. The intensity ramps up on the the midpalate with good persistence and a youthful finish. The oak sticks out too much for me at this point (approx 25% new) but there should be more than enough substance to integrate it over time. An interesting wine to monitor for the next several years. David described this vineyard as closer to Puligny in overall style.

2008 Camille Giroud Marages La Croix aux Moines
My oakaphobia kicked in with the 05 a few years ago…not this time. Very tight and reserved for the first several minutes. Considerable coaxing released some soft floral notes with a substantial mineral vein. Potent acidity and good intensity set the stage for glimpses of red briary fruit. Rich and fairly rustic with stern tannins. Perhaps it’s the old vines (60 - 80+ years) as there’s an attractive French country style which I’d guess at being akin to old school minimal intervention. Patience required. Couldn’t resist buying a couple.

2008 Camille Giroud Gevrey Chambertin Les Cras
The juicy berry fruit is on full display here compared to the Maranges. There are supporting notes of thyme, herbs and soft minerality. Subtle oak at the start was not enough to be detracting. The style is supple and feminine. There’s good dexterity yet it presents a slight roundness. The fruit profile has some California aspects with the ripeness well in check. Nice balance, moderate length, approachable tannins.

2008 Camille Giroud Vosne-Romanee AC
Wine geeks talk about characteristic Vosne spice. Voila. Energizing aromatics with complex baking spice (raw cinnamon?) with fine minerality. A very bright attack with charming red fruit featuring sour cherries. There’s intensity and subtlety and appeal and engaging complexity. Fine persistence. Kudos to David Croix for capturing its considerable transparency.

1995 Camille Giroud Volnay Les Carelles 1er Cru
A mild touch of VA to start, accompanied by a funky woodiness with soft spice. Integrated and fairly secondary dark red fruit. Big acidity. Powerful masculine structure. Moderate tannins. Cantankerous. There were discussions about the vintage and the wine’s improving approachability. Maybe. Metal fist in a velvet glove…a relatively thin glove.

Fun evening and a fine intro to Camille Giroud.

RT

8

Great note, thanks for the follow up.

9

This was by far my favorite of the wines yesterday (got to taste with David at the store yesterday). Shockingly good now too.

10

Became a big fan with the 2002 Vosne village. Tasted at the winery as they were bottling 2006s and went in big on those wines and have not been disappointed. Terrific holdings and really nicely made wines. The 2006 Corton Chuck was delicious and has been a powerhouse Chardonnay out of bottle. Good stuff. Waiting for the day when the 06s are going to come into their wheelhouse.

11

Had a magnificent tasting through the 05s at the winery in the fall of 06. Very impressed at all levels, but the Chambertin and Latriciere-Chambertin, as well as the Cortons, were great.
David was at la paulee in SF last year and poured:
Camille Giroud
Chambertin 2007
Chambertin 2006
Chambertin 2004
as well as

Savigny-lès-Beaunes 1er Cru “Les Peuillets” 2007
Vosne-Romanée 2007
Corton “Le Clos du Roi” 2007
Corton-Charlemagne 2007

…can’t remember a damn thing about those wines however…too much wine.

best,

Doug

12

Sounds like two great experiences, not to mention the classic cellartracker TN. [cheers.gif]

Ian, that 08 Vosne AC made a great showing. Any GCs?

RT