Special 2009 Magnums Still for Sale. Last spring I posted on the offering for charity of special magnums of 2009 Burgundies. The offer is detailed at http://www.climats-du-coeur.com. There are still some lots available (at the original price), and of course you now have the knowledge that the vintage has been a major success, making the offer still more interesting.
Aubert de Villaine’s Successor at the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Has Not Been Named. Aubert de Villaine told me that the report in Bourgogne Aujourd’hui that he had named a nephew as his successor at the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is erroneous. Although Aubert did introduce his nephew, Bourgogne Aujourd’hui got it wrong in understanding that the nephew had been designated as successor. It is possible that the nephew will eventually be named as the successor, but it is also possible that someone else will be named.
Domaine Fourrier 2001s. Some people have reported random bad results with Jean-Marie Fourrier’s 2001s. I asked him about it and he requested that I post the following: He is aware that people have reported problems and believes that because of the random nature, it must be due to one of his cork suppliers. That cork supplier is Spanish and the name FS appear on the corks. Jean-Marie thinks some bottles will still be good and some others in the same case not. Jean-Marie lost his business in the south of France because one cork supplier he’d been buying from since 1999. 2001 in the south of France was his first vintage and very quickly it appeared that there was some variation among bottles, resulting in an unsalable vintage. He thought he was okay in Burgundy until now. He based his confidence on the fact that the corks in Burgundy were barely treated with peroxide, but he now thinks some bottles received more treatment than others, resulting in VA in those bottles. Since the 2002 vintage he has changed his supplier and hasn’t stopped since in his search the best cork possible. He currently is using untreated corks from an artisanal producer in Corsica. For the reasons above, he recommends that people drink the wines soon and to accept his deepest apology.
Not that I am aware of, Dan. In fact, if you read closely the message, he has said that he is aware of reports of random bad bottles, and the only explanation he can think of is the cork. He has not said that he has experienced any bad bottles himself, so he has not conceded that there definitely is a problem.
Your description of his response sure made is sound like he acknowledged a problem!
… he now thinks some bottles received more treatment than others, resulting in VA in those bottles. Since the 2002 vintage he has changed his supplier and hasn’t stopped since in his search the best cork possible. … For the reasons above, he recommends that people drink the wines soon and to accept his deepest apology.
Looking at his e-mail to me, he wrote: “Of course I change my supplier since 2002 Vintage and I haven’t stop ever since to search the best cork as possible.” I think that means yes, but as you can see, his English is not perfect, so there is some ambiguity.
I guess I thought the same thing as John Morris. It looks to me as Fourrier has acknowledged some sort of issue with their 2001s, has acknowledged it, and now intend to do nothing about it.
Welcome to the land of Bourgogne, where farmers make real money, but like to call themselves farmers, when it comes to talking about real money.
Claude,
He started waxing in ?2006? to improve the chance of success with the corks.
Even though I just bought some 2001 CSJ, I understand his problem.
This is not an easy issue.
Ghislaine said, no hail in Cras in 2006, very little rot to sort through there. I didn’t get a chance to restaste the wine there – we were already behind schedule and still had to go through the Louis Boillot wines before we could go on to our next appointment, so it slipped by. I did retaste the Volnay-Clos des Chênes from Lafarge and it was stony and pure, but tannic (as young Lafarge Clos des Chênes always is), with no false notes apparent to me. Michel and Frédéric Lafarge said no hail and no rot in Clos des Chênes in 2006.
