TN: 2002 Domaine Rene Leclerc Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Comb

[Gerhard_P]

@Stuart BeauneHead Niemtzow

The crop then undergoes a three week period in vat of which the first week involves a cold maceration followed by a 15 day fermentation…

Stuart,
I never visited Philipps website before - and the cold maceration puzzles me … the colour which is usually saturated but never very dark to purple in its youth is atypical for this …

Philippe writes:
“It makes an excellent cellar wine, full of the complexity that one can appreciate after two or three years age in bottle.”

Ehem,
after 2-3 years there hasn´t much changed in the bottle, except that several vintages close down a bit …

“According to the vintage, this wine is fabulous after between ten and twenty years.”

True, and I would add: … and sometimes between 20 and 30+ …

Best
Gerhard

[jfloren]

I think Rene’s son has changed the winemaking over the last decade to achieve more freshness and purity. I have no recent experience with Phillipe Leclerc.

@Gerhard P.

AND I remember something Henri Jayer once said in an interview : If it tastes to tannic - it is too tannic !

I think this was relayed by Bob Parker and repeated several hundred times thereafter (or so it seemed) by Pierre Rovani in support of his criticism of the 1993 and 1998 red burgundy vintages. To me, this states part of an approach to criticism and perhaps winemaking but it can’t be universally valid. Many great wines are “too tannic” in youth but really unfurl later on.

Cases in point – 1999 de Courcel Pommard Clos des Epenots, a wine that was rated very highly by Tanzer and Meadows, and was simply horrifically tannic in the early part of the last decade, like a mouth full of mothballs. Yuckadoo! But guess what? She just needed time. That wine is now simply stunning. (The 2004 is also beastly at present, with no GMs, and I haven’t opened the 05 but the 05 Rugiens is another monster, with terrific material but unpleasantly tannic).

[Gerhard_P]

@jfloren

I think Rene’s son has changed the winemaking over the last decade to achieve more freshness and purity. I have no recent experience with Phillipe Leclerc.

@Gerhard P.

AND I remember something Henri Jayer once said in an interview : If it tastes to tannic - it is too tannic !

I think this was relayed by Bob Parker and repeated several hundred times thereafter (or so it seemed) by Pierre Rovani in support of his criticism of the 1993 and 1998 red burgundy vintages. To me, this states part of an approach to criticism and perhaps winemaking but it can’t be universally valid. …

Rovani certainly was wrong reg. the 1993 and partially the 1998 - although there ARE too tannic 1993s and green/astringent 1998 …
but what I´ve tasted from barrel and eventually bought was/is fine … however I still let most 1er Crus of these vintages rest …

[Hank_Gillespie]

I have respect for Pierre Rovani and his wine assessments, but a question came to mind as I read the last couple of posts regarding 1993 and 1998 Burgundies. Certainly I have had some fine wines from those vintages…and also a few disappointments.

In his new role as President of Remoissenet I wonder whether Pierre would be so quick to make a judgement re : the vintages.

Hank