TN: 2011 Chauvenet Nuits-St.-George 1er cru Poulettes

Poulettes is a small, high altitude 1er cru vineyard above Perrieres in the southern sector of Nuits-St.-Georges, and Chauvenet has a tiny bit of it. This is a beautiful wine, and another good example of the bright, transparent, nuanced wines that were possible in 2011. The aromas are somewhat reticent, as one expects with a young wine, but, on the palate, this wine is gorgeous. The dark red fruit is sappy, clean and fresh, and inflected with soil/iron notes. It has some flesh to it and a luxurious texture, but it is firm and registers cool on the palate. The tannins are ripe and sweet, but have some grip. This is a style that I could drink every night and never tire of it.

Disclaimer: I sell some Chauvenet wines, and will definitely be selling this one as soon as I can get it.

sounds lovely, Martin, more generous than a typical Nuits.

Hadn’t thought it about that way, Alan, but yes. My impression of the wine and your comment got me thinking that this wine must come from old vines. I just checked the Rosenthal website and, sure enough: a tiny parcel of old vines on a steep part of the vineyard at the top of Nuits. I will be watching for this wine going forward. It actually reminded me a lot of Lucien (Pierre) Boillot’s Gevrey-Chambertin Cherbaudes, which is made from 100 year-old plus vines in that beautifully situated vineyard.

Sounds good Martin. Thanks for the note.

Cheers
Jeremy

Best of luck in your selling efforts, Marty.

Maybe you can quote yourself for some shelf-talkers? "As enthusiastically described by one expert on Wine Berserkers: " ". "

Would love to see some posted notes on wines you sell that you don’t like… [soap.gif] Would add to your cred…maybe.

Stu, whenever reasonably possible, I taste a wine before buying it and I don’t sell to my customers wines I do not like. However, once in a while I make a mistake, such as with the 06 Robert Michel Cornas Geynale, which is not to my liking and about which I posted recently. I don’t believe, however, that your aim here is anything productive, but, rather, simply to be critical. Although I take it that you have moved on (from embarrassment alone) from your accusations that I am engaged in income tax fraud on the sole basis that my wine business is an avocation and not a full-time business.

It’s nice that one can be lectured on credibility by a creepy Internet stalker.

My “aim” is simple…to avoid inadvertently landing on posts that constitute shilling. There is a commercial part of WB…where people go to find out what’s for sale, etc. Disingenous disclaimers…come too late when I read these things. I just don’t want to waste time stumbling onto them.

I am not a whistle blower…or a stalker. And, if you take your posts on the wines you sell to the right bulletin board (I realize that they are less read!)…we won’t have any more friction. (And, then Craig G. won’t have to police the internet for “stalkers” like me… [rofl.gif] He can go back to the sites and suspects he usually polices. )

How are you “stumbling” across anything? Apparently you are well aware that Martin sometimes posts notes on wines he sells, you complain about it, yet you click on the thread. It’s easy. Just don’t click on a thread containing a tasting note by Martin.

And this is the appropriate forum (Wine Talk) on which to post tasting notes. If someone posts a note on wine they sell, they put a disclaimer on the post (as Martin does). Some of us greatly appreciate Martin’s notes, and I’ve quite happily discovered a number of very nice wines through his notes. Martin is playing by the rules, so please just let the rest of us enjoy the notes and the commentary which invariably follows. No one is forcing you to check out the thread.

And was that your aim when, without any basis whatsoever, you accused me of income tax fraud? Your comment that my disclaimers “come to late” is rather pathetic. Would it help you if I put a disclaimer before my tasting note?

No…it would help if you would not write about wines you sell. Period. Disclaimers are disingenous…as if that makes your thoughts disinterested. Sort of like…“some of my best friends are…”.

Re: tax fraud. I never accused you of tax fraud. I have no idea that you even file taxes. I was just commenting that the IRS treats deductions for hobbies/“avocations”, and businesses differently…If one files as a hobby…then there’s no problem, I’d guess.

I can’t accuse you of fraud when I have no idea what you’ve claimed…and even less interest. I just don’t want to read shilling posts on a wineboard…even if there is a disingenous…by the way…though I sell this stuff, my descriptions are as if I’m disinterested. You’re not. And, when you start threads on wines you sell…that is even more annoying.

Surely you at least understand my point?

Stuart, you’re in the minority here. Put Martin on ignore and move on.

Michael

Yes, sir.

I really like Martin’s tasting notes. They’re always on interesting wines and he’s very upfront about the fact that he carries these wines.

There’s a lot of people that I wish wouldn’t post here but no such luck. Instead I just move on. That’s what normal people do.

I don’t understand. Martin discloses he is ITB and specifically states that he sells the wine and he is being disingenuous? He fully disclosed everything. Given that he has disclosed this information we can decide whether the tasting note is more positive because he is selling the wine. That doesn’t mean he can’t post his notes. Plenty of winemakers, distributors, retailers and others connected to the wine industry post notes here. In fact, this is one of the reasons why I read the notes as I can’t taste every wine and those in the industry have more access to wines than I do. I have never met Martin and never bought wine from him. He doesn’t need defending, but asserting what amounts to a personal attack on him because he posts a note is uncalled for in my opinion.

Cory

He starts threads about the specific wines he sells; he’s not just participating in threads. Sorry, but it offends me…and adds nothing of value to the board, as a result. That he starts threads on wines he sells…and then thinks saying he’s selling that wine negates his blatant shilling…is, to me, disingenous.
Why post this drivel…post on wines he doesn’t sell. His right.

This is a pattern…not posting “a note.”. He’s predictable: here’s a great wine…here’s my notes…and by the way…if you want to get it, I sell it…I have to admit/divulge.

I like his tasting notes, too…they just have no credibility to me…and are, therefore, worthless as anything but a pitch to sell the wines. There must be a place on WB where he can do so to his heart’s content without denying his obvious goals.

And…frankly, i don’t notice “plenty of winemakers, distributors, retailers and others…” starting threads on Wine Talk about wines they sell.

I understand that it doesn’t bother the people who’ve posted here. I’ve made my point.

I am happy to read posts from anyone posting on a wine that interests me–Martin with wines he sells, Kevin Harvey with wines he makes and sells as well as others ITB–and I learn to calibrate my palate with their likes and dislikes. I don’t click on posts I don’t want to read–though M. Ilan keeps drawing me back!

Stuart, the leap from offending you to not providing value is what’s incorrect. No one is suggesting you should read Martin’s posts or buy wine from him.

But every time you jump on him, lots of people respond that they do find value in his posts. So “and adds nothing of value to the board” is incorrect.

There are plenty of posters who provide no value to me. I don’t jump on every thread they start trying to drive then away, I just avoid them. (Except you! Maybe I should follow my own advice.)

Michael

Let me be clear on my take on Martin’s - or any other ITB post similar to it - TN post…with full disclosure like it has, it is not only acceptable, it is encouraged! We need more ITB notes and insight here, as many of us learn from it. Several big wine forums before WB discouraged this, but not WB. Disclose your intereest, your involvement with the wine now or in the future (as he clearly did) and we’re good to go.

Martin, thank you for the note - obviously many people value it, and I hope you can continue to provide them. (all other retailers and distributors as well - we’re grown adults (most of us) and can judge the notes fairly based on full disclosure)

I recognize that I will never be able to satisfy Stuart without leaving the board, and I don’t intend to do that. His position is that I should not be allowed to post on wines that I sell, or wines that compete with wines that I sell. I have no wine knowledge beyond those wines, so that would leave me with nothing to contribute. My wine business is an avocation (everyone understands what that means except Stuart, but he is also the only one for whom my disclaimers “come to late” even though he has been trashing my posts for years and needn’t open a single tasting note I post); I needn’t sell a single bottle of wine for any reason whatsoever. I sell wine primarily because it brings me pleasure to get good wine to good people, and I enjoy introducing people to new wines that I find to be good. This wine is a case in point. Few people have even heard of Poulettes, and fewer have tried a bottle of it. Like I said in my OP, I don’t even have the wine to sell at this point. Moreover, if one is trying to sell wine, their time would be much better spent elsewhere versus posting a tasting note here, particularly if, like me, you don’t have a website where readers can go to buy the wine. As Todd points out, any reasonable adult, when provided with a proper disclaimer, may weigh how much they wish to rely upon a tasting note from those ITB. Like most of you, I like hearing from producers and others in the business regarding wines they produce and sell, as often times they have insights that can’t be gleaned elsewhere.

Back to this wine, frankly, I believe that my note struck a chord with Stuart as he long ago concluded that the only two Nuits-St.-Georges producers worthy of consideration are Chevillon and Rion, and he has probably never tasted a bottle of Chauvenet, so he felt challenging my credibility was the best course.

Thank you to all of you who understand and have expressed appreciation of my participation here.