Fri Mar 19, 2021
2007 Hospices de Beaune Bouchard Volnay Santenots 1er Cru Gauvain
Purchased this through the old E-Bob Hospices group. What an experience and exercise in patience that was. Not the vintage I ordered (2006) but after several years…you take what you can get. Volnay reportedly had some issues in 2007 (i.e: geosmin). No flaws in this bottle. More bricking, light browning and cloudiness than expected. Blind, I would’ve guessed 30 years instead of 14. Somewhat reticent initial nose. Mushrooms, leather, earth and subtle baking spice. The flowers have dried and the smoked meat is still subtle with a bit of bouillon. The fruit has completely integrated to a savory predominantly cherry liqueur, simultaneously red and lightly dark. There’s a mild bitterness as the attack fades…adding interest. Excellent balance and length with silty tannins. Overall, it expresses a soft spoken femininity. No need to age further but it certainly has the structure for a longer run. Based on the color and fruit profile, I won’t be waiting 8 years for the next one.
The previous bottle…
Sun Nov 03, 2013
2007 Hospices de Beaune Bouchard Volnay Santenots Gauvain
Light, supple and surprisingly red fruit driven. Nicely floral with traces of smoked meat. Clean, good acidity and a bit simple at this point. Good length. It needs 5+ more years.
https://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1290952#p1290952
Nice note.
When those Hospices consortiums work, they can be fantastic experiences and wines. I was involved with two over a decade ago and they were incredibly smooth compared to the horror stories I heard from so many contemporaries. The wines I purchased (all 2009 vintages) are drinking magnificently today with at least a decade of life still in the bottles.
Cheers!
Back in the day, it was David Klinger who spearheaded the Ebob Hospices Auction Group. I suspect he could write a book on the pitfalls of buying at the Hospices de Beaune and importing to the US.
RT
We visited Beaune 3 weeks before the 2018 auction and after meeting winemakers and getting their thoughts on the vintage, I decided to bid all by myself. I ended up winning a barrel of Volnay Dr. Muteau. I ended up having Albert Bichot do the elevage because they do the most volume and are on top of the logistics. If it wasn’t for the tariffs the process would have been totally smooth. The wine was bottled in November and I decided to pay them additional on the gamble that tariffs would be repealed. Now everyone wants to ship wine from France during the tariff moratorium so I have had to jump into the scrum.
In 2019, we did a cycling trip in the Loire and we took a side trip to taste the wine and didn’t have any buyer’s remorse.
If it wasn’t for the tariffs and the recent musical chairs with shipping I would be totally satisfied with the process.
I was in that group. I think the experience drove Dave away. I never tasted any, sold them as I had too much wine. Wasn’t a real good experience with all the hassles
I’m sure the overall experience was not what he was expecting. To his credit, he stuck with it for several years and came through in the end…for most buyers IIRC.
RT
I read the posts related to this and that was a big reason I decided to go it alone. Of course 288 bottles of a single wine is too much but when I actually have bottles in my hands I will trade some and let some friends buy it at my exact cost. If I can’t evade the tariffs I just plan to mentally write them off as the equivalent of a losing stock trade offset by the winning ones and not factor that into any sale to a friend.