Juice

2005 Michel Sarrazin Givry "Sous La Roche"

Last night I enjoyed another beautiful 2005 Burgundy.  Almost everything I've had for the vintage, from simple bourgogne to grand cru's (although far less accessible right now), have been stupendous. I'm obviously not saying anything that hasn't already been said about 05.  Most people are calling it one of the best vintages in the last 100 years.  The really enjoyable thing about this vintage is that there's a ton of great wine, that will undoubtedly age amazingly, at bargain prices.  It's hard to fathom that with the shrunken dollar, increased demand for Burgundy and a stellar vintage, that there would be bargains.  Try to find pinots from anywhere else in the world that match 05 burgs for under $40.  Exhibit A. The 2005 Michel Sarrazin Givry "Sous la Roche" possessed lots of the things that make 05 so special.  For one, the wine has an amazing structure and fruit balance for a simple Village level wine.  These two things were interwoven in a taut and elegant package.  The first 30 minutes after opening, the wine seemed coiled and vibrant.  Not coiled as in tight, but coiled as in ready to pounce.  Exhilarating.  An hour and a half later, the flavors were starting to unwind and lengthen a little bit more but there was obviously still much more hiding.  It hinted at a promising future. The firm acidity should be a great backbone for aging.  The cost?  $18 at Whole Foods.

John C Reilly on wine

DRC. Calera. Mortet. DuMol. It's the Burg Cali Shootout, Live on NBC!

So, after about 175 emails (no shit), a group of mostly wine industry friends and I have assembled a tasting to test out Mr. Parker's assertions about "wines that will make you forget about Burgundy" in a recent Business Week article.  We have lined up 5 of the Californian Pinots in the article against 5 Burgundian counterparts.  We tried to get all of the Californian Pinots in which Parker uses Burgundy as a reference in his tasting notes.  For example he contends that Kalin is made in "a Northern Cote de Nuits style"  He mentions DRC Echezeaux in a couple of tasting notes, so we included a 2002 DRC Echezeaux.   We also tried to keep the vintages fairly close.   Thus most of the Burgs we chose are  04 or 05 with the exception being the 96 Esmonin that we chose as a foil to the 97 Kalin.

(As a side note, some of these California Pinots were hard as hell to find.  Not sure if it was Parker's column or not)

The tasting will take place at 7PM on Wednesday, June 18th.

A third party will decant and number the wines.  We will taste in 2 flights of 5.  Instructions will be given to put the Esmonin and the Kalin in the same flight because of age and Parker's comments about the Kalin. I'll do the same for the DRC, Brewer Clifton (dead ringer) and Calera (simply reminiscent).  The person decanting will also be instructed to compose each flight of either 3 Burgs and 2 Californians or vice versa.  Other than that, it will be a mystery to all of us going in.

We are going to judge the wines in this manner.  First, everyone will make a judgment as to whether each wine is Burgundy or California.  Second, we each pick our top three wines.  We will assign 3 points for first, 2 for second and 1 for third.

Afterwards, we have reservations at Serpentine. We are bringing 03 and 05 Roumier Chambolle Musigny and an 2004 Michel Gay Beaune Coucherias 1er. 

Will the Cali's stick out like Pinfindels?  Will one of the Burgs get mistaken for a Cali?  Can one of the Cali's crack the top 3 in a room full of burghounds?  Will the DRC live up to its price tag?

To paraphase Chris Berman, "That's why they play the game!"

The Wines

1996 Frederic Esmonin Griotte Chambertin
2002 DRC Echezeaux
2005 Rossignol Volnay Fremiets
2004 Bruno Clavelier NSG Aux Cras
2005 Denis Mortet Gevrey Chambertin Mes Cinq Terroirs

2004 Calera Selleck (Mt. Harlan)
2005 Chasseur Freestone Station (Russian River)
2005 DuMol Finn (Russian River)
1997 Kalin Pinot Noir Cuvee DD (Sonoma)
2005 Brewer-Clifton Mount Carmel (Santa Lucia)

Jeff over at eatdrinklove.com just posted a roundup of round 1 of the Burgundy vs Barolo challenge.  This was the under $60 round of a fabulous day of tasting.  Nebbiolo and Pinot, while distinctly different ,turned out to be fantastic stable mates.  While not siblings, they're definitely cousins.

Although Barolo won the day handily, the Burg team submitted a couple of clunkers.  We could have picked out better wines.  Probably would have been smart to go with a couple of 05 villages and bourgogne level wines instead of shooting for 1er cru but under $60.  Oh well, you live and you learn.

Can't wait for round 2 next week.  Under $120.  The Burg team will make a much stronger showing this time around.

California Pinot vs Burgundy challenge

Seems that this recent article by Robert Parker has set off quite a hullaballoo in the wine geek blogoshpere.  In it he claims,

"Red Burgundy is the ultimate minefield of the wine world—notoriously unreliable, often disappointing, and rarely living up to its illustrious reputation. No region in the world has made greater progress with the fickle pinot noir grape than California, and here are some of the best pinot noirs money can buy from that state. None of them is inexpensive, but most of them will eclipse almost any red Burgundy made today."

He goes on to recommend 15 California Pinots.  The funny thing is that in about half of the descriptions for the California Pinots, he uses Burgundy as a benchmark,

"A dead ringer for a DRC Echézeaux..."
"Resembling a premier cru from the Côte de Beaune..."
"Made in a northern Côte de Nuits style with zesty acidity..."
"The impressive 2005 Pinot Noir Wilson Vineyard smells like great Burgundy, especially from the Côte de Nuits..."

I do think Parker's initial comments were way out of touch  with the reality, especially the last 5 years, of Burgundy. Having said that, I'm pretty confident that there are indeed California pinots that can stand toe to toe with most Burgundies.

50 emails between some geeks later....

A tasting has been arranged.  We're still settling the Burgs but the line up, all tasted blind, will look something like this.  Needless to say I am ridiculously excited.

1997 Kalin Cellars Cuvee DD ($42) à  Northern Cote de Nuits

 

2006 Martinelli Three Sisters ($50-$60) à  Cote de Beaune 1er Cru

 

2005 Brewer Clifton Mt Carmel ($75) à  DRC Echezeaux (“dead ringer”)

 

2005 Capiaux Wilson ($45) à  Cote de Nuits

 

2004 Calera Selleck ($75) à  DRC Richebourg or Echezeaux

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