jamie goode's wine blog: Not so humble humble red Burgundy

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Not so humble humble red Burgundy

A fine way to cap a weekend is to open a bottle of red Burgundy. But only a relatively humble one - a Bourgogne Rouge. This humble bottle turns out to be more than respectable though. It's from Boisset's super-domaine, Domaine de la Vougerie, which was created in 1999 (for background the reader is directed to a typically good article by Bill Nanson).

Domaine de la Vougerie Bourgogne Pinot Noir 'Terres de Famille' 2004 Burgundy, France
Made from a blend of grapes from the Cotes du Beaune and Cotes de Nuits, this is a wine that punches above its weight. The grapes are destemmed and left without crushing in the cuve, to which no yeasts are added. It's not too dark in colour, which is often a good thing for Pinot. The nose has quite classic cherry, herb and earth characters, combining sweet fruit with more savoury notes. The palate has elegant sour cherry and herbs with some sweetness as well as a bit of savoury, earthy tannic structure. It's a very expressive, natural tasting wine that is drinking very well now. A brilliant, affordable expression of Pinot Noir from what was a difficult year in Burgundy. It would be interesting to put this into a blind tasting with some more esteemed peers. 89/100 (£12.95 Berry Bros & Rudd)

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4 Comments:

At 10:27 AM, Anonymous Alex Lake said...

Sounds good, but then the score is only 89 (and even a Saumur for around a fiver gto 91!). Is this some kind of contextual demerit?

 
At 4:40 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

Only 89? That's a good score, isn't it?

But your point is well taken. The Saumur was an exceptional £5 wine. Really good. This is a very good wine, but I didn't think it was quite in the 90 league.

I wonder about scoring at all, but I think it's a useful shorthand. By giving the Saumur 91 I'm saying that I really, really liked the wine. By giving this 89 I'm saying I liked it a lot, and it's got a lot going for it, but it's not a world class red Burgundy. I suppose there may be an element of contextual demerit, but it isn't a conscious one.

 
At 8:55 AM, Anonymous alex lake said...

I think I could bore for England on the subject of scoring (including how inherently flawed the concept is) but one of the things I try to do is link score thresholds to price - so a 90 point wine must be something I'd be happy to pay over a tenner for (although I guess that's a bit outdated now and I should be looking at a £12 minimum these days)

I quite liked the Saumur, but because it doesn't pass the £12 test, I can only give it 89.

 
At 11:36 AM, Blogger Jamie said...

Alex, I'd love to hear your extended thoughts on the topic.

 

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