Sunday 12 December 2010

2000 Raveneau and 2002 J.J. Confuron

11 December 2010: Just finished an afternoon of teaching to find a glass of 2000 Chablis Vaillons, Raveneau waiting for me.  Compared to 2001, which showed more roundness and richness, 2000 was a year marked by more austerity and firmer acidity.  Rain came late, just before harvest, after a warm summer, and the vines soaked up the additional moisture rather rapidly, and this in some way might have played a part in diluting the flavour concentration of the wines.  This Chablis Vaillons showed a character of fennel, green fruit, mineral, with just a hint of nutty, toasty and brioche notes.  Light in body, racy acidity, and lacking in concentration of fruit character, this wine tasted as though it could do with just a little more stuffing out.  Will further time in bottle help this wine round out the texture and soften the acidity?  15.5/20 

2002 Romanée Saint Vivant Grand Cru, Jean-Jacques Confuron.  Garnet ruby.  Nose of red cherry, red fruit, wet leaves, saddle leather, dusty earthy minerality and a very faint hint of tobacco.  Balanced, elegantly textured, but somehow lacking in intensity, depth of character and length that one would expect for a Grand Cru.  A little disappointing. Wonder if the wine is going through its shut-down phase, while waiting for more tertiary character to come through to fill out the wine.  16.5/20

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