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Old-style burgundy is back
DEVOTEES of old-style red burgundy — deep-coloured, full-bodied, meaty — have been regarded by most bien-pensant wine writers as a small and insignificant band of fuddy-duddies, equivalent to flat-earthers or defenders of the pre-decimal coinage. More like the former, in fact, because old-style burgundy was not only out- moded but also demonstrably wrong. A' controversial recent wine book (I do not dare to name it for fear of adding to the swarm of writs already pursuing its poor author) quoted a recipe for old-style bur- gundy given to him by the former em- ployee of a leading shipper; 85 per cent burgundy, ten per cent Moroccan red, five per cent port and a touch of glycerine. Of course, such relatively minor adulteration would not have worried our ancestors in the last century, who paid more for Lafite Hermitage than the unblended article.
The rather pallid, weak wines, with little capacity for aging which were prevalent in the early Eighties, were unadulterated, but did not solve the problem, because they were still not worth the money. People became confused and suspicious: the big ancien regime burgundies, which they had liked, were in disgrace, and no longer available; the new-style burgundies, sea- green (or pale pink) incorruptibles, were insubstantial and unappealing. Above all the prices continued to rise, to levels which no one except an inhabitant of the golden slope could consider realistic. A recent spate of burgundy tasting has made me think that things are changing once again. The problem has not been entirely solved — excessive sub-division of properties will always make burgundy more expensive than it might be — but burgundy is looking more attractive, more exciting, more con- vincing then it did five years ago. A run of good vintages — '85, '86, '87 (much better than in Bordeaux) and now '88 (better than '85, say some: we shall see) has helped: I believe wine-making has improved also.
`I never liked pale-coloured, weak- bodied burgundy,' says Pierre Maufoux, head of Prosper Maufoux of Santenay, one of the C6te d'Or's soundest negotiants. He and his cellar-master, Robert Regnault, believe in extended fermentation, for 12-14 days: the resulting wines are extremely firm and tannic, built for the long haul. I found his Volnays tough, the '83 still very tannic, the '78, powerfully scented, just
beginning to come round. Surprise pick of his range, shown by. Berry Bros, was a Corton Clos de la Vigne au Saint 1977. From the worst vintage of the last 20-odd years, a beautiful mature wine, almost sweet in the mouth. (It costs £19.90.)
Pierre Maufoux defends the validity and integrity of the negotiant in burgundy. Not all negotiant wines are as good and genuine as his. A Patriarche Mercurey I sampled recently did not taste of pinot noir, let alone Mercurey. It is from the best domaines that one expects the most excit- ing wines these days. A Mercurey to put that Patriarche to shame was the Clos Tonnerre '85 from Domaine Michel Juil- lot .
The Domaine Parent, with 16 hectares mainly in Pommard, is 350 years old and supplied wine to Thomas Jefferson, but was new to me. 1 immediately liked the fragrant yet substantial style of their ordin- ary Bourgogne Rouge 1986. There were more pleasant surprises from a year I had written off as mean and unattractive. Parent's Monthelie premier cru Clos Gauthey had a lovely raspberry-scented nose and was lightish but attractively ripe on the palate. Even better was the Beaune premier cru les Epenottes, with a fleshy, meaty quality on the nose, rich and velvety on the palate. A wine of old-fashioned fulness, yet lacking the heavy soupiness which those illegal beakers of the warm south can bring. (The importer is Charles Hawkins, tel: 01-780 1076.) Another opportunity to reassess the 1986 vintage came at that choicest of burgundy tastings, put on by Percy Fox for the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. The Echezeaux was notable for a haunting, violet-scented fragrance, with some new oak also apparent. The Grands-Echezeaux was more closed, but much richer and more mouth-filling. Richebourg was mag- nificent, powerful, meaty, fleshy; La 'fiche not quite so powerful, beautifully balanced with a sweetness in the mouth — more or less perfect. As for Romanee-Conti itself, I found it disappointing after Richebourg and La Tache, light-bodied, almost thin. Oh yes, the prices: Richebourg £775, La Tfiche £830, Romanee-Conti £1,800 (all to the trade). I did not meet anyone at the tasting who was intending to buy wine, though.
Harry Eyres
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