Sean's Notes: Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru from the Bichot Boys 2012

Sean gives us his thoughts on the Bonnes-mares Grand Cru 2012...

Bancroft Wines rated by Fiona Beckett at the Wine Car Boot

Fiona Beckett has recently rated two of our wines on her website Matching Food and Wine following the hugely succesful Wine Car Boot.

Wines in the Press

In the latest edition of Decanter, Stephen Spurrier recommends wines for the cellar. Amongst them are a handful of wines that Bancroft are proud to stock.

Bernard Billaud

When Ruchottes changed my life, by Alex Robertson

2012 has been a fantastic year for me on the tasting front and whilst flicking through my tasting book I was reminded of an absolute dream of a tasting I enjoyed with my colleagues as guests of a Bancroft client. At a favourite BYO restaurant near our offices we were spoiled with the opportunity to compare a line-up of Burgundies from Georges Mugneret Gibourg and Joseph Roty. 
 

Philippe Roty

Martin found a friend in 2012 in the Morgon from Jean Foillard

To pick just one wine as my star from 2012 is hard work. It goes without saying that bottles are regularly opened, discussed and written up. At home corks are pulled and wines enjoyed in a slightly different way. Wines socially are very different animals to those taken through their paces in the laboratory like conditions at work and in the cellar, complete with discussions of PH level and viticultural techniques. At home, thankfully, these situations, though essential, become simply distant memories. For this reason alone I have selected my star wine of last year.

Cordier’s Bourgogne Blanc 2010 sold out - buy the 2011 quick! By Sean Burbridge

Christophe Cordier’s Bourgogne Blanc is quite new to the Bancroft range. I was on the Bancroft Burgundy trip when we tasted the 2009 vintage. To buy it seemed an absolute no brainer...

Meursault and roasted chestnuts, by Jason Busby

I have discovered a new wine and food matching whilst visiting my Father in the mountains in Southern Spain.

Burgundy Trip (2011 Vintage) - Day Four, written by Jason Busby

An early start as we managed to slip in a last minute meeting at 9am with Mugneret-Gibourg in Vosne Romanee, with another 3 meetings and a 2 hour drive to Lyon airport ahead of us there was a distinct quieter feel to the team, although all excited about the wines ahead. With nine of the finest reds I have ever had the pleasure to taste in one sitting including three Grand Cru in a charismatic cellar more than 100 years old was the way I’d like to start most days!

Burgundy Trip (2011 vintage) - Day Three, Written by Jason Busby

A short sleep and up and going in the frosty morning to Sylvie Esmonin for a full day of meetings. Met by the old brown Labrador before Sylvie came smiling out of her laboratory to take us to her cellar for one of my favourite tastings.

Sylvie Esmonin

Burgundy Trip (2011 Vintage)- Day Two, written by Jason Busby

Early rise for a stodgy croissant and some yoghurt and a few strong coffees to wake the taste buds and the body. A lovely start to a winter’s day with a Puligny tasting at Jacques Carillon’s pristine winery.

Jacques Carillon

Burgundy Trip (2011 Vintage) - Day One, by Jason Busby

An early start to get to Gatwick for our flight to Lyon. No mention of terminal confusion! Arrived mid morning in a sunny Lyon to collect car ready for 2 hour car journey to Beaune, one of my favourite places on earth, with its uncommercial, friendly atmosphere - oh and some of the greatest wines available.

Montrachet

A perfect house Pinot Noir, by Sean Burbridge

As a keen wine drinker I am always on the lookout for a good Pinot Noir that doesn’t destroy the finances – I never seem to get bored of Pinot Noir and of all the red wines in my cellar it is the grape variety that I always tend to head for......and therefore, always run out of! So yesterday, looking to stock up, I bought some straight Bourgogne rouge from one of my favourite producers Joseph Roty, and from the wonderful 2009 vintage.

Philippe Roty of Domaine Joseph Roty

Christmas Day – by Jason Busby

This year, with Christmas falling on a Sunday, I had to wait until the “proper” hour to start drinking and so Champagne was not the first drink of the day. Once the wrapping paper was removed by 6am and the children sent to make lunch, the first wine of the day was a cheeky Petit Chablis from my favourite Chablis producer Billaud-Simon. A 2006 I bought a few years ago and the last of the batch, so one to remember. Although young vines were used, this was better than any regular village Chablis I've had in any restaurant or used to sell at a previous job with a multiple retailer!

The first rule about Lunch Club....

With recent lunchtime extravagances weighing heavily upon our minds and our wallets, a small group of us here at Bancroft decided to make amends this week by starting up a little lunch club. The premise was simple – 3 people, each bringing in a pre-prepared lunch for the others one day this week, thus assuaging our collective guilt after an unnecessary (but delicious) lunch at Pizzaro last week. The absence of a microwave or any cooking equipment in our office kitchen meant the meals would have to be variations on the theme of ‘cold’.

Burgundy 2010 vintage

Following the more powerful 2009 vintage, the 2010 vintage in Burgundy created wines of superb balance, concentration, structure and freshness across the region. We believe that they are impressive wines and many have great potential for long cellaring, even more so than the 2009s.

40th Wedding Anniversary

On Sunday my husband’s parents celebrated their 40^th Wedding Anniversary. A giant marquee, hog roast, 100 friends and family and good wine are all you need for a good party. Even the rain didn’t dampen the spirits.

Ian and Katie have always been very generous to Will and I on the wine front but this weekend was extra special and on the Saturday night the cellar was raided.

2008 Burgundy Trip

The Team:
David “Top Gear” Round MW
Robert “Hairdresser” Allen
Sean “The Oracle” Burbridge
Johnny “Verbal” Paterson

Day One

At the crack of dawn on a bright Monday we met at the spanking new terminal five building at Heathrow and quickly boarded with luggage in hand for a fast get away. We landed in a nearly freezing Lyons (1C) and ran into one of our friendly French sommeliers on his way to Rhone to taste the 07’s. Remarkably he’s even more friendly in France…he only shrugged twice…

Our rental turned out to be a Korean monster with more scratches on it than a cat fight. This has to be the first time any of us have not been issued with a typical 35-hour week spare-wheel under the chassis kinda car in France. Finally, we set off for Burgundy. David “Top Gear” Round drove like the Stig towards Beaune through sunshine, rain and snow getting us nicely to Meursault for lunch time. We of course did the decent thing before heading off to our first appointment at Hubert Lamy.



However as we left after our quick lunch and passed the wonderful vineyards of Le Montrachet …our noses pressed against the windows like a pack of angry jack Russell’s wishing we could all own a vineyard one day… David decided to test the beast to its limits. Just as Johnny Cash blasted his refrain “I tow the line” we suddenly became airborne as David found the only serious jump on the Route de Grand Cru. As we sped through the air and crashed safely back down to earth the local vineyards workers looked on in horror to see a shiny black beast whizzing past them at eyebrow height. The car was quickly renamed the “General Lee” after the Dukes of Hazard car and David’s ability to find more air than Eddie the Eagle.

Our arrival at Hubert Lamy was a little shaken and stirred to say the least. In need of a calming moment, we started our first tasting…

And so down to business. After reading some general reports about the vintage, giving the view that it might be a difficult year, the wines (predominantly white at this domaine) were simply cracking. The whites have delicious racy acidity and a freshness which is charming and will allow the wines to age for many years. The reds are lovely too - delicate but with a pure pinot character and thus we collectively felt that this vintage is for the burgundy lover rather than the pure investor.

Onwards we travelled through the Cote de Beaune to visit our next producer Jean Marc Morey, who makes a wide range of red and white Chassagnes. The whites had the edge, but not by much. It was an inspiring tasting, surrounded by this classic old cellar full of wonderful library wines and new wines in barrel.

But we had to kick on… to one of my favourite producers Domaine Paul Pillot, a specialist in Chassagne Montrachet and, wow, what a range he has. Thierry (Paul’s son) welcomed us like old friends and quickly ushered us downstairs out of the blizzard into the comparative warmth of the cellar. We tasted his entire range from Les Mazures all the way up to the complex but lovely 1er Cru Les Caillerets. They did not disappoint - all displayed the vintage trademark “zippy” acidity and freshness.

Our final stop of the day was to Domaine Gagnard Delagrange, and to Sean’s delight, to meet one of the great men of Burgundy - Jacques Gagnard. This 80 year old legend was on fine form and delivered a superb tasting topped off with the delight of a cheeky half bottle of Batard Montrachet 1997 & Le Montrachet 1999.

We headed back to General Lee happy and content. Having been a Le Montrachet virgin, Sean looked particularly pleased with himself.

Later, we headed out into the heart of Beaune to the Cheval Blanc restaurant and had a delightful yet early supper...reserving our energies for the next day ahead.

Day Two

David managed to crack the whip and have us all up and ready to roll by eight bells for our first appointment. This was a great accomplishment. Rob, we discovered, has to have at least 40 minutes for breakfast and hair in the morning otherwise apparently, he has bad hair AND may start eating anything within arms reach including his hand around 11am.

With some trepidation, we climbed back in to General Lee and headed off to our first appointment at Domaine Louis Carillon. This producer is one of our true stars and has always made some of the finest Pulignys in the whole of Burgundy, even while being overshadowed by his much-publicised neighbours, Sauzet and Leflaive. Having tasted all the 2007’s, none of us could tell that this was considered a difficult vintage. The wines where extraordinary and commendable to anyone.

On to Patrick Javillier, whose Domiane is tucked down the back streets of Meursault. At the time of our visit he was having a new roof put on his house - he must be doing well… Across town at Dominae Francois & Antoine Jobard, we were greeted by Antoine who showed us down to his immaculate cellar to taste his equally precise range of wines.

We then headed out to Savigny Les Beaune to Domaine Chandon de Briailles – easily one of the most beautiful Chateau in Burgundy but is counterbalanced by the next door neighbour’s collection of old fighter jets covered in snow and frost. The charming Claude Drouhin showed us downstairs to the cellar where they where in the process of bottling, something not often seen. Tasting the range was excellent especially the wonderful Grand Cru wines of Corton. We all had a good chat had about Bio-Dynamic viticulture & vinification as this estate is a way down this road already, highly interesting.

As dusk fell and the temperature crashed, we headed off to our final appointment for the day at Ch de Chorey, a first visit for many of us. The stars of this tasting were the amazing Beaune 1er Cru’s, which are often overlooked but seemingly from our tasting notes, undiscovered brilliant wines that punch well above their weight.

In the evening we went out to the wonderful restaurant of Ma Cuisine in the center of Beaune – truly a gastronomic destination for most of the UK wine trade - as we were seated next to Stephen Spurrier.

Day Three

Another cold early morning to get us in the mood for tasting…

We kicked off this important day with one of the big guns of Nuits St Georges, Domaine Henri Gouges. As ever these wines are serious from the outset and the 07’s look no different, for me personally the NSG 1er Cru Les Vaucrains was the pinnacle but everyone appreciated the overall high standards across the range.

We strolled down the road in the freezing cold to Domaine Robert Chevillon, luckily just round the corner from Gouges. The wines here are all NSG’s but are absolutely delicious out of barrel and we were thinking if you could drink them straight away, especially to warm the cockles....

Unsurprisingly, these wines do shut down a little after bottling and take time to come round but they are well worth the wait.

Post quick lunch in town and vineyard visit to Vosne Romanee having seen the amazing vineyards of Richbourg, Eschezeaux etc we headed to our next appointment. This was at Domaine Pierre Damoy who has the wonderful problem of having more Grand Cru Vineyards than 1er Cru or Village wines. In fact he is certainly one of the biggest Grand Cru owners in Gevrey Chambertin with a whopping 8 hectares split between Chambertin Clos des Beze, Chapelle Chambertin, Chambertin. So hopes were high as we were welcomed by his motley crew of friendly dogs. We were not to be disappointed, the wines were top draw. Here is certainly a man who is pushing all the boundaries especially the appellation system as he strives to make Chambertin even more iconic than it already is.

After this cracking tasting we crossed the road to Domaine Roty and were given a masterclass on Marsannay, apparently we should all be drinking this as it is an overlooked name of Burgundy, not for the first time. That said, after tasting the range up to the Mazis Chambertin & Charmes Chambertin there were wide smiles all round.

So on to our final visit up the hill to the Domaine Slyvie Esmonin. Many of us had not tasted her full range before as her wines are mostly sold out En Primeur before reaching the UK. We could certainly see why after this tasting… wow. In her beautiful cellars tasting her wines, I thought I will be putting my name down for whatever I can get come En Primeur time. The Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques is the daddy. This single vineyard right behind her house produces some truly remarkable wine.

Looking to 2008 - Bin Ends & Burgundy 2006

As we all set off on the Christmas holidays, we would like to take the opportunity to wish you a very Happy Christmas and we look forward to ensuring your cellars and wine racks are quickly replenished in 2008 with our huge January Bin End!

We will be launching it on Thursday 3rd of January and it covers a vast range:

Champagne, classified growth Clarets, Premier & grand Cru Burgundy, Chateauneuf du Pape and assorted wines from all over the globe.

Make sure you do not miss out on savings of up to £174 per case!

If you would like to receive a full copy of the offer by email please contact: sales@bancroftwines.com

Not long after that we will be launching our Burgundy 2006 En Primeur offer. We have already had a lot of you asking what we think of the vintage and with harvests down on 2005 in many casesit is likely that demand will outstrip supply.

To give you some food for thought, here are the initial thoughts of our Buying Director, David Round MW:

Burgundy 2006 En Primeur - A Beautiful Vintage

2006 was a year of extremes, but one that has yielded a vast array of beautiful wines amongst the reds and the whites. That such a result was achieved can be viewed as something of a triumph over adversity, with an unseasonably cool August counter-balanced by fine, hot months either side of it.

This is an enormously successful vintage for the white wines, which show a stunning combination of ripe fruit and crisp acidity. They are delicious wines, showing well at an early stage, very lively in style, with classic Burgundian minerality. They are less rich, but more mineral than 2005, and will be ready for drinking much sooner.

The reds are beautifully ripe, open and aromatic, with supple tannins and a disarming juiciness to them. They show characteristics of both 2000 and 2001, with more structure and depth than the former, and more ripeness than the latter, which is an excellent combination. As with the whites, because they do not have the sheer density of the 2005s, they will drink earlier. Anyone who started buying Burgundy with the superb 2005 vintage should fill their cellar with 2006s, or go very thirsty waiting for their wines to mature. Experienced buyers of the region's wines, on the other hand, will appreciate the style of the reds, which are the essence of Pinot Noir, and the very spirit of Burgundy.

The Offer

It is worth pointing out that many of the wines featured in this offer usually sell out, and some estates have made less wine in 2006 than they did the previous year. It would therefore be advisable to order early to be sure of securing the wines that you want. We will be offering wines from the following estates:

• Pierre Damoy, Gevrey-Chambertin


• Sylvie Esmonin, Gevrey-Chambertin


• Christian Serafin, Gevrey-Chambertin


• Georges Mugneret-Gibourg, Vosne-Romanée


• Domaine d'Eugénie, Vosne-Romanée


• Robert Chevillon, Nuits St-Georges


• Henri Gouges, Nuits St-Georges


• Château de Chorey, Chorey-Lès-Beaune


• Chandon de Briailles, Savigny-Lès-Beaune


• François & Antoine Jobard, Meursault


• Patrick Javillier, Meursault


• Louis Carillon, Puligny-Montrachet


• Gagnard-Delagrange, Chassagne-Montrachet


• Paul Pillot, Chassagne-Montrachet


• Jean-Marc Morey, Chassagne-Montrachet


• Hubert Lamy, Saint-Aubin


• Joseph Roty, Gevrey-Chambertin (2005 vintage)


• Philippe Roty, Gevrey-Chambertin (2005 vintage)

If you would like to receive a full copy of the offer by email please contact: sales@bancroftwines.com

Again have a wonderful Christmas break and we will look forward to catching up with you in the New Year.

A Trip to Burgundy

The lot of a wine buyer is never one to elicit sympathy from those whose job does not involve visiting some of the best estates in the world and tasting their wares. However, I usually visit this particular corner of France in the depths of mid-winter, when lifeless vines dominate a bleak landscape lit by a few desultory hours of daylight. A June trip is therefore something of a novelty, checking into a hotel full of tourists instead of members of the wine trade, driving past vineyards in full leaf, and finishing the day’s visits while the sun is still in the sky.

This year, a very fine, hot April gave the vines such an early boost that they are three weeks ahead of schedule. Not only does this dictate a very early harvest, but it also raised an unusual logistical problem at the time of my visit in mid-June, with vineyard work that would normally be carried out by students during their university holidays needing to be completed while they were still sitting their exams. No wonder so many of our suppliers were looking a little exhausted and stressed.

My first port of call in this whistle-stop tour was Domaine Chevillon in Nuits Saint Georges, and a chance for a first taste of the 2006s. This is early to be tasting the new vintage, and our comprehensive tour of the great and the good in the Côte d’Or will be in November, but my first impressions are of a vintage with lots of fruit, with the classic character of 2001 and quality approaching that of 2005. I will look forward to re-tasting them later in the year with some of the Bancroft team.

A short drive took me down to Chassagne-Montrachet to visit Jean-Marc Morey, with whom we have just started working. The Morey family has been in the village for centuries, and many domains bear their name. Jean-Marc’s wines are round and accessible, but with the ability to age. We have started with three wines from the 2004 – his white Chassagne-Montrachet, Premier Cru Champs-Gains, and Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Les Charmois – and I tasted a full range from 2005 and 2006. Of his reds, the best was the 2004 Beaune-Grèves, which was beautifully pure, elegant and mineral. Superb value, and maybe one to add to our next shipment.

My home for the next two nights was the charming Chez La Rose in Juliènas, a useful base for the Mâconnais to the north and the rest of Beaujolais to the south. My first visit the next morning, after looping around between the rocks of Solutré and Vergisson, was to Michel Forest, a Bancroft supplier of very long standing. The 2006s are superb, showing wonderful texture and freshness, and my virtually boundless enthusiasm for Michel’s wines is tempered only by the fact that we cannot buy any more from him than we currently do – we are already by far his biggest customer in the world, taking half of his production of the Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes, for example.

So moving swiftly on, the next port of call was Domaine Michel Chavet in the neighbouring village of Davayé, where I was met by Christophe, from the seventh generation of the family. I tasted the 2005 and 2006 Saint-Véran side by side, and there was an interesting contrast between the richness and texture of the former and the refinement and freshness of the latter. Everything’s very close together around here, so a short hop to Charnay-Lès-Mâcon brought me to the door of Didier Tripoz, where I tasted a pre-bottling sample of his brilliant 2006 Mâcon-Charnay, made from the walled Clos des Tournons. Didier has not only improved his label, but is bottling the new vintage under screw-cap, an admirable decision which is driven only by the desire to eliminate cork taint.

My final Mâconnais appointment was with Christophe Cordier, who greeted me in shorts and T-shirt, having just hopped off his tractor. He explained apologetically that he and a colleague were spending the whole day spraying his 15 hectares of vines ahead of predicted storms. He expected to finish at 10.00 that night, and so Roger, his father, took me through his superb range of 2006s (no wonder our sales of these wines are booming). Sadly, I don’t think that Christophe finished his work in time – the heavens opened a couple of hours later, by which time I was safely back in the hotel but Christophe would have still been a couple of hectares short of a fully-sprayed vineyard.

I spent a final night at Chez La Rose and met a British wine-lover who said he was having trouble finding the wines of Bruno Rocca from Piemonte. Tempting though it is to joke that Juliènas is a funny place to be looking for Italian wines, he had the last laugh, as I was able to tell him that H&H Bancroft are the UK importers.

The following morning, bright sunshine dried up all remnants of the previous evening’s storm, and I arrived at Domaine de Gry-Sablon to meet Dominique Morel, whose 2006s boast a full set of medals, including golds for the soft, rounded Beaujolais-Villages and intense, complex Fleurie. I also tasted a very impressive Juliènas, made from a parcel of vines next to the hotel I had been staying at for the previous two nights. Don’t be surprised if you see this wine on our list in the future.

Jean Foillard is always a highlight of a visit to Beaujolais, as his wines defy convention, being made in the most natural way possible, without even the aid of sulphur during vinification. After the extreme richness of the 2005 Morgon Côte de Py, 2006 is a return to the elegant, ethereal style for which he is famed. Jean considers it to be a cross between 1999 and 2004.

On the final straight now, I popped in to see Jean Calot, whose 2006s were beautifully balanced, fresh, and look to be earlier-drinking than recent vintages, and finished off with Michel Trichard, another grower dashing in from the vineyard to meet me. In keeping with the theme for the day, the 2006 Brouilly was far fresher and less powerful than its counterpart in 2005. 2006 is going to be a popular vintage, and not just in Beaujolais.

David Round MW