db‘s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay gives his verdict on the French wines (red) from the Loire, Burgundy, île de France, the Rhône and the Occitanie that are being released on La Place’s autumn campaign.
France’s releases on La Place include wines from the Loire, Burgundy, the Rhône, Provence, the Ile de France and the Occitanie,
A note on the tasting notes:
As regular readers will know, I am the Bordeaux and La Place de Bordeaux correspondent of The Drinks Business. My specialism is Bordeaux, in particular, and northern Europe (especially Piedmont and Tuscany), secondarily. This should perhaps be born in mind when it comes to my tasting notes for other regions with which I am less familiar and which I encounter primarily through la place. My notes, as ever, are those of an enthusiast and a wine-lover and, for these regions above all, they are best read as such. All of the following wines were tasted either in Bordeaux at the offices of the courtiers or négociants bringing these wines to the international market, at trade tastings in London, at the property itself, or in Paris, from samples sent directly from the property – and, in many cases, multiple times.
NYT – not yet tasted (with tasting notes to appear in a later article).
Domaine Vincent Delaporte Sancerre Le Cul de Beaujeu 2022 (Sancerre; 100% Pinot Noir; sourced from the tiny Clos de Beaujeau, established by the monks of Beaujeu in the
Middle Ages, on a steeply sloping Kimmeridgian marl terroir, the only Sancerre plot planted pre-phylloxera and the only Pinot Noir today on this famous slope; 13% alcohol). A new addition. Black tea leaf, incense and a hint of candlewax, this is very classy indeed. Open and expressive, aerial and lifted. Sapid and intensely juicy with a very fresh and vivid berry fruit. A little wild strawberry. Raspberry. Red cherry. Gorgeously refined tannins impart a wonderful vivid freshness on the finish. A great first arrival! 92.
Domaine Jeannot Santenay Vieilles Vignes 2023 (Santenay; 100% Pinot Noir; 13% alcohol). Taut and tense, quite glassy and glossy. Linear, almost a little strict but nicely made. Not the interest, breadth or depth of the Sancerre, but nicely done and likely to represent excellent value. 90.
Domaine Jeannot Santenay 1er Cru Passetemps 2023 (Santenay 1er Cru; 100% Pinot Noir; from a tiny parcel of just 0.25 hectares; 13% alcohol). Richer, fuller and more terroir-driven with much more depth and mid-palate heft. I find this less linear and less strict as a consequence. It’s pure and precise nonetheless. Sapid on the finish, even if there’s hint of dryness to the tannins. 91.
Domaine Jeannot Pommard Vieilles Vignes 2023 (Pommard; 100% Pinot Noir; 13% alcohol). A little more delicate aromatically. Crushed raspberries and freshly tilled soil. Eloquent in its purity but lacking complexity at least at this stage, but with good concentration and depth. Grippy tannins nicely frame the finish, which is lithe and quite juicy. 92.
Domaine Chapuis Aloxe-Corton 2023 (Aloxe Corton AOC; 100% Pinot Noir; 14% alcohol; tasted from a sample supplied to me in Paris). Bright, quite fresh and aerial with an expressive raspberry and red cherry fruit immediately present aromatically and a touch of cranberry with aeration. A little fuller and richer than the 2022 and with more obvious tannic density. Relatively short on the finish. But an accessible introduction to these wines that is, as ever, likely to prove excellent value. 90.
Domaine Chapuis Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru 2023 (Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru; 100% Pinot Noir; 13.5% alcohol). Chewy. Bright, fresh and crisp. Crunchy red berries and green leaf tea. There’s a nice purity to the fruit and rather more refinement in this vintage than I recall finding in the 2022. 92.
Domaine Chapuis Savigny-Lès-Beaune 2023 (Savigny-Lès-Beaune; 100% Pinot Noir; 13.5% alcohol; tasted in Paris from a sample directly supplied by the property). Just a little fuller and richer than the Aloxe-Corton village, with the fruit a shade darker. There’s just a little more complexity too. It’s also more slender in frame with more tension and forward thrust and drive over the palate. That gives it greater length and sustenance, but the tannins are also firmer and less yielding. Simple in a way, but this also needs time. 90+.
Domaine Chapuis Corton-Chaumes Grand Cru 2023 (Corton Grand Cru; 100% Pinot Noir; the smallest of Domaine Chapuis’s holdings on the hill of Corton and with a rather different, more south-westerly exposition; 14% alcohol; tasted twice, first at the Joanne tasting and then from a sample send to me in Paris). More substantial, more refined, more elegant and classy with a rather sumptuous sapid and crystalline core. Loganberry expressed with great purity and precision. Excellent. There has been a considerable progression since these wines were first introduced on la place that is very evident here. 93+. Domaine Chapuis Corton-Languettes Grand Cru 2023 (Corton Grand Cru; 100% Pinot Noir; perfectly situated just above Les Perrières at 250-330 metres and with an Eastern exposure, this would be Corton-Charlemagne were it planted with Chardonnay; 14.5% alcohol; tasted in Paris from a sample directly supplied by the property). We have a full degree of alcohol more here than in 2022 and it shows a little. But this is wonderfully opulent and seductive, nonetheless. It’s definitely ‘solaire’ and warm with a dusty, earthy richly mineral streak alongside the wild strawberry, raspberry and baked stone fruits. Fascinatingly, there’s almost a hint of garrigue herbs and a trace, but no more, of lavender. Beguiling, soft tannins on the entry, though they’re a little more firm and structuring as the fruit unfolds and unfurls over the palate. Ample and broadly-framed and very nicely sustained. 93.
Domaine Chapuis Corton Perrières Grand Cru 2023 (Corton Grand Cru; 100% Pinot Noir; perfectly situated in the mid-slope where there was once as old stone quarry giving its name to this mythic climat; 15% alcohol; tasted from a sample sent to me in Paris). Here, as we come to one of the sunniest and warmest parcels on the hill of Corton, we have 1.5 additional degrees of alcohol than the 2022 vintage. But, if anything, it’s a little less evident, absorbed as it is effortlessly in the sheer depth, density and concentration of the mid-palate. This is darker in its fruit profile – black raspberry and loganberry crowding out the wild strawberries of the Corton-Languettes – and the fruit is fresher and more intense. Some black tea leaf notes. There’s a grace and charm to this, too, despite the intensity, though this is a wine that needs a good decade or two in a cool, dark cellar. 94
La Bouche du Roi Abondance 2024 (IGP île de France; 100% Pinot Noir; 13.5% alcohol; on clay and limestone; certified organic). NYT.
Chateau d’Aussières 2021 (Corbières; 56% Syrah; 27% Mourvèdre; 10% Grenache Noir; 7% Carignan – in fresher vintages, like 2021, there is more Mourvèdre, Grenache and Carignan here; pH 3.57; from selected parcels at the top of the slope on low-yielding soils of clay and sandstone; sourced from around 25 hectares from a property of 150 hectares; all the parcels have a northern exposition with their backs to the Mediterranean, but crucially refreshed by it; 50% is aged in French oak barrels, a third of them new; 14.5% alcohol; certified organic in 2022, so this vintage made in transition; tasted with Jean de Roquefeuille and Olivier Gailly). In the vineyard there was plenty of frost damage, but only at lower elevations. The end result was just to delay the maturation of the fruit which was, consequently, picked in fresher conditions. Impressively youthful. Less spicy, toasty and rich than the 2020 and correspondingly more marked by the fresh dark autumnal berry fruits. There’s a touch of grated mace and plenty of peppery Syrah spice. Sage too and a pleasing hint of graphite. This is saline in its minerality and almost a little Italianate, as I have noted before here. There’s also a slight bloody-ferrous note. I prefer this to the more brusque and burly 2020. This, in contrast, though just as intense and powerful in its way is, at the same time, altogether lighter on its feet with a very lifted and aerial finish. 92+.
Domaine de Terrebrune 2021 (Bandol; 85% Mourvèdre; 10% Grenache; 5% Cinsault; 14% alcohol). Smokey. Dusty. Southern, with that distinctive garrigue herbal character. Dark berry and stone fruits. I find this a little meaty and animal. Game pâté. Charcuterie. Chalky crumbly tannins bring a certain spring and dynamism to this, with the tannins really breaking into the exterior and engaging the fruit. Needs time. 91.
De Haute-Serre Grand Malbec (Georges Vigouroux) 2023 (Cahors; 100% Malbec on a Kimmeridgian clay-limestone soil with plenty of iron-rich blue clay; an inter-parcel selection, by plant and by grape; aged for 18 months in a combination of amphorae and oak barrels of 400 litres, around half of them new; around 6000 bottles; 14% alcohol). Rather beautifully radiant aromatically, with that subtle but still intense Malbec combination of Szechuan peppercorn and deep, almost herbal, florality encrusting and enrobing the dark plum and berry fruits. There’s a little tangerine zest too. Very focused, very pure, very precise aromatically. Silkily textured and impressively dynamic, too, on the palate with a racy, vibrant acidity combining with the natural salinity to bring additional interest just when it is needed. This is more complex texturally than in its gustatively (if that’s a word!) – it dances over the palate even if the fruit, spice and herbal profile changes little. Stylish and very classy and with a long-life ahead of it. 94+.
Odyssée 2022 (Vin de France; 40% Cabernet Sauvignon; 49% Grenache; 11% Carignan; 14.5% alcohol; from Pierre Graffeuille and Matthieu Dumarcher). Plump and plush, svelte and tense, tight and taut with the Rhone and Bordeaux varietals seemingly perfectly integrated already. The beady granular tannins outline the spherical contours of the palate here, highlighting the crystalline core. Sinuous rather than strict or linear. Impressively lithe and dynamic. Nicely done. The best vintage of this wine to date. 93+.
La Capitelle de Baronarques 2023 (IGP Haute Vallée du l’Aude; 68% Syrah; 22% Merlot; 10% Malbec; pH 3.67; aged in French oak barrels of 1 to 4 wines for 6 months; 14.5% alcohol). Presumably the higher percentage of Syrah here takes this out of the Limoux appellation. If so, it’s an excellent choice that reflects the philosophy of the property which is not to let the appellation rules that were constructed in different climatic conditions constrain the expression of the terroir. This achieves that exceptionally well in what was hardly an easy vintage. This is wild, floral, herbal and quite delicate with the natural power of the Syrah held back a little in the service of freshness. But it’s still has a lovely distinctly smoky Syrah character that rather reminds me of a fine St Joseph! 92
Domaine de Barronarques 2023 (Limoux; 36% Merlot; 25% Syrah; 26% Cabernet Franc; 10% Malbec; 3% Cabernet Sauvignon; pH 3.65; aged in French oak barrels, 25% of them new for 12 months; 14.5% alcohol). Fresh. Bright. Crisp. Lifted. A little more floral, perhaps from the greater share of Cabernet Franc and Malbec. Spicy and peppery too. Very fine-grained in its tannins rendering this sapid and lithe. Refined and glossy. Cylindrical, in profile, long and linear. A lingering suggestion of candlewax and patchouli on the finish. 94+.
Château de Beaucastel Hommage à Jacques Perrin 2023 (Châteauneuf-du-Pape; 75% Mourvèdre; 10% Syrah; 10% Grenache; 5% Counoise; 14.5% alcohol). NYT.
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