Chateau Monbousquet 1998

Ah..Bordeaux. After an array of Rhônes, whites and Rose´s it was time to "come home". Had been looking forward to tasting this RP 94 pointer for awhile, and at about 8 years it should be somewhat ready to try. Very deep and open nose, kirsch, tar and leathery nose, medium-bodied highly extracted, but quite balanced. The fruit is a bit subdued and the palate is one of liquorice, tar and very mature black fruit. The tarry flavours leaves a wine that seems somewhat bitter at the otherwise lingering and very long finish. I think this wine would benefit fromanother 3-4 years in the cellar, but despise a certain "closed for business" appeal, palate-wise, it is a highly recommendable wine indeed.

Bordeaux 2005

Well....all across the boards, the blogs, the wine-merchants-websites, it´s full of this years hype. Another vintage of the century in Bordeaux. Prices have finally come out and the premiers are easily gonna fetch 4000,- kr once they get in the stores. A lot of people, most notably Robert Parker has already turned to Bordeaux and speaks of greedy Chateau owners, whereas others think the chateau owners should demand the price they think they´ll get anyway. This is commerce you know.
I for one, is sad and frustrated because I am finally priced way out of the market and can only hope for the prices to drop in the future....
On the other hand, I choose to completely ignore the whole en primeur campaign. The deal in the frst place have always seemed a bit strange to me. You buy, and "lock" your money for a 2-3 year period of time...based on extremely early tasting -notes etc.
And time after time again, the money you saved seems puny when compared to the actual prices when the wines hits the stores, or if you are even more patient, another vintage of the century hits the streets and the lates vintage of the century is on sale....
My strategy from now on, is the same as always. I go chasing the back-catalogue, and still can find excellent wine from 00/96/90/89/86/82, and yes some of these were bargains at the time...but still. I just sold a number of pristine 1986 Lafite at 2500. kr, 100 points by Parker, near it´s drinking plateau, and the 2005 being nearly double that price, and 15 years away of any drinking pleasure....seems obvious to me.
And, 2005 are going to be a great vintage from all over it seems, Germany and Burgundy for sure...so maybe we´ll need to take a closer look elsewhere.?

As for the business, I have been offered multiple from different negociants, but have passed all of them. The prices are ridiculous, and whether I can make a buck or two has nothing to do with that.

Domaine Bruno Clair

I am not in the habit on drooling too much over my own imports, so I´ll try to keep it tidy.
I really needed some decent Burgundy in my portfolio, partly because of interest and partly because of the need of some of my customers.
I did some extensive tasting before choosing this one. There were major dissapointments especially when it came to the lower priced stuff. Tasting 20 different Bourgogne Rouges side by side was quite an ordeal, and I was surprised by the difference, and the number uf unsuccesful bottles. And mind you, these are low-priced for Burgundy, but not cheap. To be fair there was also a good amount of fine wines among these. I began looking at the known "good Value" appellations like Givry, Cote Chalonaise, Savigny and Marsannay. And there is a lot of really good Burgundy to be found here for sure. Actually, I am quite positively surprised by the level of quality here.
The wines from Bruno Clair was a small revelation to me. I am not that experienced into Burgundy, but know what I like, and that tends to be rather expensive. I had been in contact with both the Australian importer and the former American importer to learn more about style, winemaking etc. and they both gave Bruno Clair the highest acclaim possible.
The Marsannay´s soon proved to be the most interesting in fact. "Les Longeroies" 2002 is made from vines as old as 70 years. It showed a very intense and surprisingly deep nose, much more black-fruited and spicy than I expected, quite broad and certainly medium-bodied, and ever so pure, crisp, with a finale the sort of backfires. While having considerable strenght, it struck me how elegant, and light on it´s feet the wine was. We finished the bottle in 20 minutes, wanting more. A lot of Kiwi stars would have a hard time in comparison here, including the ones I sell myself....hmmm
Very Gevrey in nature but with the elegance and purity of Vivant. Very pure and distinct Pinot Noir with style and terroir that is hard to come by anywhere else to my taste.

"Les Vaudenelles" 2003, is influenced by the vintage, but i a good way I think. Clair was one of the very last winemakers to pick and his 2003 harvest is considered to be one of the most succesful, given the hard circumstances. "Les Vaudenelles" is more concentrated, packed with fruit than in previous vintages, but with a fine acidity, and minerality that leaves the impression of a balanced and complete wine. As easy to drink as "Les longeroies", but a bit more straight-forward, this should be a crowdpleaser and a fine entry-level wine for Clair.

Clos st. Jacques 2000 was great. Great, open and complex nose with impressive depth, balanced and elegant, fine concentration, extreme length and the structure to develop for many more years. One of the most structured and promising of the 2000´s I have tasted in a while. Not as powerful as Rousseaus or Fourriers for example, but to my taste equally seducing, and perhaps a tad more elegant and refined.

Savigny 1er Cru "La Dominode" 2000 is made from 104 year old vines, and it shows. Flamboyant, "slutty" style, excellent concentration, good definition and a great finale, this must be one of the best from this appelation along with Jadot, Pavelot and Leroy. While not cheap, this was a great glass of wine.
Finding my preferrable style from Burgundy have been a lot of hits and misses, and I suspect that it goes for most winelovers, and a good thing too. Diversity in style is a great thing, and to often missed, in my opinion.

The tastings, and the overall experience was great because of the distinct style of Clair´s wines, the difference between the wines, and the overall impression of pureness and elegance.