Reading through Fiona Morrison's profile of Chambolle-Musigny, I was struck by the comments of leading producer Frédéric Mugnier on the 2005 Burgundy vintage: "There is something perfect about it but also something bothersome -- perfection almost doesn't have much character -- it needs aging to give it more character."
As Morrison reports in her October 2006 article for Wine & Spirits (a must-read; PDF file here), for Mugnier, "2004 is more intriguing; he finds the essence of Chambolle in the best wines." In contrast to the forgivingly perfect weather conditions in 2005, "2004 did not allow for errors, as it was riddled with traps such as risk of rot, disease and the temptation of excessively high yields."
It is not surprising that a producer of Mugnier's skill would find 2004 more interesting. 2004 was a winemaker's vintage, rewarding those with the most rigorous methods and highest standards of vinification while punishing lesser producers with under-ripe, austere wines. Reading through numerous producers' notes for 2005, I almost found a sense of boredom as they recited the same litany of vintage characteristics -- optimum weather, ample time for harvest, perfectly ripe, clean fruit with little, if any, sorting needed. Bruno Clair confessed that during the growing season, he had "nothing to do."
Yet it is interesting to juxtapose Mugnier's near disdain of "perfection," and his embrace of the challenges of a difficult vintage, with his professed non-interventionist approach to winemaking. "I'm wary of enology," Mugnier tells Morrison, and on his website states that "processes that traumatise the wine – over extraction, for example, or excessive woodiness – are limited to a minimum."
It becomes clear, then, that for Mugnier, the vigernon's work rests more in the vineyard than in the cellar. Tending the vines as a farmer -- with treatments against rot or pruning to reduce yields -- is the paramount work. Once the grapes are harvested and sorted, the "goal is to preserve the inherent quality of the grapes and not fiddle with them too much," as Morrison puts it. That is, to bring out the distinctive character of the vintage and the vineyard rather than achieve a certain generic standard of ripeness or concentration through interventionist techniques.
It also becomes clear what Mugnier means by perfection being "bothersome" and lacking "character." Young wines made from perfectly ripe fruit tend to lack transparency -- that is, they don't yield the distinctive characteristics of a particular vineyard, which are initially overwhelmed by blanket fruitiness. The "essence of Chambolle" is muted. Yet it is this quality of transparency -- "the ability to transmit clearly the underlying terroir," as Allen Meadows puts it -- that traditional Burgundy lovers prize most in their favorite wines.
Now Meadows is optimistic that the underlying terroir will shine through in these wines with age, but it may take twelve, fifteen, or twenty years for the very best '05s to reveal their distinctiveness and their greatness. People coming into Burgundy for the first time with the '05 vintage ought to know they have a long wait ahead of them. I shudder to think at the inevitable acts of infanticide that will be committed by those weaned on California pinot. Perhaps point chasers, if it is instant gratification that they desire, ought to follow Freddy Mugnier's advice and seek out wines from those many imperfect vintages.
Friday, May 18, 2007
On Vintage 2005: "Perfection ... doesn't have much character"
Wine Blogging Interactive Edition
My friend Emily makes an excellent suggestion, namely that we should have a blogospheric wine tasting in which Simon and I suggest a wine that is available and affordable, allow people time to purchase and drink it, and then have everyone discuss it on the site afterwards using our delightful comments feature. So this post will suggest a wine. And in a few days, after our dear readers have had time to drink it, we'll put up another post in which to have a discussion.
Our first wine is a somewhat obscure red wine from Spain which we think might be a great value at $10: the 2004 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha from Calatayud. Calatayud is a DO (an officially classified Spanish wine region) in the province of Saragossa, which is Northeast of Madrid and was part of the Kingdom of Aragon back in the day. Garnacha is probably familiar to most Americans as Grenache, one of the primary grapes in Chateauneuf de Pape. (Chateauneuf is a great wine from the the southern Rhone and can be a real higher-end value if you're looking to splurge--but choose growers carefully.) This will be both Simon and my first time trying this wine, but you can probably expect it to be approachable with forward, dark fruit flavors balanced by earthiness. I can't read the number on the label (pictured in the link below), but I would bet it's pretty high in alcohol.
For DC area residents, the wine is available at Calvert Woodley, which is right near the Van Ness stop on the red line. So grab a bottle, drink it over the weekend, and we'll discuss it next week.
Update: For our New York readers, the wine is available both at Sherry-Lehmann (on Madison Ave. near 61st) and at Zachys in Scarsdale.
Further Update: The wine is also available at MacArthur Beverages in D.C.; Blanchards, Andover Liquors, and Nejaime's Wine Cellars in Massachusetts; and Woodland Hills, San Francisco Wine Trading Company, and K&L Wines in California. For other states, try a search for "Las Rocas Garnacha" on Wine-Searcher.