The Wine Importer

1999 Red Burgundies

Along with Kevin McKenna, my partner, I just did a 1999 Red Burgundy tasting in Boston.

We started out importing Burgundies 34 years ago, but soon became enamored with other regions. I forgot how enjoyable Burgundies can be and the 1999 vintage seems very ripe and pretty. Even the Melon de Bourgogne, which everyone knows comes from the wrong side of the the National.

I actually enjoyed tasting Red Burgundies today, something that I haven't truly enjoyed in quite some time. We really had nothing grandiose there, with only Sylvie Esmonin's Clos St-Jacques coming close to a Grand Cru, but there was a consistent elegance across the line. I give them all 92 points, in descending order..

I think our search for the unspoofulated has payed off with this vintage. We don't have oak monsters but lots of pure little Burgundies with delicacy and charm. Maybe I'll buy some myself.

Remember that vintage generalizations about Burgundies are always useless -- the important thing is which vigneron in which year. So be certain to buy Burgundies selectively. A general good rule of thumb is to limit your purchases to Louis/Dressner Selections and Eric Solomon's Burgundy selections. Both firms make impeccable selections.

Now that I think about it, you also can't do wrong with Fran Kysela Père et Fils. I love that Père et Fils stuff in Fran Kysela's company's name, even though Fran started the company and his father never had an actual involvement in the daily activities. Most importantly, Fran's Government Warning Label has a great graphic of a guy in an apron rolling around a barrel. There is no indication if this is a new or old barrel, but I don't believe that Fran Kysela or his father supply the barrels to their winemakers. If you're looking for that sort of thing, you would do best to buy from Bobby Kacher et Fils or from North Berkeley et Fils. These outfits not only select the wines but also select the tonnelier and send forests of new barrels to their vignerons.

Father's Day is June 17th and what better way to celebrate that day then with a bottle of over-oaked Burgundy from one of the American Père et Fils operations that specialize in new oak? 92 points

Premised

Along with Kevin McKenna, my partner, I just did a 1999 Red Burgundy tasting in Boston. The tasting was at our wholesaler's headquarters and included actual wine buyers from the Boston market and lots of salespeople from the distributor. I don't know many of the salespeople, much has changed since our wholesaler was bought by a multi-national cartel five years ago, so I made a point of introducing myself to each of them as they poured themselves generous portions of high-priced Burgundies on allocation. The general pattern is to pour half a glass, sip a bit, spit it out and then dump the remaining considerable quantity of highly-allocated Burgundy into the dump bucket.

Some of the salespeople work on-premise. Some work off-premise. Some work a combination of on-premise and off-premise. Some were the On-Premise Sales Managers and some were the Off-Premise Sales Managers. One of these gentlemen was responsible for product programming 92 points wines but didn't explain what that was. I did notice that several of the On-Premise people took smaller pours than the Off-Premise salespeople, but the control group was too small to come to definitive conclusions.

Anyhow, what, in God's name, is all this premise talk. Whose premise are they either on or off? Are they all trespassing? If so, where, when and why?

Please send me explanatory e-mail.

Thank God for Marc Olliver

Along with Kevin McKenna, my partner, I just did a 1999 Red Burgundy tasting in Boston. One of the most exciting wines was the Domaine de la Pépière 2000. This is as good a young Muscadet as I have tasted. The wine exhibits gobs of minerality and multi-layered Melon-de-Bourgogne texture. Highly recommended. 92 points

A little-known fact about great Muscadet is that is unsaleable in Chicago!

older posts...