The dry spell had imbued the wines with impressive concentration, the warm weather in September had brought the grapes to perfect ripeness, and the relatively cool August nights had helped to preserve their vital acidity. All was in place, therefore, to create a glorious vintage for both white and red wines.

The Rhône growers with whom we work are not people prone to hyperbole, preferring to keep their feet on the ground, recognising full well the ups and downs which are part and parcel of the life of anyone who works in viticulture. Nevertheless, it was hard not to delight in their quiet confidence as they showed us their wines, and each successive visit unearthed the opinion that this was, just maybe, the finest vintage in the region for decades.

The comparison with 2009, another outstanding vintage, was fascinating because of the stylistic differences; 2009 was a year of wonderful opulence, the sheer ripeness producing richly-textured wines with immediate appeal; 2010 seems more cerebral, appealing because of its sublime balance, concentration and, crucially, its freshness. Time after time my tasting notes mentioned these attributes, along with intensity. Never did I find myself using words such as ‘heavy’ ‘ponderous’ ‘over-oaked’ or ‘unbalanced’. The wines are also highly representative of their terroir, and in that context it’s a joy to pick out the nuances which define a Cornas from a Côte Rôtie, a St Joseph from a Crozes-Hermitage.

Yields are in most cases slightly down on 2009, partly because of the drought, but fear not, there will be plenty of good wine to go round, and don’t overlook the whites, too. The huge progress in recent years in the quality of the region’s white wines continues apace. The aromatic varietals display wonderful floral, stone-fruit characteristics, while the wines made predominantly or totally from the Marsanne grape boast the textural richness of White Burgundy allied to a honeyed, beeswax bouquet.

It is unusual to find the North and South both declaring a truly great vintage at the same time, and although we don’t have prices yet all the early indications are that the growers, recognising the realities of the global market, will broadly favour stability, which is reassuring.

Alun Griffiths MW

After the opulence of the easy-to-read 2009s the growing season in 2010 was more challenging, with less heat in the crucial months of high summer but with the benign influence of dry, warm September days balanced by cool nights. The harvest was later than usual and the combination of factors referred to above led to the grapes achieving perfect ripeness, good concentration and, crucially, maintaining an excellent level of acidity and thus freshness.  The wines are, in consequence, beautifully balanced.

The reds have abundant tannins but as they are ripe they do not intrude aggressively onto the palate, and the flavours are layered and the textures supple. The whites are blessed with excellent ripeness, precise, floral aromas and a beguiling freshness.  Both colours display wonderful length.

The only negative appears to be a small crop.

Our first two days were totally given over to visits to Condrieu and Côte Rôtie producers, with fabulous examples of the former from Robert Niero and Stéphane Ogier setting a high standard, then Jean-Michel Gerin and René Rostaing maintaining the pace before the tasting at Domaine Georges Vernay  yielded perhaps the finest wines. In terms of the reds, it was a virtually unbroken record of superlatives, with the words “minerality, structure, balance and length” recurring with great regularity.

Tuesday brought us a morning of stark contrast, from the self-effacing Jean-Claude Mouton to the ebullient, extrovert Francois Villard, whose boundless enthusiasm is directed at us in machine-gun-like volleys of information. The mercurial Yves Cuilleron delivered his usual impeccable range in which I reserved particular praise for his trio of red St Joseph along with the more southerly crus of Cornas and St Peray.  The high standard of the Côte Rôties tasted became almost monotonous, or would have done if  it hadn’t been so enjoyable.

Wednesday saw us an hour further south in the village of Mauves. Jérôme Coursodon demonstrated just why he has been elevated to star status by the prestigious Revue des Vins de France by showing a stunning array of St Joseph, and virtually next door, it would be heretical to suggest that the component parts of Jean-Louis Chave’s 2010s, tasted individually from barrel, were anything other than awesome.

A comprehensive tasting chez Chapoutier proved one of the high points of the trip; the sheer concentration and quality of the various Sélections Parcellaires” was, in the immortal words of Derek Trotter, “blinding”, and it was such a pleasure not to see an excess of oak featuring in the tasting notes, with none of the wines receiving more than 20% new wood in their maturation.

The range at négociant Ferraton was more mixed but, as ever, there were enough gems to excite admiration, while at Domaine Emmanuel Darnaud we were secretly relieved to learn that his 2010 had just been bottled, sparing us the usual multi-barrel tasting of the components to which the charming, dynamic and loquacious Emmanuel normally subjects us, anxious not to make our job “trop facile,” as he puts it.

Gastronomic highlights were, unusually, few and far between this time around but Wednesday stands out for a wonderful meal at Mangevins, a tiny, 22-seater bistro in Tain which now serves, by common consent, some of the most imaginative food in the region, accompanied by a stunning wine list.

Thursday featured a brisk look at Marc Sorrel’s impeccable Hermitages, more of the same from the towering, pony-tailed, flu-ridden Florent Viale at Domaine de Colombier, and surely some of the most extraordinary Crozes-Hermitage of the area from Laurent Combier at his eponymous domaine.

Further south at St Peray Domaine du Tunnel’s reputation continues to grow, and Stéphane Robert is another young grower in the limelight, now elevated to 2-star status by France’s premier wine publication. His trio of white St Perays demonstrated wonderful varietal character and freshness, while his Cornas, all three of them, are benchmark examples in the modern idiom. A very kind invitation to lunch allowed us to see his wife Sandrine demonstrate a deft touch with Blanquette de Veau, liberally laced with cream and St Peray, washed down with Cornas 2006.  A quick visit to another master exponent of Cornas, Vincent Paris, rounded off the week in appropriate style, with tasting notes featuring, for the umpteenth time, highly complimentary comments about quality of tannins, minerality, concentration and length.

We will be offering these wines in our major Rhone 2010 offer at the end of February 2012, at which time our buyer Simon Field, MW, will write detailed and copious notes on all the wines offered, rather than this brief overview. All indications are, however, that this is an outstanding vintage in the Rhone, with several highly-respected producers, not renowned for hyperbole, declaring it to be the finest for decades.

It will come as little surprise that the organiser was Champagne Bollinger, who decided to mark the 50th anniversary of the London launch of their prestige cuvée, Bollinger R.D. The House decided to pour 12 vintages of R.D., starting with the inaugural year of 1952 and running through to 1997. All the wines were disgorged in February 2011, except the 1952 which had been disgorged in 1969.

The tasting took place in the Michelin-starred restaurant Jules Verne, halfway up the Eiffel Tower, not the easiest place to get to, served by a single, small lift, but blessed with glorious views once you get there. Bollinger’s Chef de Cave, Mathieu Kauffman, was on hand to talk us through the various wines, explaining the vagaries of each year’s weather which contributed to the style.

I append full tasting notes below but the overriding impression was one of amazing freshness and vitality in the wines, even those of more than 40 years of age.

Those attending came from all around the world and comprised a cross-section of top wine journalists, principals from the House of Bollinger, members of the Broccoli family, marking the House’s long association with the James Bond films, a top London sommelier, myself and some leading wine bloggers. Hardly any of these vintages can still be found commercially so it was a rare treat indeed to be invited to taste them.

My warmest thanks to Bollinger for an unforgettable experience.


1997

Yeasty, bready nose with fabulous aromas of stone-fruit, Mirabelle plum and peach. On the palate a honeyed ripeness, soft peachy fruit, wonderful maturity, hints of caramel. Quite buttery, then fine acidity on the finish.

1996

Quite closed and backward on the nose. Marvellous harmony and balance on the palate. Still extraordinarily youthful, lots of vigour. Red fruit character much to the fore, raspberry and red cherry. Great length.

1995

Restrained, fine, elegant nose, hints of red fruit jam with orange peel. Beautiful purity of fruit, much more evolved than the 1996. Magnificent richness, very complete and long. Ready to drink now.

1990
As one would expect from this hot year, a pronounced aroma of exotic fruit with a strong counterpoint of wild mushrooms, especially cèpes and mousserons; baked apples, roasted nuts and honey also much in evidence. On the palate hints of caramel and vanilla point to great ripeness in the fruit, with citrus peel and Asian spice adding to the complexity. Powerful, long finish.

1988

Deep gold colour, honeyed but very fresh, youthful nose, with notes of fruits-in-liqueur, mushrooms and brioche. Very, very fine on the palate, with ripe yellow plum and white peach, followed by piercingly fresh lemon-peel acidity on the finish. Amazing length. A personal favourite from a very strong field!

1985

Deep gold colour; pronounced musky nose of mushroom hazelnuts and citrus peel, with one taster spotting ginseng. Others found white truffle, hints of coffee; more exotic fruit than was found in the more classical years such as 1988 or 1996. Very fine acidity and a long, persistent finish.

1979

Aroma of macerated yellow stone-fruits, plums and nectarines. Notes of honeyed almonds and hazelnuts on the palate, excellent freshness and lively youthfulness. Great persistence and balance, exceptional length.

1976

A very hot summer, and yet surprisingly some slightly green, vegetal notes on the bouquet. On the palate, however, immense richness and depth. Still remarkably unevolved for such a hot year. Not quite as well-knit and harmonious as some but still considerable zest and length.

1966

A tiny crop, after hail wreaked havoc in the vines. Aromas of mushrooms, dried apricot, hazelnuts and oranges-in-brandy. Very saline and mouth-watering. Wonderful freshness. A lot of the sparkle has gone so the quality of the base wine is revealed in all its glory, and outstanding it is, too. Extraordinary length.

1961

Deep gold. Very hard to write a note as this was sheer perfection. Winey, vinous, long, round and harmonious. Mozart in a glass.

1959

Smoky, honeyed, spicy, yeasty, bready nose. Very full and powerful on the palate. Very opulent, not quite the freshness of the 1961. A hot summer brought the grapes to excellent maturity and, if anything, this has lent the wines a touch of heaviness on the finish with the acidity only moderate.

1952

Noble rot in September has imbued the bouquet with exotic notes, honeyed apricot and peach. Roasted nuts are in evidence and, for the only occasion in this tasting, coconut. Lovely velvet texture in the mouth, the acidity slightly low as one would expect from botrytis-affected fruit, but still a remarkable wine at nearly 60 years of age.

The wines tasted were:

2008 les Cyprès de Climens  (2nd Wine)
2008 Climens
2007 Climens
2005 Climens
2004 Climens
2002 Climens
2001 Climens
1999 Climens
1990 Climens
1988 Climens
1976 Climens
1964 Climens

Of course it was a marvellous treat to taste the highly-reputed great vintages such as 2007 and 1990, along with the mythical 2001, but for me one of the most rewarding pleasures was to taste the so-called lesser years, especially the cooler vintages of 2002 and 2004, which yielded wines of sublime elegance and class, eminently drinkable now and destined to please for years to come.  My personal favourite was the 1988, amazingly backward and reserved, the least opulent of the Holy Trinity of great years from 1988-1990, but a wine of wonderful balance, great restraint and laden with promise for years to come, long into the future. Interestingly the great 2001, given a perfect score of 100 points by Robert Parker, is only just beginning to emerge from its shell after being closed up for years. It needs time to blossom fully but all the ingredients are clearly there for a monumental wine which will comfortably outlive all of those who attended the tasting, unless it can be shown, as many of us believe,  that regular consumption of great sweet wine such as this promotes human longevity! It was also fascinating to see how the wines moved into a different state of maturity once they got beyond 30 years of age, with the floral, fruit characteristics becoming more muted in favour of aromas of dried fruits, orange peel, marmalade and coconut. The 1976 remained amazingly fresh, while the 1964 had clearly moved into a comfortable middle-age.

Our sincere thanks to Bérénice for a tasting tour-de-force, and a great experience for all those who attended.

In the meantime, however, Burgundy 2009 has taken centre stage in January, and, gosh, there are some glorious wines here. Visiting the region in October I was particularly taken by the comments of two top producers, neither renowned for hyperbole. Jean-Philippe Fichet in Meursault said that a grower would be lucky to work with this quality of grapes six, maybe seven times in a lifetime. Dominique Lafon, asked at what level he would rate the vintage, reflected for a moment before saying that the reds are really excellent but that some of the whites are truly great.

Tasting comprehensively earlier this month my own preference amongst the whites was for those produced in cooler sites; great value can be found in Pernand- Vergelesses , St Aubin, Savigny–les-Beaune, and Ladoix. In the more celebrated appellations there is a wealth of  glorious wines to choose from but I always seek out minerality, which for me is what defines great Burgundy from other Chardonnays. Fichet’s Les Tessons, Merlin’s Pouilly Fuissé Vergisson, Jean-Noel Gagnard’s Caillerets and just about any Corton-Charlemagne you care to name from our selection are superlative wines.

Amongst the reds the northerly villages of Gevrey Chambertin, Morey St Denis and Chambolle Musigny impressed me most, with the wines of Rossignol-Trapet and Clos des Lambrays especially exciting, but the overall quality is so high that it seems futile to try to pinpoint individual successes. The vintage is hugely appealing for the reds, and although they show no lack of staying power it seems that they will offer more early-drinking charm than the outstanding, but more backward 2005s. With an eye not only on the present day but also on the future, I would draw your attention to two young producers, already established as stars in their own right in the Domaines they run but now creating great reputations as negoçiants, displaying a masterly touch with bought-in grapes. Benjamin Leroux, bottling wines under his own name, and  David Croix, under the Camille Giroud label, are brilliant winemakers equally adept with red and white wines and both look destined for long, stellar careers.

Thoughts now turn to the Rhône, a region on which Mother Nature has also smiled in 2009. We recall the lovely 2007s, which were hailed as great in the South and very good in the North. 2009 is similar but the other way round, with producers in the northerly appellations this time talking of legendary quality akin to 1999 or even 1990.  Tasting comprehensively in the valley in November last year I was struck by the purity, elegance and concentration of the Syrah in the North. The confident smiles of the Côte Rôtie producers, in particular, presaged an exciting series of tastings and so it proved, but in the other appellations  of Hermitage, St Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage there is also huge anticipation. The most welcome and startling development has been the sudden resurgence of interest in the wines of Cornas; long regarded as rather rustic and “animal” in terms of its aromas, and excessively tannic on the palate, the Cornas being produced by a  new generation of growers now displays much more finesse while losing none of the intrinsic character of  the appellation.
The South should by no means be ignored, however, as the better producers have once again produced Grenache-based wines of enormous appeal, and at all levels from basic Côtes du Rhône through to the loftiest Châteauneuf-du-Papes.

Nor should one overlook the white wines; 30 years ago we would not have been highly complimentary about the average quality of most Rhône white wines, but the use of modern vinification techniques has revolutionised the entire category, and nowadays the traditional richness and weight of the wines is allied to a delightful freshness and vivacity. Look out particularly for the Condrieus in 2009, and, at a more modest level of price, the Viognier and Roussanne Vins de Pays and the St Peray wines, which justifiably continue to grow in reputation.

Our 2009 En-Primeur offer goes live on February 25th and I urge you not to miss out on what looks like being one of the finest Rhône vintages for many a year.

On the one hand this ruling is extremely disappointing and potentially confusing for consumers. The St Emilion appellation, unlike that of the Médoc, is at least dynamic in that every 10 years there are opportunities for promotion and relegation. Properties which demonstrate marked improvement are rewarded, while those who rest on their laurels risk demotion. This can be a useful safeguard against complacency and a genuine spur to improvement in quality.

On the other hand it is imperative that the assessment of the wines must be seen to be carried out in an objective and impartial manner if the classification is to be widely respected as a true reflection of the current status of properties in the St Emilion appellation. As this appears to be the stumbling block at the moment it should not be too difficult to amend the procedure so as to overcome the Court’s misgivings.

 I first met him in the Walnut Tree Inn at Abergavenny, sitting alone in front of a huge plate of mussels , washed down with a bottle of Chablis (Bill didn’t do halves, in any aspect of his life).

He was one of those rare people who, when they entered a room, surged in on the back of a gale of bonhomie, laughter and sharp wit. His knowledge of wine was vast, and his opinions always trenchantly expressed, and he was at his best, seated at table amongst friends, enjoying fine food and wine, fearlessly holding forth on any subject which came to mind.

They certainly broke the mould when they made Bill and his presence will be sorely missed.

Moving on to white wine to serve with oysters I would select a Chablis, and the biting, mouth-watering minerality of Billaud Simon ‘s wines has no peer in my book.

With turkey I eschew the tannins of Claret in favour of the aromatic quality and silky texture of Pinot Noir. Denis Bachelet’s Gevrey Chambertin Vieilles Vignes does the trick, the older the better as his wines never reveal their true potential in youth.

I prefer a much lighter dessert than Christmas pudding, but if I were having it I would drink a great old Oloroso such as Lustau Old East India; this has amazing raisiny, figgy characteristics with wonderful length and enough concentration to stand up to the pudding.

With cheese I like to have port, particularly for the blue cheese such as Roquefort or Stilton, and I shall be opening Dow 1983 this year in the expectation that it is now reaching peak maturity.

Rounding all of this off, a glass of Berrys Cognac Reserve, a beautifully rounded, aromatic spirit of great smoothness would fit the bill. This acts as a digestif and hopefully wards off the need for Zantac to become the next course!

For more of my favourites, take a look at my Christmas Wine Video Podcask where I describe my favourite Christmas Day wines in our Pickering Cellars at 3 St James’s St in London.

 Have a very merry Christmas!

In some parts of the world, especially the Southern Hemisphere, it is clearly the case that vintage variation is less pronounced than in the more marginal climates of Northern Europe. Moreover, in the top appellations of Bordeaux and Burgundy, years of success have spawned a scale of investment in technology which has effectively eliminated the incidence of the truly terrible vintages of the past. The days when every decade brought three very good vintages, three shockers and four of average quality seem well past.

Nevertheless I believe that there remain enough variations between vintages, particularly amongst European wines, to ensure that comparison remains a valid and enlightening study. 2003 by Bollinger, encased in packaging which displays the vines under snow (left), is a great example of how vintage variations can produce very different styles from year to year.

I agree with Hugh Johnson that at the very pinnacle of quality, the First Growths of Bordeaux for example, the wines from what are considered the greatest vintages acquire a reputation and value which comes in part from their perception as “trophy wines”, and demand for them spirals as a result.

Slightly lower down the scale, however, I still find it fascinating to discern the different characteristics of vintages which might all be deemed “good” but which are borne out of widely differing climatic conditions. 2003 and 2004 in Bordeaux, for example, present a very interesting comparison, as do 2000 and 2001 in Burgundy, or 2005 and 2006 in the Rhone.

Furthermore, away from the top domaines, where investment in technology is less affordable, one still sees starkly the effect of differing weather conditions on vintages; in everyday Burgundy , for example, the heat of 2003 yielded wines with roasted characteristics, further pushed out of balance by clumsy acidification, followed by the green, herbaceous style of the slightly less ripe 2004s.

If the current global warming trend is permanent, which is far from certain, we may see greater regularity in vintages in European vineyards, but, for now at least, let’s continue to celebrate diversity.

Years in the trade have taught me that it is unwise to be dogmatic about the quality of a vintage when the fermentations are still to be completed, but it was revealing to see the confidence expressed in the quality of the 2007 harvest by growers not normally renowned for over-statement.  Jean-Pierre Perin, of Château de Beaucastel, spoke about a possible equivalent of the legendary 1947, while Daniel Brunier, of Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, marvelled at the perfect quality of fruit harvest at his estates.

The key, after a cold and damp summer, has been a fabulous September, with unbroken sunshine raising sugar levels, while over 10 consecutive days of the Mistral wind concentrated the grapes and ensured the complete absence of any rot or mildew.

Growers in the northern part of the Rhône are also highly enthusiastic, if a little more circumspect at this stage.  We shall know more in a few weeks, but in the meantime the quality of the 2006 vintage should not be overlooked.  On the contrary, it is a vintage of superb purity and finesse, and one which BBR will be delighted to offer for the first time in early 2008.