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Frederic Esmonin Chambertin-clos De Bèze(2004)
- Winery:
- Frédéric Esmonin
- Varietal:
- Pinot Noir
- Region:
- France > Burgundy
- Type:
- Red Wine
- User Tags:
- intense, apple, pome, romanian cheese, (tree) fruit, classic, spice, terroir, yield, cellar
Starting at
$60.94 USD
$60.94 USD
- Burghound
- Issue 21, Jan 01, 2006
- 89/100
-
May 2008
- Frédéric Esmonin has a new cellar master in Pierre Nawrocki, who came from Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat after an unfortunate dispute that all concerned agree, privately anyway, was regrettable. Nawrocki arrived in March, 2005 and immediately set about suggesting changes, many of which both father André and son Frédéric have agreed to adopt. As it was described to me, commencing with the 2006 vintage, there will be generally lower yields (though no set target is apparently in mind) and fewer appellations, at least at the grand cru level as there is apparently increasing dissatisfaction read more...with the current quality. These appellations will very likely be replaced with 1ers though both Esmonin and Nawrocki were careful to point out that they won't be replacing some appellations only to produce others from the same quality of grapes. The emphasis will apparently be on finding sources of top quality grapes and if they can find them, great and if they don't, then there will simply be fewer wines. Nawrocki also detailed an impressive list of new equipment that the domaine will be purchasing, again with the intent of having better quality control capability. If you're reading this and wondering whether all of these initiatives can be implemented and have the Esmonin wines remain the incredible bargains that they have been, the answer is a frank, unapologetic and unequivocal no. We will be raising prices effective with the 2005 vintage but we will also be offering the consumer higher quality wines. Hopefully our traditional clients will understand that it costs money to craft a top quality product and that's what we intend to deliver, Nawrocki noted. It's worth pointing out that Nawrocki has already been successful at taking a moderately well performing domaine and incrementally increasing quality to where Hudelot was knocking on the door of elite status. Whether he can repeat that feat at Esmonin remains to be seen because while taking a group of great terroirs such as Hudelot possesses still higher is one thing but taking a somewhat less gifted group together with wines made from purchased grapes to the same level is a greater challenge still. We'll get our first glimpse of the changes with the 2005 vintage but the true gauge of progress won't be evident until 2006 and thereafter. Note that Nawrocki's only involvement with the 2004s was finishing the élevage. As to the 2004s, I was frankly under whelmed. While they certainly weren't substandard, neither were they standouts, primarily because of the limited phenolic ripeness in certain wines but be sure to read the notes carefully as this objection does not apply to the entire range. Frédéric Esmonin described the difficulties of the vintage, particularly the particularly onerous triage that was necessary due to three hail storms, mildew and oidium. As he noted, we were afraid of making another 1984 and thus we sorted everything we could and were very careful about our extraction levels. A few of the wines were bottled just 15 days before my late November visit and the rest will be bottled before the end of December. The wines had been bottled just before my late October visit. (Atherton Wine Imports, Atherton, CA and Monsieur Touton Selections, New York, NY; John Armit Wines, Howard Ripley, La Reserve and H&H Bancroft, UK). Note: from purchased must A classic Clos de Bèze nose of intense spice, earth and underbrush that adds nuance to the mostly red pinot fruit aromas that continues onto the round, rich and balanced sappy flavors that deliver real precision and finishing intensity. There is good if not great volume here and the only nit is a slight touch of finishing warmth but otherwise, this is really quite pretty. (hide)
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