We have just received a few more cases of the 'Big Guns' from the talented team at First Drop Wines. These are small-volume, ultra high-quality wines that show off the full potential of the Barossa when handled with the level of sophistication that winemaker Matt Gant brings to the challenge. In addition these are some of the most highly pointed wines around!
First Drop 'Fat of the Land' Seppeltsfield Shiraz 2006
First Drop 'Fat of the Land' Greenock Shiraz 2006
First Drop 'Fat of the Land' Ebenezer Shiraz 2006
First Drop '2%' Barossa Shiraz 2006
Burgundy has about a thousand vineyards, which is quite enough for even the keenest of memories. But making things even more complicated is the fact that virtually all of them have multiple owners. This makes for quite literally thousands upon thousands of different wine labels. Among these many thousands of labels, Robert Groffier is now considered to be one of the very finest. With seven hectares of top vineyard land in the Cote d'Or, including Chambolle-Musigny, Bonnes Mares and Chambertin Clos de Beze, Groffier has some outstanding material to work with. The time and effort Serge and Nicolas Groffier (Serge's son) give to the vineyards is paying back handsomely and correspondingly low yields lead to wines of real purity and class; indeed they are among some of the purest expression of Pinot Noir anywhere. Groffier's wines are powerful, featuring deep colour, good structure and plenty of tannin for Pinot Noir. The Chambolle Amoureuses is often the most forward, showing lots of ripe, succulent berry fruit from the moment it hits the bottle. The Bonnes Mares is deeper with much more muscle but with lots of obvious fruit underneath. Groffier is similar to many top winemakers in that his winemaking techniques are flexible and vary from vintage to vintage. Some years he includes stalks in his fermentation and some years he does not. Each year he will do a cold maceration for five to six days followed by a hot fermentation that extracts lots of colour and flavour.
Domaine Robert Groffier Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2007
Domaine Robert Groffier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru 'Les Sentiers' 2007
Domaine Robert Groffier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru 'Les Amoureuses' 2007
Domaine Robert Groffier Grand Cru 'Bonnes Mares' 2007
This domaine could be a case study for the current trend in Burgundy and how it is shaping the future: the son takes over from the father and the quality curve arches immediately skyward. That was certainly the case when Vincent Geantet took over from his father, the estate is now really emerging as a star of the appellation. Even Robert Parker calls it, "One of the up and coming domaines of the Côte d'Or." Though only just landed, we've tried through all these wines already. And, at the risk of stating the obvious, the range makes for really interesting drinking. Meaning, the six wines in the range may all be from Pinot Noir made in exactly the same way by the same winemaker in the same vintage. But because the six wines constitute three different villages and (at least) five different vineyards, each wine has a very distinct personality.You really see the vivid role of Burgundian terroir in these wines, and it makes for fascinating tasting.
Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin “Les Jeunes Rois” 2006
Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin - Vieilles Vignes 2006
Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin “En Champs” 2006
Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Chambolle-Musigny “Les Baudes” 1er Cru 2006
Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin “Le Poissenot” 1er Cru 2006
Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru 2006
Château de La Tour is the largest, and one of the most important producers in Clos Vougeot. The domaine itself is located right in the vineyard, on the northern side of the Clos Vougeot and just down the slope from the fabled, sixteenth century Château de Clos Vougeot.With holdings of six hectares of old vines in Clos Vougeot, from which they make both a Clos Vougeot and a Vieilles Vignes bottling (the latter hailing from vines between eighty and one hundred years of age). Their parcels are right in the heart of the vineyard, on the upper slopes that surround the two châteaux and lie just below Musigny.The domaine is one of the few owners in the Clos Vougeot that continue to practice organic viticulture. Vinification techniques here are quite traditional, with no de-stemming taking place prior to fermentation at rather high temperatures and aging for eighteen to twenty months in cask prior to bottling. The resulting wines are built for long-term cellaring, with their more black fruity and powerful personalities fully blossoming after a decade or more of bottle age in top vintages.
Château de la Tour Clos-Vougeot Grand Cru 2006
Château de la Tour Clos-Vougeot Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru 2006
In case you haven't heard the legend of the hill of Corton's dual personality, here it is: As the story goes, the Emperor Charlemagne had a penchant for the silky, spicy reds from Corton, but unfortunately could not keep his beard from dipping into his glass. His wife became so disgusted with his wine-stained beard that she ordered white grapes to be planted on part of the hill. The part of the vineyard planted to Chardonnay soon garnered a world-wide reputation as well. The wine is known as Corton-Charlemagne. A nice enough story but perhaps easily refuted by taking a closer look at the plantings. The hill of Corton peaks at 388 meters and is capped by trees at the top. The vines stop at around 360 meters up, and from this height downhill to about 250 meters is where the Grand Crus are located: named Corton if red and Corton-Charlemagne if white. The Chardonnay appears to be planted mostly on marly soil, while Pinot Noir is planted on the more reddish-brown chalk soils. The Corton territory spreads over 284 hectares in total, 96 hectares of which are categorized as Aloxe-Corton, 38 as Aloxe-Corton Premier Cru, 101 hectares as Corton red and white Grand Cru, and 49 hectares as Grand Cru Corton-Charlemagne.
Domaine Comte Senard Aloxe-Corton 'Les Valozières' 1er Cru 2006
Domaine Comte Senard Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru 2006
Domaine Comte Senard Corton 'Clos du Roi' Grand Cru 2006
Domaine Comte Senard Corton 'Clos du Roi' Grand Cru 2003
Domaine Comte Senard Corton 'Clos du Roi' Grand Cru 2002
Remi Jobard is the intelligent and dynamic son of Charles Jobard, and the brother of Francois (another well-known Burgundy producer in his own right). You've heard the phrase family run operation a hundred times before, but this truly is; Remi's mother does all the bottling by hand! Jobard produces mostly Chardonnay from Mersault, as well as a small amount of Aligoté and Pinot Noir. To capture all of the texture and nuance Rémi now also bottles all of his wines without filtration sixteen months after vintage. The Genevrières vineyard is divided into four contiguous parcels totaling 41 acres in the very heart of Meursault's southern premiers crus. It takes its name from the presence, years ago, of the juniper bushes which covered its slope, and it is sometimes said that the tang of this aromatic berry can be detected in the wine. The Meursault En Luraule displays floral, hazelnut and honey notes with freshness. “It’s the most ‘typical’ Meursault in my cellar," says Jobard. "It fits the description of Meursault that you read in books.” There’s more density in the Les Chevalières, and the Poruzots-Dessus is refined and elegant. The Genevrières is a bit riper and more exotic, with a spicy quality and it builds to a long finish. We get only tiny amounts of these wines and it's important to us that whatever remains after we've drunk and cellared our fair share, goes to good homes. If you'd like to apply for custodianship of a few bottles, call to present your credentials to Alastair or Ryan on 09 529 5267.
Rémi Jobard Meursault 'Les Chevalières' 2007
Rémi Jobard Meursault 'En Luraule' 2007
Rémi Jobard Meursault 1er Cru 'Les Genevrières' 2007
Rémi Jobard 1er Cru 'Le Poruzot-Dessus' 2007
Remi Jobard Aligoté 2006
Remi Jobard Meursault 'En Luraule' 2006
Remi Jobard Meursault 1er Cru 'Le Poruzot Dessus' 2006
Remi Jobard Meursault 1er Cru 'Les Genevrieres' 2006
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