Vinoculation

2004 Burgundy. Talked up at its release as a “classic” vintage where vineyards showed their terroir. So the top vineyards perform, erm, well, and the lesser vineyards are shit. Which means an underperforming vintage then.

So was it so bad?

As a white wine vintage, not a bad vintage at all. There are some beautiful whites made in 2004, and I don’t think any disagree that this is where the strength of 2004 lies. Drinking from my own cellar seems to confirm this, although much of that has been wines made by Bouchard - hard to go too far wrong!

But what about the reds, do they deserve to be maligned? There are folks i nAustralia who flipped their whoel order to auction after seeing lukewarm reports.  Theres all sorts of talk of the vintage being “green” but lots of tasting notes which indicate otherwise. Some say there were issues with bugs of different sorts, and when the grapes hit the triage tables they couldn’t all be picked out. Ladybirds and millipedes in particular seem to have the finger pointed as beasts that have infected the vintage.

Well whatever is true, here are a couple of 04 village level reds (and reasonable ones at that).

04 Armand Rousseau Gevrey Chambertin: Pale, almost salmon pink. Starts out with lovely spicy notes while it still has a bit of bottle spritz. An hour’s quarantine sees this settle down into a lovely drink. Violets, forest berries, some undergrowth, pinous sappy elements, and lovely density on the tongue. Tannins remains fine and gentler now. Lots of coiled power here bodes well for the future, but a lovely drink right now. None of the green elements that many seem to find in 04’s.

04 Louis Jadot Chambolle Musigny: Violets, some berries, touches of maturity, pinot sap that verges towards greenness, combined with what tastes like unripe acids. Fine tannins and most of the pinot palate profile. Technically this is all here, but it has a number of green elements and just doesn’t taste very nice.

This was never going to be a definitive test but there you go – 1 all. You might expect the Rousseau will be good given the maker’s reputation. But Jadot is a biggish negociant and should have plenty of fruit to pick from. The best conclusion I can make based on these two wines is buyer beware.

Cheers

Andrew