“Burgundy” meets “New World”

Les Caves des Hautes-Côtes is a co-operative in Beaune and handles 470 hectares in 40 Burgundy appellations !! Aha, a really big producer with a lot of trivial wines, isn’t it ? Sure 2002 has been an excellent vintage but Pommard is known for tighter, more robust wines than its more elegant brothers from the Côtes de Nuits. So, are those guys really able to produce good Pinot Noir wines ? Short answer – Yes, they are ! At least this wine did really surprise me with its splendid, youthful garnet red color and its absolutely clean, typical nose. No stinker or excessive use of wood but pure and very straight fruit of red berries, soured cherries, some licorice and spicy notes of cloves and new leather. All this has been interwoven by soft earthy, almost smoky scents – Pommard says hello ! All in all a very young but harmonious, persistent and quite complex bouquet for a normal “Village” wine made by such a big producer. Nothing appeared contrived or even artificial but well-conceived and well made. Especially with food this wine will be a very good choice because it offers a nice balance between its acidity and fruitiness plus soft and lively tannins which provide structure until the good finish A delicious fun wine with this certain “gimme another glass” effect. Offers big pleasure now but can also be kept for a couple of years more. Very good !

Also this wine didn’t show an overdone, dark color but a typical clear Pinot Noir carmine to garnet red. That’s the way I like it. In contrast to the predecessor we found here a stronger pronounced fruit like black cherries, red currant, gooseberries, traces of apricots and funnily also ripe tomatoes. Spicy scents like cinnamon and vanilla acted just in the background to tame and balance this fruit festival a little bit. With some more time the wine developed also a nice graphite note and became a little bit more serious, mature. A clear, very straight acidity and fine grained, ripe tannins gave freshness and structure. Just in the medium length aftertaste we recognized soft hints of not yet fully integrated new wood but with more time also this will be resolved. In the end it has been like expected. A very good made wine, more on the fruity, easier drinking side but nevertheless not just one dimensional but with depth, character and potential. Another version, another interpretation of Pinot Noir.

Concerning the Pinot Noirs of Hamilton Russell I haven’t found yet a similar approach like I did for their Chardonnays (real genius stuff). Perhaps it’s because some people are saying that Hamilton Russell is the “Grand Cru” of South Africas Pinot Noir and due to that I have weird expectations/imaginations ? During our vacation we also visited both of their properties ( a “MUST DO !!”) and tried the actual years. All of them have been really excellent wines and therefore I was very curious, if today the knot will burst and if finally I will be enlightened. For a Pinot Noir this wine has a very strong but clear garnet red color without any diluted margin. Then in the glasses the too well known picture. Absolutely closed nose, muted and unwilling to show anything. Finally, after more than one hour in a carafe the wine started talking and to open up step by step. And the story we were told was a story about an indigenous Pinot Noir with scents of red berry jelly, leather, cinnamon sticks, cloves, warm wood, hazelnuts and forest floor after a rain. Multi layered, very complex but also very challenging. If you expect here an easy-going wine evening you are wrong. This wine claims all your attention and a lot of time. Then you may discover all its facets. That’s indeed very similar to a lot of its big and famous counterparts in Burgundy. Also at the palate the wine has been very tight but with a good acidity and a healthy tannin structure. The medium finish was characterized by red fruits such as red currant, red berries but also vegetable flavors of truffles/mushrooms and a soft sensation of yeast. A very interesting but also very demanding Pinot which, after my humble opinion , still needs some more time of aging in the bottle. But for sure a wine with an own signature and plenty of character.

I really looked forward to open this bottle. First of all because I love the wines from the Côtes de Nuits and here especially the “Charmes” area. Charmes Chambertin enfolds a little bit more then 12 hectares of vineyards with different owners. Therefore the quantities of each producer are very limited and as a result fancy priced. Unfortunately quite a common “evil” in the Burgundy region (especially concerning the Grand Crus). The heck with it ! If you are patient enough there will be from time to time also possibilities for a “steal” – like this one here . And that’s the second reason because of what I urgently wanted to try this wine. Was it in the end just a steal or even a “big steal” ? Just this much – it was a veeeery big steal because the wine has been simple marvelous. But one after another. The bottle showed a almost prefect filling level and after we pulled out the healthy cork (just 5 mm soaked) a wine with a mature vermilion color and a soft red-yellow margin poured in big glasses. Just a very slight turbidity marred a little bit this otherwise nice first impression and after the wine took a deep breathe a real Pinot Noir spectacle got started. Mature, warm smells of fine wood, old leather, mushrooms with butter, cold smoke and warm forest floor formed the stage for ripe Pinot scents of cherry jam, red berry jelly and some Port wine. All this spiced up and completed by soft ethereal notes of fresh milled black pepper, young fir needles and licorice. It is difficult to describe such a complete, harmonious and warm bouquet but everybody who tasted such a wine will understand the myth of such wines. Pure elegance and dignity combined with weightless power and grace. Simply genius. Also the palate showed classic mature Pinot Noir of the finest with a perfect, solid tannin structure sustained by a decent, clean and perfect integrated acidity until the nice, ethereal aftertaste. If you are using big glasses this wine doesn’t need a carafe. Simply pour it in, lay back, watch how it develops and indulge in divine Pinot Noir. A great wine !