FEATURES ARCHIVE

Listed in the order in which the wines will be auctioned on Sunday, 15 November 2009

RED WINES
Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Dames Hospitalières
Rich, purple-garnet, with fresh Pinot and spicy aromas. Red fruits character is evident from the start, with mid-palate being medium-structured and elegant, with fine harmony.  This cuvée often has mild acidity levels, and 2009 is no exception, with gentle tannins on the finish.

Pommard 1er Cru, Cuvée Dames de la Charité
Rich, deep purple, the nose being concentrated, spicy and fresh. This is magnificently structured, with powerful, dense fruitiness which promises superb development. Tannins are dense, fully ripe, and without astringence, the finish being creamily textured and very long. A great wine.

Volnay 1er Cru, Cuvée Général Muteau
Colour is a brilliant purple-red of medium depth, the aromas recalling black fruits, with a touch of earthiness. The palate shows beguiling fruitiness, with beautiful mid-palate and length. For lovers of Volnay, this presses all the right buttons, including elegance, freshness and harmony.

Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Guigone de Salins
This has impressive, purple colour, the nose showing appetizing, red fruits character, with a touch of tar. Of medium structure, it has fine, fresh fruitiness, with a powerful, strong finish, showing good potential to age.

Clos de la Roche Grand Cru, Cuvée Cyrot-Chaudron
There are two Cuvée names for the Hospices’s Clos de la Roche. 3 barrels of Cuvée Cyrot-Chaudron were made in 2009, and 4 of Cuvée Georges Kritter. They fermented in one vat, and then were given the names of two different, generous, recent benefactors, who each donated funds to buy the vineyards. In colour, this is purple-garnet of medium depth, the nose showing very fragrant, briary character. Approx 50 per cent of this cuvée was made with whole grape bunches (i.e. not de-stemmed), which has given a complex, fleshily elegant wine of bewitching texture and real beauty. The finish has gentle, long-lingering tannins of exceptional silkiness. 

Corton Grand Cru, Cuvée Charlotte Dumay
This is purple-red of medium depth, the nose showing powerful raspberry and nutmeg aromas, very appealing. On the palate, it has broad, mouth-coating structure, with luscious fruit.  Picked at perfect ripeness, towards the end of the harvest, it fermented slowly, bringing about gentle extractions of flavour and tannins. From a great vintage for Hospices de Beaune Cortons, this cuvée is a classic for mid-term aging.

(A barrel of this will be one of the Pièces des Présidents in 2009, sold for other, specified charities).

Beaune - Grèves 1er Cru, Cuvée Pierre Floquet
In colour, bright purple-ruby of medium depth, with fragrant, ripe, very complex aromas. The palate shows dense, creamily textured fruitiness of great charm, with gentle tannins and beautiful, harmonious aftertaste. This is not a powerfully structured Beaune, but a classic expression of the elegance, sweetness and harmony which this famous hillside can give, when vineyard-tending and wine-making are at the highest level.

Pommard-Epenots 1er Cru, Cuvée Dom Goblet
The colour is medium-deep purple, the perfume being fragrant, with strikingly individual toastiness, fruit and spice. In the mouth, this is beautifully shaped, with creamy texture, mouth-coating fruit and real finesse, followed by gentle tannins, on the finish. Many whole bunches went into this fermenting vat (approx 50 per cent). This will develop into a seductive, lovely wine for medium-term drinking.

Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru Les Duresses, Cuvée Boillot
As in 2008 and in 2007, these 2009 grapes were allowed to hang exceptionally long, producing superbly ripe bunches. Their natural sugars have given a wine with 14 degrees of alcohol, with powerful structure and concentrated fruitiness, to match.  Spicy tannins from the oak barrels presently combine with the wine’s character to make a strong impression. The wine has flesh, a long finish – and a magnificent future ahead of it.

Volnay 1er Cru, Cuvée Blondeau
This is red-purple of medium depth, the nose being dumb and un-developed, when first tasted, then, two weeks later, showing earthiness or botrytis character, which careful tending will seek to diminish. The palate is powerfully built, with considerable structure, dense fruitiness, rich tannins and chewy length. 

Pommard, Cuvée Billardet
This has impressive depth of colour, the nose showing an intense, kirsch-like character, with bright, clean fruitiness. On the palate, it is richly built, with splendid middle, showing a harmonious blend of roasted fruits and creamy texture, fine and long.

Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru, Cuvée Madeleine Collignon
Impressively deep, rich purple, with magnificent, complex black fruits and spice aromas, very spectacular. 30 per cent of this harvest went into the vats as whole bunches, and the slow, resulting fermentation has brought about a gently mouth-coating extraction of abundant fruit, with fleshy, harmonious, fully-ripened yet gentle tannins. This is the greatest red in the cellar for mid- and long-term keeping, with a fantastic power-surge of flavours on the finish.

Corton-Clos du Roi Grand Cru, Cuvée Baronne du Baÿ
In colour, this is solid purple-red, the nose recalling roasted, black fruits, including cherries. The wine comes from fully-ripened grapes which naturally gave sugar-rich juice (yielding 13.5 degrees of alcohol) whose acidity had melted away, but whose magnificent tannins will ensure superb development. The palate is rich, creamily textured, harmonious and long, with a twirl of un-dreamt-of extra flavours which take it into the super-league of greatest Cortons of the vintage, I believe.

Volnay-Santenots 1er Cru, Cuvée Jéhan de Massol
This is the most perfect Volnay-Santenots made by the Hospices de Beaune since the 2005 vintage. The colour is very deep, impressive purple, the aromas being openly fruity, ripe and rich. Magnificent on the palate, this shows superb harmony, sweet fruitiness, succulent texture and astonishing length. The Pinot bunches from which this wine was made are amongst the smallest, with the thickest skins and lowest yields, which can be found. For concentration, harmony and silkiness, this has to be tasted to be believed.  

WHITE WINES
Meursault-Genevrières 1er Cru, Cuvée Philippe le Bon
This has fermented very slowly, and as its sugars gently finish, it is possible to see emerging a wine of sumptuous richness, yet balanced by delicate, fresh acidity, which holds it poised in balance. This wine is luscious, creamy and very long-flavoured.

Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, Cuvée François de Salins
Many of the greatest white Burgundies each vintage reach perfection slowly, after gentle transformation of their sugars, during which time aromas develop, and textures are broadened. So it is with this cuvée, tasted twice, and now still bubbling gently, 10 days before the auction. The palate is evidently full-structured, the fruit concentration remarkable, the acidity balance immaculate.  This will be one of the greatest bottles of the cellar. 

Meursault-Charmes 1er Cru, Cuvée Albert Grivault
Clear, lemon-gold, with cleanly ripe aromas, this has benefited from lees-rousing, the yeasts having been stirred up twice a week. The vines are centrally placed at the heart of the greatest section of Les Charmes dessus, and were picked when the grapes were sugar-rich and very ripe.

(A barrel of this will be one of the Pièces des Présidents in 2009, sold for other, specified charities).

Meursault-Genevrières 1er Cru, Cuvée Baudot
Lemon-golden of medium depth, with citrus, pear and peach aromas. On the palate, this has striking intensity of fruit, with clean minerality and a long, crisp finish. Complete, fresh and concentrated, this has admirable, natural acidity on the aftertaste.

Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru, Cuvée Dames de Flandres
This was made from a high proportion of tiny grape berries, which gave a small quantity of intense juice. Aromas are fragrant, concentrated and very ripe. The wine is powerfully built, vigorous, fleshy, creamily textured and complex – giving an enthrallingly great Bâtard-Montrachet, where every element is in harmony, the finish being exceptionally long. 

Corton-Vergennes Grand Cru, Cuvée Paul Chanson
Located three hundred metres downhill from Corton-Charlemagne Cuvée Charlotte Dumay, this wine has a totally different flavour profile, being more opulent, soft and rich. The nose is complex and spicy, leading into outstanding quality on the palate. This wine has sumptuous ripe texture, with great length.

Meursault-Charmes 1er Cru, Cuvée de Bahèzre de Lanlay
Lemon-green in colour, with intensely rich aromas, this has admirable minerality, allied to focused, intensely fruity middle palate, with clean freshness on the finish. Ageing in fine-grained oak barrels, it has immaculate balance and superb length.

Meursault, Cuvée Goureau
Aromas are ripe and rich, the palate being well-structured, with a luscious, creamily-textured, crisp finish. This will make superb drinking from 2011 to 2015, and beyond.

Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, Cuvée Charlotte Dumay (blanc)
These vineyards face due east, and lie high on the Corton hill. The vines’ roots, planted 8 years ago, must have penetrated more deeply into the limestone, for the wine has achieved, with this vintage, a concentration and complexity never previously seen. The nose is beautiful, recalling lemons and pears. The palate is multi-facetted, full yet lively, steely throughout, impressively complex in aftertaste.  Here is a lovely Charlemagne, for drinking 2012-2020 and beyond.

RED WINES
Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Nicolas Rolin
Ruby-purple of medium depth, with ample, ripe cherry aromas. There is immediate palate impact, the wine showing broadly structured fruitiness, with elegant texture, fine tannins and a lovely finish. Nicolas Rolin is made from a high proportion of really fine Pinot plants, with small bunches and tiny berries.

Corton Grand Cru, Cuvée Dr. Peste
This has solid, purple colour, with aromas of black fruits and cloves, which emerge slowly when the wine is swirled in the glass. The palate shows powerful structure, with dense, chocolate fruitiness and impressively rich tannins. There is neither astringency nor bitterness, but superbly complex length. This is a magnificent wine, deserving long-term aging.

Clos de la Roche Grand Cru, Cuvée Georges Kritter
There are two Cuvée names for the Hospices’s Clos de la Roche. 3 barrels of Cuvée Cyrot-Chaudron were made in 2009, and 4 of Cuvée Georges Kritter. They fermented in one vat, then were given the names of two different, generous, recent benefactors, who each donated funds to buy the vineyards.

Tasting note, same as Cuvée Cyrot-Chaudron:

In colour, this is purple-garnet of medium depth, the nose showing very fragrant, briary character. Approx 50 per cent of this cuvée was made with whole grape bunches (i.e. not de-stemmed), which has given a complex, fleshily, elegant wine of bewitching texture and real beauty. The finish has gentle, long-lingering tannins of exceptional silkiness. 

Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Clos des Avaux
Red-purple of medium depth, with lightly perfumed, raspberry aromas. First impression on the palate is discreet, then the wine’s fruitiness builds in the mouth, showing fine intensity and freshness on the finish.

Pommard, Cuvée Raymond Cyrot
This was harvested at a perfect moment, giving a wine with 12.9 natural degrees of alcohol. The colour is medium deep purple, the nose being fragrant and lovely. The wine is full-bodied without heaviness, with surprising elegance for a village wine often known for sturdiness, rather than delicacy. Lovely finish, fresh and long.

Volnay-Santenots 1er Cru, Cuvée Gauvain
Garnet-purple of medium depth, with fresh aromas of blackberries, allied to spice and gameyness. These grapes gave nearly 14 degrees of natural alcohol on picking – making it the riper wine, of the two Volnay-Santenots. It now shows elegant fruitiness, rich length and impressive, fully-ripened, dense tannins, which are beautifully in balance.

Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Brunet
Colour is red-purple, of medium depth, the nose showing intense, bright fruitiness.  Aging in one-year-old barrels, this is a wine of charm, with sufficient substance, good balance and a fresh finish. In a lovely vintage for the Beaunes, it might not win a blind tasting competition between them, but for future, pleasurable drinking, it may be bought with full confidence. 

WHITE WINES
Saint-Romain (white), Cuvée Joseph Menault
Green-tinged lemon-gold in colour, with very clean aromas, showing white fruits and stoniness. First impression on the palate is of medium body, with clean fruitiness. This has gained volume in the mouth, and fine texture, thanks to lees-rousing during fermentation, and now shows a freshly-balanced, fine finish.

Meursault-Porusots 1er Cru, Cuvée Jéhan Humblot
Aromas here recall pineapple and grapefruit, the palate being full-bodied, sumptuous and ripe. Sugars are not yet finished, and the secondary, malo-lactic fermentation has of course not begun, so it is impossible to be categorical about the wine’s final style. But this strikes me as First Growth Meursault to please traditionalists, thanks to its fully-ripened, creamy texture and soft length.

Pouilly-Fuissé, Cuvée Françoise Poisard
Aromas are very rich, fragrant and spicy, the palate showing good body, balanced acidity and lovely length. Picked first of all the Hospices whites this year, and fermented in one-year barrels, this has admirable harmony.

Meursault, Cuvée Loppin
The nose is complex and mouth-wateringly appetizing, the palate full yet fresh, with very pretty fruit intensity and admirable, spicy length.

RED WINES
Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Maurice Drouhin
This has impressive, purple-garnet colour, the nose showing ripe fruitiness, rich and meaty. First impression on the palate is of an amply-built, classic wine, where dense fruitiness marries admirably with new oak, the finish being ripely tannic, without harshness. This is a beautifully balanced wine, which will gain in smoothness and complexity for a decade, or more.

Monthélie 1er Cru Les Duresses, Cuvée Lebelin
Purple-red of medium depth, with pungently fruity, freshly ripe aromas. Aging in one-year barrels, this is a very pretty wine, with elegant fruitiness, for early drinking, but whose balance will ensure harmonious softening, in the medium term.  

Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Forneret
This has attractive, ruby-purple colour, the nose being fragrant and flowery, with a touch of liquorice. First impression is of dense fruitiness, which persists harmoniously, the finish being chewy with fine tannins, and intriguingly long.

Pommard, Cuvée Suzanne Chaudron
The grapes were harvested late, with a potential, natural alcohol content of 13.9 degrees. This is not just fully ripe; it also has powerful structure, with impressive stuffing in mid-palate, and a finish which is tannic without harshness – very mouth-coating and spicy.

Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Arthur Girard
This has good depth of red-purple colour, the nose being fragrant, fresh and smokey. The palate shows remarkably intense, sweet fruitiness, with charming elegance and up-lifting aftertaste – a lovely wine.

Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Rousseau-Deslandes
Red-purple of medium depth, with fresh, black berries, fruit-cake and kirsch aromas. Picked towards the end of the harvest, this had impressive, natural sugars, potentially giving 14 degrees of alcohol. The palate is full-bodied and fleshy, with tannins present, but well rounded, the finish being harmonious, rich and long.

Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru, Cuvée Rameau-Lamarosse
Garnet-red of medium depth, with aromas still recalling pressed skins, and the fermentation vat. On the palate, this shows balanced fruit, fine structure and soft tannins. It is aging in one-year barrels, and will surely give pleasure immediately after bottling, with future development being assured, thanks to its ripeness and fine balance.

Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Hugues et Louis Bétault
Fine, red-purple colour, of medium depth, with open, fresh fruitiness, on the nose. The palate shows gentle, charming fruit, without the structure of the biggest, late-harvested Beaunes, but with admirable fruit density, and harmonious, charming, fresh length.  

Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Fouquerand
In colour, this is medium deep, purple-red, the aromas being densely ripe and slightly minty. Tasted just after being run off from vat, this had good structure, with chewy, tannin-rich fruit. Three weeks later, the new barrel in which it was aging was masking its charms, but careful tending will certainly bring these elements into fine and satisfying balance.

Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Cyrot-Chaudron
Solid purple in colour, with fragrant aromas, very pungent. These grapes come from high on the Beaune hillside, over-looking Pommard, and this year gave juice of 14 degrees natural alcohol. The sugars are not yet fully transformed, but the wine shows stuffing, richness and splendid length. Half the old vineyard has been up-rooted, so the volume available is reduced this year. 

NOTES ON THE HOSPICES DE BEAUNE 2009 WINE-MAKING
Wine-making: Red Wines
The grapes sometimes came in warm from the picking, so in 2009 there was often a need to chill them, prior to the start of the pre-fermentation macerations. These took place at approx. 11-15 degrees Celsius, to aid extraction of fine, purple colour and aromas, and lasted 3-6 days. Fermentation then took place over a further 9-12 days. Regular, gentle punchings-down (pigeage) took place, from the beginnings of the fermentation, on average twice per day. This was more extensive than in 2008, due to the fine health and ripeness of those grapes which were selected for the vats. 

Thanks to these excellent levels of ripeness in the Pinot Noir skins, colouring matter, aromas and flavours moved gradually into the fermenting juice. Total vatting times for Cuvées such as Savigny, Monthelie, Pernand-Vergelesses and certain Beaunes were 12-15 days. All the other cuvées totalled approximately 15-18 days. A higher proportion of cuvées than usual included whole bunches, thanks to the quality of the grapes and the full maturity of the pips and stems.

The press wines gave juice with tannins which were ripe and round, so could be incorporated into each cuvée of reds, after careful tasting, before the wines were run off into barrels. So, what we taste today is what we will get.

The character of the red wines
The Pinot Noir grapes reached full maturity, and in excellent health. The natural alcoholic potential of the juice was between 12.5 and 14 degrees.  Thanks to summer weather which was almost ideal, the red wines are characterized by dense fruit, supple roundness and considerable length. Fully ripened grape pips and skin tannins mean that the wines show no astringence. While the weather during the vintage (sunny, dry and sometimes blustery, with cool nights) allowed natural acidity levels to be maintained, the malic acidities are not high. So there will probably be little change in the character of the reds, after secondary fermentations. It will be possible to enjoy many wines while they are youthful, while others will certainly improve and mature for decades.

Winemaking: White Wines
After pneumatic pressing, the grape-juice was left to settle in tank for 24-36 hours, before being gravity-fed into new oak, fine-grained Tronçais barrels (one-year-old barrels, in the case of the Pouilly-Fuissé, and not-new demi-muids for the Saint-Romain) in the Hospices underground cellars. Because of the warm vintage weather, it was sometimes necessary to cool the juices.

Rousing of the yeasts and wine-lees in the barrel (bâtonnage) began once the alcoholic fermentations had finished, or become calm. This took place approximately twice per week, the amount of lees-stirring being adapted to the needs of each Cuvée individually. 

The character of the white wines
The jury is still out, discussing whether this will be as great a vintage for whites as for reds. We must wait for the malolactic fermentations to finish, before reaching a verdict. It is certain, however, that these wines had high levels of natural sugar, and many had concentrated, balancing acidities. The best wines have finesse, fruit density and admirably harmonious aftertastes. We believe they will become classic white burgundies of the highest quality.

Have certain red wine villages done better than others?
Since 2005, we have never seen such consistency of achievement, from village to village. It would be mis-leading and invidious to pick out one appellation, over another, at this stage. Beaune, Volnay, Pommard and Corton have all produced superb examples, and the lesser-known villages have surpassed themselves. The Grands Crus from the Cote de Nuits are absolutely thrilling.

Recommendations
Our advice is: Don’t miss out on this vintage! With large volumes of barrels in the sale, and several markets holding back - due either to financial crises, or weak currencies - we advise casting your red wine buying net widely, seeking not only great Burgundies for the decades ahead, but also bargains, amongst the lesser-known Cuvées.

Anthony Hanson, MW
6 November 2009