Hello, Xina was having a day of on duty yesterday (Saturday) and no doubt hoped for some warm food and tender terms for endearment on returning home. Self procured a wild-caught turbot, lovingly fileted by Mrs Hammar, the fishmonger's mother, and some small scallops, a few slices of mildly smoked salmon, and, in what we call the Gaza strip (a a stretch of pavement used by several groups of Arabs for vending veggybobbles) good tomatoes, stalk celery, and fava beans. So when my darling returned from a gruelling day-at-work, she found laid out a ceviche de noix de St Jaques, involtini di salmone afumicato e zucchini a scapece, and a !gazpacho[1]. With this I served an Oz Riesling from Clare Valley, Watervale 2004 (Grosset). While the nose was rather enticing, with honey, diesle, and citrus, the motuth feel was too lean, with little structure, and acidity that went all over the place. Hefty left-over in that bottle, will come in handy for a fish sauce or risotto. The pièce de resistance, pan-fried turbot with a casserole of cantarelles, fava beans, and a mixed brunoise of carrots, celery and onions, was served with a white Bourg, the name-sake of this post. Apparently, whites from Ladoix are few and far between. This one is a bit odd-ish, not really like what you could expect from something not a 100 miles from Pernand-Vergeless or ALoxe-Corton. We bought this bottle at the producer (Dom Launay in Pommard), as one in a batch. We have bought the same wine from other vintages previously. [c] a bit on the dark side, tending towards golden highlights. [n] winter apples, hazle nuts, slight sherry notes (like a fino). [p] more mature apples, more nuts, more sherry. Acidity and fruit well-balanced, a good structure.
Overall impression: With all the Aldoix from Launay we have noteiced the same tendency towards a slight oxidation - we have so far not discussed it with Madame (who is the one mostly taking care of the Cave de degustation business, Monsieur apparently msotly dealing with his beloved walnut trees), but it appears to be intentional, and it works very well with food, including some cheeses. I am not saying this is a sort of Bourg rancio, only that the oxidative note is apparent, but well integrated. (Mental note to self: buy more LAdoix next time in Cote d'Or)
Cheers
Nils Gustaf
[1] C programmers will relaise that this means it was NOT a gazpacho - though it was a cold tomato soup.