TN: Beaune 1er

Sep 04, 2006 2 Replies

By last night I was exhausted. We had lost power Saturday night, and it poured all night. By about 4:30 basement started flooding, I spent couple hours lugging pails of water till power came on at 6:30 (sump pump kicked on and drained in 10 minutes), and then many hours drying out basement. Cellar area had just got a smidgen of water, but felt it was better to open door and let it go up to about 70° F for a few hours to discourage mold. Combine with the full day's normal "chores", and I was tired. Betsy (aka the Duck Queen) felt I deserved a good dinner and made an excellent duck breast with red wine sauce and a potato gratin (thank goodness for mandolines).



I opened the 2002 Jadot "Boucherottes" Beaune 1er Cru. I realized might be awkward, but thought I had a bunch and might as well try. Later I realized it was the Clos de Couchereaux I have many of, I drank



50% of my Boucherottes. Closed and shy at first. It never did really open up aromatically. Some fruit did peek out, more on the palate than the nose. Raspberry and strawberry. Not a big wine, but noticable tannins and acidity that seems a little shrill even to me. I have to give this a B- for now (generously), but realize it might just be an awkward time (as it is for many 2002s).

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.



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Ack! These don't mix with 'cello players. I hope you weren't too tired to sous-chef. :)

I have occasionally had a bottle from a flooded cellar, contents undamaged but labels not very pretty. My thought is that it really only matters for resale, many people seem to like seeing a really grotty label on the sideboard. It makes them think it's an old bottle even when not necessarily so. (Of course this is not an issue with the normandy cellar where the labels

-- or what's left of 'em -- unglue and slip into a nice neat pile on the floor).

You might well be describing an '02 Beaune we had the other night, from the Lycée Viticole. I was underwhelmed but our guests liked it. Also Americans always seem to get a kick out of drinking wine made by high school students. ;)

Still, the Lycée is almost always a good deal, these weighed in at around

11 EU.

Best to you and Betsy, but tell her to watch her fingers.

-E

Betsy is careful, but frankly she's better with precision type stuff than I am.

The Jadot was better on day 2, though still tight. Leave those 2002s alone!

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