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Ten Years On: The 1999 Vintage
Part 1: The 1999 vintage is a slightly awkward one for my annual ten-years-on tasting, principally because this was not an exemplary vintage in either of the two wine regions that I enjoy featuring most, these being the Loire and Bordeaux. Indeed, looking at my profiles of Bordeaux vintages, one of the most conspicuous absentees is 1999. Admittedly, 2002 and 2000 are also missing, but the former will be added during the course of 2010 (and the latter when the wines are a little more approachable). But not so for 1999, a vintage that simply doesn't feature in my cellar. So other than a lone bottle of Savennières and a few bottles of Sauternes, my 1999 vintage tasting must look beyond these two regions.
Before my notes, a quick review of the vintage, region by region, starting with Bordeaux. As always it is essential to consider the reds and whites separately; of the former, writing in Vintage Wine (Websters, 2002) Michael Broadbent writes "That good grapes could be produced at the end of a growing season like 1999 is little short of a miracle", so it is perhaps unsurprising that the wines do not feature in my cellar. Like many people, I favour the subsequent vintage when purchasing! The conditions were very favourable for the white wines, however, with an Indian summer and profligate botrytis producing excellent results, with Broadbent describing the year as "the fifth very good Sauternes vintage in a row". I'm not in agreement with that statement, as I have never really been swayed by the sweet wines of the 1998 and 1996 vintages, but 1999 was certainly of high quality, and Christian Seely (speaking with his Suduiraut hat on) once described it to me as excellent, ranking it alongside other recent great vintages including 1997, 2001 and 2003.
In Burgundy there was success of course, the vintage quickly staking a claim for a place in the pantheon of great vintages alongside the likes of 1989 and 1990. Again turning to Broadbent for an opinion, he was enamoured with the vintage, attributing its success to the warm and dry conditions through August and September, the end result being "A generous quantity....and high quality". Writing in Burgundy (Faber & Faber, revised second edition, 1999) very soon after the harvest, Anthony Hanson was not so positive, stating his belief that "fruity wines are to be expected....but concentrated flavours will be hard to find". This declaration does little other than to serve those of us with the benefit of ten years of hindsight as to the dangers of premature vintage declarations; today 1999 is widely admired as one of Burgundy's great vintages.
Of course if considering especially those regions of France where this was a truly great vintage then we must look to the Rhône, and specifically the vineyards of the north. John Livingstone-Learmonth affords the vintage considerable praise in The Wines of the Northern Rhône (University of California Press, 2005), describing the various regions of note, including Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage as "Excellent", and Côte-Rôtie as "Wonderful. A mighty year". All these appellations are featured in this tasting, although not all showed as well as might be expected. This was a period of darkness for Jaboulet, after the death of Gérard in 1997, and neither La Chapelle or Thalabert deliver what these wines should in such a great vintage (only the latter is included here - I rid myself of what I owned of the former). In the southern Rhône there was also success, although the vintage often pales in the light of other much hotter vintages, such as 1998, 2001 and 2003 (and I also suspect 2007) which receive more praise from many critics. I must confess though that I enjoy the greater freshness offered by a slightly cooler vintage in this southerly clime.
Elsewhere in France, such as Alsace and Provence, also featured here, the conditions certainly allowed for the production of good wines. Further afield, however, there was a region that rivalled Burgundy and the Northern Rhône in the quality of the wines produced, that region being Tuscany. After the very successful 1997, this was another great year, and many producers regarded it as the best of that decade.
So, there are plenty of wines that should interest us, and so despite the focus of the tasting laying beyond the Loire and Bordeaux this year there are still plenty of bottles of note. In fact there are more than ever before, and so this year I have divided my tasting report into two, starting here with the white wines, and continuing with the red wines in part two. (22/12/09)
1999 White Wines - Tasting Notes
Tasted in December 2009. Click
to locate stockists.
Domaine des Baumard Savennières Clos du Papillon 1999:
This has a rich, lemon-gold hue in the glass, a fine sight which precedes an
intense and fascinating nose, rich in aromas of honey, pastry, sweet baklawa, sponge cake
and pistachio. It sounds rich and complex, as indeed it is, but it also has a
freshness, a bright edge to the golden fruits that emerge from the glass.
A fabulous palate, with all the delightful twists and turns of a finely botrytised
wine but without the sweetness follows on; this has depth, great vivacity, talcy substance
and a powerful punch through the finish, where it shows notes of ginger and
liquorice. A wonderful wine for drinking now, I think although this may yet
improve I might find it difficult keeping my hands off my other bottles. Once
again, my score creeps up a little more. What a fabulous domaine. For label images and more see my
Wine of the Week
write-up. 18+/20
Marcel Deiss Grasberg 1999: A good colour, deep but
shimmering and bright. A fine nose, bright and interesting, intensely limey, with elements
of slate and petrol. The palate is similarly vibrant and full and at the same
time, rich with brilliant acidity, oatmealy complexity and vibrant style. Zippy
and fresh at the finish, full and broad, very slightly honeyed in texture but
certainly not sweet. Rather it is dry, richly minerally and acidic, really fresh
and lively. A very good and vivacious wine, not over the top and rather more
restrained than I expected from previous Deiss experiences. A nice toothsome
substance, but overall it lacks the extra layers it would need for it to be a
truly great wine. 17+/20
Barmes-Buecher Rosenberg Riesling 1999: This wine has a
very pure, pale-golden hue, and I find a parallel purity on the nose too. There
is golden, honeyed and crystalline fruit, very nicely delineated, with an
autumnal, ripe apple skin quality to it. There is also a firm petrolly
character, and nuances of lychee and straw, and it has a richness of aroma that
suggests sweetness, but the palate is starkly and appealingly dry. It has a
nicely ripe, rounded, quite grippy and structured character through the
midpalate, with some spicy elements coming through to the fore at the end.
Nicely defined fruit, and firmly finished, with a short but grippy length. 17/20
Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Clos Windsbuhl 1999: A rich, intense, golden hue in the glass. The nose is
vibrant, richly perfumed and complex; first off there are notes of tangerine and
orange blossom, then lychee and crispy bacon; there is a firm minerality behind
it too. It is as rich on the palate as the nose suggests, starting off creamy
and broad, but with a delicious bitter backbone giving it some structure. And
although Gewurztraminer is supposed to be a low-acid variety, there is a nice,
tingling core of acid behind the overt residual sugar here, easily sensed at the
tip of the tongue, giving this wine freshness and lift. Long, well defined,
still nicely held together, and with good structure, this is a lovely wine; for
my palate it is still too sweet to drink as anything other than a dessert wine, even
with nearly a decade in bottle, nevertheless it is still very good indeed. 18/20
Vocoret Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots 1999: It is seven
years since I last tasted this, when it was just three years old, and I have
to confess I wasn't hugely impressed with it; if ever there was a wine to
illustrate the cooler, leaner style of Les Blanchots, this is it. During the
interim it has shown some complex evolution, and although it is perhaps not
very typical today, it is certainly interesting. The nose is immediately
cheesy, the forward aromas of Stilton followed up by autumnal fruit and
spiky, leafy minerality. Some of this comes through on the palate as well,
where there is a nice although not weighty substance, backed up by a sour
and juicy acidity. There is no oxidation, always a worry when opening white
Burgundy these days. Although it has a very forceful character in this style,
and it seems a touch more reminiscent of a more northerly Chenin than
Chablis, I find it really quite appealing. I suspect this is partly maturity
and the interesting, minerally flavours it has brought, but also how my own
palate has changed over the intervening years. Interesting and cerebral rather
than instantly attractive, but overall a nice wine. 16/20
Château Rieussec (Sauternes) 1999:
From a half bottle. This wine has a rich, deep golden
hue in the glass. The nose is just fabulous, and the aromas are the epitome of
all that is botrytis, with a heady concoction of scents that sit somewhere
between lemons, oranges and pineapples at one end, and honey, toffee and caramel
at the other. The palate starts off creamy and rich, with a fine roasted orange
seam from the botrytis, delightfully bitter grip as offered by a very good
Seville orange marmalade, and delicious sweetness. The acidity is fairly muted,
but it still has a fine freshness, and it finishes with a wonderfully complex
twist which goes on and on. An excellent wine which is showing very favourably
compared with my last tasting, two years ago. If you have any, get one open now! 18.5/20
Château Guiraud (Sauternes) 1999:
From a half bottle. A delightful colour, a burnished
yellow-gold. The nose is fascinating; whilst it has the aromas of botrytis, rich
honeyed orange peel and marmalade, it also has a savoury complexity which is
enticing. There are notes of almonds, seared and sweetly roasted meat, caramel
and more; these are nuances which certainly add to the overall pleasure of the
wine. The palate is sweet, rich, mouth-filling and has a character to match the
nose, with a lovely rôti character, but it is missing the acidity that I really
crave in a sweet wine of this style. All the same, a very good wine, and if
complexity mixed with sweetness is your thing then this is surely the wine for you. 17.5+/20
Château Climens (Barsac) 1999:
From a half bottle. An attractive yellow-gold hue, with a
very bright appearance. The nose shows great freshness and purity, which I find
delicious; there is orange, pineapple, honey and more. The palate has a
fine weight, fresh yet substantial, always balanced out very nicely by the
acidity. Lovely creamy fruit too, very elegant and delightfully poised; this is
very fine stuff indeed. At ten years of age I think this has a long future ahead
of it yet, and it has hardly revealed any of the secondary characteristics
yet to come. I'm looking forward to future bottles. 18+/20
Jaboulet Hermitage Blanc Chevalier de Sterimberg 1999: This has a rich and
deep golden hue, which I have to confess I don't find very reassuring. The
initial bottle stink soon blows off to reveal aromas of baked apple, toffee and
marzipan, presented in a very rich, honeyed and yet dry and ungiving fashion, by
which I think I mean it has all these characteristics, but none of the
suggestions of sweetness that are normally associated with them. The palate is
stretched out, immediately a touch hollow, with all of the baked fruit
characteristics to which the nose alluded, and towards the finish more bitter
notes, of coffee especially. There is a mealy, whisky-like disjointed element to
the dry and rather unfriendly midpalate. This is certainly marked by oxidation;
I have scored this bottle appropriately, but I have no idea if this is a one-off
or typical of this wine. 14/20
Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese 1999: A fine,
straw-green colour here. The nose carries lots of spiced lime fruit, with a
sweet honeyed edge, and plenty of fine, slatey minerality too. Lovely depth and
weight on the palate, with a fine textural quality alongside, tense and minerally
despite the sweet fruit and residual sugar. Creamy, with honeydew melon and star
fruit, very much a yellow-green fruit profile with a creamy coating, as I noted
last time. But there is a fine textural quality to it as well. Overall,
delicious. Happily, I think I still have another bottle. This is a wine with
years and years ahead of it yet. 17.5+/20
AP number: 7 753 01 012
00
Reichsrat von Buhl Forster Bischofsgarten Riesling Spätlese 1999: An appealing, rich
but very fresh colour. A deeply concentrated nose, with aromas of limes and
cream, crunchy honey and peppery herbs. Fairly luscious on entry, full and broad
and sweet, then a fine and thin seam of acidity running down the core, giving
some sense of balance although overall this is a wine dominated by its sweetness
rather than acidity. A very supple, gentle, harmoniously styled wine, although
with youthful almost gritty fruit and tingly acidity, overall rounded and
toothsome, with some good potential for further development yet. This one needs
time. 17+/20
AP number: 5 106 044 28
00
- See part two for my notes on the red wines.
