WTF is the matter with Henry Marionnet?

S

SFJoe

Joe Dougherty
Henry Marionnet produces a bunch of reasonable but unthrilling wines, and then he's got a few items that are quite special. The top of that list for me is his prephylloxera romorantin, the Provignage. The stuff is expensive, but it can be amazing. These days it's pushing $100 retail, which is stratospheric for romo.

I bought several of the '00 edition after tasting it thanks to the estimable Mr. Wheeler. Based on my experience with older romo from producers like Cazin or CRB, the Y2K Provignage seemed to be a wine that should age into something fantastic, though it was a beautiful wall of rocks young, and such a bargain at something like $60 retail.

Picture my disappointment as I've opened these bottles one by one to find them aging fast. The '00 has repeatedly shown the bluish tint to the wet end of the cork that often goes with premature oxidation in white Burgundies. Astonishingly, an attentive friend pointed out to me that the corks are Amorim's "Twin Top" cheapies, corks with composite middles and normal cork disks at each end. These things are mostly for makers too cheap to use whole cork. At $100/750 retail, you'd think Henry could afford to step up a bit for a decent cork.

More amazingly, perusal of the Amorim website (http://www.corkfacts.com/banrmenu/teccmain.htm) finds the following:

"While not recommended for long-term cellaring of wine, Twin Top has gained acceptance with many leading wineries due to its reputation as a high-quality seal with very low incidences of cork-related taint."

Marionnet has used these damn things at least as recently as the 2005 vintage. "Not recommended for long term cellaring." Jesus.

What can he be thinking?

I'll share one thought with you all--I'm never buying this stuff again in my life, nor anything else from M. M.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
...such a bargain at something like $60 retail.
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For some reason, I can't digest this well. The others you cite are a fifth that, and I wouldn't think it's worth six or seven times more (hence bargain).
 
Though I should add that it's shoddy practice indeed to use cheapie corks on $$$ bling vino.

I'm not as harsh as you are with the rest of his stable, that said.

But let's string him up just for the Provignage mess. Pitchforks polished!
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by SFJoe:
...such a bargain at something like $60 retail.
Click to expand...

For some reason, I can't digest this well. The others you cite are a fifth that, and I wouldn't think it's worth six or seven times more (hence bargain).
Click to expand...
Irony comes through so poorly sometimes.

But it's a bargain compared to the current $100.

It's only 2-3x the price of Cazin.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by SFJoe:
...such a bargain at something like $60 retail.
Click to expand...

For some reason, I can't digest this well. The others you cite are a fifth that, and I wouldn't think it's worth six or seven times more (hence bargain).
Click to expand...
Irony comes through so poorly sometimes.

But it's a bargain compared to the current $100.

It's only 2-3x the price of Cazin.
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Actually, make that 3x+.

Back to Cazin, money saved.
 
I didn't know that about the cheapie corks; that's disappointing. I have a six pack of the Provinage coming to the restaurant of the '07; I will see if Marrionet is still using the Amorim "cork." I agree, Joe, that this wine is amazing and quite unlike Cazin's, and my thought, too, is that it's a vin de garde first and foremost.

BTW, not sure if you know the backstory about this wine. It's from a small plot (1/3 hectare) in a vineyard that Marrionet bought a few years ago. He didn't know about the plot prior to the purchase, but was pleased to discover that he had a tiny plot of exceptionally old romorantin vines. In addition, the vine are pruned using the archaic provinage technique, in which canes are trained like an octopus, radiating out from a central vine. It's sort of like a short vine tree. Each cane is buried and becomes self-rooted. Multi-rooted super plants that live 150 years.
 
originally posted by Lou A.:
I didn't know that about the cheapie corks; that's disappointing. I have a six pack of the Provinage coming to the restaurant of the '07; I will see if Marrionet is still using the Amorim "cork." I agree, Joe, that this wine is amazing and quite unlike Cazin's, and my thought, too, is that it's a vin de garde first and foremost.

BTW, not sure if you know the backstory about this wine. It's from a small plot (1/3 hectare) in a vineyard that Marrionet bought a few years ago. He didn't know about the plot prior to the purchase, but was pleased to discover that he had a tiny plot of exceptionally old romorantin vines. In addition, the vine are pruned using the archaic provinage technique, in which canes are trained like an octopus, radiating out from a central vine. It's sort of like a short vine tree. Each cane is buried and becomes self-rooted. Multi-rooted super plants that live 150 years.
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Thanks, Lou. Let us know when you pull a cork.

I think the provignage method was ubiquitous in the old days. It's the kind of thing that made me so angry about the crap corks.

That and the $100, natch.
 
Honestly, thsse prices seem insane for these wines, no matter how good you think they are. I appreciate the story, but let's see the result...and I don't mean a good wine three months from vintage. That said, good French winemakers using asinine wine-ruining closures is nothing new, no?
 
My bottles of 2000 Provignage have turned to shit too. I agree that they started out awesome and were a bona fide bargain at $60. You don't compare it to other romorantin, you compare it to grand cru Burgundy. Don't know if the cork is the culprit or something else, but at $100 it doesn't make a difference, I'm not a buyer.
 
I wouldn't really call it a bargain at $60, but I definitely thought it was worth buying and aging.

I don't buy much GC white Burg.
 
originally posted by Nicolas Mestre:
And the short elevage in stainless steel?
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We don't have the control experiment, of course, but I find, "...not recommended for long-term cellaring of wine..." persuasive. It sounds as though you know more about the vinification than I do, but I did not find the wine light or lacking in structure on release. There is considerable variation between bottles, as well.
 
I visited the estate in February 2008. The notes I have are not very detailed and my memory is not too clear, but I have written: "direct press on whole clusters without the juice from the final pressing included. 100% stainless steel elevage."

I recall that they were using carbonic methods for all the reds and were experimenting with maceration pelliculaire in the pneumatic press for some of the whites.
 
I see so few notes on romorantin, it's a surprise (and a first here for me) to see notes re aging a romorantin. What's an aged romorantin like?
 
Depends on the producer. But you get people here aging melon de bourgogne, sauvignon blanc, etc., so truly, the surprise shouldn't be intense....
 
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