So pretty

S

Saina Nieminen

Saina Nieminen
I recently bought a couple wines from David Clark - a former Formula engineer who bought some land in Morey-St-Denis. They are from old vines, are organically grown and are aged in old oak. And more importantly they were all delicious.

2009 Domaine David Clark Bourgogne Passetoutgrains
13% abv; 2/3 Gamay, 1/3 PN. Fuck me this is good. Crunchy, gravelly Gamay sensations, palate cleansing, savoury, grippy; outstanding.

2009 Domaine David Clark Côte de Nuits Villages
13% abv. Wonderful, pure Pinosity though a warm year. It is sweet and ripe, but the structure is perfect: light on its feet despite the fruit; delineated and racy. Wonderful.

2009 Domaine David Clark Bourgogne Au Pelson
13% abv. This is so pretty! A very pure, slightly stemmy Pinosity (it is 100% whole cluster), sweet, sexy and primary. Sweet palate but with enough bite; the fruit is still very primary so 2-3 years I think are needed. I think this will be lovely.
 
i worked with peter weygandt for a couple months (David Clark's importer to the States) and was able to taste through a fair amount of his stuff. I think your notes characterize the wines incredibly accurately...it's just a shame they're so fucking expensive over here.

when i finally make it over to burgundy, he's on my short list to visit.
 
originally posted by Otto Nieminen:
How expensive are they over there? With shipping + duties to the expensive north of Europe these were still only 20-25 / bottle.
Click to expand...

Passetoutegrain- $25
Bourgogne- $30
Cotes de Nuits- $40

Damn conversion rates
 
originally posted by wrrntl:
originally posted by Otto Nieminen:
How expensive are they over there? With shipping + duties to the expensive north of Europe these were still only 20-25 / bottle.
Click to expand...

Passetoutegrain- $25
Bourgogne- $30
Cotes de Nuits- $40

Damn conversion rates
Click to expand...

25 Euros are not 40 USD, at least by today's rates. But I suppose these were bought when the Euro was higher.

The other important thing to remember is salary, tax, and social welfare structures. Whatever job you have here in the US, your take home pay with the same job would probably be lower in Europe, which means the prices look more expensive.
 
originally posted by wrrntl:
originally posted by Otto Nieminen:
How expensive are they over there? With shipping + duties to the expensive north of Europe these were still only 20-25 / bottle.
Click to expand...

Passetoutegrain- $25
Bourgogne- $30
Cotes de Nuits- $40

Damn conversion rates
Click to expand...
These prices not out of line with wines from those appellations from other producers.
 
originally posted by Matt Latuchie:
$70 for the Vosne Romanee ( a beautiful wine ) was where I had more issue with the price...
Click to expand...
Vosne-Romanée is a very expensive appellation. Many negociants have longstanding suppliers, which helps keep prices down, and those producers who have owned for a time don't have the same pressures to meet costs of land acquisition. But for anyone wanting to buy in now (whether land, grapes, or wine), prices are essentially prohibitive, and in fact, even if you want to pay, there is very little available.

Unfortunately, Chambolle seems to be starting down that same path.
 
It's an interesting circle, the relationship between real estate values and the price of wine. But positive feedback is how bubbles are formed, no? Are the Champagne, the Côte d'Or, et al. bubbling? Yes - yes they are - they are; and no, because they haven't fully penetrated the global luxury goods market (and perhaps not even nearly). Or is it only a bubble when it is close to bursting? My fertile imagination briefly imagines the bursting of the Champagne bubble. Would I then drink less Vouvray Brut?
 
Now I understand why some would rather drink a $30 bourgogne than a Savigny for the same price. It's class warfare.
 
Leroy purchased just under 7 ouvrées(24 ouvrées to a hectare) of B“tard-Montrachet last fall, along with some Puligny-Montrachet Enseignières (a village climat just below B“tard-Montrachet. Rumor had it that the price was a million euros/ouvrée.

At 25 hl/ha (this being Leroy, that sounds high, but it is white grapes ;) ), 7 ouvrées would produce just under 972 bottles, if my calculations are correct; but if you're using the same juice to top up or you use marbles à la Ray Walker, you'll get less -- let's say 950 bottles. I have no idea what interest rates are in France right now, but even at very low interest, you're going to have to come up with some cash just to service the debt (assuming it wasn't a cash purchase); i.e., for every million euros borrowed and every percent of interest, you need 10,000 euros just to pay the interest, and that's before any paydown of principal. So, if they borrowed 6 million euros at 4%, they need 240,000 euros/year in interest alone. That's roughly 250 euros per bottle to the domaine (not at retail), assuming every bottle is sold and nothing is held back, just to pay the interest under the assumptions posited. Maybe Leroy can get away with it -- recent vintages of d'Auvenay B“tard-Montrachet on wine-searcher are $1200-1600/bottle, but I don't know how many bottles of that d'Auvenay is able to market.

Bubbles can go on a long time, as we've seen. But if something happens that the prevents the expected bottle prices from being obtained, we can imagine a pretty quick fall from some of the recent land prices such as apparently were paid here and for Engel/Eugénie.
 
Was it really 1m per ouvrée? I recall buying grapes in was far cheaper than that (as of the 2008 vintage), even at 25hl/ha.

Meanwhile, there was some good land in Fleurie for sale earlier this year. A bit chemically abused, sure, but solid 30-40y old vines, massale. Can't say I wasn't tempted.

Or my favourite Muscadet plot, even cheaper.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top