More love for the amazing and miraculous 2010 Burgundy vintage, this time from IWC’s Steve Tanzer –

“At their best, the 2010 reds offer compellingly fresh and complex aromatics and site character; silky but sharply delineated palates; and suave, long, gripping finishes featuring firm but harmonious tannins. In their aromatic complexity, energy, intensity and clarity of flavor, transparency to soil, and overall balance, the 2010s are among the most exciting red Burgundies of my professional lifetime.”

This glorious assessment follows directly on the heels of Burghound’s Allen Meadows, who just last week released his ecstatic reviews of the 2010 reds (see post below.)

But wait – weren’t both these critics hugely positive on the 2009s as well? How can that be? The vintages are sooo very different…

It’s true that you could not have two vintages back-to-back that could be more stylistically different than 2009 & 2010. In ’09 you have lush, rich fruit-driven wines from a warm year, wines packed with yummy fruit at a level one rarely sees in Burgundy. In ’10 you have crystalline purity, laser-like precision, bright acidity and everything that makes Burgundy so unique in the world.

So are they both great vintages? The short answer is yes, but it must be understood that they are dramatically different wines. If you have developed a taste for and love of Burgundy over the years, then 2010 will blow your mind with everything you love about Burgundy in crystal clarity. If you’re newer to Burgundy, or maybe simply prefer a bit more immediate gratification and wines that are more hedonistically oriented, then 2009 is for you. I’ll happily be drinking a lot of both of these vintages, putting many 2010s in the cellar for the long haul, and drinking many of the 2009s earlier on (though the best ‘09s, as in Mugnier’s fabulous Musigny – will easily go 20-30 years and do nothing but get better.)

Ultimately, it’s an embarrassment of riches to have the ’09 and ’10 Burgs back-to-back. The downside is the tiny yields in 2010, with many of my producers down 25-50% in total production. When the 2010s go up for sale later this year, you will need to act swiftly to snap up the wines you want. Our allocations are way down, so please keep your eyes on our email offers as the wines become available starting this spring…

Join us in NW Portland at Scott Paul PDX for a happy-hour tasting from 4-6pm on Friday January 20th, prior to our Burgundy 101 seminar that night. (This seminar is sold out, but seats are still available for February and March classes.)

In the vineyards with Frédéric Gueguen

We’ll be pouring our 2008 La Paulée Pinot Noir (recently featured on the cover of Food & Wine magazine), and two great selections from our import portfolio – the bright and crisp 2008 Chablis Grandes Vignes from Frédéric Gueguen and and the exceedingly yummy 2009 Bourgogne Passetoutgrain from superstar Michel Lafarge. Tasting fee is $5, refundable with any 3-bottle purchase. There will also be a “Splurge” pour available, details tba…

Ahh, the joys of a new issue of Burghound! For those of us in the Pinot and Burgundy business, Christmas comes four times a year – with the release of each quarterly issue of Allen Meadows’ Burghound – the Ultimate Burgundy Reference. Now in its 12th year, Burghound has become the last word in all things Burgundy, and we devour Allen’s reviews, ratings, and commentary with relish.

Allen Meadows

Issue #45 hit today, covering the 2010 vintage, specifically the Côte de Nuits reds. To cut to the chase, I’ll let Allen lay it out for you in all its glory –

“2010 – An Exciting and Ultra-Classic Vintage of Refinement, Balance and Superb Transparency.  2010 may be the most surprising vintage in the last 20 years and that is no small statement when one considers just how many harvests there were in this decade alone where victory has been narrowly snatched from the jaws of potentially truly awful vintages. In a scene that was to play out again and again during my fall visit, I would be in the middle of tasting the wines of a given domaine and my glance of amazement would cross that of the grower’s. In response, the grower would succinctly utter “C’est dingue eh?” which is a colloquial French way of saying that it’s crazy or it’s amazing. It was the commonplace way of acknowledging that the wines were not only remarkable but no one could really explain how or why they obtained such quality. Yes, there are plenty of theories, some of which I will share with you later on in the analysis. But in point of fact, why 2010 is so good isn’t immediately obvious.

In sum, the 2010 vintage produced a very large number of superb wines, indeed every bit as many as did 2009. And the quality of even the average 2010 is very high and it would be fair to say that there are relatively few poor 2010s, at least this is true among the growers that I visit. It is of course true that I visit Burgundy’s best but nonetheless, generally what is true for the elite is true for the average grower in vintages that are consistent such as 2005, 2009 and 2010. Moreover, 2010 is an exciting vintage because the wines are so vibrant and refreshing. But make no mistake, as appealing as they are now, there are going to be some masterpieces resident in the cellars of those who have the patience to allow the greatest 2010s to achieve full maturity. I for one can’t wait.”

In terms of the character of the wines, Allen’s take was the same as mine – these are wines of crystalline purity, freshness, energy, surprising depth, and they show their respective terroirs with great clarity. This is everything I love most about Burgundy. Where the 2009s are sexy, showy, and more obvious, the 2010s are more refined and precise. Two great vintages, but very different styles indeed.

Our producers on the Côte did exceptionally well in this review, I’m happy to report. Frédéric Mugnier knocked it out of the park once again, with a 95-98 for his amazing Musigny, 93-95 for the Amoureuses, 92-94 for the Bonnes Mares, 91-93 for the Fuées, and a 90-92 for the Clos de la Maréchale. (Final scores on the Mugnier ‘09s were also stellar, including a 98 for the Musigny. All of the ‘09s are sold-out EXCEPT for the gorgeous 91-point ’09 Clos de la Maréchale – so get it while you can. The 2010s will be offered pre-arrival this fall…

J-J Confuron had another big success with the 2010s – from the Romanée-St. Vivant to the Côte de Nuits Villages, big scores and excellent notes – which echo mine from my tasting there in November.

The newest addition to the Scott Paul portfolio is Domaine Marc Roy in Gevrey-Chambertin, where Alexandrine Roy has fashioned yet another set of gorgeous wines. All of this domaine’s holdings are at the village level – they have no 1er or Grand Cru, yet the wines score in the 90s! Meadows rarely gives marks in the 90s to village-level wines – these are truly outstanding, very limited, and coming to a tasting room in Carlton very very soon…

Romain & Jean Taupenot

I’m very happy to see our friend Romain Taupenot score so well with his entire range of 2010s from Domaine Taupenot-Merme – virtually everything in the 90s across the board. These will be exciting wines to turn you on to later this year.

In all, we are blessed with two consecutive excellent vintages in Burgundy, and I look forward to helping all these bottles find good homes in your cellar soon!

Since we crushed our first grapes in October 1999 it’s been a whirlwind ride, with not one trace of a dull moment. It’s been everything we thought it would be, a lot we never could have understood beforehand, a lot that’s exceeded our expectations, and truly everything in between. 2011 was our best and busiest year ever, and as we get ready to start pruning and head into our 14th harvest this fall, I wanted to reflect a bit on the past 12 months, and all the milestones, joys, and insanity…

Perhaps the most unexpected and wonderful joy was finding our 2008 La Paulée on the cover of the November ’11 issue of Food & Wine magazine, with their recommendation of our little Pinot as their choice for the holidays! To say we were stunned would be putting it mildly. Stunned and of course brimming with pride. We truly had no idea that was coming – we found out from a customer in Texas who called the winery to let us know he had just received the magazine in the mail and we were on the cover. I thought he was either joking or mistaken at first! (But of course we were over the moon to find that it was indeed the real deal!)

Many thanks to F&W’s wine guru Ray Isle, Jr. – who had a hand in selecting us for the cover, and also chose our 2008 Audrey to be on his TV show Vine Talk, which aired across the nation on PBS last year.

From day one our winemaking focus has always been on elegance and finesse. I just like wines that are more understated and nuanced, as opposed to showy and bold. The wines I like, and the wines we make, are generally not the type to get the big scores in tastings from the major critics, who generally seem to prefer the “Pamela Anderson” wines to our “Audrey Hepburn” approach. So when we get good scores I am doubly pleased, as we’ve achieved some recognition by sticking to our guns and trying to please no one but ourselves.

Event space at Scott Paul PDX

In 2011 we were fortunate to continue our run of scores in the 90s in all of our national reviews – by last count over 30+ consecutive scores in the 90s over the past few years. Most important to me is that YOU like ‘em, however. We make the wines for you to enjoy with family and friends over good food and conversation, and I sincerely thank you for your continued amazing support and enthusiasm for the wines (and for our import portfolio as well!)

The year was topped off by receiving a whopping 96 Points for our 2009 Dix Pinot from Wine Enthusiast’s Paul Gregutt, who also selected it as the #1 Oregon wine of the year in his annual Top 100 ranking! Wow! Only two Oregon wines in history have ever scored higher (’94 Broadley and ’08 Evening Land.) We are truly honored, indeed.

On top of the nice recognition from the press, we added a new dimension to our world at the end of the year, with the opening of our new event space in NW Portland – Scott Paul PDX. We’re excited to be able to bring our Burgundy and Champagne classes to our new Portland space, as well as host occasional tasting events and winemaker dinners there. We look forward to seeing you there – keep your eyes on our Events Schedule for all of the upcoming activities in both Portland and Carlton. We’ve just released a full slate of events for the next couple of months, and promise to keep the year full of fun and delicious adventures.

Speaking of adventures, we took a group of customers for a one-week Insider’s tour of Burgundy last June, and had a major blast. We plan to make it an annual event, so please let us know if you have interest for upcoming trips.

Alexandrin Roy & "Merlot" in Gevrey Chambertin

We also were able to add two key new producers to our Burgundy portfolio, with new wines from both scheduled to arrive in the next several weeks. Watch for info on Domaine Marc Roy in Gevrey-Chambertin (well known to many here in the Northwest, as winemaker Alexandrine Roy is here in Oregon several times each year, consulting for Phelps Creek Vineyard in Hood River), and Domaine des Nugues, an exciting producer in the Beaujolais village of Fleurie. Wines and details soon…

Most importantly, deep thanks to you. You have been tremendously supportive, and your passion fuels our passion and keeps us focused.

The books are not closed yet, but I am happy to report that in 2011 we just may show an operating profit for the first time ever. One of these days we might even make a little money at this…

Cheers – and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2012!