It is exceedingly difficult to find high quality, complex Pinot Noir, especially from Burgundy, in the $25-$40 range. Given the 1994 vintage, the odds are stacked against consumers. Many wines that possessed plenty of elegant, supple fruit and charm from barrel, were given a knock-out punch by the predilection of so many growers (and don't forget to blame the oenologists and mobile bottlers) to passively allow their wines to be nuked with high levels of sulphur, as well as excessive fining and filtration, including a sterile one if requested. Girardin's first vintage to go into the bottle unfined and unfiltered has resulted in wines of undeniable finesse, sweet fruit, charm, complexity, and elegance.
Although the 1994 Santenay Maladiere is more tannic and leaner than the Clos de la Confrerie, it is a solid, muscular style of red Burgundy without the latter's finesse and elegance. Burgundy is frightfully expensive, and often disappointing, not only on a qualitative level, but in terms of the price/quality relationship. How rare it is to taste a group of Burgundies and find them to be delicious, satisfying, and, for Burgundy, reasonably priced. Vincent Girardin appears to be making the finest wines of his career, turning out full blown, smoky, oaky whites, and gorgeously seductive, round, generous red wines that are modestly priced, especially when one considers the prices now fetched by the top single vineyard/reserve Pinot Noirs from California and Oregon. I was very impressed with not only Girardin's 1994 whites, but also his 1994 reds, the first vintage he has bottled without any fining or filtration - an important factor as the style of the 1994 vintage (elegance and lightness) strongly suggests such wines cannot endure much SO2, or aroma and flavor eviscerating fining and filtration.
Vineyard Brands, Inc., Chester, VT; tel. (802) 875-2139; fax (802) 875-3566
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