Backroom Burgundies
Quick tastes of two recent arrivals, both available at the SAQ.
The Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes-de Nuits 2009, Domaine Henri Naudin-Ferrand ($24.55, 11668698) is the bottle I’d buy, at least for opening now. Lovely “pinoting” nose of red berries, beet, forest floor and, oddly for a 12.5% wine, alcohol (the bottle my glass was poured from was too warm). In the mouth, it’s a medium-weight easy drinker, with supple tannins, ripe fruit, dark minerals and a clean finish. Acid freaks might dock it a point for relatively low acidity, but that’s the vintage speaking and it in no way affects the wine’s pleasure quotient.
The Chorey-les-Beaune 2010, Tollot-Beaut & fils ($34.25, 11473209) is more earthbound and primary, less nuanced. All the components – ripe fruit, acidity, tannins, oak – are in place and in balance but need more time to knit together. Breadth and length the wine also has; depth I’m less sure of, though that could come with aging. 13% ABV.
Brett happens 
Had the Domaine Henri Naudin-Ferrand last night and was similarly impressed. What first struck us on the nose was a cool smokiness and followed by a dewey ground cover. A bit of a shame about lack of acid. Still, oddly distinctive yet approachable at the same time.
Thomas
September 1, 2012 at 15:31
Validation! Thanks for the feedback, Thomas. Can’t say I caught any smokiness. Then again, I didn’t spend nearly as much time with the wine as you did (2-3 minutes in my case). Also, besides being too warm, the bottle my taste was poured from had been open several hours and, being about four-fifths empty, was probably quite well aerated.
carswell
September 2, 2012 at 13:14