Domaine Lacharme 2005 Tasting Notes

Mâcon blanc La Roche-Vineuse La Genière 2003
Bourgogne rouge La Genière 2003 

Our wines this year are from the 2003 vintage, when the canicule (heatwave) provided an exceptional harvest.  The mercury climbed inexorably into August and all France sweltered in record temperatures.  The elevated position of our La Genière vineyard escaped the worst of the heat and the grapes were harvested in superb condition two weeks early.  However yields were reduced by a third, partly due to the heat but also because of late spring frosts.  If 2002 was considered a classic vintage in the Mâconnais, 2003 is something that comes along once in a lifetime - certainly it is the hottest that either Gérard or his father Maurice can remember.  

The exceptionally hot weather produced extremely ripe grapes with huge concentrations of fruit flavours, and our exclusive Genière Blanc is richly perfumed with ripe, exotic fruit aromas wrapped up in the sweet vanilla essence of new oak.  With less acidity than normal this is perhaps a wine for relatively early drinking.  It will be great with foie gras, highly-flavoured fish and white meat dishes, and cheese - especially creamy goat’s cheese.  Gérard thinks it will develop great complexity in bottle and urges you to keep a couple of bottles to taste in 5 years’ time.  One thing is certain - if you don’t you won’t be able to get any more - this is a real ‘one-off’ vintage and even his generic wines will be sold out very quickly.

Our exclusive red wine this year is the first vintage from the Pinot Noir vines Gérard planted in our Genière vineyard - previously it had been made from a selection of his old vines.  What a vintage with which to start!  Here is a dense, black-fruit-laden, tannin-loaded mouthful of a wine.  Our first taste was at our recent suppliers’ conference and everyone was very impressed.  It too has been aged in new oak and although the oak influence is still to the fore, this vintage has so much fruit that in a few months’ time the ripe fruit flavours will start exerting themselves.  This will give as much pleasure with a Sunday roast as it will with spicy pizza or hard, full-flavoured cheeses.