WTN: 2006 Faiveley Mercurey Clos de Myglands

More rustic than I remember this wine from past vintages. Red fruit, primarily cherry and raspberry, with a lot of tannin- a lot by any standards, but a really surprising load of tongue-powder for a pinot, let alone a lesser burg. Decent intensity, a nice secondary note of...I can't precisely describe it, it's almost like a hint of butterscotch but that's not exactly it and I get it a lot in Burgundy- I used to get it in the 1998s when they were young.

Anyways, this is not bad...I don't think its $40 good but that's more a reflection of the '06 pricing in general and not on this particular wine. It's decent -relative- value, but I'm thinking you could do better if you tried.

FWIW, I always liked the Faiveley Mercurey "La Framboiserie" bottling better than the "Myglands"- the Myglands aspires to be more serious, but there's something very charming about the pure cool red fruitiness of the Framboiserie. I'm looking forward to trying that when I see it in NYC.

David, thanks for posting this note. Brings back some memories.

The Myglands used to be one of my faves, although I'll admit I've fallen away from it in the last few years (don't really know why, but maybe it's just so many wines, so little time). Haven't had one for some time now.

I can understand the rustic, and sure understand the tannins. I've always expected the Faiveley, and especially the Myglands to have a sturdiness to them. Not a lack of finesse, because there's that, but a sort of non-perfumey, solid berry fruit, thick skinned grape kind of character, that would hold up to heavier foods, with lots of richness and fat.

All the Faiveley used to be great bargains years ago. Not so much now, of course, as they've firmly established their reps. Still, they feature fondly in my memories.

Again, thanks for the note.

David, thanks for posting this note. Brings back some memories.
I can understand the rustic, and sure understand the tannins. I've always expected the Faiveley, and especially the Myglands to have a sturdiness to them. Not a lack of finesse, because there's that, but a sort of non-perfumey, solid berry fruit, thick skinned grape kind of character, that would hold up to heavier foods, with lots of richness and fat.

All the Faiveley used to be great bargains years ago. Not so much now, of course, as they've firmly established their reps. Still, they feature fondly in my memories.

One of the reasons I used to drink tons of the Faiveley Mercureys was that they were, as you noted, great bargains, but they also seemed more accessible to me than the "vin de garde" house style. I was traumatized by a young Faiveley Clos de Vougeot that I made the mistake of trying as one of my first GC burgs back around 2000- what a disappointment that was, before I understood how infanticidical (invented word!) I had been!

Anyways, I was struck by the sturdiness of the wine because my experience with the 06's so far is that they're anything but rustic- I think they're a fantastic vintage for pop-and-pour early drinking because they're fruity without being too ripe or "sturdy" like the 05's tended toward, a pure fruit balanced with just the right amount of acidity. They don't have the stuffing of the 05's, but the examples I've had so far were much more pure and sweet than recent "off" vintages such as '03 (with its charred notes) and '04 (stalky), more accessible than the '01's and much more alive than the 00's ever were....I can't think of a recent analog.

I'm poppin' the two low-level Angerville Volnays this weekend (the Volnay Villages (which is all 1er fruit, of course) and the Volnay 1er blend), and I'm really interested to see how his wines came out this year. I haven't read any vintage reviews or anything (and don't subcribe to Burghound) but the style of the vintage seems to me to fit with the CdB, and especially Volnay, quite nicely.

You're pretty damned intent on costing me money, David.

You're pretty damned intent on costing me money, David.

Heck, with the crazy pricing of Burgs nowadays, these are the bargain burgs.

Angerville starts at $40 for the Villages wine (which, again, is just declassified 1er fruit from his small holdings), is $60-70 for his mid-level bottlings, and ~$120 for the Clos de Ducs, which is basically as good as all but a handful of wines, all of which are 3 to 10 times the price. That's exceptionally reasonable relative to everyone else- though obviously, not the deal that it was several years back, when you could pick up all those wines but the Ducs for <$50.

EDIT: And I should add, speaking of Volnay pricing and sturdy wines, that the pricing for Lafarge is a good comparison- its basically $20 higher across the board.

...though obviously, not the deal that it was several years back, when you could pick up all those wines but the Ducs for <$50.

I bought a half case of '02 Clos des Ducs a few years ago at $68 per bottle. I didn't buy a whole case because I thought that Burg prices were artificially high and would drop in the coming years. Now you can't touch the things ('02 CdD) for less than about $200. I am a genius.