Handford Wines

This tasting was planned before the sad loss of Phillipe Engel in the early summer. With no successor it looks more and more likely that the vineyards will be sold to his friends and neighbours.

Some general notes on the wines. Notes from the barrel tastings (second time of asking in the early spring following the vintage as the cellars begin to warm a touch) are followed by comments from this tasting.

* a few bottles of these still remaining. Prices are per bottle inc. VAT.

1. 2002 Vosne Romanée £27.99*

At Engel a portion of the village wine is kept in cuve and aged in oak in rotation. The result is a clean bright glass of wine with focused Pinot style.

Fresh and perhaps light initially but the mid palate grows giving a fine and persistent core. Little tannin but great natural structure and length.

Intense raspberry chocolate bright and open.

Rasping natural acids ripe raspberry though still a touch closed. Cool watery finish.

Still needs a couple of years. Fine piercing fruit style for shear enjoyment or with delicate simply cooked red meat.

Drink 2005 to 2011

2. 2001 Vosne Romanée £22.99*

The flavours are delicate and fine but still persistent. Little tannin but great natural structure and length. Some black fruits great length and a real surprise this year.

Black red core with wider pale pink rim.

Open lush red and black fruits.

Gutsy masculine full tannin tangy but lower in acid. Long.

Starting to drink but will always be a hearty wine for a Burgundian feast.

Drink 2004 to 2010.

3. 2000 Vosne Romanée £22.99*

Little tannin but great natural structure and length. This is delicious after only a couple of years ageing but will mature over at least another two.

1er Cru quality.

Certainly the softest and most forward of the trio. Perfectly ready now there is no harshness to the structure and a more lush style.

4. 2002 Clos Vougeot £58.00*

More than half new wood here and perhaps the sweetest ripest and most structured example.

There is even a hint of blackcurrant here as well as the finer red fruits. Meaty notes firm tannins and great depth and length here. This does have some of the power of the 1999 vintage. A raging bull of a Burgundy. .

Ripe but fresh strawberry with hints of black fruit too. Delicate complexity of yeast lees and earth. Heavy mid palate. Persistent and with marked acidity. Closed now but a monster in waiting. Will go on a little longer than I first suggested.

Drink 2010 to 2019

5. 2001 Clos Vougeot £48.95*

70% new wood on this and so it's marked by the wood in its youth. However there are defined red fruits powerful natural acid freshness and huge concentration. There are creamy overtones here.

More developed on the nose showing meaty mineral and mushroom characters. Though it is strong intense and very long in the mouth it has yet to open up. 2008 is about right but no rush!

Drink 2008 to 2015.

6. 2000 Clos Vougeot £49.95*

I have my reservations over the Grand Cru status of Clos Vougeot. It is low and flat but then it has a castle and a few walls to make up for that! Somehow in 2000 there seem to be some very attractive examples. This shows clean and fresh red fruit and a ripe oak to balance. There are notes of yeast and savoury and all put together very nicely indeed. Excellent but you must give it longer than most 2000s

There are certainly no down sides to the Engel bit of Clos Vougeot as the 2002 is one of the wines of the tasting. This is excellent though the Echezeaux shaves it in 2000. At the moment this is a touch tight and with an oily mineral and savoury nose. Great intensity on the palate but hard to distinguish the character. It’s at it’s nadir right now so wait another 5 years before even tasting again.

7. 2002 Echezeaux magnum £120 magnum

These Grand Crus are matured in some new oak and some one year oak and so we taste a blend.

I remember wood dominating the 2001s at this stage. Not here though as the power of pure and natural fruit is balanced by distinct minerality bright acids and some tannins. There are some dry tannins on the finish from the wood. Overall though this is more fruit driven than the other Grand Crus at this stage.

Amazing richness and certainly the best wine (other than Grand Echezeaux) here. There is a degree of sweetness of fruit not seen until the Grands. As before just traces of mineral wood and lees; the fruit is the power. Although 2007 is right it’s tough to resist now and will be good until 2020. Clearly better than I thought from cask. Just a pan fried pink lamb and you’ll go to gastro heaven.

Drink 2007 to 2015.

8. 2001 Echezeaux £42.95*

The wood does stand out at this stage but a fine core of fruit is pure powerful but still elegant. This has marked typicity and needs 6 to 8 years in the cellar.

Now it’s very closed to the nose and with tough leathery tannins. There is that powerful core of fruit but it’s totally hemmed in by the structure. The toughest to taste and like the Clos Vougeot needs another 5 or more years before even tasting again. Don’t let this put you off; they are going to be the most stupendous stinky ripe red Burgs in 10 years or so. I have underestimated their powers of keeping.

Drink 2012 to 2020

9. 2000 Echezeaux

There's a big and chunky mid palate to this as well as some smoky mineral complexity. Acids are still delicate and tannins on the low side. The fruit is chunky blackberry and plum with a dash of vanilla. It's a grown up wine that will need 8 years or more in the cellar.

Quite delicious and with super depth and concentration. As for many 2000s it’s not the most complicated red Burgundy you will ever tasting but it’s simply delicious! Again 2008 might be the optimum but don’t leave it all until then.

10. 2002 Grands Echezeaux £65.00

This wine is so appealing that it's difficult to avoid superlative clichés. Shall I compare it to a walk in the autumnal woods? That's what I wrote for the 2001 and it holds good but for yet more layers of mineral gunflint and savoury complexity. Wonderful. .

Certainly the wine of the evening and a step up from the other two Grand Crus. Searing fruit concentration so much so that you don’t notice the outrageous acidities. So many nuances flavours and refreshing edges. Yes try it in 2009 but 2018 is closer to the window opening than the closing. Stunning and it could well be the best wine Phillipe ever made. Biased to Burgundy I may be but this could be a rare 101/100.

Drink 2009 to 2018

11. 2001 Grands Echezeaux £60.00

This wine is so appealing that it's difficult to avoid superlative clichés. Shall compare it to a walk in the autumnal woods? There are fat and ripe fruits of the forest sweet smelling bark and a little sap a smell of fallen leaves but still plenty of freshness (there's a charming cool finish to this one).

Well the structure certainly surpasses the 2002 to give mechanical longevity but I doubt the class will tell. It is high quality wine tannins are still raw and so the mid palate is closed. Yes it will need to stay in bottle into the next decade but it can’t outlive the 2002.

Drink 2012 to 2020.

12. 2000 Grands Echezeaux £60.00

In the cellar I wrote ‘We are tasting a wine that may outlive us all.’

But then I hadn’t tried the 2002. It is of course more open offering raspberry vanilla cream spice some black fruit too (unusually for 2000) but it does have a brighter and more natural feel that many other 2000s giving it the power to last decades rather than years. Certainly a gem and you must keep it for another ten years or more but not quite the 2002.