2002 Emotion de Terroirs Pinot Noir
Meursault, France
Vincent Girardin
$15.99 (discounted from $24.99)
www.vincentgirardin.com

Vincent Girardin’s Emotion de Terroirs is an anomaly. Here is real Burgundy, attractively packaged for the “New World” wine drinker, possessing consumer-friendly varietal labeling AND informative back-copy, and all of this grown, produced and bottled by a highly regarded “real-deal” winemaker. The goal here is to offer pinot of good value that captures the spirit of Burgundy: a revolutionary concept for the tradition-bound French!

Like other wines I have enjoyed from Girardin this wine benefits greatly from decanting. A strong reductive quality (sulfury odor) took time to blow-off and only did so after nearly an hour of aeration. However, once free from this smothering odor Emotion de Terroirs proved to be a real treat.

In the nose, good cherry fruit and subtle forest floor aromatics were very much evident. Emotion de Terroirs has a fleshy texture which is very pleasing. Like most French pinot I have enjoyed, this wine shows no alcohol heat and has very balanced acidity. The oak cooperage here used added depth and warmth, with its contribution of cocoa and coffee to the nose and mid-palate. This pinot was very food friendly and a pleasure to drink.

In the end, Vincent Girardin’s 2002 Emotion de Terroirs is a dramatic step-up in quality and far more interesting than the previous Girardin Bourgogne Rouge I reviewed herein as Lesson Learned. The world needs more wines like Emotion de Terroirs because they serve as sound foray for American consumers into GOOD French pinot noir. I recommend this pinot with one caveat: DECANT THIS WINE!!!

2002 Vincent Girardin Bourgogne
Cuvée Saint-Vincent
Côte d’Or, France
$16.99
www.vincentgirardin.com

I know that having great expectations only sets you up for great disappointments, but I will admit that I opened this bottle with more than the ordinary amount of anticipation. Not, mind you, for its lowly appellation, but rather for the great reputation of its producer. I have had other Girardin wines (most recently an incredible Pommard Premier Cru) that have been REAL good. Sadly, I can not say the same for this disappointment.

My experience with Girardin’s wines has shown me that they benefit greatly from aeration and I don’t mean a few minutes of glass swirling either. I mean an hour or more of serious-in-a-decanter kind of aeration; these wines need to stretch their legs a bit.

Girardin’s Bourgogne Rouge is a deep and rich ruby, nearly plum-purple in the glass. In the nose, Cuvee Saint-Vincent is very straight forward black cherry fruit, almost juicy with an underlying “Brett” character that added some aromatic interest. I must admit that to find a wine making flaw, such as Brettanomyces, to be the only interesting aromatic quality of a wine is not saying much. It was not excessive in this wine but present all the same. The oak which it did present was very subtle, of high quality and in the background. Yet, in the end, the wine was real simple to the nose.

Cuvee Saint-Vincent was very disappointing on the palate! This wine is terribly out of balance favoring tart acidity at the expense of fruit extract and mouthfeel. To say this wine is lean is an understatement! This wine is way too acidic for the degree of fruit that it offers.

Ultimately, this wine offered no depth, fruit or real aromatic nuance. One’s left asking what was on offer from this wine. I guess even respected producers can falter and who knows, maybe I am being unduly hard on this wine considering its price point, but I do believe there is better for similar money (see my review Beautifully Simple). In the end, I learned that when searching for really great wines from Girardin (truly one of the better producers in Burgundy) I will pony up the money necessary to make greatness happen! This wine, however, I can not recommend.