2018 A Bogan In Bogandy

My visit to Mark Haisma’s winery, located in a newly built industrial complex just outside Gilly, one that he designed and constructed himself, landed on a Sunday. Producers are not inclined to give up their Sundays for visits, so I am grateful for his time. And it is one that I wanted to do because he always offers a frank perspective of the growing season (plus a heap of unpublishable gossip.) Having commenced picking on 24 August, he was typically forthcoming on the timing of the growing season. “The north wind came on the 12 September and sucked out any remaining elegance and finesse. The berries became shriveled and I could that they went from 13.5% potential alcohol with a pH of around 3.4 or 3.5 to within 24 hours, 15.5% potential alcohol and a pH of 3.6. The vines were finished. They began to lose their leaves. There was nothing left for them to do." These were are an excellent set of wines from Haisma, perhaps only the Volnay that could have benefitted from some whole bunch addition, something he concurred with when I asked him about it. Fortunately there are plenty of others, including a delicious Gevrey-Chambertin Village and a deeply impressive Echézeaux amongst others, that offer quality and value.