Yes, there was only one – and if I don’t start drinking harder, I’ll never finish my cellar 🙂
2022 AF Gros, Moulin à Vent En Mortperay I like this wax – flexible enough that it doesn’t shatter as the cork starts to rise…
The lightest of spice, the impression of width too, but it’s shy to start. Ooh, in the mouth that’s concentrated and oh-so silky. Really wide over the palate with the tiniest cushion of grainless tannin. The flavour, with a saline accent to the fine complexity, spreads really wide over the palate – almost panoramic. It’s a super-long finish too. Shy to start and lacking the energy of most Beaujolais, yet beautifully crafted in a Côte d’Or-ian style. A wine of class too! Rebuy – Maybe
Young colour. But this nose is not so young; freshness but also richness – slowly more floral – but some cushioned texture of- and the aroma of – middle-age. I find density to these flavours, so a warm vintage – or a warm end to the vintage(?) But with a good sizzle of acidity and plenty of floral references. The nose and flavours could say Folatières. Okay, middle-aged Folatières with some richness – so that could be 2015 but the sizzle of energy could say 2016 – Puligny avoided most of the 2016 frost (unlike Meursault) so the density can’t be from a very low crop, but could still be from a vintage finished well-ripened. So, I plump for 2016 Folatières – so I was close (actually 100m away) – that’s not bad in the context of the whole of the Côte d’Or 🙂 2016 Vincent Giradin, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Combettes
2022 Morey-Coffinet, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Caillerets
A hint of extra colour after the 2024s. Impressive aromatic scale, with a sweetness to its cushioned complexity. Direct. The initial linearity gives way as the flavours spread over the palate. The finish is very wide – not quite panoramic – but getting there. Very long finishing, though in a discrete way… Impressively delicious wine…
As I’m making my tour of 2024s, there are often some older wines to taste, so why not include them here – better than a white space I think 😉
Domaine du Couvent, 3x 2023s…
Gevrey-Chambertin 1er La Romanée (Monopole)
Open, airy, red fruits. Mouth-filling, complex, lovely energy. With super finishing intensity. More excellent than the great that I felt last year, but still a wine to be happy to own !!
Clos de Vougeot
Fresh, open, lots of tiny aromatic complexities. So much extra density but still with fluid energy – now that’s already quite approachable and could be a great one – it’s so long lasting…
Nuits St.Georges 1er Aux Murgers This was bottled in April, the previous 2 were done in July (2025)
Ooh, cordial fruit accented with an (almost) austerity of rose petals. So large in the, so muscular, almost too muscular for me, but without ever losing the perfume – I could be persuaded to take a second glass !!
6am – and there’s neither fresh coffee, nor croissants in French service stations !!
Effectively, the harvest is over as in Morey St.Denis, even Domaine Ponsot finished their aligoté a couple of days ago !!
So today I’m closing this localised 2025 reporting with some of the longest-waited grapes to be picked in Beaujolais – my more in-depth thoughts on the harvesting period will come in my September report..
‘Heroic viticulture on the hillsides‘
That’s how the locals describe their cultivation of the steep vineyards, and only partly with tongue in cheek …
Here in Rivolet – southern Beaujolais, but still Beaujolais Villages – the loamy soil is kinder to cultivate than the sandy granite that characterises hillsides of Chiroubles and others like Le Perréon, but the gradient here is still not to be underestimated !!
These were the vines of Château de l’Éclair, sitting at 400m at the bottom of the parcel and going to 500m at the top: 0.8 ha of vines trained up and down the hill, another 0.8 that is terraced across the hill. Replanted from goblet-pruned vines in 1999. Our harvesting took place in 26°C, despite our altitude – the forecast suggests 11°C for next Tuesday…
Nice grapes, no rot, just a little dried grapes. The most consistent (still small) problem was some losses to wasps. Then followed a delicious lunch; the meat was cooked in the grape pressings with extra lees. I did a quick check, but failed to locate the tofu !!
A hot year – you could say quite a dry one – but, as you can see, not dry finishing for the later pickers.
The rain was quite strong in the Côte d’Or in the early morning of today. By 09h00 it had largely stopped. With rain forecast for today but then a forecast of nearly 10 days of dry weather, things were looking up for the later pickers.
But about 4pm the sky grew dark and the nearby villages were lost in the rainclouds. I missed the worst of the downpours – but not their aftermath – ie the rivers of fast-moving, brown-clay-coloured, water.
Above is the view with Vosne 1er Les Suchots in the foreground, with high-trained vines of Leroy’s Romanée St.Vivant in the background – your intrepid reporter chose to stay in the car !! Luckily, Vosne seems to have been largely picked !!
Gevrey-Chambertin today:
It’s really towards the north of the Côte d’Or where there is still work to do, hence, my trip to Gevrey.
I didn’t see the rain, recorded above, any further north than Chambolle-Musigny, as, at this hour, I was already heading south.
More generally, it’s a minority of the parcels, but plenty of grapes were still waiting in the vines, not much in the villages plots, more in premiers such as Corbeaux and Cazetiers. There were also grapes waiting in Mazis du Bas. As for grapes not waiting, there were teams picking in Bèze, Chapelle-Chambertin and Chambertin itself.
I had a small chat with Jean-Louis Trapet (some images from Domaine Trapet below). “We will finish harvesting tomorrow with some Pommard from higher-located vines and some Marsannay. I’m very happy with the maturity, and whilst we are just starting to see a little rot, it’s all triaged, of course.”
The May 2025 issue of Burgundy-Report: 1. 2023 Chablis – 20 more producers to add to the 79 domaines previously visited in 2025 2. The 'Wider Côtes' – 6 more domaines, one with 2024s
The April 2025 issue of Burgundy-Report: 1. 2023 Chablis – 18 more producers to add to the 61 domaines visited in January & February 2025 2. 2023 The 'Wider Côtes' – 16 more domaines
A portable, hard-wearing guide to the Côte d’Or plus 90 producers of note and their best wines. Truth be told, there should have been 150 great producers – but not in the 320 pages that were prescribed.
It’s probably time to start working on a new one – eh?
Yes, there was only one – and if I don’t start drinking harder, I’ll never finish my cellar 🙂
