An earlier sample of this just seemed a bit dead, this is anything but. High-toned aromas of flowers – plenty of perfume. Full flavoured – very impressive despite a hint of coconut oak in the finish. The perfume pervades the flavours too – not just pretty, this is a wine of authority.
Bichot Albert
2008 Bichot Albert Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses
2001 Bichot Albert Vosne-Romanée
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is still interesting, if with a slightly heavy emphasis on coconut-oak but a nice acid-red fruit bubbles below. In the mouth this is slightly narrower and sharper than its youth but despite a little coconut flavour there’s good acidity and a nice dimension of fresh finishing flavour with fine length. Half the bottle was left overnight in the fridge. Next day the aromas are more interesting; the coconut is gone and it’s replaced with a little ginger-cake. In the mouth the wine also seems rounder and again no coconut – less narrow, more generous. I’d definitely rebuy this based on the day two performance, as for day one, I’m not the greatest fan of coconut!
2009 Bichot Albert Bourgogne Rouge
Cuvée Secret de Famille. Made for the first time in 2007, not made in 2008. Nine hectares this year, producing about 40 thousand bottles. It’s a premium bourgogne, selected from the Gevrey, Chambolle, Beaune and Pommard areas picked at 39-44 hl/ha, but in this case the premium is less than 2 euros. Bright, medium-plus purple colour. Punchy fruit that’s slightly Beaujolais-esque – though there’s no carbonic maceration, eventually a little pepper too. Lots of intensity, this is very well balanced and the fruit provides plenty of sweetness. Very impressive – 09 could really be another bumper year for buying bourgognes…
2009 Bichot Albert Bourgogne Chardonnay
2007 Bichot Albert Pommard Clos Micault
2008 Bichot Albert Echézeaux
2008 Bichot Albert Corton-Charlemagne
2006 Bichot Albert Beaune Les Champs Pimont
Medium cherry-red. High-toned perfume of crunchy cherry-fruit eventually a little creamy oak. There is good width and an edge of fat to the texture too. A creamy vanilla-oak barrel note runs through the core of this and into the mid-palate. Medium, slightly peppery tannin and a good length. For my taste this needs a little cellar time to both round out and to reduce the barrel flavour, but it’s ripe, sweet and tasty already today, and was a very good price.