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Opened in the cellar about 3 hours before pouring and brought it up to the kitchen about 1 hour before pouring – looks like that was too soon! 1998 Louis Jadot, Chambertin Clos de Bèze Medium, medium-plus ruby-red – no obvious age. The nose on first pour is reticent; a little bramble fruit but not much else. Without ever becoming effusive, the nose builds a core of dark fruit, slowly releasing finer red-fruit notes and even gives a hint of gingerbread. In the mouth it has excellent freshness, tempered by concentration and width without apparent weight. Just a faint fatness covers tannin that still offers a slight astringency. The length is impressive though hardly ‘impactful’. I left the wine for another hour. On return the [....]

I’ve just realised that I’ve become boring and predictable. Whilst today unpacking a few wines to drink over the next week or two, I quietly patted myself on the back for having a couple of Bèze (98 Jadot, 01 F.Esmonin), a Chambertin (01 F.Esmonin), Fourrier’s top two from 02 and an 05 Goulots to spice things up – then maybe a wave of F.Esmonin ’99 grand crus could follow. This evening, as I collected the following Lavaux from the queue of bottles waiting their turn, I realised that apart from a ’97 Vosne, I was somehow stuck in Gevrey terroir – horreur! Pride was replaced with the the realisation of how boring I’ve become. I actually open wines from the Côte de Beaune too, red [....]

A label that states Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots Appellation Contrôlée – like the Leroy here, you are supposed to know that it’s a premier cru, there is no mention on the label. Anyway were are in a black hole of labels here; André Cathiard, Sylvain Cathiard, Cathiard-Molinier. To the best of my digging so far, André is the father of Sylvain and grandfather of Sebastian who now works with his dad. Concurrent with the labels of André Cathiard (and even Sylvain some years) you could find the labels of Cathiard-Molinier – which were otherwise identical and for the same appellations. I still see the C-M wines in lists from vintages post 2000. I can only assume that for various tax reasons (and maybe for sharing the [....]

After a 1995 that needed to work on its charm, here’s one that did exactly that – it took about an hour: 1995 Jean Grivot, Nuits St.Georges Les Lavières The colour has quite some garnet maturity, but it’s bright and appealing. The nose starts a little meaty, but with about 45 minutes of aeration it centres itself on slightly spicy red-skinned plum – but not in any way heavy. Likewise the palate is quite stodgy for about 1 hour, but little-by-little it becomes fresher, helped by penetrating but smooth acidity that amplifies high toned dark red fruits on the palate. It seems to slowly sweeten, the tannin is background but encases everything in a very thin astringent coating – actually quite a nice effect. Slowly [....]

What a transformation by this wine! Okay it was only an en-primeur ‘sample’, but back in early 2003 this had great fruit and a wall of ripe tannin that could almost have fit to a Richebourg – it had so much personality that I simply couldn’t refuse to make an order – it’s amazingly different today: 2001 de Courcel, Pommard 1er Grand Clos des Épenots Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour at the core, just fading to salmon at the rim. The nose is a sweet mix of tea, coffee, forest floor and dark plum fruit. Immediate impact in the mouth, but then it smoothly melts across the palate without apparent tannin (how did that happen?) – at the start you have to look very hard to [....]