Rebuy – Maybe (2008)

2005 Louis Latour, Aloxe-Corton 1er Les Chaillots Medium colour. Limited high tones but decent depth of sugary red fruit. Medium density, slightly astringent but very fine tannin plus a super expansion of fruit in the mid-palate. This is surprisingly long, though much of that flavour is slightly bitter oak-juice. It’s far from seamless but it’s ebulliant delivery has made a friend of me. Rebuy – Maybe

2005 Rapet Père et Fils, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Les Vergelesses Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose only gives hints of interest in the first minutes, but gradually offers up a beautiful mix of raspberry and violets with occasional traces of caramel, but these pretty aromas come and go. A very soft entry – maybe just a little too soft – but smooth tannin and decent acidity. The flavour gently builds into the mid-palate and decays just as gently. In the middle the fruit is clean, has reasonable depth and some extra creamy dimension. So I’m not sure about this – lovely aromatics and very pretty fruit, but I felt it somehow just a little too soft. Rebuy – Maybe

1999 Château de Chorey, Beaune 1er Le Cras Vieilles Vignes Medium-plus colour. Wide, a little herbal and mineral with a dark core of fruit. In your mouth there’s great fruit though it’s wrapped in plenty of structure – it’s relatively smooth but the tannin still needs a number of years. The depth is super and there is a mineral length. Don’t touch again for at least 5 years. Rebuy – Maybe

2005 Louis Latour Meursault-Blagny 1er Château de Blagny Medium-pale yellow. The nose is wide and dense, with deep with a concentrated core of chunky pineapple – you have to wait for quite some time before higher-toned, more floral aspects, eventually peek through. Fresh and ebullient on the tongue, starting narrow and widening on the mid-palate. ‘Just enough’ acidity comes late and there’s a nice extra edge of slightly chalky fruit flavour as you go into the finish. The texture is good and so is the flavour, but there’s far from exciting concentration. I would need a little more acid ‘cut’ before I could describe this as mineral. Tasty and clean but initially hard to get worked up about. Right until the bottle was drained, this [....]

I don’t often buy wines from Maison Latour, and whilst I’ve had so-so bottles from them, it has more been due to lack of local availability than quality reasons. Now I’ve found a relatively close merchant, so two or three bottles might appear over the next days. 2005 Louis Latour, Gevrey-Chambertin Medium-plus colour. The first sniff seems architypal Gevrey; dark fruit against an earthy, almost grainy nose. With open time it becomes higher toned with more red fruit, seems much softer if a little less interesting. Decent concentration and certainly it’s more red-fruited in the mouth. Good acidity and late appearing tannin with a little grain. Not the glossy fruit and concentration of many 2005 Gevreys, but at a decent price this is worth buying. [....]