I visited Domaine d’Ardhuy on Thursday.
That meant that I had to visit again of Friday.
Why? – well to collect the wines I ordered after the tasting of-course. It’s just one of those occupational hazards that one has to be prepared for…!
Carel Voorhuis took me through a few barrels of pre-malolactic 2006’s, and then some of the remaining 2005’s in barrel. Finally we took a look at a few wines in bottle – quite a number of the 2005’s are already bottled at this estate. See some of my notes below from those already bottled wines:
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Ladoix Blanc
High-toned sweet nose. Nicely round palate with a good finish. Sound value. Rebuy – Yes
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Sous les Puits
Aromatics are deep but quite linear (narrow) with subtle edge of oak. Well textured and well balanced, quite a bit more length than the Ladoix. Certainly a good wine. Rebuy – Maybe
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Ladoix 1er Rognets
From a small enclave of vines high on the hill of Corton that border Corton-Charlemagne. High-toned nose with the implication of some density. Delivers on the palate; mouthwatering, full of flavour and good length. Perhaps a junior Charlemagne. Rebuy – Yes And I did.
2004 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Corton-Charlemagne
High-toned and very wide nose, just slightly estery. Density without too much weight yet the mid-palate is packed with dimension. Very expressive and super length with an edge of coconut(?) Rebuy – Yes
2003 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Corton Renardes
Medium-plus colour. Very nice nose of high-toned and wide (mainly black) fruit. A nicely soft entry, the flavour etches onto your tongue – plenty of dimension, though the finish seems to be not so long for a grand cru. Rebuy – Maybe
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Peuillets
Medium-plus colour. Fresh red fruit – maybe a hint of blue too. Medium density ripe fruit in the mid-palate. Good, furry tannin and a lingering finish. Very nice Savigny. Rebuy – Yes
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Narbantons
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Plenty of ripe red and black fruit on the nose. The tannin is on a slightly higher level than the Peuillets and the finish is nicely long with a mouthwatering edge. Even better than the Peuillets. Rebuy – Yes I did.
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Volnay 1er Chanlins
From high-up on the hillside. A wide and very fine nose – I could sniff this for ages. The palate is a little more mineral than the nose, and also than the previous Savignys. Nice density and balance and a nice diminuendo to the finish. Very pretty. Rebuy – Yes
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium-plus colour. Black and red fruit with a touch of earth. In the mouth the fruit ishas a nice high-toned aspect and it’s well matched to the tannin. This certainly a more ‘masculine’ wine than the previous bottles, but a good example all the same.
Rebuy – Maybe
2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Chaumes
The second time tasted in the last month. Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Fresh red fruits, some raisin on the nose – the drained glass continues to smell wonderfull. Many dimensions on the palate, very good balance too – the finish brings disappointment, not because it’s short, but rather that you don’t want it to end! Lovely. Rebuy – Yes
2004 Dugat-Py, Pommard Le Levrière
Best news from this follow-up visit is that I no-longer have taster’s angst – I liked the wines a lot in my first report, but 
Everything was coated in a layer of frost this morning, and despite the perfect blue sky there’s more than a hint of chill to the breeze. In the Côtes, most of the vines have lost their leaves, but here and there, there are parcels that still reflect yellow and red in the sun – I’ll add a picture later…
Only a tenuous link in the post title – despite what it might look like! Tomorrow I head for a few days in the Côte d’Or, possibly for the last time this year, but with some good visits (I hope!) arranged. The weather has finally turned colder and we could have freezing overnight in the next days, but hopefully my camera is to be greeted with plenty of blue sky.
It is with great pleasure I hear today, that long time correspondent and occasional partner to lunches and bottle openings 
Versus tasting from barrel I’ve had occasional reds from Gambal that seemed rather subdued – I’ve come to believe that they need a good deal more aeration than I was allowing, but this was excellent right from the bottle and way more interesting than the recent bottle from