I decided to open this pair over the weekend; both négociants, but in this case the Thomas is a ‘domaine’ wine – these are the vines which are now exploited by de Montille. Unfortunately I didn’t have a bottle of the Clos Frantin wine handy as their 01 was early in the Bichot renaisance and, from memory, is a very nice wine. First points went to the Bourée – the extracted cork smelled of sweet fruit, that of the Thomas had only bottle stink – actually it was worse than stink, it was taint. I’ll be taking that one back to Nuits in January for a replacement. Even more reason for being sad that I didn’t also have the Frantin bottle…
2001 Pierre Bourée, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Malconsorts
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose, whilst still reasonably primary, sets high expectations; heavy with red fruit concentrate against higher tones of stems and, if you don’t swirl, an understated pot-pourri of herbs. In the mouth there is some fat, then acidity that finishes just a little tart – like under-ripe – before a very nice extra dimension of creamy fruit. The understated finish, whilst long, seems to pick-up a slightly metallic note from that acidity. I’ve never been acid averse, so despite this being less than perfect, there’s enough character here for me to buy a couple more (it’s anyway a good price) for later reflection.
Rebuy – Yes

2001 Charles Thomas, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Malconsorts
Medium, medium-plus colour. Classic TCA that didn’t fade an inch in 3 hours. The palate below the taint seemed not so bad, typical Moillard chunky rusticity offset by good depth.