You may remember that one of my trio of William Fevres (yesterday) was corked. Of-course that put a momentary panic into the supply situation and I grabbed this from the cellar and put it in the freezer for that quick chill. Just a little later I remembered that I had a Pierre Morey 2006 Meursault Perrières in the fridge (it was silky, silky and very, very long – that’s as much as I remember!), so panic over.

Of-course well into your third (good) bottle, you are (okay, I am!) inclined to become absent-minded! Back to the Bougros; well, 24 hours at -18°C didn’t break the glass, but the cork is held in by only a millimetre-or-so of frozen grand cru Chablis. No harm done I expect…
2005 Bouchard Père et Fils, Chablis Bougros
Pale yellow. A round nose that’s just fresh enough, has a little brioche and subdued but smooth and seemingly ripe fruit below. Maybe it’s just a little fatter, richer that I consider perfect for GC Chablis, but it has the requisite mineral core and a late-arriving mouth-watering finish. Sweetly intense and quite pretty. The purchase price was a bargain and I’d buy more at the price – about half the current Fevre Bougros price!
Rebuy – Yes

2001 William Fevre, Chablis Les Clos
Yellow with green glints. Deep, hints of green fruit, a faint impression of oak and sulfur, ripe melon – quite some depth. Intense, good acidity and very mineral – hurrah, super and rather young Les Clos.
Rebuy – Yes

2002 William Fevre, Chablis Les Clos
Slightly lighter, again with a hint of green. The nose is finer and lighter with higher toned fruit and floral notes. Again intense, just a little more acid driven. Mineral, but less obviously so than than the 2001 and perhaps a little less concentrated, but what’s that in the finish – TCA. Within 15 minutes of opening it went from lovely to yukky – but never any cork aroma, only flavour…
Rebuy – Yes (but only bottles that aren’t corked!)

2002 William Fevre, Chablis Bougros
Maybe even lighter than the clos. Similarly fresh an wide, just a little less oomph. Lovely width, hint of lime and ripe fruit good length – very good. This was lovely.
Rebuy – Yes

So no po.x, only our old ‘fiend’ dodgy corks to spoil the fun.
All of these wines are very young. From a style perspective I slightly prefer the width and fineness of the 02s to the riper 2001, but that’s only splitting hairs. I note (above) that Winesearcher shows massive price variation on the 02 Les Clos – both of these are from reputable UK merchants…

2006 Gaston & Pierre Ravaut, Aloxe-Corton Vieilles Vignes
Medium cherry-red colour. The nose is quite forward and red fruited, but it’s a mix of higher-toned red fruit over a core of more baked red fruit and a faint mineral background. Nice fruit, good acidity and a not too grainy but slightly astringent tannic edge to your mouthful. I suspect this may be a little nicer in 12 months or-so, but it was enjoyed without remorse today – decent value at about 25 Swiss francs a bottle.
Rebuy – Yes

2006 François Parent, Pommard 1er Les Rugiens
Medium-colour. A sweet-ish, slightly meaty but rather more diffuse nose than I’d like – a little oaky cola too before finally giving way to some finer red berry notes. Fresh and quite intense, relatively velvet texture with a dark fruit personality. There’s a sneaky extra fruit dimension in the mid-palate – which is nice. The finish is reasonably long if rather understated. There are no nasty bits here, but for a Rugiens I find this rather underpowered, or should I say, rather ‘under-interested’. I liked it, but it hovers close to a grand cru price and I don’t see what’s in the glass as an ‘added value’ 1er – it was certainly trumped by yesterday’s Morey. I wouldn’t turn away if it ended up in the sales however!
Rebuy – Maybe

2006 Lucie et Auguste Lignier, Morey St.Denis 1er Les Chaffots
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is darkly-fruited, a little mineral and spicy – it almost smells tannic – very interesting and open, time makes it a little creamier and just a shade redder. Despite ‘smelling’ tannic, the considerable structure is almost entirely hidden under a smooth, slightly linear but intense dark fruit. There is an impressive extra dimension of faintly creamy, dark fruit that forms a reprise in the finish. Today it’s far from an elegant pinot – you will have to wait for that – but it is an exciting and rumbustious mouth-full of Morey – serious fun, in a glass.
Rebuy – Yes

Just a ‘test’ to see how my 2006s are holding. My original note for this wine (below) is from October last year, so here is an 8/9 months-on update:

The wine needs at least 30 minutes to resemble the previous bottle, but slowly those lovely violet aromas come through. In the mouth it has another flavour component – that of licorice, the bitter edge to the tannin is already lost. Still open, and currently delivering even more pleasure than on release…

2006 des Varoilles, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos des Varoilles
A slight update to the label for this vintage. Only just a little more than medium colour. Wide, quite high-toned floral, violet aromatics, underneath a more cherry-type fruit. The palate is soft, slightly fat and shows good fruit that’s edged with a little bitter chocolate / coffee. A reasonable amount of decently grained tannin – perhaps not 100% ripe given a trace of bitterness, but tannin fades. Good acidity and a very nice burst of interest in the mid-palate. Drunk over 3 days it was just a little better each day and the only thing lost was that bitter edge to the tannin. A very nice 2006.
Rebuy – Yes

“Nowadays, all the corks are sold with a very thin silicone film. And when a cork is (as the one on the picture) full with encrusted grains, the silicone gets in. That is what you can see lightly white. This procedure (silicone) is necessery to use the corking machines just after bottling. Nearly nobody is still putting the corks by hand. You just need your hand to… uncork the bottle to drink it and hopefully to love it !”

2007 Chézeaux/Ponsot, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Medium colour. The nose is intense red fruit, slightly dried and creamy cranberry in aspect. Lovely freshness, depth without overt concentration and impressive dimension(s) of fruit in the mid-palate. Even without real intensity I’m rather smitten – the complexity is enough! Nice length, the last few drops in the glass provide a gorgeous redcurrant aroma – really super!
Rebuy – Yes