Guyon make a powerful Charlemagne that has often brought me great joy, but my last bottles of both 2000 and 2002 brought instead oxidised wines. Frankly this has been hanging around in the refrigerator for almost six months as I couldn’t face opening another oxidised grand cru – but like an early Christmas present…

1998 Antonin Guyon, Corton-Charlemagne
Deep colour. One sniff of the nose and I’m smiling; there are the lanolin aromas of an even older wine, and perhaps the merest suggestion of something oxidative but it’s an interesting complexity on a lower level than many champagnes(!) – no complaints. For the first 20 minutes or-so, this seems a little alcoholic and disjointed, but thereafter it becomes a decently integrated wine. Good acidity and nice intensity too – actually the flavour is also very long. There isn’t the seemless, smooth-ness of a very good vintage but this is a very nice drink that belies the vintage reputation. I don’t recommend the odds of taking a replacement bottle, but I’ll happily accept what this one offers.
Rebuy – No – this bottle is fine, but the odds of p.ox are too high…