After chickening out of opening the 1961, the 1962 seemed a different kettle of fish – higher fill, clearer and below the capsule it smelled more like mushrooms than oxidation, so….

1962 Maison Leroy Meursault – some oxidation for sure but plenty of white-chocolate, truffles and lanolin in the mid-palate and finish – caught just in time – okay not just in time, still alive, just about some warmth in the body but lots of redeeming features! Then there was a Jomain 2005 Puligny Perrières – very young colour and flavour – just a little tight but quite fine. Then Louis-Michel Liger-Belair’s 2006 Vosne-Romanée Clos du Château – medium-pale colour but super flavour and width – it drank very well indeed.

I’d rebuy both the Jomain and the Liger-Belair – no chance on the Leroy, but a better bottle. for the price paid – absolutely!

I’ve no idea what I can pull out of the bag next weekend!

A bit of fun today: Earlier this year I picked up two old Leroy négoce bottles at an auction. The one pictured (right) looks like it has no redeeming features – save for quite a nice old label; the wine is low in the shoulder, not perfectly bright and the colour is (optimistically) only light brown. Cutting the capsule you are met by the wonderful (not!) aroma of oxidation. I’m not going to extract the cork for a couple of hours.

Still, waiting in the wings is a bottle with less ullage, a brighter colour and only the smell of mushrooms under the capsule, of-course it’s a much younger wine – 1962 Meursault! I’ll see how it goes…

The last of my small collection of des Croix 2008s for ‘testing’:

2008 des Croix, Beaune 1er Pertuisots
Medium, medium-plus colour. There’s a hint of herb, but essentially the nose starts deeper and darker than the Cent Vignes, perhaps it’s that faint note of reduction, but this certainly has the classical 2008 darker fruit! As the wine opens it more clearly shows the family (cuverie) relationship to the Cent Vignes as the aromas become redder and an more floral – very nice indeed. This is much more about up-front intensity, a hint of oak and much more than a hint of acidity – this will need a little unwinding. I’d say about an hour of aeration is needed for a more balanced interpretation – it’s the Cent Vignes with more ‘bang’ – not necessarily better, just different. I have a slight preference for the CV but wouldn’t turn either of these down…
Rebuy – Yes

Clearly I couldn’t say that the last bottle was p.oxed only that it was just a bit oxidised, likewise I can’t say there won’t be a problem because tonight’s bottle is a good one – but at least tonight’s IS a good one – I’ll rest there.

Some nice flowers in the hanging basket this week – anyone want to fill me in on the variety?

Cheers!

Trying another of David Croix’s monks…

2008 des Croix, Beaune 1er Cent Vignes
Medium colour. Here’s a nose with something to say; faint spearmint above very, very pretty red fruit that’s eventually augmented by the perfume of violets – far from over the top, but captivating – the mint eventually becoming just a suggestion of herbs. In the mouth there’s a sorbet-edge to the acidity and understated red fruit – delicate and complex. It seems to fade relatively quickly but holds on well to a final mineral note. The tannin is only there if you search it out, very faintly astringent. This is an achingly pretty wine that blind, who’s to say it’s not from Volnay…
Rebuy – Yes

Ignoring a rather splendid bottle of 1995 Koonunga Hill, I mainly sat out the 32°C heat with a couple of 2006 Bourgogne Blancs this weekend.

There are already plenty of notes for them in this site’s NoteFinder so I won’t add anything formal – both drank well – but if I’m honest I slightly preferred the Alex Gambal to the Pierre Morey. The Gambal had just a little more impact – perhaps in the manner of Chassagne which I often prefer to Meursault – only thinking out loud, I didn’t look to see if I’d noted the origin of eithers grapes. Anyway both were very good for the label, but I’m happy that I bought more of the Gambal – still, supplies are on the wane – perhaps I’ll have to pick-up a case of the 2008 at the end of the month when next in town!

I didn’t have time to write about it before I went to Beaune, but on Sunday we drank a very, very impressive rosé.

It was a 2009 made by David Croix for Domaine des Croix; It was 100% pinot noir, a saignée from their 2009 Beaune 1er Les Cents Vignes (overnight so about 8 hours) fermented and then placed in a tank outside in the cold to ensure no malolactic fermentation. The tank actually spent much of the cold 2009/2010 winter with a semi-insulating cover of snow! So we have in our glass a very pretty medium-pale pink wine that didn’t go through malo, hence, had a pH of around 3.25. There was a bentonite fining and no filtration.

Apparently about 1,000 bottles of this screw-capped rosé were made, and none remain – I’m not a bit surprised! The aromatics are drop-dead gorgeous – full of violets and fainter red fruit. Let the wine warm in the glass and it starts to get a little fat, but direct from the refrigerator it was joy. Unfortunately it looks like I’ll have to wait for the 2010 if I want some more bottles!

That was Sunday, Thursday I opened a 2005 St.Aubin 1er Dents du Chien from Françoise et Denis Clair – it’s quite disappointing. I know all the other bottles from this case have been quite okay, but this one has some oxidative aromas. A dodgy cork, or real p.ox – it would be unfair to conjecture based on only one instance – but I won’t wait around for the remaining bottles….