1999 Denis Bachelet, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
Medium-plus colour. Drunk directly after the 2010 Camille-Giroud cuvée ‘L’, and this has a little more energy and a lot more dark fruit. To start there a few pesky sulfites on the nose, but they quickly lift – what’s left is a dark, clean, black fruit conserve and just the early impressions of mature leaf notes. In the mouth this doesn’t have the breadth of concentration or texture of the Camille-Giroud wine, it is (not surprisingly) narrower but perhaps because of that seems more intense. Lovely dark fruit flavours reflect the aromas and there’s a super mid-palate crescendo of flavour – it’s just beautifully balanced/fresh. This, whilst still a relative baby, is drinking beautifully now – definitely no shame to pop the cork on a bottle or two!
Rebuy – Yes