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

Cuvée ‘L’, as I’m sure all readers here will know by now, is the code for the combination of all the lees (at bottling time) of the C-G’s reds – villages, premiers and grands crus – a blend of which is left in tank for a good few months more to settle out the fine lees.

2010 Camille-Giroud, Bourgogne Cuvée L
Medium-plus, rather purposeful colour, and it’s perfectly bright too. The nose is less demonstrative, indeed a little tight, but wait long enough (30 mins?) and a beautiful high-toned floral note is your reward. In the mouth this has balance, poise, and a decent slug of ripe tannin too. The flavours seem a little tight too, but there’s no missing the depth of concentration, good texture – clearly not a ‘Bourgogne’. Whilst eminently drinkable now, this is very much a wine to wait for – I’m sure my magnums will eventually herald some interesting blind guesses! Very good Burgundy despite the lowly label…
Rebuy – Yes

I have to say, I’m slightly at a loss how to describe this wine. The cheap plastic capsule and the cork bear a stylised ‘MB’ (possibly!) but the label has no more info, except that the wine was selected in the cellar of Stanislas – but by who? I’ve recently seen other Burgundies at auction 1991-1993 with identical labels/capsules but for other producers such as Rapet. So a négoce wine that puts the producer name centre-stage, but anybody’s guess who!(?) Well, that would be one interpretation, anyway…

1991 “Stanislas Heresztyn”, Clos St.Denis
Medium colour. The nose is clean and has a little pinot interest, but far from a 1991 grand cru I’d say. In the mouth this is also spotlessly clean, balanced and I would go as far as to say rather tasty – yet some way short of my expectations for a Côte de Nuits Grand Cru from 1991. Nice wine but maybe it was triple-filtered to make it clean and long-lasting but without significant interest…(?) I have a couple more, but they are quite drinkable, so no great loss…
Rebuy – No

Stanislas Heresztyn 1991

Capsule for all

Jean-Pierre Colin 1989

Domaine Raphet 1993

2005 Pierre Labet, Beaune 1er Choucherias
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is detailed, clean, and shows a perfectly polished red fruit – initially more redcurrant than red cherry, but given time, maybe the cherry comes to the fore. Lithe, and rather intense too, to such an extent that everything from the mid-palate on is necessarily just a diminuendo, but the wine is carried along on excellent acidity, causing the dried fruit flavours to become ever-more mouth-watering. Perhaps there is a little too much of everything today – you can be the judge of that – but I’m appreciative, and these bottles will only mellow with time, and what a great catch these bottles were.
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Maison Ilan, Morey St.Denis 1er Les Chaffots
Medium, medium-plus colour. There’s obvious CO₂ and just a little reduction on the nose, so I give the bottle a quick shake – actually quite a lot of CO₂ is released! The shake does its trick as the nose is more composed and quickly loses that reductive thread – 5-10 minutes is all that’s needed. I don’t know if this wine was made with stems, or how many stems, but the nose says so with a musky, smoky sweet aroma – it is not very Morey, it’s its own thing, but it is very compelling. Wide, lithe, understated yet concentrated with an undertow of furry tannin. The fruit complexion is fresh and very dark red, maybe not quite black fruit – but it’s close – that’s fairly Morey-ish! Just a very excellently made, tasty wine.
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Ardhuy, Côte de Beaune Villages Les Combottes
Nice deep colour, with a young purple-tinge. The nose has a bit of cola-spritz (CO₂) and a trace of reduction too – I chose to shake the bottle to release the gas. If anything the reduction gets a little worse in the original glass, but after about 20 minutes it is fading. The nose slowly transforms from a, deep-register, macerating black-skinned cherry to a brighter, redder berry – this black to red seems a common transition when reduction is in play – but the reduction is history after about 40 minutes when there’s even a violet floral element too. The acidity is borderline bright but it’s rather exacerbated by the crunchy red fruit and a faint ‘is it? isn’t it?’ ripeness of astringent tannin – certainly the mid-palate has verve and dimension though. The red-currant infused finish is a fine one for the label. Don’t forget to shake or decant and enjoy this over the next 12-18 months as the acidity might stick out more if you wait longer.
Rebuy – Yes