It was nice to have the counterpoint of one last glass from the Gérard Mugneret, before diving into the 2004 Pascal Lachaux, Clos St.Denis – this CSD, from the start had borderline P to my taste – sometimes it’s there, sometimes not. This particular bottle was a little reduced and this reduction never blew off – it was on a modest level, but enough to mask any pyrazines. Interestingly for me was the clear extra width and depth and interest that this wine had over the 2010 villages Vosne despite coming from the weakest vintage in a long, long time – it really underlines that it’s hard to go wrong if you buy from good makers!

The 2002 Louis Jadot, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Petits Monts – was its usual sinewy, but silky self. It doesn’t quite have the padding of its youth but it is a wine that has always remained open and ‘giving’. Jacques Lardière once told me that he thought P-M ‘hardly a 1er Cru, or at least a very modest one’ – lucky then that this wine used to be had for a modest price 😉 Still, far from modest drinking – yum!

2011 Guy Amiot, Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles-Vignes
I can’t put my finger on why, but I’ve always loved this label – sometimes the wine is less interesting – but not today, just! The nose is wide and high-toned yet also understated and quite pretty. Slightly anonymous entry, but the flavour builds through the mid-palate. In the end, this is very nice, still showing a hint of oak in the finish for now.
Rebuy – Yes

2007 Alain Michelot, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges
Herbs and warm plum fruit on the nose. Full and nicely round in the mouth, the acidity slowly developing through the core of the wine. Nice finishing flavour. Essentially ‘nice’ but not that special…
Rebuy – Maybe

2010 Gérard Mugneret, Vosne-Romanée
Plenty of colour here, roughly medium-plus. The nose begins with discretion; faint spice over a deeper note. With aeration the nose rounds out and adds a slight musk – it is very pleasant indeed. Right from the first sip there’s plenty of acidity, but like the nose, the flavours need time to round out as the structure supporting them, starts just a little brusque. Slowly but surely the wine comes together in the glass: The flavour is sweet, dark-red fruit, and whilst you never lose a little grainy texture in the mid-palate, there is excellent concentration and great length of flavour – the last seconds being more mineral. This may not be most suave-suited Vosne in the cosmos, but it has a great personality and quite some gravitas – and, of-course, it will only get better – lovely!
Rebuy – Yes

There’s always a little excitement when you find something that you’ve never tasted before, and finally this year I came across a bottling of Morey St.Denis 1er Les Genavrières. This 1er cru is a constituent part of many MSD 1er blends, but apart from the Domaine des Monts Luisants and more recently the Le Moine (both of which I’d never seen) I wasn’t aware of other standalone versions – then this ‘popped up’ – and from an interesting source too! The Les Routiers truck-stop restaurant in Morey is a fun place, and indeed a regular haunt when the Très Girard needs too much time, but it turns out that the owner also owns a few vines – some of which are in Genavrières. A friend makes and bottles the wine for him. I’d not heard of the producer on the label – who’s maybe also worth a visit – but you can buy a bottle of this in the restaurant for less than €30…

2008 Ferreira-Peirazeau, Morey St.Denis 1er Les Genavrières
Medium colour. That’s a good start – the nose is a fine, wispy, high-toned affair with pretty red fruits. In the mouth you have a modestly proportioned but lithe and pretty wine that again majors on the red fruit spectrum. It isn’t a wine of outright 1er cru weight, more an insinuating and largely convincing conversationalist. I really enjoyed this, and over 3 nights too. Yum.
Rebuy – Yes

As always, I started with an old one, the ’92 Fixin Les Clos from D&V Berthaut – and what a bit of a stunner it was! An enveloping, warm strawberry nose was also reflected by the ripe fruit flavour and a smooth texture to boot. I have just one more of these – and happily so!

Next came the 2010 Rebourgeon-Mure Pommard – and what a difference compared to the villages Volnay from 2 weekends ago; this is deeper in colour, and more intense and brooding too. A polished wine but with rippling muscle despite its understatement. Very drinkable, but partly uncommunicative.

The last wine for this weekend was the 2010 Louis Max, Gevrey-Chambertin Les Azerottes – this, unlike the Pommard, was a typically ebullient 2010 with that ripe core of fresh, juicy fruit. There is a modest amount of structure too, but this was very tasty indeed. I’m yet to have a disappointing wine from this producer…