You may remember, that I was more than just pleasantly surprised how good the wines from this ‘maison’ could be. I don’t hold out the same level of hope for some of the grander wines, as clearly Clavelier will have less and less input into the final product, but this is a simply brilliant villages. I think I may have given the ‘Villages Nuits of the Year’ to Potel’s Domaine de Bellene in 2010 and 2011, but this wine would be an interesting competitor for that 2010. It’s excellent.

2010 Maison Clavelier et Fils, Nuits St.Georges
Medium, medium-plus colour. Fresh, mineral width with a more modest but glossy dark-red fruit is also in attendance. Hmmm, this is really silky and fresh, and shows a brilliant depth of dark-fruited flavour – slowly becoming higher-toned and ever-more impressive. There are a few added barrel flavours for complexity too – they take about 30 minutes to fade into the background – long, long, long. This wine is more pleasurable and interesting than about 50% of all the Nuits 1er Crus I’ve tasted in the vintage – and you know how good a vintage it is! Still, at about €30, it is not much cheaper than some of those – you sometimes get what you pay for. Class!
Rebuy – Yes

I guess this could have turned out to be a faux-pas: I know that I consider the winemaking here to be very good, but I should probably have drunk this one before the excellent wine of Nico Rossignol – but c’est la vie! Mind-you, it’s good test!

2010 Louis Max, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Fourneaux
Here the colour is a shade paler than the Rossignol, but still medium, medium-plus. The nose is higher toned at the outset but has a beautiful and clean dark-red fruit note – this is very pretty wine too! Less padded that the last wine and perhaps with just a hint more acidity and a similar hint less tannin, but I also find real depth and concentration to the flavour. Here lies the travesty of points for wines: I would probably have to score this wine one point less than the Rossignol, but there is no gap in pleasure. Another great Fourneaux in 2010!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Nicolas Rossignol, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Fourneaux
Medium-plus colour. The nose starts and ends with faintly toasted bread, but in the middle is dark-red fruit with a faint spice element – it begs you to take a sip. Here is an uncommon density and padded texture for a Savigny, but with quite enough freshness. There is tannin, it brings a slightly velvet-texture, but you will have to search it out. Mouth-watering and red-fruited, perhaps faintly plummy flavours. Just a very, very, very tasty wine. Excellent Savigny…
Rebuy – Yes

Although you (I) might expect this to have been the best wine in the cellar chez Mikulski, it wasn’t quite on the same level as François’ other premier crus when I tasted the 10s at the domaine – afterwards he explained to me why: To complete his range, he actually buys these grapes. Still, as part of a mixed case that I bought, and without other ‘benchmarks’ to compare it to, this tastes damn fine today…

2010 François Mikulski, Meursault 1er Perrières
Medium-pale, lemon-yellow colour. The nose has impressive depth, there’s some minerality for sure, and the fruit that shows itself is yellow and citrusy. In the mouth there’s a faint suggestion of tannin, width and a fine depth of mineral / ripe lemon flavour. A good extra dimension of flavour forms a reprise in the finish too. It perhaps could be improved by a hint more acidity to sharpen its focus, but not being picky, this is very tasty indeed. I am savouring it!
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Drouhin, Beaune 1er Clos des Mouches
The nose starts wide, ripe and welcoming, indeed the red fruit seems just a little baked, but slowly, slowly it becomes finer and more focused. Very pretty indeed. The palate is very silky and fresh though there is a little astringency in the finish. Just a little haughty this wine, the flavours are not quite as welcoming as the nose. But there’s a good, long finish. A wine that would be better left in the cellar for now…
Rebuy – Maybe

So, 90 years on since they bought the vineyard – I assume that none of the original vines contributed to this wine 😉

2003 Louis Jadot, Corton-Charlemagne
Medium-plus yellow. The first sniff shows an obvious note of oxidation – it’s not on a high-level, but it’s obvious all the same. Here’s one of those wines that just gets better the longer it is open, so everything that follows is 90 minutes after opening: Depth, ripe lemons, a little honey in the middle and a mineral, flighty top-note – there’s not a hint of oxidation in the aromas anymore! Wide, concentrated and silky, with a clear mineral centre-line that has a trace of saltiness too. That line of flavour moves slowly through to the finish where there’s even a little smooth tannin and a more mouth-watering finishing flavour! Not super-fresh but certainly with adequate balance. Very good wine indeed, if not great; unless you want to describe it in the context of the vintage, at which point, I thing ‘great’ is fair comment…
Rebuy – Yes and for 2003 white too!

Jadot celebrated the centenary of the purchase of this vineyard last year – they also bought one of their domaine plot of Corton-Charlemagne at the same time. Maybe Corton-Charlemagne tomorrow, but today is Pougets’ time!

2000 Louis Jadot, Corton-Pougets
Medium, medium-plus colour. I very-much like what I’m smelling here; there’s a width of dark, plummy-damson fruit and the added freshness of some leafy development. This nose goes deep, and has a faint spice note too. This has plenty of power, and the fruit flavour is certainly fresher than the nose would suggest. There remains just a little tannin, and that tannin has a faint astringency – but it’s something to note, rather than something to dominate the conversation. An impression of width in the mid-palate and into the lithe, fresh finish. This wine tastes far better on its own than with sweet or strongly flavoured food – interesting. I just had to savour the last half after eating! As a grand cru goes, this wine in 2000 is definitely modest, but it also costs less than many 1er crus of recent vintages!
Rebuy – Yes