A little remiss of me, but here are two week(end)s worth of bottles:
In no particular order:
2010 Rebourgeon-Mure, Beaune 1er Vignes Frances – brilliant/excellent!
2010 Rebourgeon-Mure, Pommard 1er Les Arvelets – even better! Again brilliant/excellent!
Le Grappin, Rosé de gamay – very tasty, finished in 2 weekends!
1996 Wynns, John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon – I thought 20 years should be enough time to wait – I would say that was borderline; still some oak, massive wine – not easy to take the third glass 😉
2005 Pierre Labet, Beaune 1er Coucherias – Impressively concentrated fruit-cordial wine. I didn’t know I had these – but 3 more await, and they will be enjoyed. It didn’t smell as nice on day 2 – so (note to self) drink in 1 day!
2010 Camille Giroud, Bourgogne Cuvée L – From magnum. Not quite as good as the 08 from magnum just now, but really a floral and concentrated honey of a wine. Another two years and it could easily be as good as the 08 is now…
Le Grappin 2011/2012 Savigny mix – The reds and whites performed exactly the same; the white 2011 Savigny has lost the phenolic edge and is drinking beautifully right now – the 2012 white savigny has more of a phenolic/structural edge – wait another year for that one, maybe two. The reds perform exactly the same. The 2011 villages Savigny is soft, easy and delicious, the 2012 has more crisp structure – all are fun to drink though.
2014 Fleurie, Les Trois Pucelles – just bought out of interest for less than 10 swiss francs. It’s a supermarket bottling with no producer info. It tasted good – surprisingly good. Equal to many good bourgognes, better than a lot…
2006 Chateau de Marsannay, Gevrey-Chambertin – this tasted not bad when younger, now it lacks sweetness and there’s some astringence from the tannin. I don’t recommend that you search this one out – they are doing much better things now…
The next two needed to be enjoyed together – my two adieu bottles to Charles Rousseau and Philippe Roty:
2000 Armand Rousseau, Chambertin + 2000 Joseph Roty, Griottes-Chambertin – The Rousseau is fresh and direct, lots of energy and complexity here – can it really be a 2000? Move to the Roty and you have more weight, more vestiges of oak, plenty of complexity and weight of texture – it seems more concentrated. Move back to the Rousseau and it’s ‘wow’ fresh and complex – clearly better – move back to the Roty and it’s bigger and more impressive – clearly better! What a fabulous, pairing to compare and contrast – each sip from the other is better than the last – in a different way. Probably the Rousseau is better for the future, but today, this comparison was the quintessence of burgundy brilliance…
The weekend Griottes – the good the bad and the ugly:
2000 Roty – as above (the good)
2002 Chezeaux (Leclerc the bad) Smells and tasted ‘stewed’ – super weight of flavour (but stewed) and a good sweetness, but this really should have been drunk when it was young and tastier – poor…
1993 Ponsot (the ugly) – unbelievably corked…
Bérêche Champagne – a lovely thing, and it got better and better. slowly losing a hint of oxidative flavour – yum!
1995 Dujac, Morey-Saint-Denis – Hmm, lovely complexity of aroma and flavour – yet I’m a hint disappointed – I though this Clos de la Roche should be a little better – then I realised that I ‘only’ opened the villages. Okay – it’s pretty damn good then 😉