A nice set of wines this weekend, in various stages of ‘open-ness…’

2011 Au Pied de Mont Chauve, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Maltroie
Large-scaled in both aromatic and in the mouth – but silkily so. Nice weight of both aroma and flavour with a good freshness too. Not super-energetic but with plenty of material. Tasty wine!
Rebuy – Yes

2007 Dublère, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Peuillets
Here the nose has a reductive, almost matchstick impression and a certain (also probably reductive) toast. Tasty wine of both line and fine energy. It seems to me that this is approaching full maturity – simply a super-tasty wine in a more traditional burgundy vernacular. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Volnay
Volnay in name, but a lot of 1er cru juice in reality! The nose, right since it was a couple of years old, is big and bulky, somewhat unyielding – deep red fruit but still not my favourite as it fails to captivate. In the mouth this has palpable concentration for the label and is much more open and interesting than the nose – still somehow a little blocky and lacking elegance, but there’s nothing shy about either the aromatics or the flavour, nor the fine line of acidity. Definitely tastier than it smells…
Rebuy – Maybe

2001 Bouchard Père, Beaune 1er Beaune du Château
Ooh – now that’s a gorgeous nose of very fine, elegant and complex fruit with a little floral activity too – very lovely. The palate has modest weight but flows nicely over the tongue with modest but tasty red fruit. Balanced but really a modest wine in all but aroma – but what aroma!
Rebuy – Maybe

But first, I digress: There’s a lot of rubbish been published over the years about St.Aubin or Auxey-Duresses being the cheap/insider’s/specialist white burgundy wine replacement for the expensive wines of Puligny or Meursault: It is an old chestnut, or fall-back, for people who really didn’t know their burgundies quite as well as they should. I often equated such writing to laziness – in the 1990s anyway, when it was something of a pipe-dream!

Truth be told it used to be a rare vintage that brought the same richness of texture or flavour to these wines of verve. Or, at least that used to be the case, but the run of phenolically ripe vintages – call it climate change if you wish – that we have seen over the last 15 years or-so, has really cemented reality to the previous urban myth that Auxey-Duresses or St.Aubin could be important/correct choices in their own right – with some ‘equivalence’ to Meursault or Puligny. There are even vintages today where St.Romain occupies the old place of St.Aubin – despite the effects of extra altitude. Of-course that means there is ever-more material in the wines of the traditional heartland of white burgundy too, but acid-balance is also a much more important consideration for thos wines today than it was in the 1990s. To-date, ‘too rich’ has hardly been an issue for the wannabees of the Côte de Beaune.

It’s the drinking of a ‘simple’ villages wine, like the one that follows, that causes reflections such as this post! You could call it a sort of – ‘look how far we’ve come!’

2010 JC Boisset, Auxey-Duresses Les Crais
Here is a fine, almost textured nose with cream-edged lemon – oak, but not too much oak – nicely fresh. Very silky, modestly mineral but with a fine intensity of growing flavour – a richness of texture here without any suggestion of heaviness. Lovely silky width in the finish. A long, slightly contemplative, massively satisfying wine – and it seems to be the last of my six-pack. All with ‘normal’ cork seals, and all have been fine. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

I’m fortunate to have a bunch of friends in the UK who quickly convene for a tipple or two if I can be ‘in the area.’ This was our second gathering in lest than 12 months – and what a good one too – a unrushed 4.5 hour lunch. From memory the next day:

1999 Salon: I previously loved the 1997, though I found this not to that level. Very tasty, beautifully balanced, involving wine, but not the same feeling of ‘special’ vs that 97…
2006 JC Bessin, Chablis 1er Fourchaume: Light colour, fresh ‘could only be Chablis’ nose. Wide in the mouth, real saline minerality, a hint of flavour richness. Pure, young (still) Chablis. (Mine)
2005 Ramonet, Chassagne 1er Boudriottes: Much deeper coloured, but nothing too evolved. Big, rich, almost monolithic in the mouth – but flavour-packed – I correctly guess the vintage, but have no clues to the village – that’s 2005 for you!
2009 Coche-Dury, Meursault: Quite a strong vanilla-oak component on the nose – otherwise I’m at a loss. But isn’t this grand in the mouth – a fine beam of acidity, a taughtness, with just a little flavour richness in the mid-palate to finish. I guess an 07 Puligny 1er. Great wine for today – massively great – except it doesn’t even whisper of Meursault, to me…
1996 Maison Leroy, Bourgogne Rouge: What a beautiful, inviting nose – one that I would say ‘is ready’. Modest intensity in the mouth,, but fine acidity and a lovely, complex width of semi-mature flavour. Clean and perfect in every modest respect. Yum! (Mine)
2002 Engel, Vosne 1er Brulées: Lighter coloured than most, a little cloudy too. The nose is sub-perfect due to some volatility, yet, super-engaging and complex – it begs you to drink. Complex, balanced and (this bottle) apparently ready to drink. A pleasure. I forget my (wrong) guess.
1999 Potel, Volnay 1er En Chevret: Deep colour. The nose is dense, powerful but also ungiving – really it’s rather young and tight. In the mouth there is a super, balanced concentration – perfect texture too. But like the nose, this is tight and relatively uncommunicative. Honestly, I wouldn’t touch another for 5 years – a performance that leaves me disappointed. (Mine)
The next two served together:
2001 JJ Confuron, Romanée St.Vivant: Deep colour. A tight, almost cheesy nose – sub-attractive! In the mouth, however, this has poise, texture and concentration – a good line of flavour, yet like the Potel is rather tight and unyielding. I see a ton of potential here, but very little ‘delivery’ today. I think I guessed an 02 Clos de Vougeot.
1999 Cathiard, Romanée St.Vivant: Here the nose is easily the more attractive, if still a little tight. The flavour unwinds across the palate in much more attractive fashion too. This is a wine that slowly but surely opens – I’m never sure that I see the full wine, but what I see I like – a lot. (Mine)
1993 Château de Chorey, Beaune 1er Teurons:This had been decanted – a bottle from the Tour d’Argent cellar sale. Modestly coloured but a fine and engaging nose of red fruit and more modest notes of maturity. A fine line of acidity here, beautifully delineated red-fruit flavour. Just super wine – I twist the cards as far as 1993 Côte de Beaune and then stick.
Then two whites with cheese:
1995 François Jobard, Meursault 1er Genevrières: Here is a lovely floral and fine, yellow fruited nose, just a little volatility as a spoiler. Clean and sleek in the mouth with lots of fine flavour dimension, almost a gravelly texture too. Very tasty wine and at this stage I really don’t remember my guess!
2002 Roger Belland, Criots Bâtard-Montrachet: Deeper colour, and some dirty/toasty oak on the nose, but proper white burgundy nose – nothing advance. Powerful in the mouth – perhaps unruly but with a clear grand-cru finishing width. I marginally preferred the previous wine, but after more than 4 hours, again, I don’t even remember if I had a guess 😉

So, only two relatively disappointing wines for me, both reds and only due to their unready/tightness – they were (my) the Potel and (shame!) the first RSV. Congrats to all the fresh whites – not a single whiff of oxidation around our table – just enthusiasm!