A long weekend – in much of Europe the Pfingst/Pentecost weekend means an extra day. My choice of wines saw a poor start but getting better:

1997 Sylvain Cathiard, Vosne-Romanée 1er Malconsorts
Oof – not a great nose – balsamic and with brett. If you can get the wine past your nose and into your mouth, this tastes rather good – showing hardly any of the disappointment of the nose – but it’s a big ‘IF.’ More of this was left or used for cooking than was actually drunk – that tells all that you need to know. The only positive thing I can say about brett, is that every bottle will be different – just as well as I have 2 or 3 more of these!
Rebuy – No

2005 JC Boisset, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Sepentières
A deeper colour. More depth of fresh and clean aroma – a little graphite and dark fruit. Deep, young fruit here – concentration and super depth. Archetypal young, but not closed, 2005. Perhaps the mid-palate and finish of the Cathiard were nicer, but you had to get past that wine’s nose – no easy task. Bravo wine for the appellation.
Rebuy – Yes

1993 François Jobard, Meursault 1er Genevrières
Deep golden. No oxidation, though a nose that starts rather abruptly – slowly some pineapple is released, then stem ginger, finally a ripe and waxy lemon. Just like the nose, the first impression over the palate is of something a little angular – a wine of rigour. Air changes things, always, seemingly for the better with this wine. It relaxes, becomes silkier and manages to ingrain its flavour into the palate. Never a wine of total deliciousness but always a wine of robust complexity and interest. Intellectual rather than sumptuous. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes

2013 Camus, Latricières-Chambertin
A nose with a little green about it, but just tipping the balance towards mint rather than herbaceousness. Light across the palate but complex too. A volume of cushioned, airy, focused red-fruited flavour. Long finishing young wine. Not the concentration of either of the previous reds – a modest 1er cru level – except that it was the most open and complex finishing of these.
Rebuy – Maybe

Samples shipped to me by Fabien Dupperay’s PR company – there’s €10 there, just in corks…

I tasted some of these just one year ago with Fabien (here for subscribers), but they were still in tank as he bottles late – he was planning for August 2017. Here I get to try the finished product.

2015 Fleurie
From Morriers and Chapelle du Bois
Very deep colour – if not quite saturated. The nose starts a little yeasty – it needs air. A couple of minutes are enough to release such an impressive depth of kirsch-style dark fruit – it remains a little tight above though. Hmm, this wine melts into the palate, ingraining itself, initially with an inky depth of fruit before emphasising the mineral. The flavour is direct and carried with deft freshness – no mean feat given the concentration. This is great Fleurie!

2015 Chénas Judgement Derniere
Only 9-10 hl/ha
Just a shade lighter in colour. A much rounder and initially brighter nose – there’s some zing – a vibration to the red fruit here. A more overt freshness, here with a very fine but present tannin – texturally it’s a drag over the tongue rather than any apparent grain. Holding a width of impressive flavour in the finish with a more licorice aspect in those flavours. Rounder and redder in character, a wine to wait for – or you will have to take a carafe and wait two hours – then you have more focus, more silk and it becomes the only wine from these five that brings a lovely perfume of violet flowers. Modestly attractive if you pop and pour, but treat it well and you will be rewarded.

2015 Morgon
Back to the deep colour of the Fleurie. Here is a tight nose, one that implies a concentration of dark fruit at its core – but without letting you touch it! Sleek, fresh, like the Chénas it’s showing a little dryness but on a lower level to that wine. It’s brooding, mega-serious stuff, yet open in the finish and fabulously long. Definitely a wine for those with patience, but it has everything going for it – incisive flavour and a hauntingly long finish. Great wine but easily the most backward/least accessible today versus the last two.

2015 Moulin à Vent
25 hl/ha – his highest yield in 2015!
Deep colour. A nose of width, energy and a little spice to the slightly reductive, hence, darker fruit. Extra volume – a mouth-filling wine of energy and concentration – faint bitters in the finish – but this is such a bravado performance – there’s almost braggadocio here. Flavour that melts over the palate into the finish – such a delicious, complex and long finish. If you just want to pop and pour, this is the most delicious and giving of all these today.

2015 Moulin à Vent Les Michelons
A deep colour. There’s such a depth of aroma but there’s an overall tightness too – like the Morgon – don’t touch! Slowly it starts to add some floral complexity. Ooh – despite all that has gone before, there is more volume and energy here and a more overtly mouth-watering, juiciness of flavour too. Juicy, but it’s not all fruit, there’s lots of minerality here. Beautiful texture that’s accented with a hint of dryness. Another great wine, whose energy makes this very accessible.

The Chénas is showing a little behind its siblings today – unless you have a carafe and a little patience – the others are more obviously great wines.

For all their €2 corks, lovingly applied wax capsules and beautiful presentation, the price of these wines is shocking by the standards of Beaujolais, though still quite modest when compared to the Côte d’Or. I’ve no problem with such pricing when people get it right – I’ve placed an order!

I bought the wines of this estate from about 1998-2005 – usually a mix of village Gevrey and Chambolle VVs plus the ubiquitous Clos St.Jacques and the Griotte – I think there may have been a couple of Morey Clos Solon purchases afterwards, but even that got to a price that I wasn’t prepared to pay. Not that I ever had bad wines – in fact even the 2004s were pleasers from here – a few corked bottles not withstanding. The biggest shame of the price appreciation of this producer is that these wines never seem to be opened/talked about these days.

Today I’m down to my last few – maybe 15+ bottles – and given that my weekend bottles were of a lighter style, I decided that it was time for a change of gear:

2003 Fourrier, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
I seem to remember that about the time that this was released, you could buy a whole case (of 12!) of this wine for £300 IB – winesearcher tells me that I can buy a case for £3,300 (IB) today! Before this vintage I had often mused that this CSJ was a more mineral and complex wine than the domaine’s Griotte-Chambertin – so intellectually a more interesting wine – that Griotte being all about accessible fruit and luxurious texture. I see 2003 as a bit of a crossover vintage – the domaine’s Griotte today is all that it should be and has put a gap between itself and the still admirable Clos St.Jacques.
Ooh – now that’s a deeper colour than the weekend’s 96 and 95! The nose has a padded volume of ripe, voluptuous fruit – both engaging and very inviting – becoming a blend of dried fruits, florals and blood! Ooh – and the palate’s a match too! Round, plush – such a decadent texture. Rich flavoured to match the texture but with a nice line – layers of flavour that are a little stony at the core but mouth-watering as it extends into the finish. It’s hard to pinpoint an age – there is so little maturity in the flavour, it’s timeless – almost and so-far – only the colour is telling me that it’s not a youngster. There are days that I could drink this bottle in one sitting, but I’ll hold firm and force myself to follow it over two days – the sacrifices!
Day 2; The floral aroma remains, today with a hint of meaty earth to add to the fruit. The palate seems a little shrill versus day 1 – Fourrier wines never seem as good on day 2 – so drink up on day 1 – it’s worth it!
Rebuy – Yes