Sacy – Côteaux Bourguignone

weekend wines, week 9 2019

Great corks…

Vougeraie – Clos de Vougeot

Roty – Grand Ordinaire

A couple of ‘grand’ but ‘ordinary’ wines before their bigger brothers and sisters. Those bigger brothers and sisters had more of everything, but were not necessarily more delicious – there is much value to be found in Burgundy – still!

2017 Céline & Frédéric Gueguen, Sacy ‘Cépage Confidential’ Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire
Already in bottle for a year now. Sealed with a DIAM-style ‘cork’ but from Trescases…
Big, wide, saline nose – a little more pungent impression below – very attractive, even compared to the Meursault. More open, more saline, less intense but a fine fresh width. Less long too but a delicious thing – like a salted agrumes. A hard cepage to find, but worth a little searching!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 François Gaunoux, Meursault 1er Gouttes d’Or
Not the longest cork here – but in perfect shape.
Hmm – an intense lemon yellow. The nose starts almost a little structural and angular, but aeration brings some cushion and a rounder impression – a little more flesh too. Wide, citrus, intense citrus, mouth-watering, holding a long line. A little custard style to the flavour. Long finishing in a lemon-custard style. Something of baby that starts angular and becomes ever-more welcoming with air, ever-more delicious too though I’m not sure that I would have guessed Meursault.
Rebuy – Maybe

2010 Joseph Roty, Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire
Since 2012 this wine is labeled Côteaux Bourguignone – it’s 100% pinot. A perfect cork of modest dimensions.
What a wine! Drunk over three nights as a chaser for the other bottles – it started aromatically dumb on the first night, was beautiful on the second and even more beautifully perfumed on the third. Mouth-filling, fresh, nice energy, still quite young with an ever-growing depth and tension to the flavour. Simpler, for sure, but no less delicious than the following wine – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

2000 Vougeraie, Clos de Vougeot
The most impressively long and young looking cork.
Ooh – exciting, deep, leafy, sweet with a touch of white mushroom. Fresh, very wide over the palate, ingraining the tongue with flavour, so mouth-watering and with super length. Not necessarily more delicious than the Roty, but certainly with a much longer list of available adjectives – if that’s your penchant! Gorgeous, gorgeous wine – narrow finishing, but also very long finishing.
Rebuy – Yes
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2000 Jean-Marc & Hughes Pavelot, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Dominode
Plenty of colour. The nose settles with some slightly balsamic notes in an otherwise attractive width of mature red fruit – faintly spiced. Nice lines, and despite plenty of earthy rubble that has formed in the base of this bottle there’s more than a lick of tannin that remains. Still, whilst a charcterful wine, it’s never rustic. It’s a fine and broad width of middle and finishing flavour, though after an hour I can sense some developing brett. The conclusion is clear – take less than 1 hour to drink this wine – bring in friends if you have to. It’s a robust wine, and apart from the brett there remain many youthful aspects. This wine was at its best between 05-15 years of age – it’s still very drinkable, but not on the same level.
Rebuy – No
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*Past it – informal British:
Too old to be of any use or any good at anything!

But it seems that the ‘good luck lightning‘ can still strike twice in the same place!

1996 Patrick Javillier, Bourgogne Cuvée Forgets
A nose of some weight, freshness and faint truffle. Round, vibrant but with very balanced acidity – none of uncomfortable intensity of some 1996s. Long. You would never guess Bourgogne – super-wine! A second bottle of this (yes, there was more!) was more tired – so – not in my glass, thank-you 🙂
Rebuy – No Chance!

1996 Michelot, Bourgogne Blanc
More bright and floral aromatics – less what I’m expecting – but still quite the invitation to drink. Also vibrant in the mouth. More intense flavour, delicious and showing a little extra floral complexity, slightly less round than the Forgets.
Rebuy – No Chance!

Both completely delicious, but the Javillier (bottle number 1!) edged it for me.

2014 Yvon et Laurent Vorcoret, Chablis 1er Fourchaume
Still relatively modest colour. A nose that, after the Italian, is clearly more powerful and sweepingly saline. Supple, wide, complex, saline – mineral – ooh – you know what? This is absolutely great. There’s such a depth of long, lingering flavour. For the cash, this is absolutely eye-catching, taste-budding stuff – bravo – just so good and so quickly the bottle is drained!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Cuvée Vézelay
Bottled for the St.Vincent – I have a couple more!
Fresh, citrus, more direct fruit than the Chablis and still plenty of minerality – but the Chablis has more. This is what many a St.Romain wants to grow up like – but without the often, heavy-handed oak of the Côte d’Or! Brilliant stuff…

2017 Julien Sunier, Fleurie
Red wax-topped…
Plenty of colour for such a hailed vintage. A nose of both fine width and depth – filled with round, red fruit – such a success for the vintage. Mouth-filling but still with great line. Hardly an overt note of tannin – super energy too. Über-delicious – and it was gone in a flash!
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Vincent et Denis Berthaut, Gevrey-Chambertin Clos des Chézeaux
Hmm – what an invitingly deep colour. The nose still actually has a touch of vanilla from the barrel – but there’s depth of dark-red fruit topped by a little floral accent too. 10 minutes and the volatile oak seems to have fled. Wide, beautiful, concentrated red fruit, a mineral, graphite style in the mid-palate that accents the red fruit. Wide and delicious, only modestly sweet, but who needs more. Great villages. Oh, and so very yum!
Rebuy – Yes