1985 Cave du Dauphin, Beaune 1er Grèves
More than 10 years ago, and still to my eternal shame, I bought a bunch of these at auction. Half have been ‘sort-of’ okay, from an ‘old-wine’ perspective – the others have been irredeemably oxidised. Chalk another one up to oxidation here….

2017 William Fèvre, Chablis
Again the domaine version. As my 2018s how been tasty but young and structural, I tracked down some 2017s of the same:
Hmm – a flighty and attractive nose – citrus and salinity in tandem – that will work! In the mouth more supple, melting with flavour, less structured but also less overtly concentrated than the 2018 – go figure given the yields! But what a deliciously easy wine to drink. Not quite the same impact as the Julien Brocard that has been my house wine for the last 18 months, but not far behind. For now, this is still a worthy replacement while the 2018s mature a little more.
Rebuy – Yes

1990 Michel Juillot, Corton-Perrières
A wine that on opening has both a good strength and apparent youth to its colour. Easy and fruity on the nose – and likewise it’s the same for the flavours – not very Corton-Perrières-esque! Easy and tasty wine – not really a grand cru performance. It’s just as well that it’s an easy drink, because any that’s left-over in the fridge for day 2 has lost both its clarity and its interest – not so robust!
Rebuy – No

2017 Francois Carillon, Bourgogne Aligoté
Here’s a nice weight of fresh aroma, that’s very modestly citrus too. Hmm, I like this on the palate too; mineral, yes citrus again, but melting over the tongue too. That’s excellent aligoté!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Chanzy, Santenay 1er Beaurepaire
Here the nose is airy, open, and brimming with an almost macerating strawberry fruit. Modest tannin supports open, delicious, easy flavours – but there’s complexity too, it grows out from the mid-palate – so this 2017 isn’t too simple. Early drinking for sure, but delicious drinking too!
Rebuy – Yes

Just by way of a change. This case was buried in the cellar, so following a little Spring cleaning…

1976 Tollot-Beaut, Aloxe-Corton
The cork needs plenty of work to remove, and even with the Ah-So ‘corkscrew’ it broke, leaving the last cm or-so in-place. Luckily at the second attempt that came out whole. 1976 wasn’t a particularly hot vintage for Burgundy, but it was one of the driest – this taking the blame for the commonly elevated tannins when the wines were young.
What a great colour – none of the browning of age – the first couple of pours were beautifully clean and bright, though after, the gradual movement of the wine brought a little more mixing of the sediment. The nose – iron-filings – practically bloody to start. The first sips – not long from the coolness of the fridge – were impressively direct, narrow, fine-textured and seemingly mineral with good acidity. A wine that drives you towards a very decent finish. Whilst there’s not much in the way of fruit left in here, there’s also very little of the disadvantages that age can bring too and nothing spiky about the delivery either. Like the nose, I’m reminded of iron, practically a steeliness, but also an engaging freshness. I’ve 5 or 6 more and there is, seemingly, no rush…
Rebuy – No Chance

Cathiard already knew how to charge for their wine when this was released en-primeur; £100 per bottle ex-tax in January 2001 versus £41 for Engel’s Grands-Echézeaux – both are great wines, but the latter, so far, unquestionably the greater. Of course, that’s still very cheap versus today! The merchant offered to split a case of 12 for me, so I could merely buy 6 – probably it’s impossible to buy cases of 12 today(!?) With hindsight, oh for the chance to buy Cathiard and particularly Engel at those prices again!

I still think of Cathiard in that period as a more than good producer, who was striving for excellent – since the 1980s, first the André Cathiard labels, then Sylvain’s had always been more than good – and relatively inexpensive too – rarely great wines but always great values. Hints of that lack of detail-conscious approach remain for this 1999 – not least, the unassuming normal length, bleached pale, unbranded cork – just a Burgundian coat of arms and ‘mis en bouteille a la proprieté‘ – that’s all you get, but:

1999 Sylvain Cathiard, Romanée St.Vivant
A practically sombre, if still clean, red colour – no signs of age though. Oh! What a beautifully elegant red-fruit nose – that’s a great invitation – though not the complex class of Arlot’s 99 Clos Arlot right now. In the mouth it’s similarly red-fruited to the nose with a panorama of flavour that rapidly widens – and here is a profound depth of flavour that’s inextricably linked to the upper-class length of finish – clearly ‘bravo’ wine – equally clearly a wine whose performance remains out of sync with the commercial value of the bottle – despite still being a great wine. Today the Arlot is the better wine in all except, perhaps, ultimate length. One of each remain to compare in another 9-10 years – maybe also with the Arlot RSV – wouldn’t that be fun?!
Rebuy – Yes at the old price, definitely not the market price…

2017 Julien Brocard, Chablis Boissoneuse
The penultimate of 28 bottles of this, and the nose seems to have shrunk – still a clarity and freshness but less depth and attack here. In the mouth, well that’s just lovely – as always – fresh, mobile, fine citrus energy. A little sweetness but also saline and with that beautiful ‘Chablis balance’ – just completely delicious – and then it was gone!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Domaine Faiveley, Corton-Charlemagne
A nose with quite some weight of punch – a faint firework reduction that wraps a creamy, almost creme-brulee, note around the sweetness of the fruit. If it wasn’t so damn impressive, it would be too much! Mouth-filling, oily-silky, intense, radiating sweet flavour wide and long, here is also some mouth-watering minerality. I wine that is just so brilliantly impressive – yet today it lacks a little freshness for the best balance. I just have one more of the original 3 of these, and clearly this has the potential to be great wine. It needs 5 more years – maybe 10 – but it’s sealed with cork, so that’s a worry. This was so nearly great that I’m prepared to wait on the last bottle until 2027 – I hope that the cork is sympathetic…
Rebuy – Yes