1989 André Cathiard, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
My last bottle of these labels – the one before ‘Sylvain Cathaird.’ The cork slides out far too easily, soaked to its length in wine – but in one piece!
Medium colour, not with any obvious browning – clean and bright. The nose is still fresh and majoring on fruit – sweet and red – just the faintest spice – of age more than Vosne, I think. A very easy wine to drink, properly ripe but of only modest concentration and complexity. Blind, I’d have positioned this more like a villages than a 1er cru – it didn’t deliver 30 years’ worth of aging complexity, that’s for sure. But it was easy to drink and everyone enjoyed it too.
Rebuy – No

2012 N&G Fèvre, Chablis Les Preuses
Magnum, DIAM-sealed. I thought this might have been ‘ready’ but it was still a little too young…
Fresh, wide and impressive nose – this is clearly Chablis – and there’s some concentration here too – though not showing much development. In the mouth too; taught, nicely structured, tons of mouth-watering flavour but still quite primary in style. Day two (it was a magnum ;-)) showed a bit more fat and also a bit more ripeness to the citrus fruit. Possibly still opened 5 years too young – but in very fine shape. It may have been my only 2012 though…
Rebuy – Yes

2020 des Croix, Bourgogne‘Cuvée L'(?)
During his time at Camille Giroud, David Croix made a couple of Bourgognes labelled ‘Cuvée L.‘ These were an assembly of all the lees of all the (red) wines from Bourgogne to Grand Cru, with extra ageing time to allow the lees to settle. I think my remaining bottles of 2008 may be ‘past it’ but perhaps not the 2010s. Here he did the same in 2020 at des Croix – ‘Are you interested to try one?’ Well, of course! Sealed with and a DIAM cork too – he usually uses only natural cork.
After all the older wines I’ve been drinking – including, this week, one of his 2008s – this dark-coloured wine has such another level of intensity – wow. The flavours and aromas are framed with some creamy oak that’s less to my liking but this has purity, presence and great texture. More ‘2020’ than ‘Burgundy’ – a second bottle might be much more interesting in 10 years…
Rebuy – Maybe