
Two 1999s – currently one of my favourite vintages, but not for these two! Both have been stored in the same corner of the cellar for many years. Every wine will be different, and mainly due to the quality of their corks:
1999 Camille Giroud, Bourgogne En Crêots
A wine-saturated cork, though I only broke the first cm. The cork itself smells of oxidised wine – but for older wines (usually 30 years older!) – that’s often the case for a wine-saturated cork, and it doesn’t mean that the wine will be the same.
Medium, medium-plus colour – and no cloudiness. No, there’s hardly any oxidation. Unfortunately, there’s a bit of brett. Direct, silky, plenty of acidity, but also an interesting depth of flavour with a slight accent of oxidation, but no flavour of brett. Long, quite direct and intense finishing. Holding impressively long, a metallic, blood-iron type of flavour, still with some subtle bitters – but no tannic grain. This was potentially a bit of a brute for the first few (15?) years of its life, but it seems quite drinkable – and with a better cork, this would probably be a super Bourgogne.
Rebuy – No but with a better cork, probably.
1999 Michel Gay, Beaune 1er Les Toussaints
What a great cork! Just 2mm of colour from wine ingress – and it comes out in one piece too!
The basic colour is similar to that of the Giroud, but here it’s cloudy and with plenty of sediment that hasn’t settled in 48 hours of ‘uprightness.’ To add to the cloudiness, there’s a pervasive note of brett – really as much as I’ve smelled in a wine for a long time – DNPIM*
Rebuy – No
*Do Not Put In Mouth !!