1998 Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin
I don’t know what they used for glue in those days, but overnight in the fridge, buth the neck and main label fell off !
Still plenty of colour – it’s not old looking. What a large-scale nose of bloody fruit and higher tones that are modestly redolent of the barrel – but now a long way from the cigarette ash oak of this wine’s youth – that’s a fine invitation. Energy and fine, cool complexity in the mouth – it’s long too. Certainly the best from this case of 12, but maybe only one more remains. Patience is a virtue, but for this 12-case, I was mostly lacking. Today, it’s an excellent wine…
Rebuy – Yes

2021 Alain Geoffroy, Chablis 1er Beauroy Signature
A modest volume of aroma with a little ripeness. Boom! Fresh energy – citrus energy – yum! This is one of those ‘dangerous’ 20221 – you lose concentration for a second, and the bottle has been emptied !! So good !!
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Camille Giroud, Corton Chaumes
The first from a case of 6. David Croix’s first wine with whole clusters – 50%! It was an homage to a great wine of whole bunches the night before. The last vintage for these 80-year-old vines before they were pulled out to replant with chardonnay – it’s now Corton-Charlemagne here – a no-brainer of a decision from a financial perspective! A clean cork – but one that broke in half. The rest extracted as a single piece – good!
Hmm – young in the mouth, perfumed too – not a bit gothic – that’s very lovely. There’s still plenty of structural finishing tannin – it’s still a Corton, after all, but the flavour is fine though – but the nose is just getting better and better – that’s really super… The floral perfume in the glass – it’s coming into the flavours too – I’d decant today – the finish is comfortable and long too. I think that I’ll wait another 3-4 years before opening bottle number 2 !!
Rebuy – Yes

1998 Dominique Laurent, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
A decent cork which started to move (down!) before the ah-so cork remover was fully in place – but I still managed to get it out in one…
Modest colour. An equally modest nose; the aromas are old, but not too old, faintly of white mushrooms. A silky, quite fluid entry with a small generosity and a tasty depth of flavour – widening over the palate into the finish. Still some finishing bitters – but not too bitter! Holding very impressively with a width of roast flavours like coffee and chocolate, holding really impressively. I honestly wouldn’t guess the vintage – the acidity is not so strong – I might even go for a 1997 blind! The finish haunts the palate – it has great length. Something of a stealth wine and beautifully put together…
Rebuy – Yes