Just a modest single bottle this weekend, as the last glass from last week’s Chablis, kept in the fridge, was still very drinkable !!

2011 François Gaunoux, Pommard 1er Rugiens
A robust cork but a stinky one – I steel myself for a corked wine – but no – hurrah! Also, a wine with no suggestion of the pyrazines that plague many reds from this vintage…
The first aromas are deep, with some obvious leafy development; there’s the implication of some structure here which also follows through into the wine, but with air, both the nose and flavours soften admirably. There remains a small smoky accent to the nose, but the flavours expand with quite some perfumed fruit, and there’s extra width as the structure fades into the background. The slowly mouth-watering finish is beautiful – such a delicate and lasting perfume to this flavour – whilst not powerful, that’s a great finish. That’s a super 2011 – and with a short decant, or an hour of patience after opening. This really was special !!
Rebuy – Yes

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

2024 Chablis Terroirs de Fye
In Chapelots part of Montée de Tonnerre, but the villages part.
Modestly deep colour. Clarity – what a lovely nose this is – accented by the fruit but also mineral and saline. Fluid, mouth-filling wine but with a complexity that matches the aromatics. Really great – a wine that was drunk all too quickly !!
Rebuy – Yes

2003 Michel Juillot, Corton-Perrières
All of the previous bottles have been ‘average.’ This one is surprisingly above average – almost good !! Plenty of colour. Faintly spiced, sweet macerating dark plum aromas. Large in the mouth, with plenty of richness and fine texture. The finish is large in scale and with plenty of finishing bitters – perhaps too much bitters for the age of the wine – but I’m happy taking another sip – and I haven’t said that about many other bottles of this !!
Rebuy – Maybe

2022 The Odd Couple,Santa Rita Hill California – Sandford & Benedict Vineyards
And people laugh at the length of some burgundy wine names! (Retired) Flying winemaker David Lloyd and friend of Burgundy Report’s wine – one of many. A resounding pop as the diam leaves the neck of the bottle.
Medium plus colour – soft red fruit aromatics with a warm, rounding oak spice. Filling the mouth well. There’s a small textural cushion but with good fluidity and clarity to the red fruit – like the nose, framed with the light oak-spice and a finishing sucrosity, maybe partly from the barrel. Plenty of very fine-grained tannic bitters in this finish. Tasty but missing the x-factor…
Rebuy – Maybe

2022 Thenard, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Île des Vergelesses
Trescases, NDtec cork – about as long a name as you will find in Burgundy 🙂
Darker colour. The nose is wider, with darker fruit – also a small accent from the barrel, but not spiced – these aromas with a bit more detail and incision plus a modest floral perfume. Much larger in the mouth, with sweet, creamy barrel flavours too – I’d wait a couple more years before opening the next one. Wide finishing wine – I like the texture and the personality more here. This is a simply excellent young wine – I love it!!
Rebuy – Yes

Lucky enough to taste – pre-bottling…

2024 Bourgogne Aligoté Sous Chatelet
Vines from 1937
Fresh to notes – a little yellow citrus. A small touch of gas, but still vibrant and zesty. I might not guess Aligoté, but I recognise how much I love it – super and intense…

2024 St.Romain
Broader, fuller, more cushioned aromas – lovely. Also some gas. Long, mouth-filling, juicy wine – again in a zesty style, but here with extra depth of flavour. So long and delicious…

2024 Meursault Vireuils
Linear styled aromas – faintly spiced, faintly aniseed. Gas, with slowly melting flavour – at first incisive and the support is more generous, but still mineral behind. The longest of these with a certain calm to the finishing notes…

Today, it’s hard to look past the aligoté !!

It can’t always be Romanée St.Vivant – well, not for that many weeks, anyway 🙂

2017 William Fevre, Chablis
A satisfying ‘pop’ from the diam seal.
Starting reticent, but these aromas have a nice zesty citrus skin complexity – the dis/advantage of the diam instantly clear, it’s just a matter of perspective. Clean, pure and young, with only suggestions of mature notes despite being an ‘older’ wine. Wide, mineral, modestly juicy with an underlying delicious energy. Not the impact of its youth, but still a super wine – and this finish, I love it!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 David Clark, Côte de Nuits Villages
I still have a fair quantity of David’s wines in the cellar – this is not a special showing though. A fine, strong cork.
Lots of colour here – though not a young colour. Dark. Mineral, railway sleepers aromatic. Nicely mouth-filling with a silky cushion from the concentration – the flavour is fine and fading, though far from demonstrative. Subtly long with emphasis on the subtle. Half elegant, half leaving me asking for more – but there’s the nice purity of the vintage.
Rebuy – Maybe