Medium-plus colour. Ooh, depth, silky fruit and hints of violets. The texture starts with silk but quickly changes as the ripe tannin shows its face. Plenty of fruit and some minerality in the mid-palate too. Very good length. Clearly this is significantly above the standard suggested by the label, but given the contents of the bottle that’s surely no surprise. Another ‘Bourgogne’ that begs time to mature…
Stood up in the cellar for 4 days before opening – it wasn’t enough to make the wine shiny bright. Medium, medium-plus colour, The nose has a wild young-wine freshness and immediacy, given an hour or so there is a direct and perfect raspberry note. In the mouth this is wide, very complex, sweet and cushioned. The acidity has a a bit of a leading edge of sharpness (perhaps exacerbated by the suspended material?) but the padding largely covers it. Good length and very tasty right now, in fact in the right circumstances you might be forgiven for thinking it a much higher AOC. This bottle found many friends…
One year David Croix had an order for Bourgogne, only to realise he didn’t have enough wine to fill the order. As an option for the New York merchant he suggested that he could assemble the racked lees from all his reds, give it time to settle as best as possible and see if it was any good. It turned out not bad despite having a slight turbidity as he chose not to filter. The New York merchant has since had exclusivity on this unusual wine – unusual in that it is a compendium of so many wines, including grand crus. When I visited, there was a ‘spare’ half bottle we could taste: A decent medium colour, if not diamond bright. Aromatic depth with relatively high-toned fruit and a hint of orange. The texture is slightly lush, plenty of concentration for the label and acidity that is balancing, if not bracing though needs to smooth out a little in the finish – a hint of CO2 compounds the sensation as does the fact it’s only been in bottle for 3 weeks as gravity has to work for a long time on the fine lees. If it smooths a little, this will be a very pretty bottle.
Now coming into the last bottles of this case – only 4 remain. Medium, medium-plus cherry red. The nose is quite 2003 in style yet shows beautifully delineated red and blue fruits and more unusually for 2003 there are violets too over a creamy base – so far it’s better than many grand crus from this vintage. The palate is less fine, but it’s sweet, medium intensity and quite well mannered. The fruit has really good density – more so than most bourgognes – chapeau. Shame that so few remain in the cellar – a real sniffer’s wine – and you don’t get to say that very often with a bourgogne!
Medium plus colour. The nose is wide, ripe and softly red fruited. In the mouth you have to get past a little dissolved carbon dioxide – it’s the first time that David Croix hasn’t racked during elevage – frankly you need an hour after opening or a few minutes in a decanter. You return to find a really good depth and balance and an uncommon length for the label. The nose has now taken on an additional toffee dimension. I get the impression there is also a reasonable amount of village level material in this as it’s very good.
I still have a few of the 2003 left and it’s easy to under-estimate how good these wines can be. A friend’s ‘house red’ in recent months was the 2003 Bourgogne from Chanson – worthy, tasty, sweet and simple; we followed one with the Giroud 03 and there was an incredible extra dimension of fruit in the mid-palate and finish – as good as many village wines, but what about the 04 version? A wide and fresh powdery fruit nose. The wine is fresh, with some sweetness but walks a tightrope with the acidity that is just a little prickly. The fruit is nice and so are the aromatics, better than the 2003, but I prefer the texture of the 2003.
A recurring bottle over the summer, ~6 so-far, this wine has been very consistent. Sweet, stewing cherries on the nose with that characteristic hint of 2003 in the background. Fresh, with sweetness coming from the ripe fruit and a little burst on the mid-palate. Grainy but fun tannin – continues to shine at this price-point.
Bottled just before the 2004 harvest. Medium, medium-plus colour. A melange of sweet red fruit greets the first sniff. The palate is surprisingly plush for a regional wine, the sweet red fruit also on the palate. The acidity is almost good enough and the tannin is completely covered by the ripe fruit. Just one of many ‘super-regionals’ that will come from 2003. I bought the last available case, just, and at the expense of their Dutch importer – sorry about that , -)
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