Medium, medium pale yellow. It’s an interesting nose that at first seems to have a lot of aniseed and then as you take the glass away from your nose the aniseed seems to split into yellow fruit and sulfur, eventually there’s a little baked bread too. In the mouth this starts round, up-front and full but decays very quickly into the mid-palate. What’s left is a little linear though with apparently decent length. To start with I didn’t think it completely to my taste – over about one hour either I or it moved position a little and it became reasonably palatable. Just in-case the problem was sulfur I left it ‘topless’ in the fridge overnight. Still pretty dull on day 2 I’m afraid. I can’t honestly say I’ll be searching for more, which is a shame as I really enjoyed a few vintages of this.

Medium, medium pale yellow. It’s an interesting nose that at first seems to have a lot of aniseed and then as you take the glass away from your nose the aniseed seems to split into yellow fruit and sulfur, eventually there’s a little baked bread too. In the mouth this starts round, up-front and full but decays very quickly into the mid-palate. What’s left is a little linear though with apparently decent length. To start with I didn’t think it completely to my taste – over about one hour either I or it moved position a little and it became reasonably palatable. Just in-case the problem was sulfur I left it ‘topless’ in the fridge overnight. Still pretty dull on day 2 I’m afraid. I can’t honestly say I’ll be searching for more, which is a shame as I really enjoyed a few vintages of this.

This starts with that faintly sherbet note you often find on wines with less punch from the more marginal villages – think St.Romain. There’s a little faint oak note note that helps fill-out the aromas at the bottom and eventually a much more favourable core of yellow fruit. Above average intensity for the label, very fine acidity – then a surprise – a deep and clear extra dimension of flavour in the mid-palate; a little wood-derived vanilla cream; it’s a warm, Côte de Beaune type of flavour that would still – even at this regional level – distinguish the bottle from, for instance Chablis. The finish is a little more mineral and also holds-on reasonably well. This is very successful indeed.

Medium yellow. The nose shows faint bready notes over equally faint pear fruit. Quite full in the mouth, also quite dense. Whilst your mouth slowly waters after you swallow, it still seems to lack a little freshness. A reasonable finish, but just a little too clumsy and heavy…

2002 was fantastic and 2004 was very good, so I bought a six-pack of 2005 blind! The nose is pretty classic for this bottling with faintly oaky, sweet depth, pear fruit and some higher tones – eventually a little minerality too in this vintage. This has a slightly different stance to the plusher 2002, it’s very well balanced but throughout the mid-palate and into the finish it’s rather more mineral with slowly lingering acidity. Less facile than the very user friendly 2002, I think this will also be rather long lived. Excellent

The 2002 was my house wine last summer so it’s only fair to try out the 2004. Medium yellow. The nose is less sweet oak dominated than the 02, it’s higher toned, just a little floral with a quite subtle oak base. This has a quite rich texture that’s offset by a little dissolved gas which makes the acidity a little prickley. There’s a nice expansion of creamy flavour in the mid-palate and a more than reasonable length. Give it time and the prickle is gone and the palate is nicely smooth. Just a little less rich and sweet than the 2002. It’s very good for the price if not quite as good as the 2002 – though this very young – it has a chance of being a house wine for summer 2008, but won’t make it for 2007, the 05’s are currently too good.