Hard for this to follow the Charmes. Good and interesting aromatic width – seems younger, but also less involving than the Charmes. Less concentrated but has super poise. Young and pretty villages.
Comments for this entry
2002
2002 Esmonin Sylvie Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
The nose is slightly smoky; tight but still some dark fruit shows through – eventually very, very pretty. Very silky, mineral too. This starts quite Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose has hints of musk and warm, ripe berries. Soft and velvety – seems a little lush. Nice width and a growing note of flowers.
2002 Potel Nicolas Aloxe-Corton Les Boutières
Bottle 7 from 12. On opening I hardly recognise this wine – the colour still has that young medium-plus cherry-red hue, but the nose has a slightly ashy, oaky aroma and the flavours are quite strident – what’s needed is a little aeration. Et voila: 3 minutes from opening this is aromatically singing, creamy deep redcurrant, indeed so creamy it’s faintly lactic but it is really wonderful. At the core there is a hint of something a little more mature, the ashy element has become a hint of leafy undergrowth, but just a hint. Clearly the acidity is a little ascendant now, but the mid-palate concentration remains enough that the wine is not mortally compromised and there is still an edge of tannin too. A long way from real maturity and still showing sufficient density and energy to keep me coming back for more.
2002 Chézeaux Gevrey-Chambertin Clos des Chezeaux
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose has a little depth and intensity, faint herbs and, as the glass drains, lovely piercing red berries – mmmm… It starts a little strident, but 30 minutes from opening there’s a real extra fatness and super acidity that dovetails to a decent villages intensity. Subtly long. A wine that ‘gives’ a lot – yum!
2002 Chevigny Pascal Vosne-Romanée
This has medium, medium-plus colour. Tight, but a deep, brooding core of fruit topped by spiced red fruit, perhaps a trace of coffee too. The palate is also a little tight, but the texture is not bad, the tannin is relatively fine-grained with just a hint of astringency. Good balance of acidity but the fruit is now clenched around the core structure. Slowly mouth-watering. Relatively closed, but seemingly with everything in place – two bottles remain in the cellar – next one at 10 years of age I’d say.
2002 Bourée Pierre Fils Côte de Nuits Villages
2002 Berthaut Gevrey-Chambertin Clos des Chezeaux
Medium cherry-red colour. The nose starts with just a twist of dark and spicy oak. The palate has ebullient acidity, the
classic 2002 grainy tannin and a narrow but quite long finish. The acidity is really a key part of the expansion in the
mid-palate which brings quite some character to the wine. Perhaps not quite 1er cru level of intensity or, today,
complexity, but certainly engagement. Nice wine, even in a 2002 context.
2002 Dugat-Py Bernard Gevrey-Chambertin Coeur de Roy
Medium-plus cherry-red colour. On opening, the nose was actually rather engaging – like the Fourrier only denser. After about 40 minutes it’s deeper-still, rather savoury and ungainly – which is a shame – fortunately after 90 minutes it freshens up a little to give a relatively diffuse black-shade fruit which is not great but is certainly better – the last drops in the glass give cause for optimism though. The palate has a smooth, understated entry, in fact it’s silky smooth, linear and with darker-shaded fruit. The finish is understated, and the length is the equal of the 99 Fourrier that follows.
2002 Guyon Antonin Chambolle-Musigny
Medium, medium-plus core of cherry-red colour. The nose is forward, deep, faintly oaky, a little savoury and initially a touch reduced. The palate is effusive and rather intense – pulled along with wouth-watering but balanced acidity. It starts better than the 2001 started, but not as good as the 2001 finished. Given enough time (about 90 minutes) the nose is dark, wide and soft, with brown sugar and eventually a fine red berry. The palate becomes more elegant, though like the 2001 is edged with a trace of dark, bitter oak. Overall I marginally prefer the balance of this to the 2001.