Hmm, a hint of truffle perhaps caramel too, such a good and fresh width of aroma. Quite direct and fresh but intense and with lovely, melting, flavour over the palate. Long, mineral – ooh a great finish!

Just a little more colour than the 2008. More vibration of sous bois and spicy white chocolate. Ooh – extra volume, mineral, very energetic but a more composed energy. So wide, slightly saline – ooh – in a great place right now…

The aromas are wide, pretty and very interesting, perhaps not with too much depth but the panorama is fine. Wow! It’s a super-supple, silky texture. Real intensity of mineral flavour. Really super. Now I know that the Charlemagnes really were soft, not me!

The nose delicate and floral, very complex but also very understated, slowly hints of cream and wool are added. It’s a narrow entry that gets wider and wider as the intensity and acidity build across your tongue. This wine is mineral but today it is very tightly wound, and delivering none of the energy of the 1ers.

From a merely ‘average’ vintage. Possibly recorked twice but otherwise never moved in almost 60 years. The wonder of an old wine – deep colour, almost orange – it must be oxidised right? The nose is deep and truffle-laden but not a hint of oxidation. The aromas are those of your favourite woollen pullover, a little faint hard cheese and eventually creme brulee. The palate also shows a truffle flavour and an immense length. The texture is soft though there’s just a sharpness to the leading edge of the acidity, but what follows is perfection. For 3 hours this grew and grew in the glass, both aromatically and from a flavour perspective, not even a hint of oxidation. Based on comments from the other tables this was very consistent from bottle to bottle. Possibly the greatest wine I ever drank – a privilege.

From 2.5 hectares of vines – BP&F own one third of the appellation, all purchase in the 1800’s. The nose focuses on fruit, higher and mineral tones. Fantastic, mouth-filling, clean, pure and mineral. Long, very long, eventually with a little cream – superb. I delayed as long as possible tasting the Charlemagne as the taste of this lingered for minutes…

Was reduced on opening but cleared up quite quickly, that said this has a totally different nose to the other wines with really dense fruit but it’s glossy and focused so in no way ponderous – continues to widen in the glass – very impressive. It’s rich with a mineral edge, but like the Charlemagne the concentration bursts across the palate then the acidity ploughs into the finish – grows well in the glass. Rich with a mineral edge and like the Charlemagne the concentration bursts across the palate before the acidity ploughs you into the finish. Very lovely – stylisticly I prefer the Charlemagne but this has a real wow factor despite Christophe saying it’s closed up a little since bottling!

Bouchard are significantly the largest owners in this vineyard with 2 of the 7.3 hectares. The vineyard which is in Puligny lies just above Montrachet itself but is characterised by much stonier and chalkier soil. The wine had a completely different nose to the Corton-Charlemagne, more refined with an amazing depth of high toned fruits. The density in the mouth was very similar to the C-C but to a completely different effect. Whereas the C-C starts with a bang, the C-M is more sedate but then builds to explosion on the finish. A really fantastic wine.